Dark Rainbows

by GemoDawn

First published 29th of December, 2011

A new, dark ruler has overcome Equestria after the execution of Princess Celestia...

Noctrule, an evil and all-powerful alicorn from the Everfree forest, has taken his dark army to conquer all of Equestria, and, more importantly, overthrow Princess Celestia. After his successful execution of the Princess, the land of Equestria has fallen to a seemingly irreversible darkness that even bright and colorful Rainbow Dash cannot permeate. However, after 20 years of oppression, Rainbow Dash - now much older, darker, and grittier, but still her competitive and determined self - puts her long-awaited plan of escape into action. She is determined that her plan will go well, which includes rescuing all her old friends from their own torments, and going up against the dark and deadly Noctrule himself to return the kingdom back to its former glory, and somehow bring back Princess Celestia. With so many odds against her, Rainbow Dash knows that death lies ahead of her, just as well as possible glory lies beside it. As Rainbow Dash risks her life, so do her friends, but that won't stop her. She's determined, confident, and willing to give up her own life to bring back Equestria the light and happiness it so deserves.

**Inspired by fan art portraying an older version of Rainbow Dash**

Prologue

Whether we like it or not, our fates have already been decided. Whether we decide to like it, or not like it, can only make our stay in this miserable place more bearable. It only makes our jobs a little easier if we just accept it. After 20 years of the same oppression over and over, it seems like any pony would crumble under the pressure and finally crack. Some did, while others, like me, toiled away, praying and hoping for something to change. Hoping for our new dark lord, Noctrule, to give his power back up, bring Princess Celestia back from the dead, and give my cherished friend Rarity back her will and sanity along with it. We hope for these things to happen, but whether they will really happen is a complete slim to none chance. All the Pegasus ponies used to believe in that false hope. They bought into our easy lifestyle, easy solutions, until they realized that the days when Princess Celestia held our order had ended, was when they truly started to believe that our fairy tale days were over.

I can’t talk much, though. I believed it, too at some point. In fact, I sort of still buy into the realm of safety and fantasy that we once had will return. I like to believe that something will happen and bring back the light that Noctrule demands us Pegasus ponies to block out. It’s now just a usual routine to me, though. Find whatever dark clouds I can, make sure they’re in every crevice that the dead sun strives to break through, and continue until my wings either give out from exhaustion, or they blow the whistle to signal the end of our shifts. It’s a sad existence that I might have missed just because of my own mane. When you’re a rainbow-colored Pegasus, you’re seen as a threat to Noctrule’s dark kingdom. At times, I believe that I missed his execution hatchet just because of how well I could maneuver the skies and control the clouds of Ponyville – or more recently known as Shroudlane.

I suppose this whole incident can be traced back to my own doing. In fact, I wholeheartedly believe that I’m the sole reason for Noctrule being the way he is today; dark, sinister, unforgiving, and evil. It was just about a year before Noctrule showed himself to everypony from the Everfree forest. I managed to create the fabled sonic rainboom for the second time in my short life, causing me to win a full day with the Wonderbolts and, in turn, causing Noctrule to gain his hatred for all things bright and colorful. No pony quite understands why seeing my sonic rainboom affected Noctrule the way it did, but it caused him to gather an army of dark ponies, and march all throughout Equestria, causing darkness and death in his wake. Those of us that remained were either too fearful of Noctrule to fight back, or handpicked by the pony himself to do his bidding.

Of course I wasn’t afraid of him. Everypony knew Rainbow Dash for being one of the bravest ponies in all of Equestria. Although, after he executed our own Princess Celestia, I knew I had no possible way of defeating him. Princess Celestia had fought hard against Noctrule, trying her best to protect not only herself, but all of Equestria. But, Noctrule’s dark powers were too much, and she fell. That was 20 years ago, and all of us ponies left had aged and hardened. I somehow think that our bodies have been tainted by the darkness that continually pervades throughout this horrible kingdom. My body, once a bright and bold light blue, was now faded, and nearly gray, my mane still barely holding onto its rainbow streaks. Even our cutie marks were nonexistent, this new world never allowing anypony to have access to their special abilities that made them unique.

It had been nearly five years since I’d seen any of my old friends. Twilight Sparkle, Pinkie Pie, Applejack, Rarity, and Fluttershy were all hard at work with their own forced labor duties. I would not even have any way of knowing whether they were still alive or not. However, this was not new. None of this was. It was just now considered normal to never see a smile during the day, never hear any laughter, even from the young colts and phillies that were allowed to live, or even speak a single word to another pony. This was a reality that I knew well, as well as any other pony in Equestria knew. We were never allowed to congregate, and some ponies went crazy being locked into their own minds with their own thoughts providing them the only social interaction they'd receive. But, my mind was clear, and my mind had wonderful thoughts of escape, and thoughts of flying freely once more. Thoughts of rebellion, thoughts of overthrowing Noctrule and his darkness that would cause me only to plan and ponder each and every day. It then came to a point that this next day would be the day. The day that I would stop my planning, and commence actions that would free all of Equestria. I would finally put to action my long thought out plan to reunite with my old friends, and take back Equestria. I am Rainbow Dash. I am fearless. I will win.

Chapter 1: I Am Free

You know those nights when you know you need to sleep, but you can’t because something big is going to happen the next day? That’s exactly how I felt as I lay deathly quiet on my cloud along with the other Pegasi. I knew everypony else was asleep. No one else would share my feelings, only because I hadn’t trusted a single soul to keep my plans secret. With Noctrule’s guards every where, it was tough to get a word in to any other pony. I cautiously opened one of my eyes to see if there were any guards specifically watching me. I looked from left to right, making sure to double check myself by raising my wings. I paused, half-expecting to have them cut off right then and there. However, nothing came. The coast was clear… For now.

I opened both of my eyes, and slowly stood. I felt the joy and excitement build up inside my heart, that kind of excitement that used to show itself right before a race. 20 long years of no speed, no wind in my mane, no rush of momentum… It was almost enough to kill me. But this one moment that I now had was enough to give me a smile that I hadn’t felt on my lips in a very long time. I knew I could fly faster than any pony in Equestria. That was long ago… Why did it have to change now? I spread my wings out fully, noticing how much they’d grown since I’d been in captivity. Thinking of my younger self only naturally made me conscious of how large my wings were now. I was a full-grown Pegasus, and I could sure as hell fly like one.

With one large push from the cloud that once held me, I was nearly ten feet into the air. As I expected, this sudden movement alerted Noctrule’s buffoons. The black-coated Pegasi flew toward me with immense speed, threats of death already evident in their red eyes. A few Pegasi were alerted as well, turning their heads to look at the sudden commotion of wings. I took one quick glance at the ponies below me, then finally to the black-coated ones heading straight for me. I gave them as challenging a look as I dared, and pushed my wings against the wind as fast as I could. I could hear their shouts behind me as I gained speed, and fought the gravity’s pull, “You little bitch! We’ll tear your wings out!”

I knew they weren’t bluffing. If I slowed down now or even hit the wrong draft, my wings would be good as gone. And I’d be left to bleed to death from their absence. Letting instinct take over, I rode the winds like I owned them and knew their every move. I pulled sharp turns around any loose clouds I could find, climbing higher and higher. I pushed myself farther toward the infinite gray of clouds, knowing that a little longer, and I could begin making distance lateral-wise without worrying about their pursuit. I pushed and pushed my wings, so much so that it felt like the feathers might fall right out with the wind as it fell behind me. Without realizing it, I looked around my shoulder to see nothing but darkness in this gray sky. However, once I realized that I should keep my eyes ahead, it was too late.

The impact of my body with Noctrule’s henchman felt like hitting a wall of bricks. I could see nothing but redness and swirls throughout my vision. Next thing I knew, I was hurtling back down to the ground, seemingly faster than what I’d flown moments ago. My head nor my wings would not function properly, although I knew I risked being either caught, or flattened out on the hard ground if they didn’t work right. Both spelled certain death. I shook my head to try and clear the fuzziness when I realized that I was not falling alone. Above me and catching up quickly was the pony I’d just impacted onto. Those guys are hard as stone! How do they even fly?! I thought to myself as he drew closer.

His red eyes glowed as he came closer, and I knew he was looking for blood. My blood. This fear seemed as though it would have been enough to make my wings work, but it seemed the shock of the impact somehow rendered them useless. Finally close enough to reach me, he sunk his teeth into my neck, causing a scream of pain to escape my throat. One detail I somehow missed was how sharpened their teeth were. I could feel the points of his teeth break my skin, and dig deep into my neck’s nerve endings. I fought against his grip to seemingly no avail. I shook my neck, kicked my hooves into his jaw, but he really did seem to be made of stone.

Noctrule must’ve enchanted them somehow… They’re… Invincible!

I could feel the blood leaving my body. He was draining me of my blood! As disgusted as I was to find out so much about this pony, I still couldn’t seem to free myself from him. We were both falling at a continually high speed, spinning in a tangle, and my voice continuing to fade as my life did. Nonetheless, I continued my fight, and would until I was dry of blood. I managed to reach my right front leg to his back, where both his wings were flailing for some leverage in slowing his body’s descent, natural of a Pegasus’s wings. I quickly wrapped my leg around one of his wings and gave it my all.

I let out a groan of effort that mixed with pain, and pulled with what was left of my strength. After a moment of pulling, through the wind rushing past us, I heard a snap, then finally a ripping tear as I felt his wing come out from his back. Just as I freed him of his wing, he freed me of his vice grip. A blood-curdling scream now filled his mouth as his blood covered his body, his other wing frantically trying to make up for the loss of its equal. I took this opportunity to bring my wings back to life, momentarily happy to find that they were properly working once again. I realized that the ground was quickly approaching, and I had no time to waste.

I spread my wings and pushed heavily against the momentum that continued to carry me. The ground still came closer, but my wings wouldn’t let up. They flapped and pushed, finally succeeding in beginning to slow my descent. Although, I came to the realization that I’d been falling for far too long to catch even myself. I began to mentally prepare myself. I closed my eyes tightly. My wings continued to flutter uselessly as the ground became closer and closer… But there was no hard, concrete impact. In fact, I felt that I landed on… something soft.

“Ugh! Hold on… Dash!”

I didn’t recognize the voice that acknowledged me. It was somehow familiar, but as though it was from Equestria’s past reality. Someone that I’d known before Noctrule made himself known. My eyes flew open to see a smaller Pegasus body below me, its color a once bright tangerine. Her mane was a dark pink as the wind rushed through it. I then realized who it was.

“Scootaloo! You’re… You’re alive?!”

“I-“ Scootaloo began before both her and I were sent off course, and falling once more. I looked up to see that another one of Noctrule’s guards were wrestling with her. Sudden rage came over me as I watched that bastard put his teeth around her smaller neck. I spread my own wings, thankful that Scootaloo had saved me and gave me more time to recover my flight abilities. I forced my tiring wings to push me toward where Scootaloo was fighting a losing battle. I was mere feet away from them, but it was too late.

The black colt jerked his head, and I heard a large snapping sound that came from Scootaloo’s neck. I stopped just as the black Pegasus did. Scootaloo’s body went limp and fell without resistance, her wings having no reason to even save her. She was gone. As she faded from view, gravity having pulled her into her final resting place, hot tears began to swell within my eyes.

“You… Y-You… You… BASTARD!”

I screamed at the top of my lungs, ignoring the protesting pain in my neck, and my quickly fading energy. The tears flowed even heavier as I charged straight at Scootaloo’s murderer. I charged so fast at him, he did not even have the time to react. As I passed by him, I dug my teeth into the feathers of his wings, and kept going. The force was enough that I knew it pulled his wings clear out of his body. I could feel the blood on my face and all throughout my mane. But I wasn’t done with him yet. I looped back around, going toward his falling body at an insanely high speed. As I grew closer, time seemed to slow down.

For once, I saw fear in his dark red eyes. Something that made this vengeance justified. I lodged my mouth around the base of his jaw, and held on as if my own life depended on it. I pulled him with me, feeling his head begin to dislodge itself from its socket. I squeezed my eyes shut before giving one last giant pull. My tears mixed with this colt’s decapitated blood as I felt the weight I held within my mouth grow less. I threw his head to the ground where it belonged next to his falling body. I tasted his blood in my mouth, but I couldn’t care less. Scootaloo hadn’t died in vain. She saved me, and she deserved to be avenged.

I only slowed for that instant before picking up my speed once again. I flew higher, and higher, and higher, until I felt like I couldn’t fly any more. My ears popped as I climbed and climbed, not sure where I would end up, but knew I was going somewhere. With my eyes still closed, I wouldn’t know if I was going to run into something, or even be stopped. But I didn’t care. I would keep going, keep the wind in my mane. For as long as possible.

Then, I began to slow as something extraordinarily bright hit my eyelids. I opened them, and revealed to my eyes the sun. It was just coming up over the horizon, its rays never penetrating the heavy set of dark clouds Noctrule ordered to always be present. I stared into the sun until my eyes burned. I wanted it more. It’d been so long. I began to fly toward it, knowing that Noctrule’s guards wouldn’t be stupid enough to fly so high.

I don’t know how long I’d been flying toward the sun’s warm rays. It must’ve not been long, for the sun never came more than a few feet from the horizon’s edge. My eyes began to close, and my wings began to give up. I knew the wound on my neck was beginning to take its real toll. Without the adrenaline in my body to keep me going, I was now running on nothing. All my energy was gone.

As my wings stopped moving, they failed to even fold properly as I began to plummet toward the ground. I chuckled to myself lightly.

Well… I escaped… I knew I could escape.

The last thing I saw was the sun’s rays disappearing behind the dark clouds, as my eyes slowly closed, my fate sealed and my body no longer able to take it. I accepted the darkness with a smile on my face. I saw the sun again. That was freedom enough for me. I am Rainbow Dash. I am free at last.