The vastness of the ever changing, dark, expanse of my mind played out before me. Shadows seemed to move before my mind’s eye, twisting into horrific shapes of my past. Ponyville was shown to me, dark, dead and cold. Bodies lined the streets and bathed it in a thick viscous culmination of blood and bone. Decayed remains of it’s homes, stores and citizens seemed to create a dreadful Ponycasso. I cringed, my very body writhing in disgust, not at that which I saw, but at my failure for preventing it.

My thoughts, darkened by my self-loathing, caused the bodies of those dead to move. They stood, bones bare of muscle and sinew, shambling through my past home. Their breaths, moving effortlessly as wisps haunting the night, escaped their non existent lungs. I screamed out, wishing this frightful image to leave my thoughts. They turned, looking at me, eyes black as Luna’s darkest night pierced my very soul. ”You did this, you caused us this pain. They called out to me, whispering, through never moving and non existent lips. ”You were the tool of our damnation… the herald of our undoing.”

"NO!” I screamed. My mind burned, catching the wreckage of Ponyville ablaze. The skeletal creatures whispering dark thoughts of failure and betrayal hissed out. Their bodies aflame they cursed me only more, their whispers darkening my very soul as I thought of those I’d lost. ”You will deliver us all into the very cradle of hell!” Their collective voices screamed at me.

”Stop! Leave me alone! There wasn’t anything I could do! I was weak and on the verge of death, I couldn’t have saved any of you!” I screamed back. ”Keep telling yourself that, Rainbow.” A familiar voice called to me. Suddenly Ponyville was gone, the darkness had returned and no light existed in the world my mind had created. I could see nothing, I felt nothing. Eyes, eyes, suddenly appeared, their crimson hue piercing through the darkness. Those eyes… those damnable eyes that burned with unmitigated hatred and disgust. They stared at me, unwavering with their gaze. “What do you want?” I called out into the darkness. ”I just want to play.”

My entire body burned and my vision blurred, overpowered by a blinding light. I found myself laying upon sand and stone. I rubbed my eyes and gasped, once my sight had adjusted, as I saw that I stood among the ruins of Canterlot. ”Truly terrifying, isn’t it?” My dark self asked, as she appeared at my side. ”I bet your very soul, our soul, is absolutely writhing with pain. Then again, I feel nothing. I feel no pain, no remorse, only hatred.” She smiled and stepped before me, her black coat absorbing the light. ”Why have you brought me here!?” I shouted, rising to stand.

She stepped towards me, bringing her right hoof up to strike my jaw. I staggered back, caught off guard by her sudden assault. ”Like I said… I just want to play.” I steadied myself, my wings spreading as I readied to charge her. She simply continued to smile, bouncing on her hoofs. ”Come on champ, round two, lets go.”

I rushed her, our hooves smashing into each others, as she met my attack head on. We struggled for power, trying to push the other back, trying to assert an edge on the other. ”I’ve been watching you, Dashie.” She whispered, seamlessly transitioning from our power struggle to stand behind me.

”Damn!” I managed to shout before she brought her hoof up to slam into my chest, sending me flying into one of the buildings that surrounded us. The decayed building crumbled from the sudden impact, of my body and shifted, sending it crashing down on top of me.

”This seems familiar, Rainbow. This time, however, there will not be a Draconequus to save you. Now climb out of that mess you’ve created and stand to face me.”

”I seem to remember me kicking your flank around, last time. Now tell me, why have you been watching me?” I asked, shifting a large slab of stone from atop me. ”Or are you just trying to get inside my head!” I shouted back to her. I stood among the rubble, staring at her, feeling a small trickle of blood make its way down my forehead.

”In your head?” She laughed, kicking up a bit of dust in amusement. ”I’m always in that little, striped, head of yours.” She simply replied.

”So you’re not going to answer my question then?”

”What was the question again?” She smiled.

”Fine! I’ll just beat the answer out of you!” I roared, leaping into the air. I sped towards her, my right hoof pulled tightly against me, ready to attack.

She stood, never moving, as I drew closer. ”Poor, poor, Dashie. You’re far too busy fighting with yourself to notice the truth.” She spoke, tilting her head as her smile became more twisted. ”Or maybe you’d rather just ignore the truth.”

I struck out at her with all my strength, only to have her knock my attack away. I spun, grabbing her with my left hoof, as I used the momentum of my body to toss her over my hip. ”Damn you.” She hissed, quickly climbing back to her hooves. ”I’ll make you pay for that.”

”I bet you will.” I grinned. I readied myself to attack her once more, digging my back hooves into the ground, my wings flaring open. ”So tell me, do you remember the question yet?”

”Nope, can’t say that I do.” She replied flatly. Within a moment she was upon me, we fought viciously, trading blow for blow, with no desire to bend to the others will. Each attack seemed to bend the world around us as our fight went on, each strike sending a burning sensation throughout my body. I suddenly feigned to my right, quickly switching my stance as I fired a shot into her ribs with my left hoof. She stumbled back, wheezing, as she tried to replenish the air my attack had forced from her lungs.

”How dare you!” I screamed. ”How dare you pull me back into this twisted world, this pit of hatred! You say you’ve been watching me, then offer me no answer as to why!" Within that moment I could feel all the disgust, all the disdain, I had felt upon our first meeting return. I was not fighting to find an answer, nor was I fighting for a cause. No. I had been thrust into this petty fight because of her desire, her lust for bloodshed. I could feel the sensation of battle wash over me, filling me with the familiar desire to destroy the one that stood before me as an enemy.

”You!” I shouted once more as I moved towards her. ”For all your strength you are still nothing more than a bad thought, a nightmare, that I wish to be rid of!” I stopped, standing before her as I glared at her with an overwhelming desire to strike her down. ”You think that you can take my place!? You think that you can snuff out my light, with your darkness! I will destro-”

”Well that’s enough of that.” She grinned.

I gasped, staggering back as I reeled from the sudden impact of her hoof against my throat. ”What was that, I can’t hear you, speak up?” She hummed as she stepped towards me. I struggled to speak, my eyes full of tears as pain surged through my throat. ”Well now you’re just being rude.” She spun, throwing a swift kick to my stomach that sent me flying back. My body soared through the air, slamming hard against the ground, before rolling to a stop.

She taunted me, whistling as she slowly approached me. She lifted me up, standing me on my hooves, before throwing another swift kick to my stomach. I could feel my legs begin to buckle from the force of her attack, another kick saw that my legs would hold me no longer. As my body began to fall back to the earth she put her forehooves together and brought them down between my shoulders, causing my body to slam into the ground, bouncing from the force.

”You actually thought you could beat me.” She grabbed my throat, raising me into the air, firing off several more attacks. A loud crack echoed out and I writhed in pain, as her hoof slammed into my ribs.

She chuckled as she brought her hoof back and buried it into my stomach, sending me flying through the air, quickly bringing it to a halt as she grabbed me once more and slammed my beaten body back to the ground. ”Look at it, Rainbow! Look at this world you bind me to!” She roared, lifting me once more and turning me to stare at Canterlot. ”This is more than some silly world created by your mind! This is a world created from your very soul! A world that reflects the world that you will create! This is the future that you will bring to Equestria! This is what your silly ideals will create, a wasteland! This is the truth that you ignore!”

I spit out the blood that had pooled in my mouth and scoffed, barely able to find the strength to do so. ”What are you even talking about?” I managed, my throat still gripped with pain.

”You wish to save everypony… you wish to restore this world, but the simple fact is: You never will.” She began to chuckle, after she spoke, eventually erupting into a fit of insane laughter. ”You hold onto ideals of the world as it was, but you fail to realize that the world has changed. Ponies, even if Chrysalis is defeated, will never go back to how things were. This war has changed them all. Even if it were to end, they would forever carry the paranoia and fear that they’ve come to see as normal. Harmony no longer exists and never will again, only darkness will live on.”

”Ponies will go back to how things were.” I replied. ”They will not cast away the ways of harmony, simply because of the things that bug has done.”

”No. You’re wrong, Rainbow.” My body stiffened as she threw me back to the ground. I tried to scream, but my voice failed me as she put a hoof to the back of my head and held me down. ”You’re simply a broken element, a pretender, holding on to the past.” I tried to crawl away as she spoke, feeling her grab a hold of my left wing. ”Many have already forgotten and many more shall. Those lucky enough and strong enough, will adopt the darkness. They will grow stronger from it and use it, like I’d hoped you would.” She whispered into my ear, before pushing my face into the earth and ripping my wing from my body.

I screamed, my body convulsing in pain, having experienced losing my wing once more. ”I usually try not to disappoint, but in your case I think I’ll make an exception.” I managed through bloodied coughs, my entire body engulfed by pain.

”Aw, Dashie… that hurts. I was hoping that we could be friends, since you seem to love making friends.” Her mocking tone was evident as she spoke, tossing my now ripped wing to the ground. You know I’ve been wondering something, as you’ve leisurely strolled through the carnage Equestria has become.” She paused, turning from me to gaze at the ruins of Canterlot. ”Why waste your time collecting ‘friends’ and ‘comrades’ when they’re just gonna die?”

”Shut up! I’ll give my life to protect them!” I shouted, causing my body to tense and stifle my voice.

”You only have one life, Rainbow, and I’m pretty sure you’ve got more than one companion. In fact theres that Trickster, the nurse and who knows how many others. Do you intend to die for each of them? Have you somehow figured out a way to bring yourself back to life, just so you can die for each one?”

”If that’s what it takes to keep them safe… then that’s exactly what I’ll do.”

”Such conviction, such strength.” She paused, staring down at my with empty eyes. ”I’m so very looking forward to the day when I can see you break… or perhaps I’m looking forward to the day that I will break you.”

”Why have you shown up? Why would you show yourself to me now?”

She turned back to me, a smile playing at the corner of her lips and chuckled. ”Show up? Why, Dashie, I’m always with you. I’m everything you can and should be. You are nothing but a vessel, mindlessly navigating this world. You are a shell, broken and cracked, simply waiting to fall away. What is within that shell? Well, that should be evident… me.”

”I am Rainbow Dash and you are nothing more than a twisted shadow!” I shouted. I pushed my body, focused my will and forced myself to stand. My legs trembled under my weight, as pain throbbed throughout my entire body.

”To save this world from the monsters… you’ll have to become a monster.” She replied calmly. ”You’ll realize this, eventually, and then you’ll beg for my help. I’ll be waiting, watching, with anticipation for that day. The day that you and I become one, once more, so that we can save Equestria.”

”You and I will never become one! I will never ask for your help! I will save Equestria with my own strength and with the help of my friends!” I shouted, coughing up more blood.

”One day, you will need me. One day, you will beg for my strength, but perhaps it’s foolish to look to the future.” She paused closing her crimson eyes. ”No, it is too soon to look to the future.” She turned from me once more and began to walk. ”Seek out the start of all things.” She called to me as she vanished before my very eyes.

The very earth beneath my hooves seemed to tremble as a well of darkness erupted from Canterlot. The blackness of my own hatred splashed across the canvas of this artificial world, swallowing it and returning it to darkness. I turned and ran, trying to stay ahead of it. I didn’t want to return to the darkness, to have my light extinguished by it once more.

“NO! Not again!” I screamed. I sat up, my eyes darting open before quickly covering them with my hooves. I had been blinded by the lights surrounding me, by the sterile room I found myself in.

“Rainbow, are you alright!?” I heard Octavia call out and could feel her hooves take hold of me, as I suddenly writhed in pain. I screamed, my entire back ablaze with pain worse than that which a thousand blades could inflict. “Rainbow be careful!”

“My back!” I continued to scream, thrashing within Octavia’s grasp.

“Calm down!” Octavia shouted, pushing me back onto the table I had woke up on. “You’ll rip open the stitching!”

My body continued to convulse, nausea quickly taking hold of me. I rolled to my side, expelling the contents of my stomach onto the floor. “My back, my back is on fire!” I managed to shout through gasps for air, as I continued to be sick. Then suddenly, almost as quickly as the pain had started, it subsided. My body became heavy and I couldn’t move.

“This is my fault, I’m sorry.” Octavia spoke, as she rolled me onto my back. I watched her, through heavy eyes, tighten straps around my legs and chest. She sighed, wiping a bit of sweat from her brow, before looking to me and smiling. “I should have warned you this would happen.”

“You… you knew this would happen?”

“Yes, I did.” She replied. “The prosthetic I used, for your new wing, is created from an ancient form of magic.”

“Earth ponies can’t use magic.” I managed to reply.

“All ponies can use magic, it’s just that unicorns are the only ponies able to do so without a catalyst. In the case of your new wing, well, it acts as it’s own catalyst. The metal used is infused with magic that allows it to become a ‘living metal’. Because of this magic, Rainbow, your new wing will feel just as light and flexible as your original.”

“So you’re saying that it’ll be like I never lost my wing?”

“Exactly.” Octavia replied. “The wing will feel as natural as the one you were born with.”

“So I take it everything went fine?”

“Yes, it did indeed. Luckily your fight with that ‘Bane Tooth’ pretender didn’t do as much damage as I’d previously speculated. It was a clean cut, one slice, no tearing or ripping. That meant the muscle mass was still there, which aside from the bone is crucial to having the prosthetic take hold to the host.”

I thought over what Octavia was saying, relieved that everything had went well. I was still hesitant to ask the one question that burned at the back of my mind, though. Gripped by some sort of unfamiliar fear, a sense of unease that would not pass, I finally spoke. “So tell me, Octavia, when will I be able to fly once again?”

She looked at me, smiling, leaning towards me to place her hoof on mine. “Don’t worry, you’ll be able to fly again, soon. You’re gonna have to let your wing heal and get fully adjusted to your body, but after that you’ll be soaring once more.”

I sighed and smiled, my body still heavy, but at least I was at ease. I turned my head slowly, examining the room Octavia had placed me in, when a random thought came to me. “Where is everypony?”

“Vinyl is upstairs, seeing to the ponies in the club. As for Redheart and Trixie, well I believe they are out scouting the city.”

“Oh.” I replied. “I had hoped they’d have been here, when I woke up.” I turned my head to stare at the ceiling, sighing as I let my eyes slip shut. “I hope they’re alright.”

“I’m sure they’re fine. I mean Trixie has always been one of those ponies who seems to attract trouble, but Redheart can get her out of anything she stumbles upon.” Octavia replied.

Her words brought me a mixture of unease and relief, as I thought them over. “Thanks.” I said suddenly. “Now I keep picturing Trixie getting into a bar fight and having Redheart bail her out.” I laughed.

“Well you wouldn’t be too far off with that assumption.” Redheart suddenly called out.

My eyes shot open and I quickly moved to set up, but found myself still bound to the table. “You’re here.” I managed, suddenly overcome by a surge of emotion. “You’re safe.”

“Now, now, Dashie. There isn’t an reason to get emotional, we’re just fine,” Redheart smiled. “In fact we even found a friend.” As she spoke she stepped to the side, revealing Trixie. “Go on, Trixie, introduce our new friend to Dashie.” I noticed Redheart shoot Trixie a stern glare, as the azure mare simply sighed in defeat.

“Yes… well…” Trixie began, averting the gaze of Redheart. “Dashie, I’m glad that you’re alright.” She said suddenly. She smiled as she stood there, looking me over. “Well… I suppose you should speak to her.” Trixie sighed, turning from me and moving from my sight.

I closed my eyes and sighed. “Whats wrong with Trixie?” I asked suddenly.

“Aw she’ll be okay.” I heard a pony call out.

My mind suddenly flooded with images of the past. I recalled the most mundane of things, the simple things that once brought me joy. Then suddenly a scent, a scent that I had always seemed to know, filled me with nostalgia and caused my heart to swell. I could suddenly recall every single blonde hair that made up a beautiful mane, as it fell freely across my face. I could feel the warmth of a sunset that bathed two bodies in soft glowing light. A name, the one name that I had carried with me everyday… everyday since I had lost everything.

“Dammit.” I mumbled softly, feeling a tear fall across my cheek. I cursed my mind, cursed it for playing such an awful trick on me. That scent, her scent, was no more. That beautiful blonde mane, was no more. That pony, she was no more… Applejack… was no more.

“Something wrong, Dashie?” The pony called to me once again.

“Stop it!” I shouted. Tears fell as I clenched my eyes shut and tried to think of anything but her. “Stop it, please.”

“Ah’ll do no such thing, not until Ah known what's wrong.”

I froze, my body stiffened, and swallowed hard. I racked my mind, thinking of an answer to this newcomer. I wanted to open my eyes, to look at this pony… but I was afraid. “You’re not her.” I spoke. “There's no way you’re her.”

“Ah thought you might react like this.”

I could hear hooves drawing closer and soon felt the presence of another at my side. The scent, her scent, grew stronger. I couldn’t help myself any longer. I opened my eyes, turning my head to the side, and gasped. Suddenly lips, her lips, met mine and my heart felt as if would erupt from my very chest. She took a step back, the warmth from her kiss quickly fading as I longed for it to return. I could do nothing but stare at her, taking in every inch of her form. It was her… it was Applejack… my Applejack.