As Twilight awoke, she saw no sign of Rainbow Dash or the commander. A single tear ran down her face at the realization that she would never see the element of loyalty again. Getting a hold of herself, she began to inspect her friends. As she moved to Rarity's location, she winced from the pain of the burns across her body.
When she reached her, she noticed the white unicorn was still frozen solid. She cast a heat spell in an attempt to unfreeze Rarity. The spell would take a while to work, so she moved on to Applejack, using the same spell on her.
When she was done with that, she began to hobble over to Pinkie and Fluttershy. Reaching them, she noticed that they were unconscious, but breathing. She cast a healing spell on them to fix their wounds, allowing them to sleep for longer.
She then hurried to the princesses and Discord. Princess Celestia was in terrible shape, her body covered in bruises, while Discord had managed to heal himself and began to stir. "Discord," began Twilight, but was hushed by the draconequus.
"It's okay," he said. "I'll take care of Celestia. Get to Luna." Oddly, he spoke in a serious tone, one that Twilight had never heard him speak in before. Never the less, she moved as quickly as possible to Luna who, after further inspection, was revealed to be okay. She had burns and a few cuts, but her breathing was normal and she had recovered most of her energy while knocked out.
An hour passed by quickly, with each of Twilight's spells finishing and her friends reviving. As they gathered around her along with the princesses and Discord, Applejack raised the question. "What happened to Rainbow?" Twilight broke down at this, her body shaking with sobs.
"She took the commander to some other planet so she could defeat him and save us." Tears began to jump from everyone, even the formidable princesses and Discord.
"But, Dashie can't be gone," whimpered Pinkie.
"Yeah," began Applejack. "How can we go on without her? Is there any way we can see her again? Will she ever make it back? Can't we help her?"
"No!" shouted Twilight, completely losing what composer she had left. "She's too far away to get a psychic link, and she's probably dead by now anyway!" Everyone was speechless. Without any other words, the group of five ponies left the throne room to return to Ponyville and mourn their friend. Princess Celestia insisted that Twilight stay behind for medical attention. After all, no pony takes 20,000 volts and survives without some damage. She agreed and bid her friends good bye for the time being.
The other ponies boarded the train to leave and soon arrived in Ponyville. Princess Luna and Celestia joined Twilight in the castle hospital to watch over her and make sure she made a full recovery.
"She'll find a way back," comforted Celestia. "You know how strong and loyal Rainbow Dash is. She wouldn't leave you behind like this."
"Besides," broke in Luna, "using her energy, she could keep an atmosphere around her if she has to fly back."
"Don't be stupid Luna," answered Twilight. The sentence took the princesses back. "Even if she did find her way off the planet and into space, she's too far away to even keep a psychic link. That means it would take a lifetime to get back here."
"Don't doubt her so easily my student," said Celestia. She then left the room with Luna, leaving Twilight alone with some medical equipment and her thoughts.
/)*#*(\
"Ugh, my head," groaned Rainbow Dash as she picked herself up off of the carpet she had appeared on. Wait. Carpet? Did that mean she made it home? She quickly looked down at Storm Blade to examine him and see how he was doing. The skin on his back had opened where he was hit and he began bleeding. His aura was extremely week, and Rainbow wasn't sure how long he would last.
"Alright ya big lug," she said, picking him up and putting him on her shoulders. "We gotta get to the Ponyville hospital." As she cleared her vision, she began to look at her surroundings. It looked like she was in Applejack's room. 'But how did I get here? All I typed into the teleporter was Equestria. Why would I show up here?' she thought to herself.
Before she could continue her thoughts, she heard a door opening behind her. When she turned around, there was a figure standing in the door way.
"Bu-bu-but you're dead. How the hay are you...? What've you done with the real Rainbow Dash? Is this some kinda sick trick?" Her accent gave her away immediately.
"What do you mean Applejack? It's me! It's Rainbow Dash. Don't you remember me?"
"Remember ya? Hell, how could any of us forget you? You saved Equestria! But, you can't be Rainbow. She disappeared and never showed up again. So what the hay are you?!"
"Wait, how long have I been gone?" Then, Rainbow heard a voice from the 'Wibley Wobbly Timey Wimey Teleporter'.
"Thank you for using this machine to save your life. Keep in mind that if you're just teleporting, you might end up going through time as well. It should only be by a year at the most, but our company is working out the glitch now."
"Great," muttered Rainbow. "Now you tell me."
"You've been gone for three months!" This shocked Rainbow Dash. She was sure she had only been fighting for a few hours at most. But then again, the device had just given her the time warning.
"For me, it's only been a few hours since I left." Now it was Applejack's turn to be shocked.
"But how? Ya know what, never mind. We're takin' you to Twilight right now!" Before Rainbow could protest, Applejack grabbed her by her hoof and started walking her there.
"Wait!" shouted Rainbow. "This stallion on my back, he's badly hurt. I gotta get him to the Ponyville hospital!"
Releasing a sigh of annoyance, Applejack finally said, "Okay fine. But as soon as you drop him off, come to the library." Rainbow broke away from Applejack and left the house in a flash. As soon as she was outside, she took to the skies, dragging along the heavy stallion and his heavier blade. She was surprised he could even hold it.
After a few minutes of flying, she landed outside the hospital, rushing inside. The doctor that had taken care of her when her wing broke saw her come in. "Rainbow Dash? But I thought you were dead!" He shook his head. "In any case, what happened? Did you break a wing again?"
He then noticed the stallion bleeding on her back.
"Oh my. Nurse, get him to a room." Storm was wheeled off on a cart, probably to the I.C.U. Rainbow made sure to grab his sword before he was taken away. Using a harness that Storm had been wearing to hold the sword, she put it on her back and left the hospital. She began to fly to Twilight's library, anxious to see her friends again. After all, if they hadn't seen her for three months, how would they react to seeing their friend 'back from the dead'. Back from the dead. Rainbow had to chuckle to herself at that thought.
As she neared the library, she saw Applejack standing outside the door waiting for her. "Everypony's inside Rainbow," said the apple farmer. She held open the door for Rainbow as she walked inside.
Everyone had a glass of water and were talking back and forth. Pinkie's hair had been deflated since Rainbow's disappearance, and Twilight had let her live at the library until she could get back to her job. Everypony still looked devastated. Then they noticed the cyan pegasis who stepped through the door.
Everyponys' jaws dropped. Rarity ran away crying, Fluttershy went after her to hide, Pinkie Pie's hair re-inflated, and Twilight just kept staring.
"DASHIE!" shouted the pink party pony, jumping onto Rainbow and giving her a hug.
"Hey Pinkie. It's good to see you."
"But, you're dead," said Twilight, her voice shaking. "You disappeared and you told me you couldn't get back."
"Yeah, well, I got some help." She pulled the sword off her back and showed it to Twilight. The purple alicorn recoiled suddenly after picking it up with her magic. She dropped the sword onto the wood floor, creating a good sized dent in the wood.
"What's wrong?" asked Applejack.
"That sword," began Twilight, "isn't from this time period. It won't be crafted until 10 years from now." Again, Rainbow Dash, Applejack, and Pinkie Pie's jaws dropped.
"Oh! Right!" said Rainbow. "When I said I got help, it was definitely a kind I didn't expect." She then explained to them the events of the battle, Storm Blade's appearance, and the commander's eventual defeat.
"Wow Rainbow," said Twilight. "You've been through a lot." Everyone finally noticed how beat up Rainbow actually was. Her mane was tangled and in a mess and her body was still covered in bruises and cuts. Apparently, time travel doesn't fix that.
"So then, that's the stallion's sword?" said Fluttershy, finally leading Rarity out of the kitchen.
"Yeah. I stopped by the hospital to drop him off. He's in worse shape than me. I didn't want them to take his sword. It was obvious it was important to him."
"Well, we're just glad to see you safe, darling," said Rarity. "We've set up a memorial for you at the Ponyville graveyard." She noticed the look of shock in Rainbow's eyes. "It's just, we all thought you were dead. We had to honor you somehow."
"Thanks guys," said Rainbow. She gave each of them a hug. "So now what? I mean, no doubt I've lost my job after being gone. And as far as I know, there aren't any more space ponies."
"Well, I guess you could stay with me Rainbow," said Twilight. "I can always use help in the library. And besides, I'm supposed to be getting a shipment containing the next five Daring Do books."
Rainbow's face lit up. "Sure Twilight," said the cyan pegasis. "If you don't mind me crashing with you for a while. I'll need more money to pay the house payment, and working for you might just get me there."
"What about Storm Blade, Dashie?" went Pinkie, beginning to bounce around the room.
Rainbow had almost forgotten about her new friend. "I'll go check on him. No doubt if he survived, he's awake by now. He'll probably want his sword back too." Everypony nodded to her, a signal that she was free to go. Nodding back, she turned and walked out the door. She then took off for the hospital, anxious to see her new stallion friend.