//------------------------------//
// Chapter 14 
// Story: Old memories 
// by TheSourceCode95 
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	It had been three days since Rainbow had opened up her story to Twilight. After a day they had told their friends the story. Or parts of it, at least. Rainbow was still not really comfortable telling stories of their past, and the rest of their friends had not asked any questions. The news had been hard on all of them, and all of them had responded in their own ways.

Fluttershy had broken out into tears, after which Rainbow had tried to calm her. After all, being Rainbow's first and probably closest friend, Fluttershy had been able to put the pieces together. Rarity had passed out, this time for real. She had to be taken to the medical ward for a closer examination, but seeing her running out of the place while complaining about the terrible style had been enough for the medical ponies to tell she was all right.

AJ had walked away at first. She had not known how to respond, and thought not responding until she knew was probably best. When she realised she was not the one to complain, she had come to Rainbow and excused herself. And then there was Pinkie. As soon as Pinkie had heard the tone of the news, her hair had deflated. Once the full story had been told, she had already filled up three buckets of tears. After fifteen minutes she had stopped crying, and had softly asked: "Goodbye party?"

Within an hour after that the ballroom of the palace had been transormed using Pinkie's party cannon. Balloons and confetti, punch and cake in all flavors, from cakes that seemed to be pure sugar to banana cakes. There had been three tables of cupcakes. Though they had decided not to make the story public yet, there had been a lot of rumors and numerous ponies from canterlot had shown up. At first there had only been the six friends, the princesses and Shining Armor, but after half an hour the ballroom had been filled.

After the party everypony had continued their day to day lifes as good as possible. Rainbow and Twilight had started preparing for Rainbow's last adventure to the edge of the Everfree Forest, to try to find her feather one last time. And, more importantly, to re-live one of her oldest memories. The other four had insisted to come with them at first, but once Rainbow said she'd prefer to do this with just Twilight, to Fluttershy's releif, they had quickly accepted that choise.

Those three days had gone by in what seemed like a matter of seconds, but now they were all set to leave their last Pinkie Party seemed ages ago. Rainbow and Twilight stood next to each other, facing their friends. Even though they had travelled into the Everfree multiple times, and Twilight had paid numerous visits to Zecora, the feeling of deadness of the place had never truely disappeared. Rainbow swallowed as she spoke to their friends. "We will be okay guys, don't worry. I've got Twilight with me after all. If something goes wrong she can always get us out."

Fluttershy had been really scared of the idea. Her last trips into the Everfree she had seen what those creatures can do. "But what if you lose each other?"

Rainbow sighed. "Then Twi can still teleport out." A small tear formed in the corner of her eye, realising that for her it did not matter any more. "Let's go, Twilight."

Just as Twilight was about to charge up her teleportation spell, the shadows moved. From them, Luna emerged. Her dark coat and mane had blended in perfectly with the long shadows cast by the morning sun. "Allow me. And good luck," she said as she teleported Twilight and Rainbow out of the castle, in the blink of an eye.

"The Everfree Forest." Rainbow shivered as she spoke that name. Luna had teleported them perfectly, a lot better than Twilight could have done. They were exactly at the spot Rainbow had marked on the map.

"Rainbow, could I have one of your feathers?" Twilight spoke.

Over the years Rainbow had learned not to question Twilight too much, because that would often lead to a long speech she could not understand. She unfolded her wing, and took out a feather with her mound. "Whatcha need it for, Twi?" she muffled.

Twilight grabbed the feather using her magic, and levitated it right in front of her. "Well, you want to find your feather right? So, why not track your feather down using magic?" She closed her eyes and her horn started to glow brighter and brighter. The feather in front of her started to shine bright, and started to spin.

"This feather, is now a feather compass," she said looking at the feather that was now pointing towards Rainbow.

"Well, that's not really usefull Twi, I'm right next to you, remember?"

Twilight giggled and closed her eyes again. Thin streams of magic flowed out of the tip of her horn, and towards Rainbow. They travelled across every bit of Rainbow's body, touching every feather shortly. The feather that now seemed to levitate in front of them by itself, started to spin around again. "How about now?"

"Amazing Twi, I betcha we can find that feather in no time!" Rainbow said looking at the feathercompass. "Well, what are we waiting for?"

"Well, you!" Twilight said, already running towards the direction the feather pointed in. Rainbow flapped her wings, and in three mighty strokes she had caught up to Twilight.

"Gotta be faster than that to beat me Twi!" Rainbow yelled, quickly flying out in front of Twilight. Behind her, the magenta mare had stopped running, and was now charging up her horn. A small poof caused Rainbow to turn her head, and look at the empty spot Twilight had stood just a second ago. Suddenly, she was jerked back, a purple glow surrounding her, a tree just a couple centimeters from her nose.

From next to the tree Twilight spoke up. "Hmm, interesting. Trees do not step aside for hurried pegasi... Why don't we take it a bit slower, Rainbow?"

Rainbow chuckled, this had not been the first time Twilight had stopped her from crashing into things. "Yeah, that might not be such a bad idea," she said while landing next to Twilight. "Is that feather still pointing in the same direction?"

Twilight opened her saddlebag and levitated the feather out of it. As soon as she released it, it began to spin again. Quickly at first, but rapidly slowing down. This time it pointed a little bit to the right. Rainbow raised her head, following the direction the feather was pointing in. It was pointing straight at a thick treeline. The Everfree Forest.

"So it is in there... Twi, are you sure you want to do this?"

Twilight had also noticed in what direction the feather was pointing, and had taken a book out of her saddle bag. "Just a second, ah, here it is." Her eyes scanned the page she had opened. She closed the book, and her eyes with it. Her horn started to glow again, and the feather shot forward. About five meters from them, it stopped. Twilight opened her eyes again. "We will have to walk pretty far in there Rainbow. But yes, I am sure I want to do this. Are you?"

Rainbow swallowed. They had been in the Everfree Forest a couple times before, but that had been across paths. And right now, there was not a path in sight. And then there was that strange influence. The sadness of the Everfree. No matter how often you went in that place, it was always there. On the normal paths it was a lot less, she had noticed. When they went to see Zecora, the influence had been a lot less than when they had traveled to the castle to find the elements. But she had to do this. "Yes Twilight, I have to. How far is it in?" she asked.

Twilight looked at the feather, and walked towards it. "One, two, three, four, five, five and a half kilometers."

"Okay, that should be doable," Rainbow said, walking up to Twilight with her wings spread. "But we are not going to walk, Twi. Allow me to show you, the advantages of wings."

Twilight looked at Rainbow. She had flown before, but that had been with something solid underneath her hooves, like a basket or a chariot. "Are you sure about that?" she asked.

"Yes Twilight, I'm sure. I've carried things heavier than you." Her cheeks went red as she realised what she had just said. "Not that you're heavy, not at all of course."

Twilight raised an eyebrow, and decided to tease Rainbow a little more. "So you're saying I'm too skinny?"

Rainbow shook her head, her cheeks turning even more red than they already were. "No, no! I mean, yes, you're skinny, no, not skinny, just.. Just get on!"

Twilight burst out into laughter. "I'm just teasing you, Rainbow," she managed to say.

"I knew that, I knew."

Twilight moved forwards, and awkwardly climbed up on Rainbow's back. "Where can I -" She was interrupted by two big wings unfolding underneath her, pushing the air down. In three big strokes they were already up above the treeline. Twilight cramped her front legs tightly around Rainbow's neck.

"Twi, too tight, no air," Rainbow let out. Instantly the grip around her neck was released a bit, but Twilight's rear legs around her belly tightened their hold. "Ahh, fresh air, that's better."

"Sorry"

Rainbow shot forward, heading for the Everfree. They reached the border within seconds, and continued forward. As soon as they had crossed the border into the Everfree, the winds picked up, and the sky darkened. The dense layer of clouds above them blocked out almost all sunlight. No matter how hard she tried, maintaining a straight line in these conditions was impossible. After a minute of flying she stopped, hovering in the air above the trees. "Twi, what direction?" she screamed. 

"I don't know, we need to land!"

She scanned the area below them, and found one small spot where there were no trees. Quickly she dove toward it. As soon as they were out of the open and below the leaves the wind fell. The leaves now above them, she could finally see what caused the trees not to grow around this place. Right below them, there was a lake. It was not a large lake, but still a reasonable size. The trees had grown around the lake, but not in it. Some vines had grown down to it, but not into it. They just stopped, a couple centimeters above the lake.

Rainbow landed on a small island not far from the edge of the lake. Twilight slid off her back. Rainbow looked at her. Her face was not a happy one. As soon as Rainbow saw that, she realised hers wasn't either. The effect of the Everfree had grabbed hold of them again. As soon as they had entered this place it had taken them in it's hold.

Neither of them said a word as Twilight took out the feather again. It started spinning again, but not horizontally this time. Instead it started spinning almost vertically. As it slowed down, it pointed almost straight up. Rainbow looked up, and right above them it was. Blue as the sky, shining like a rainbow, a small feather stuck between the leaves of an ancient tree of the Everfree. She flew up, and grabbed it with her mouth. Gently she put it behind her right wing, right underneath her shoulder. There it would be safe until she decided it was time for the feather to change it's position again. 

Rainbow landed next to Twilight, who was already charging up a spell. In the blink of an eye the grim trees around them were gone. Instead, they were standing on top of a cloud, hovering above a small pond in one of the gardens of canterlot.

A scream entered Rainbow's ear. She stuck her head through the hole in the cloud where Twilight had just stood. Underneath it, a soaking wet magenta mare with a lily pad on her head burst out into laughter. Rainbow quickly followed. They had made it, and she had found her feather. Thanks to Twilight.