Fate of the Fillies
Burned-out houses and heaps of rubble lined the streets of what used to be a town. There was hardly a building left untouched. The roads were dotted with pony-sized craters which one could stand knee-deep in. There wasn’t a pony to be seen in this once-thriving town. Suddenly, a large, round table appeared. Upon the table was a map and above the map was a portal. Spike, Starlight Glimmer, and Twilight Sparkle tumbled onto the table. “Get off of me!” Starlight ordered. “Where are we?”
“We’re in Ponyville,” replied Twilight as she got back on her hooves. “Or rather, what’s left of it.” Starlight stood up and took in her surroundings.
“This isn’t Ponyville! It’s some burned-out ghost town!”
“I wish I could say I’m surprised. Each world I come back to is worse than the last. Everything we do in the past affects the future, and what you’re doing leads here.”
“I don’t believe you! Tell me how stopping you and your friends from getting your cutie mark connection wiped Ponyville off the map! Tell me!”
“I—I don’t know, Starlight.” Twilight looked beyond the charred ruins of the town she had called home for the last few years. The Everfree Forest beyond the city limits caught her eye. “But maybe I can show you.”
Starlight rolled her eyes. “What’s that supposed to mean?”
“If you really want to know how this happened, I think I can prepare a potion that will let us look into the past.”
“And what if I don’t want to play along?” Starlight retorted. “What if I destroy this scroll right now?” She teleported the parchment out of Spike’s backpack and briefly brandished it in front of Twilight’s face before making a tiny tear on one side.
“Starlight, no! Please, just give me a chance! That’s all I ask.”
The thought of Twilight being left powerless and pleading for a mere chance to prove herself put a wicked little smirk on Starlight’s face. “Fine. I’ll give you your chance, Twilight. But if I even suspect that you’re twisting the truth, I’ll shred this scroll!”
“Then we go into the Everfree Forest.”
“Zecora? Zecora!?” No response came from within the dusky hut. Twilight carefully opened the creaky door and entered. “Zecora, are you there?” Still nothing.
“I guess not,” said Spike.
“I certainly hope nothing’s happened to her.” Twilight scanned the titles of books on a shelf. “Here it is.” She levitated a book over to a table and flipped through its pages.
“So, a potion, you said?” asked Starlight.
“That’s right. I’m making a potion that will let us look into the past, but preparing it might take a little while. Starlight, could you and Spike get a fire going?” Starlight reluctantly obliged. Over the next few minutes, the group lit a fire, filled a caldron, collected the ingredients, and brewed the potion. Last of all, Twilight used her alicorn magic to turn the purple liquid into a milky white broth. She then ladled out three bowlfuls. “Here’s to setting Equestria right again.”
“I’ll toast to that!” Spike clacked his wooden bowl against Twilight’s.
“Well, I will not,” declared Starlight. As she stared into the bowl, a frown formed on her face. “How exactly does this work again? Will I see the things you want me to see, or the things that actually happened? Need I remind you what will happen to the scroll if mmmm—”
Twilight had seized the opportunity to raise Starlight’s bowl and dump the contents into her mouth. “You will see exactly what happened, exactly as it happened. Now, swallow.” Twilight tipped Starlight’s head backwards and magically held her mouth shut. Starlight grasped at Twilight’s magic with her hooves, but her resistance was to no avail. With no choice left, she reluctantly swallowed the potion. A few seconds later, the trio’s eyes glowed white.
Starlight, Twilight, and Spike watched Twilight’s most recent attempt to stop Starlight flash before their eyes again. By now, Twilight and Spike knew that sabotaging the Rainboom in different ways led to different results. The method Starlight had most recently chosen was to intercept filly Rainbow Dash before she could even reach Fluttershy. The moment Rainbow appeared, Starlight encased the filly in purple crystal. The three watched as Rainbow's crystal bounced along the cloudtops, finally skidding to a stop in the middle of a road. A second later, Twilight Sparkle teleported in behind her yet again. Past Starlight stepped aside to let past Twilight see her imprisoned friend. The portal had barely closed before it opened again. Spike was sucked away, but past Twilight tried her best to resist the portal's pull.
“Starlight, I think it’s time you saw the results of your actions,” she said. She teleported to Starlight and grabbed her before they both were sucked through the portal.
Immediately after watching the recent past unfold, the sound of nearby laughter could be heard just beyond a cloudbank. Twilight, Spike, and Starlight ventured over it to investigate the source of the laughter, though they already knew what it was. Sure enough, there stood the two bullies, laughing as they stood in front of filly Fluttershy. She moved her hooves in front of her face in a futile attempt to hide the tears which began chasing one another down her face. “Aw, don’t cry. What are you? A baby?” The two had another good laugh.
“She’s not a baby. She’s Fluttercry!” Once more the colts laughed at the poor filly’s expense.
“Fluttercry, and can’t fly!”
Starlight levitated over towards the two colts. “Both of you stop being so cruel! How would you feel if somepony was unkind to you?”
Twilight hovered up next to Starlight. “My potion is a little different than your spell, Starlight. To them, we’re silent, invisible, and intangible. The past has already happened. We’re just watching it unfold.”
Their eyes flashed white again, and the three now saw filly Twilight Sparkle, her parents, and Spike’s egg. “This was the day I got my cutie mark! Or at least it would have been.” Twilight glared at Starlight, who rolled her eyes. Filly Twilight tried for two whole minutes to break the egg, but accomplished nothing.
“I’m sorry I wasted your time,” the downcast filly muttered. Her father carried away the disheartened, teary-eyed Twilight Sparkle while a stallion inspected the egg.
“Nothing. Not even a scratch.”
The judges glanced among themselves and shrugged. “Just leave it for another pupil. Next!”
A light brown colt with tan markings on his legs and face walked in, escorted by his parents. “Name?” asked a judge.
“Sunburst,” Starlight and the colt said in unison. The confidence in Sunburst’s voice contrasted sharply with the wonder in Starlight’s.
“You know him?” asked Twilight.
“Know him? He was the only friend I had growing up! Until he got his cutie mark! I never made another friend after he left because I was afraid that their cutie mark would take them away, too!”
“Wait, that’s what this is all about? You took away the cutie marks of an entire village, then tried to sabotage the Rainboom just because your friend got his cutie mark and was sent to Celestia’s School for Gifted Unicorns?”
“And left me behind!” Starlight wasn’t sure if she should feel enraged or depressed.
“Starlight, why didn’t you say anything about this? I had no idea you were hurting like that.”
“I’ll bet you didn’t! You’ve never had to hurt like me! You’ve always had your precious friends to be there for you!”
“And how does taking away my friends help either of us?”
“It may not help you, but it helps me!”
“Starlight, you can’t do that! That’s not how you deal with pain! You don’t inflict pain on others just because you’re hurting! You reach out to others, let them help you.”
“Oh, so they can leave me behind, too? Not going to happen!”
“I don’t understand. If you know how much pain your loss caused you, why would you want to spread that same pain to others?”
“Because—because—” Starlight had never thought of it that way before. “Because that way I know I’m not hurting alone!”
“Starlight, listen to yourself! You don’t have to hurt alone. You just need a friend.”
“I already told you why I can’t do that. I’m not being left behind again!”
“Look! He’s about to try and break my egg!” cried present-day Spike.
“You may begin whenever you’re ready,” a judge instructed. Sunburst analyzed the dragon egg before beginning. After a moment of careful thought, he took a deep breath and closed his eyes. He formed an aura around his horn and gradually increased the amount of power he put into it. His aura transitioned through sequentially lighter shades of yellow until it became a brilliant white. He opened his eyes to reveal they too were glowing white. Finally, Sunburst leveled his horn at the egg and released all the energy he had been holding back, shattering the purple egg. He then collapsed to his knees and panted for breath.
“D’awww, I forgot how cute Spike was when he first hatched!” Twilight said as she approached the newly-hatched dragon. “Wook at widdle Spikey-wikey! Isn’t he the cootest widdle thing!” Present-day Spike blushed and scratched the back of his head.
Sunburst looked back at his parents, expecting praise, but they were staring at the far wall, dumbfounded. Sunburst looked in the direction of their gaze, only to behold a massive hole in the wall. He gasped and shrank back, making himself look as small as he could. The situation became worse when Princess Celestia flew in through the hole. Sunburst looked like he was about to cry.
Celestia landed delicately next to the colt and offered a gentle, warming smile. “Sunburst, you have a very special gift. I’ve never come across a unicorn with your raw ability.”
Sunburst looked confused, and Twilight looked enraged. “What!? That’s what Princess Celestia told me!”
“What’s wrong? Not so special anymore, Princess?” Starlight jeered.
Celestia continued. “But you need to learn to tame these abilities through focused study. Sunburst, I’d like to make you my own personal protégé here at the school!”
Sunburst looked behind him just in time to see his mother faint and his father emphatically nod his head, a huge goofy smile plastered on his face. As Sunburst cheered and celebrated with his father, the trio from the present were whisked away to a new place and time.
It was now later that same night back at flight camp. Fluttershy was lying alone near the edge of a large cloud, quietly talking to herself. “I wish they would just stop being mean to me. I wish I had a friend who would be there for me. Just one. Then they wouldn’t call me Klutzershy or Fluttercry, or say ‘Fluttershy can hardly fly.’” She spread her wings and looked back at them with a sad, hopeless look in her eyes. However, she soon replaced this expression with one of determination. She looked up to see a small cloud about thirty meters away and perhaps ten meters higher than her own cloud.
“I’ll show them.” She rose to her hooves. “I’ll have them saying, ‘Fluttershy can really fly,’ inside a week. I can fly! I’ll show them!” She galloped to the edge of the cloud and jumped. Her wings strained, but she rose in altitude. Once she had covered about half the distance to the cloud, she resumed talking to herself. “Oh, my. It almost looks like the cloud is rising in the air! Either that or—” Fluttershy looked down and instantly regretted it. “—I’m falling!” In her panic, her wings stiffened against her sides and she helplessly flailed her legs, screaming all the while.
“I’ve got you, Fluttershy!” Starlight cried. She reached for the filly, but Fluttershy passed right through Starlight’s intangible hooves. The only thing the trio could do now was follow her down.
“I want to go home! I want to be with my mommy and daddy and my little brother! And I really don’t want to be Klutzershy or Fluttercry! I don’t wanna!” But cry she did, despite her attempts to hold back her tears. “Daddy!!” she screamed. “Help me!!” By now, she had fallen too far for her quiet voice to be heard, and the ground was approaching quickly. “I can’t look!”
“I can’t look either,” seconded Twilight. Since she didn’t cover her ears, she unfortunately found out what sound flesh makes when it hits the ground at terminal velocity. The sound was sickening, and Twilight gagged as she tried to keep the contents of her stomach where they belonged. After the feeling passed, Twilight slowly opened one eye to see Starlight staring in horror, presumably at the spot where Fluttershy had landed. Twilight landed next to her with her back towards whatever was left of Fluttershy so she wouldn’t have to see it. “Well, you wanted to see how this happened, didn’t you, Starlight?”
Starlight’s horror yielded to anger. “Do you still think I’m going to believe I did this?”
“Well, I can’t predict how your actions will affect Ponyville in the long run, but stopping Rainbow Dash from standing up for Fluttershy had a direct effect on Fluttershy’s flight accident.”
Before Starlight could respond, her vision filled with a brilliant white light.
Starlight, Twilight, and Spike found themselves in a room where nearly everypony was dressed in black. At the front of the room sat a small, closed coffin. Filly Rainbow Dash, clad in a small black dress, stood with her parents and took her turn in front of the coffin. Her speech was interspersed with frequent pauses, and fraught with near-tangible emotion.
“Why’d you do it, Fluttershy? Why’d you walk off all alone by yourself? Why didn’t you come find me? You didn’t have to jump! I’ve always been there for you. Do you remember the time you didn’t get invited to Flitter's birthday party, so the two of us had a sleepover instead?” She paused, as if Fluttershy really was answering her. “I know! That was so much fun, Fluttershy! Is that why you requested to be in my cabin for flight camp?” She paused again. “Yeah. I remember that time when you tripped and fell down the front steps of my house. I carried you all the way home. Do you remember that? … You were pretty scraped up, weren’t you? ... No, don’t talk about them. Those colts are never—they’re never going to hurt you. Ever—again.”
Rainbow Dash’s father held her close and carried her away as she alternately choked on her own words and blubbered incoherently. The last thing she whispered was, “I miss her, Daddy.” She stared blankly over her father’s shoulder as he walked away on three legs and carried her with his fourth. Rainbow’s stare fell cold on Starlight Glimmer, and sent the most wicked chill down her spine, from the top of her neck to the very last tailbone.
Filly Rainbow Dash flipped a table, eliciting a grunt as she did. She hovered in the air, breathing heavily. She looked around and spotted a vase. She picked it up and smashed it against the floor. “Come and get a piece of me, you big bullies!” She kicked the door to her room open. She took two Wonderbolts figurines off their shelf and threw them against the ground. “Nopony bullies my friends!” She reared up and stomped the figurines. “This is for Fluttershy!” She stomped them again and again, wishing they were the two colts who, after the fact, had confessed to bullying Fluttershy the same day as her flight accident. Rainbow opened the window, threw the figurines out, and watched them sail out of sight towards the ground far below. For a moment, she just stood there panting with two hooves on the windowsill. At length, she looked down at her now-painful hooves, half-expecting them to be cut and bloodied. Other than being slightly reddened, they were unharmed by the toys, though they were shaking uncontrollably from Rainbow’s rage and adrenaline.
“Wow. Someone’s got anger issues,” said Spike.
“She’s venting,” Twilight corrected. “And pretty hard from the looks of it.”
“My vase!” cried a female voice from the other room. Rainbow Dash whirled around, suddenly aware of the consequences of her actions. Instead of sticking around and getting a lecture, Rainbow Dash flew out the window. Her mother was at the windowsill a moment later. “Rainbow Dash! You get your flank back in here this very instant! Or you’re grounded!”
Rainbow Dash wasn’t about to go back and get scolded for breaking that vase. She flew away as fast as her wings would carry her. It was hard for the trio from the present to keep up, because the more Rainbow vented her anger for the bullies, the faster she went. She was soon going faster than she had ever gone before. Even now, she still had frustrations she needed to vent. She straightened her wings and rolled into a dive. Fluttershy might not have been a very good flyer, but Rainbow Dash would fly fast enough for both of them. The thought of her lost friend brought a tear to her eye. Just as the tear was torn away by the wind, the sadness was squelched by Rainbow’s frustration. She was angry at herself for not being there for Fluttershy. She was angry at the bullies. She was angry at life for putting her through all this. She wanted to fly so fast she could leave it all behind.
A cone of compressed air formed around Rainbow’s hooves. She steepened her dive, sacrificing altitude for speed. She flapped her wings harder and faster. Her lungs burned. Her wings burned. But her frustration and determination burned more intensely than any physical or emotional pain. With one final concentrated effort, Rainbow Dash broke the sound barrier, creating the legendary Sonic Rainboom.
The trio from the present had stopped following, all hope of keeping up with Rainbow Dash long lost. The Rainboom, however, could not have been missed. Besides defeating the sole purpose for Starlight’s time travel, it also made Rainbow Dash easily traceable. Using the rainbow trail as a guide, Twilight teleported the group to Dash’s final location. There, the filly had landed on a small cloud to catch her breath and collect her thoughts. Though Rainbow apparently hadn’t noticed, and probably hadn’t thought to look, she did indeed have her cloud-and-lightning-bolt cutie mark.
Rainbow knew she would have to go back, as much as she hated that thought. Back to her parents. Back to reality. Back to the pain of grief. But it was already evening and would soon be dark, so she reluctantly took off again and headed home.
When she got home, her window had already been shut. She would have to go in through the door, and her parents would probably be in the living room waiting for her. She somehow found the courage to hover up to the doorknob, give it a turn, and open the door. “Rainbow Dash?” her mother gently called from the couch. “I’m sorry I yelled at you about the vase. I know this past week has been hard on you. Is—is this about Fluttershy?” Rainbow Dash looked up at her mother’s face. The mention of her friend’s name brought renewed tears to her eyes. She stood there a moment, letting the tears run down the sides of her face. She made no attempt to resist when her mother picked her up, laid her next to herself on the sofa, and hugged her with one of her wings.
“Mommy? I wish there was something we could do to bring her back,” Rainbow finally choked out.
“I know, my little Dash.” She hugged her daughter tighter. “Sometimes life just doesn’t make sense to us. Why would life give us something so amazing like love or friendship, and then just take it away like that? But Dash, that’s the wrong question to ask. If life will one day take everything from us, why does it give us such good friends? Or for that matter, moms and dads who love us very much and are here to help us when life gets hard.” She kissed her daughter on the forehead, and in turn received a kiss on the cheek.
“I love you, Mommy.”
“I love you so much more, Dash.”
The only effect the delayed Rainboom had on filly Applejack was extending her stay with the Oranges by about a week. Pinkie Pie’s cutie mark story was also nearly identical. Rarity, on the other hoof, failed to make the “spectacular” dresses she had hoped to in time for her school play. Nevertheless, she continued trying new ways to acquire her cutie mark, and her horn kept dragging her off towards various rocks. About a week after the school play, while she was trying for her cave-spelunking cutie mark, a rainbow shockwave raced into the cave, shattering a number of rocks in its path. Rarity beamed when she saw the gems it revealed, but decided to keep the cave a secret. She visited the cave every day, excavating the gems using a shovel she had borrowed from home, and hoarded her treasure in the back of the cave.
*****
Rarity sank the shovel into the ground, lifted it, and flung the gravely contents across the cave. She dug in and lifted the shovel again, inspecting the quality of the rocks. She smiled and dumped the gravel onto a round screen, panning out three gems and discarding the rocks. She dug in again and got seven more gems from this vein. She was about to drive the shovel once more when she heard something behind her. She turned around and saw two very young dragons, a bit shorter than she was. One was cool blue with white spines, and the other was jet black with navy spines. All at once, the three shouted for fear of each other.
“Whatever are you doing here?” asked Rarity.
“Please, don’t send us away! We're don't want to hurt anyone!” pleaded the cool blue dragon.
“Honest, we’re only hungry! My sister and I haven’t eaten or seen our parents since we got knocked out of the sky by that rainbow explosion!” added the jet black dragon.
“You—you’re lost? Oh, you poor things. But, why would you come here if you were hungry?” asked Rarity.
“Because we smelled gems,” stated the light blue dragon.
Rarity looked at the stash of gems behind her, then back at the dragons. “Do you mean to say that you—eat them?” The dragon sisters nodded their heads. Rarity bit her lip and glanced at her gems. “Well, I—I might be willing to part with a few of them.” She trotted to the back of the cave and selected two of the smallest gems she could find before returning to the sisters. “Here. Take them.” As she painfully parted with the two gemstones, she noticed a flash of light behind her. “What was that?” she asked in a panic as she spun around.
“That wasn’t there before, was it?” asked the blue dragon.
“What? Where? I don’t see it!”
“On your flank!” shouted the black dragon.
Rarity looked at her flank and gasped. “My cutie mark! I must have gotten these three diamonds when I gave away those two small gemstones! Oh! You girls wait right here!” Rarity galloped to the back of the cave, scooped up a heap of gems in her magic, and deposited them at the feet of the two dragons. “Please, take as many as you want! From now on, I, Rarity, shall aspire to be the most generous pony in all of Equestria! And if you girls ever need anything again, I live right over there in Ponyville. Just ask for Rarity.” She briefly pointed towards Ponyville with one hoof before placing said hoof on her chin. “Oh, goodness me! I haven’t even gotten your names yet.”
“I’m Shard,” said the cool blue dragon, “and this is my little sister, Obsidian.”
“But you can just call me Sidi.”
“Very well, then. I must be going now. My friends will want to know all about how I got my cutie mark! And I do hope you girls find your parents soon. Goodbye!” Rarity waved at the sisters, then galloped off towards Ponyville.
Filly Rainbow Dash sat on the floor in front of her mother’s full-length mirror. Beside her sat a brown paper bag. “Hey there,” she said to the mirror. “I’ve really missed you.”
Rainbow Dash put her hoof into the paper bag and drew out a pink wig. She put the wig on her head and paid special attention to the mirror’s actions and mannerisms. “Oh, yes. I’ve missed you too,” she said in a soft, smooth voice reminiscent of her departed friend.
Rainbow Dash took the wig off. “Flight school just isn’t the same without you, Flutters.”
The wig went back on. “Oh, why would you say that? Nopony misses me,” Mirrorshy said as she traced a line on the floor with a hoof.
The wig came back off. “Fluttershy, that just isn’t true! I mean, I miss you! I miss you a whole lot! I—I really do!” A tear formed in the corner of Rainbow’s eye. She brushed it away and donned the wig before performing the mirror’s response.
“Oh, Rainbow Dash. You were always a good friend to everypony you met. You never let anypony down.”
“Except you,” she said, bowing her head. She realized, however, that she couldn’t see the mirror this way, and raised her head.
“Oh, Rainbow Dash, don’t say that!” Mirrorshy softly replied. “I know you were my friend. I know you loved me, and—and helped me, and were always there for me,” she said. But Mirrorshy wasn’t smiling as she went down this list. She should have been, but she wasn’t. Instead, she was on the verge of tears.
“Oh, what’s the use?” Rainbow stuffed the pink wig back into the bag. “Fluttershy can’t even hear me. She—she’s gone.” Rainbow Dash lay down and pulled her tail up next to her side, forming herself into a little ball. She put her hooves in front of her face and began to cry.
“You have some pretty weird friends, Twilight,” said Starlight.
“Starlight!” Twilight glared at her. “She’s grieving!” she said before casting a glance back at the filly. “But I think there’s a method to it. At the casket, she talked with Fluttershy as if she were still alive. Next, she got angry and flew fast enough to do a Rainboom. Then she wished for a way to bring Fluttershy back and did the thing with the mirror. Now this: crying in the middle of the floor. Those distinct stages fall in line with the five-step model of the stages of grief. Denial, Anger, Bargaining, Depression—which she’s in now—and Acceptance.”
“Well then, why don’t I have those five stages of grief with Sunburst?”
“First of all, these are the five stages of grief, and as far as I know, the real Sunburst isn’t dead. Second, if I had to diagnose you right now, I’d say you’re stuck at anger. You aren’t trying to bargain your way back by stopping him from getting his cutie mark, you’ve become angry at me and my friends. You don’t seem to be depressed, at least not that I can tell, and I don’t think you’ve reached acceptance either, or else we wouldn’t be here.”
The two looked up as Rainbow’s father entered the room. He paused briefly when he saw his daughter crying on the floor, then crossed the room and lay down next to her, comforting her with a wing hug.
“Daddy, I miss Fluttershy,” she said.
“Shhh. I know, Rainbow Dash. I know.” As the two lay there, the eyes of the three from the present shone white once again.
Filly Rarity sat in front of a desk, busily dividing the pile of coins in front of her into short, organized stacks. Pinkie Pie stood on one side of her, and Applejack stood on the other. A pink unicorn mare entered Rarity’s room. “How’d the apple pie sale with your friends go?”
“Oh, it was wonderful, mother. I picked the perfect location to set up the booth, Pinkie Pie put up posters all around town, and of course, Applejack brought the pies. Just look at how much we raised towards a new plow for the Apple family!”
“Oh, that’s my little girl, always finding time to help her friends out!” she said as she gave her elder daughter a hug.
“That’s Rarity alright!” said Applejack. “She doesn’t like nothing more than helpin’ folks out. She spent nearly the whole day sittin’ at that booth. And today was a Saturday! We didn’t even have school or nothin’!”
“Everypony should have a friend like Rarity! She’s the most super-duper bpsf that anypony could ever have!” exclaimed Pinkie Pie.
“She’s the most super what now?” asked Applejack.
“Bpsf! You know, Bee-Pea-Ess-Eff! Best Pie-Selling Friend!”
“Oh girls, you’re too kind,” Rarity replied, though she clearly adored the attention.
The next figure to fill the doorframe was a white stallion. “Rarity, there’s some friends of yours at the door.”
A puzzled look crept onto Rarity’s face. “Who could that be? Cheerilee and I didn't plan to work on our project together until tomorrow.” Regardless, Rarity hopped down off her chair and walked to the front door. When she turned the corner, she saw two familiar dragons standing in the doorway. “Shard! Sidi! Whatever brings you to Ponyville?”
“Well, you see, we don’t have anywhere to stay except the cave,” Shard said.
“Your parents aren’t back yet?” Rarity asked. They shook their heads.
“It gets pretty cold in the cave at night. I don’t mind it since I’m an ice dragon, but my little sister’s a lava dragon.”
“Besides, it’s boring and lonely out there!” added Sidi.
“Well, it’s getting late, and you’ll need somewhere to stay the night. I suppose I could let you two sleep in my bed tonight if that’s fine with my parents. The bed should be big enough for both of you. I can take the sofa.”
“Alright!” Sidi cheered. “You hear that, Shard? We get to sleep in a bed! Isn’t that great?” shouted Sidi.
“You know you don’t have to do that, Rarity. We’ll be fine on the couch,” said Shard. Sidi glared at her.
“No, I insist. You are my guests and you are going to sleep in a bed. The sofa simply will not do.”
“Wow, you really are generous, Rarity,” said Shard.
“Like I said. The most generous pony in all of Equestria,” she replied with a smile.
On their way in, the dragons passed two fillies who were on their way out. “G’bye, Rarity. Thanks for all the help with the pie sale,” said Applejack.
“Yeah, that was super! We should do that again sometime!” said Pinkie Pie as she bounced out the door. “Bye, Rarity!”
As the two fillies left Rarity’s house, the eyes of the three from the present glowed white, indicating that they too had to leave.
That same evening, Rainbow Dash stood on the ground with flowers in her mouth, her parents just a couple of steps behind her. She laid her flowers on the ground just in front of a tombstone which read: “Fluttershy: C.L.E. 1080-C.L.E. 1092.” She then stepped backwards and took a deep breath.
“Fluttershy. You were the first and best friend I ever had. I may not have been with you in your final moments, and we may never know whether it was an accident, or whether you jumped because of those bullies, but either way, I’m sure I could have saved you. Nopony will ever be able to fill this hole in my life that only you could fill, but I will find the way forward. And as I do, I will make sure nopony else loses a friend like this if I can help it,” she said as she glanced back at her cutie mark. “I didn’t just lose a friend when you died. I lost a part of myself, too. I love you, Fluttershy, and I miss you, but I will never forget you.” When she had finished, something in the heavens caught her eye. She looked up to see a single shooting star streak across the sky. “I’ll never forget you, Fluttershy,” she repeated. The shooting star reflected as a twinkle in Rainbow’s eye, the last glint of which ended up in the single tear which fell from her right eye.
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This is a really cool story. Filly Rainbow Dash killed me, though
I'll give you a like, since you toyed with my feelings...
Omg
the feels btw i love it great tart
7374801 Thanks. Just a little edit I did. Found a Starlight Glimmer vector and edited her into the background of this scene with Twilight Sparkle and the potion.
was this made before we see adult Starburst? Because if not then you got him all wrong. He has got knowledge not power.
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My theory on that: Star Swirl was shown to have limitations directly linked to the fact that "he did not understand friendship as [Twilight] did." Presumably, this statement transfers over to other ponies as well. Here, alternate Sunburst basically is becoming Twilight, i.e. learning friendship and all that. With friendship comes magic. Without friendship, higher levels of magic seem to be locked.
It's my belief that regular Sunburst's power stopped increasing after he left Starlight. Since alternate Sunburst is Celestia's pupil, you can expect him to look a lot like Twilight.
Hmmm...
Emotions are going haywire... I've just read a sad story, and now I'm reading another one. Why do I torture myself?
So at least what I'm seeing from this first chapter, some ponies got off better, others got off worse. Twilight got off worse. Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy got off a lot worse. Sunburst got off better. Rarity maybe got off better, but she seems to take Generosity to an extreme? Cute that she has two tag-along dragon friends, but I wonder if they were separated from their parents in the real timeline, being that the Sonic Rainboom in this timeline took place later. Things to think about for Twi...
Burned-out, with craters? Maybe Rarity's dragon friends got spurned or their parents returned and were angry before listening to reason.
Oh, Starlight, stop trying to act innocent ;)