Chapter 9 — Inquisition
— Chapter 9 : Inquisition —
Rainbow Dash stepped out of darkness and set a cautious hoof into the Golden Oaks Library. Moonlight fell through the upper windows, dimly illuminating the deserted treehouse. Despite the muted visuals, she could see the darker hues of red still splashed against the toppled books and scattered papers. She was thankful there wasn’t a smell.
A familiar tug pulled in her. Dash had felt it before, but couldn’t recall when. The feeling was like trying to remember a long forgotten mirage of a memory. It sat in her chest like a half-cocked cough from an organ she couldn’t name and wasn’t sure she really had. The tug never pulled in a particular path, just simply forward. It was not a direction, but a general sense of progress of putting road behind you. And so, Rainbow Dash moved. Stepping gingerly over the echoes of destruction, she began to scour the treehouse.
She didn’t know what she was looking for, but she was certain she’d know it when she saw it. A quick look around the main collection revealed nothing. Neither did the kitchen, nor most of the rooms upstairs. Dash approached the last unsearched room, and rested her hoof on the door handle to Twilight’s bedroom. Collecting her courage, she opened it and quickly slipped inside. To her slight surprise, the room was just as she left it. The bedsheets were still ruined. The carpet was still wet from Pinkie Pie’s wake-up call. Peeking inside the tub, a ring of red grime gave more evidence of that day. Rainbow Dash was disappointed she didn't find anything, but she had no reason to suspect she would otherwise.
Twilight wasn’t there, but she hadn’t been looking for Twilight, really. Not exactly. And whatever it was she sought wasn’t in the room. She returned downstairs and began looking through books, setting them down gently where she found them.
She felt something. Or did she hear it? The tug pulled lightly. She froze, straining to pick out whatever appeared in the room with her.
Rainbow heard footsteps. Forgoing her desire for respect of the space, she took to the air.
“Who’s there?” she shouted as she slowly spun around, scanning the darkness. “Y-you don’t belong here!”
A shadow appeared at the top of the steps. “That is what I want to know,” it said. “Who has entered my domain?”
Rainbow Dash’s stomach clenched. She tried to make out who it was in the darkness. Slowly her eyes started to make out features. A horn. A straight mane. Recognition struck her and she sucked in her breath. “Wait, why would you be here?”
Twilight Sparkle descended down a few steps into what little light existed. “You are the one trespassing. What are you doing in my library?”
Rainbow blinked several times. “Tw-Twilight? What are you— How are you here? I saw you… This mess…” Momentarily she grew quiet, images of that day dancing in her eyes. She found her voice again. “What happened? Why are you gone? Where have you gone?”
Twilight looked down her nose from halfway up the stairs. Her mouth was like a thin crack in ice. “So you know nothing.”
Slowly, she resumed her descent. With each step, her coat burned away in blue smoke, her purple fur turning to midnight. Dash drifted to the ground, staring in shock at what was happening to her friend. However, as she kept walking, horror turned to confusion, then understanding. As she reached the bottom, Twilight was no more, and Princess Luna had taken her place. Dash instinctively gave a shallow bow. “What happened here, Rainbow Dash? We need answers.”
Dash looked at her feet, half in reverence for her princess, and half in shame. “I… I can’t tell you. I wasn’t even there. I don’t know.”
Luna paused for a somber moment, a look of befuddlement on her face. Dash expectantly waited for a reply, but Luna simply nodded, and turned away as if dismissing Dash.
In a flash her vision filled with a large red-faced Twilight, engulfing the room and everything she saw. The face pushed to every corner of the room, and she could feel it screaming. Just when she was certain that she’d drown in the apparition, Dash awoke, finding herself screaming, miles above the Equestrian countryside on a cloud.
She gasped for breath, choking. Waking up that high in the stratosphere felt like diving into an ice bath. Dash had her Pegasi magic to thank for her resistance against the harsh weather, save for the most extreme cold. Despite that, the dream still left her feeling exposed, acutely aware of the chill in the air.
As her breathing returned to normal, she replayed the dream in her head, her mind snagging on its most concerning feature.
Luna? Luna!
She stood up and stretched her wings, allowing the high altitude winds to play along her feathers and fur. She wasn’t ready to fly yet, but sensation helped calm her down. She hadn’t imagined being visited by the Princess of the Moon in her dreams was possible. The experience was unpleasant. Worse yet, it confirmed her suspicions. She had said too much in the throne room. She guessed that if Luna was finally asking her about Twilight, then at some point she asked the rest of her friends. Dash inhaled sharply, the blood draining from her face.
“Whoa. Did Applejack… lie?” She knew it had to be Applejack; she doubted Fluttershy would have the stomach to talk to Luna alone. The idea made her own stomach leaden and turn cold. She was being truthful with Luna when she said she wasn’t there, but if whatever happened was so terrible that Applejack herself would lie about it...
She didn’t dwell on it any longer. She opened her wings and continued her flight into the rising sun. After an entire day of flying, she was only halfway to Manehatten, and she was determined to get there in two.
***
The mist of the morning hit her face as she flew through the clouds, almost causing her to forget why she was up there. Droplets rolled off her cyan wings and the wind whistled in her ears as Dash drunk in the exalting joy she felt every time she was airborne. She felt she had time, so she performed a few aerial maneuvers, just for some fun.
Eventually tiring of the dampness, she closed her wings and dropped from the cloud cover, just for the off chance she’d see a stray purple mane on the ground far below. The clouds parted to reveal an expansive, bustling metropolis beneath her.
"Yeah, right on time!”
The city of Manehatten stretched in all directions, and filled her vision as she descended. Dash opened her wings and began to glide in a wide circle. She was still high up, above the traffic of the local pegasi. If she knew Twilight, her first move was obvious. She began scanning the streets for huge, official-looking buildings; anything that looked like a library. Or, at least anything Rainbow Dash thought looked like a library. Less than a minute into her search, she found a promising location.
“Aha, I’ll check—! Wait, there’s another. Okay, two buildings, shouldn’t take… Four? Wait, one more… Aw, c’mon!”
A few minutes into her circle, she realized that even her speed wouldn’t help her here. The city was too big, with too many buildings. The window of opportunity she’d had became a peephole. She scowled.
Feeling the sudden urge to act out against her fortune, she folder her wings, and dropped out of the sky. Caring not where she fell, Rainbow Dash dropped through the middle of flight lines full of pegasus traffic. She fell too fast to hear if the ponies who suddenly had to dodge her descent had anything to say about it. The wind whistled loudly in her ears as she neared the pavement, and finally she decided to open her wings and decelerate. Rainbow slammed into the pavement hooves first, creating a shockwave that startled all the nearby ponies walking about their day. She smiled inwardly. The small show cheered her up, if only a little.
Immediately a stallion dressed in a gaudy suit shouted at her. “Hey, some ponies are walking here!”
A mare chirped in. “Yeah, you coulda’ hurt somebody!” Other voices began to join the dissent.
“Geeze, sorry!” Rainbow shouted back. She began to move away down the sidewalk. She had no time to get into it with the locals.
She spotted a stallion in a tropical shirt with his foreleg raised by the edge of the sidewalk. Her wings flared, and she zoomed over.
“Where is the largest library in town?” Dash demanded.
The poor stallion was not expecting his view to suddenly fill with rainbow, and he fell on his hindquarters with a shout. He raised his hoof to shield his face. “Hey, take it easy! I’m just trying to get a cab.”
Rainbow Dash stomped her hoofs on the ground. “I’m not gonna ask twice!”
“I-I-I’m sorry, I don’t know! I don’t read books, they’re just for eggheads.”
Rainbow narrowed her eyes and snorted. “Yeah, right!” The irony of her ire was lost upon her.
She jumped into the air with an audible bang, leaving the stallion to pick himself off the ground. The parabolic arc of her wing-assisted leap took her a couple streets over, and Rainbow landed hard again, turning several heads. She spotted a younger unicorn sporting an outdated frilly blouse floating several books behind her. Again, after a quick lightning step, she was in the unicorn’s face. She promptly dropped all her books.
“Hey, you watch where you’re going!”
“Where’d you get those books?”
“At the bookstore, duh.”
Rainbow Dash stomped a hoof. “Whatever! Do you know where a library is? The biggest one you know.”
“The public library, duh.”
“Well, where is it?"
“Are you going to help me pick up my books or what?”
“Maybe if you tell me where I can find that library.”
The unicorn glared at Rainbow, who scoffed and trotted away to the edge of the sidewalk. She stuck out a hoof, and shook it. Sure enough, a cab sped up to her and parked in the street. A cabbie with a great moustache stuck his head out. “Where to, miss?”
“Do you know where I can find the largest library in Manehatten?”
He gave her a flat look. “Well, you’re already doing step one well: be in Manehatten.”
Rainbow stomped a hoof again. “Seriously? You know what I mean! What’s the largest library in this city?”
He chuckled. “The Manehatten Public Library, of course. It’s just north a few blocks and west a couple more. I can take you—”
Dash didn’t listen to the rest of the directions and instead jumped into the air with a strong flap of her wings. With every second, this city was creating distance between her and Twilight, wasting time she didn’t have.
***
Rainbow Dash dropped from the sky onto the steps of the Manehatten Public Library, her horseshoes making a loud dull clang on the old stone. Heads turned again, but Rainbow trotted up the steps without looking behind her, and soon those ponies resumed their day.
At the top of the steps stood three porticos, each several stories high. Spotting an open door in the center portico, Dash slipped through with the daily traffic inside. Ponies jostled her left and right, and Rainbow had to throw out several complaints as she wormed her way through the crowd. Annoyed with getting bustled, Rainbow jumped into the air to hover and survey the area.
Realizing she was able to go airborne indoors made Rainbow Dash pause. She found herself in a grand foyer taller than the ceiling of Twilight’s treehouse, with great marble steps to her left and right, and an even greater hall in front of her (but puzzlingly, no desk). The space she entered was much larger than she expected. Around her were several candles on tall candlesticks, and above her were chandeliers composed of intertwining geometric shapes. They gave the building a soft glow, adding to the old regality of the place.
The library alone didn’t give wonder, the patrons did too. A bunch of gabbying fillies walked her past her, with their teacher trying to get everyone to stand together. A bunch of ponies her age were being led around by whom she guessed was a tour guide. Dash laughed at the initial idea of having a tour guide for a library, but thinking of the size of it made her change her opinion.
As a newcomer to the joys of reading, the only libraries Dash had previously visited were the school libraries teachers had forced her to visit as a foal and Twilight’s house-library hybrid, and neither compared.
Taking all this in, she returned gently to the ground with Twilight temporarily forgotten and one thing on her mind:
Where do they keep the books in here?
She trotted up the steps to her left, arriving on a landing, and began her exploring. She made a turn here, and ducked through a door there. At least once she opened a door to a janitorial closet, sheepishly shutting it back. Eventually, she spotted a room with many ponies filing in and out, and quickly queued in line. Once inside, her smile widened.
The room looked as large as the Wonderbolt’s performance field. Directly in front of her was a reception desk, a tiny island of counter in the middle of the room. On her half of the room there were huge tables set up and down the hall. Well over one hundred ponies had books and parchment and pens and even more books strewn about the tables, reading and studying the day away. More interesting, beyond the tables, past the reception desk, Dash could see the beginnings of bookshelves. They were massive, stretching in rows from halfway down the hall to the other end, with another set of doors like the ones Dash stepped through. She was certain one could fit all the books in Twilight’s library on them.
The thought of how many books existed for her to read left her in awe and put a smile on her face, but it wasn’t until she looked up that she gasped. Surrounded by embroided wood, the ceiling contained three huge murals stretching from from one end of the room to the other. Even better, she saw pegasi flying across the open expanse. Taking the invitation, Dash spread her own wings and flew up to the paintings.
She was never a girl for art, but the ceiling was nothing if not inspiring. Depictions of huge battles stretched across it. To some ponies it would have been a peculiar choice for a library, but Dash simply found it awe inspiring. Ponies facing great struggle from multiple points in Equestria’s history also decorated the ceiling. She saw the ponies at the summit from the foundation of Equestria, each tribe staring each other down, and was gleeful when she picked out Commander Hurricane’s fierce glare in the painting. There also was an image of two great monsters squaring off. One was gargoyle like, accompanied by the Princesses and someone whom Dash guessed was the pony Twilight had dressed up as for Nightmare Night. The sight of Luna made her tense reflexively for a moment. Across from them, the other monster was a menacing black and red centaur, and while he was in the background he clearly towered over the quartet opposing him. Rainbow Dash wasn’t familiar with this scene, but thought it was cool nonetheless.
Another corner of the ceiling caught her eye. Rainbow Dash had to blink at first, as the painting seemed to depict another fight between ponies, something that rarely, if ever, happened in history. Unlike the previous pictures’ confrontations, this was a physical one. The fighting was cool to her in a way, but the image was unsettling. The only instance she could remember of ponies having fought was during Nightmare Moon’s ascension, and this didn’t look like that. However, as she took it all in, obvious details she had missed in her first glance began to show themselves. She spotted the unmistakable shiny black hide, insect-like wings, and cruel beak-like muzzle of the true source of the conflict, and what troubled her became clear. She had fought these creatures herself not months ago. It wasn’t a conflict between ponies.
Changelings.
Her heart skipped a beat, as she scanned the picture again. She couldn’t tell how old the pictures were, but in a weird sense of relief she could tell it wasn’t their battle in Canterlot. Changelings weren’t monsters she was familiar with before the wedding, and they still unnerved her a bit. If Twilight hadn’t been so perceptive, they all would’ve fared much worse than they already had.
Twilight.
Rainbow Dash slowly landed as her mind returned to the present. Ponies walked past her, uninterested, as she refocused herself for the task at hand. She rose off her haunches and trotted up to the reception desk.
“Excuse me,” she asked. Her voice didn't get the attention of the attendant. It also surprised herself for the same reason; it was so soft. She chalked it up to nerves. Dash coughed, and tried again. This time, her tone was her old self. “Excuse me. This is going to sound like a weird question, but have you seen Twilight Sparkle?”
The librarian’s eyes moved left-to-right a few seconds before she paused. She looked up at rainbow as if coming out of a trance. “Oh, sorry, just finishing the page. A Twilight Sparkle, huh? Nope, can’t say I’ve heard of a Twilight.”
“What? Are you serious? You’ve never heard of the Ponyville Six? The Elements of Harmony?”
“Sorry, can’t say that I have,” she said in a sing-song voice. Her eyes were beginning to drift back to the book.
“Oh, come on. S She’s only Celestia’s star pupil! We’ve saved all of Equestria from Discord and the Changelings!”
“Hehe,” she laughed lightly. “I’ve read about those two before. The changelings weren’t that interesting, but any tale with Discord is a great book in my eye.”
“A book, are you crazy, I—!”
Rainbow Dash took a long second to realize that this mare was probably how Twilight would be if Celestia never got her nose out of books.
“Nevermind. How about this. Do you remember seeing a unicorn mare looking for any spells?”
“Of course, we get them all the time.”
“Not just any type of spells, serious ones. Powerful ones, probably something ancient.”
The mare tapped her glasses a couple times, scratching her chin with the other hoof. Slowly her gaze faded out far behind Dash. Rainbow eyes grew narrower as the silence.
“Look lady—”
“Aha, I think I remember! Unicorn! Spells! Old stuff! I remember her. She was here about, oh, 500 pages ago.” She quickly ruffled the pages of the book she was reading, before returning to bookmarked page. Dash noted that it was easily a couple thousand pages, and face hoofed. “What a determined soul. It was almost admirable, something definitely was driving that pony. It was romantic, like Star Swirl the Bearded’s determination to end the terrible torment of the Sirens, and he even—”
“—Don’t care,“ Dash said abruptly. “What did that unicorn check out?”
Eyebrows waved impatiently as the bespeckled mare huffed. Rainbow kept staring.
“Just a moment, ma’am.” The librarian stepped out of the kiosk and approached a door against the hall’s wall. She disappeared behind the door, and shortly returned with a piece of parchment balanced upon her head. She walked back to the kiosk, then tilted forward, a map fluttering down in front of Rainbow. The mare picked up a pen in her teeth and began drawing, as Rainbow watched eagerly.
“I can’t tell you what she checked out, because she didn’t check out anything. However, here,” she pointed at one point on the page, “is where we are. There,” another point, “is the section I believe the mare went. It’s apart from this main collection. That’s what she asked for, anyways. This,” her hoof swept through the page, following the line she drew, “is the route. And this is the section I.D. number, in case you get lost. Do you think you can find it, you brute?”
Dash didn’t hear the insult. She tucked the map under her wing as she strutted through the halls, leaving billowing papers and angry cries in her wake. The library shimmered past her as she flowed through crowds, only occasionally pausing to check the map. She followed it until she came to a grand archway. She glanced at the name: The Secondary Reference Section. She stepped through the threshold.
It took her a while to find the section number the librarian scribbled on the paper. It was in the back corner of the dusty room, next to a small window. Dash blinked. She figured a reference section would be more prestigious than this, especially after the main hall she traveled through.
Dash began to hoof through the titles.
“Extra Enormous Equestrian Feats? No. Wacky and Wild Wildebeest Wrecords? Ugh. Ghosts of Everfree Castle? What?” The next one particularly made her groan. “Rusty’s Can You Maybe Believe-It-Or-Not Really? Okay, what kind of a reference section is this?"
She glanced to her right, and eyed more serious sounding titles; titles she expected Twilight to read. She double checked the sheet the librarian handed her. The shelf of goofy titles was the right section, but she hadn’t found the book yet. Book after book wasn’t what she was looking for. Frustrated, Dash started pulling books out at random, flipping through all the pages, and shoving them back into their place in frustration. Then she began to leave them on top of the shelf.
“How am I supposed to tell which one of these useless books was Twilight’s?!” Finally she started dropping books at her hooves.
“No. No. No. No! No! NO! NN— Wait-a-second!”
She hesitated, midway through Fantastic Beasts of Equestria and Where to Locate Them. She put it back on the shelf, and reached for the book she just dropped. It was thin for a reference book, with gaudy shiny title font and pop art that may have interested school children a couple generations ago. Slowly, she began to flip through it again.
“I thought I saw…”
Her eyes widened, frozen to the open book. There was a page ripped out. When she found her voice, it was a whisper. “Whoa, Twilight would never— Is she that desperate?” She reached out and touched the page, imagining a Twilight who was looking over her shoulder in panic, trying to find what she was looking for as fast as possible.
She shut the book, and looked at its title. The Truth Behind the Forgotten Fables of Equestria: Pre-Nightmare Moon Myths. Dash reopened it and looked at the page, her face grim. If she was honest with herself, it was a grim situation all around, but she tried pushing the thought away to stay focused. Rainbow Dash had firsthand knowledge about how Twilight revered books. To see that the unicorn was so scared she was becoming careless with such a core part of her personality was…
She tried pushing the thought away to stay focused. She began reading.
There is a little known tale out there called The Dragon’s Jewel. Growing up, many a parent used it to educate fillies and foals about the dangers of dragons. Essentially, a pony has the gall to steal from a very powerful Dragon, and the consequences were dear. Perfect story to keep fillies from climbing up mountains and hurting themselves, right? Only we may have found some evidence, echoes of this story. There’s an incredibly large cave on the side of a mountain outside of—
The page ended there. The next page number jumped by three, and the only evidence there was something in between them was a sliver of torn paper in the middle. Dash kept reading the next available page.
—evidence is mostly inconclusive, it’s still creepy that maybe, some time ago, there was a dragon, and a foolish prince.
That was the end of the section, and it continued on to a new investigation. “Ugh, is that this? That’s like the whole thing!”
And then another aspect of the book caught her eye. One of the very last pages had its corner bent in. Turning to it, Dash found herself in the index. Inside there was a faded yellow sticky note, with the word ‘source’ written in impeccable handwriting. Writing only capable with the deftness of magic, Dash noticed. It lined up perfectly along the bottom of a book title.
Filly Tails, vol. 2 by Glum, etc.
Dash turned on the spot and lightning speed-strutted through the halls. Complaints and glares were thrown, but shortly Rainbow Dash found herself back at the help desk. She tossed the book onto the desk, which slid across the surface and bumped the one the librarian was still reading. She pointed at the underlined title.
“Where is this book!” said Dash. She was nearly breathless.
The look the bookish mare gave her would’ve stayed a dragon’s breath. “Can’t you see I’m reading?”
Rainbow Dash was unfazed, her voice lined with an edge. “This is your job. Where can I find this book?”
The mare looked down her nose through slits at the open book, her eyebrows furrowed. “Well, if your friend is on a quest, you did pick a good book to start with. It’s old, extremely rare, and full of tall tales,” she said as her eyes flicked over the page, reading the title. “This was my favorite volume of the series, whenever I finally got my hooves on it for a chance to read it.” She looked up at Rainbow, wearing a warm smile. Rainbow’s face only showed annoyance and impatience. “Anyways, we don’t have that book.”
“Oh, come on!” Dash punctuated her frustration by slamming a hoof on the table. Several nearby ponies hushed and turned and looked. Slowly, they returned to their bustle.
The librarian’s disappointed look only deepened. “This is a library, ma’am. One of the best in the kingdom, I might add. Please keep your voice down, and quit being dramatic.”
Dash wanted to shout some more, but held her tongue. Twilight would have jumped out of her fur if she saw her acting like this inside a sacred library, even if it was the librarian who was acting like a character. She swallowed hard.
“I’m sorry. Look, there’s some crazy things going on, and I need to find my friend. This is the only lead I have, so if you don’t have the book, where can I get it.”
The apology had no visible effect on the mare’s facial features, but she responded anyways. “Just a moment, honey.”
She disappeared back into the door in the wall again. This time, she returned much more quickly.
“You’re in luck. It’s at one of our satellite branches in Vanhoover.”
“Isn’t that across the country?”
“Yup,” the said with a smirk she couldn’t help.
Dash’s face fell. “Their public library?”
“No, it is on a college campus. The local community college, to be exact. I’m sorry your quest isn’t going as easy as you’d like. If you want, I can order it for you.”
“How long will that take?”
The pony put a hoof to her chin. “Well, for free I can send a request in the mail tomorrow, and it’ll be as fast as a typical airmail pegasus. When they get the request, they’ll send it back with the mail. Or, for a small fee, I can send the request through the Canterlot relay, and it’ll be on its way here tomorrow. It’s currently Thursday so using the relay should be here by Tuesday or Wednesday. This all depends on whether or not the book is checked out already, of course.”
As soon as she heard ‘Canterlot’, Rainbow Dash jumped up. “Uh, no thanks,” she said as the mare finished. “I’ll probably get there before the mail pegasus does anyways. Thanks, bye!”
Before the librarian could say anything else, Rainbow Dash was flying through the halls above the heads of the other patrons. The mess she left in her wake upset anyone unfortunate enough to be in her path. She dived through the exit just a young stallion opened it for his very special mare, making them both jump. Dash slipped between them, and landed hard on the steps. She crouched low, and then launched herself into the sky with a powerful flap and a bang. Once she was clear of most of the buildings, she did a quick look around to see the location of the sun, then shot off to the west, leaving a rainbow behind her.
She didn’t expect to be flying so far. She’d never flown across the country with her own wings. Her lips curved at the challenge, but her face remained pinched, focused. “If I have to circle to whole country, so be it. I will find Twilight.” She flapped hard, Manehatten becoming a glossy patch of land behind her.
Miles behind, the librarian was shocked, unable to believe that a pony could move that fast. She pushed the glasses back up her nose, and tried to resume reading, but the odd pegasus wouldn’t leave her mind. She put up a break sign and left the island desk for the back room one more time. That pegasus was obviously distressed, she thought. She could only imagine her frustration if she got there to find the book checked out already. She began to scribble a message.
As she finished, she couldn’t help but smile. The pegasus’ search reminded her of favorite types of stories. “Good luck on your quest, you brute.” She departed with a few of her own bits, and submitted her request.
***
Rainbow Dash found herself inside the Golden Oaks Library yet again. She immediately ran for the door, opened it and jumped through, only to find herself inside the library again. The transition momentarily gave her extreme vertigo. When she heard the voice, she jumped.
“Rainbow Dash, what are you looking for?”
She turned to see Twilight again, but it definitely wasn’t her voice, not completely. It warbled between the Twilight she knew, and something much older and regal.
Dash knew whose presence she was in. Her bow was slight and without ceremony. “Princess. Why are you here again?”
Twilight’s hair slowly grew, until it framed her face and brushed the ground, her tail following suit. It faded from purple into the signature starlit glow of the night princess’ mane. Despite the ethereal mane, her body remained that of Twilight’s, but her voice finally settled on Luna’s cold nobility.
“We are concerned for her, Rainbow Dash. You cannot expect otherwise. It has been a week since this all began, and we need answers.”
Familiarity took over Dash’s demeanor, and she relaxed just a little. “I’m getting answers.” She said it the way a child would tell their mother, that despite her doubts, they already completed their chores.
“Rainbow Dash. You’re an Element of Harmony, a valuable asset to our Kingdom, and a great friend. Please tell us what happened. Celestia is—” she paused, searching for the right word. “She is anxious.”
Rainbow Dash absently touched a book, looking away. She waited for Luna to speak more, but found she had to break the silence. “You weren’t there, but once Celestia came to take Twilight away from me, from us, her friends. We stood in between them, and I demanded she back off. I was there for her. This isn’t anything different.”
There was a pause. Understanding flashed briefly behind Luna’s eyes, but Dash saw none of it. “We will ask one more time. But tonight, we are done.”
Dash rounded on Luna. “I have a lead!” she pleaded.
The Luna-Twilight spoke no more. She simply stood at the top of the stairs, and looked down at Rainbow Dash until time became funny and the room melted away. There was a brief flash of red, and Dash felt immense terror pushing on her. It was over soon, and Dash awoke on a cloud.
She stretched, yawning deeply, shaking off the unpleasant dream. She was infinitely thankful that Luna’s late night trips still allowed her body to rest, even if her mind did not. She hadn’t done this much endurance flying in her life, and she was only halfway to Vanhoover. She looked south, and saw the back of Canterlot’s mountain far away. Even if Canterlot faced her, it would have been too small to see other than a tiny shimmering speck of reflected light. Shaking off the chill she got, she once more took to the sky.
The rest of the journey westward was of little notice, with days of flying punctuated by short nights of light sleep. Two days from her the end of her journey, she was fortunate to catch a glimpse of Cloudsdale to the south. Upon first glance it appeared only as a huge cloud, but the longer Dash looked the more she could pick up the subtleties. The giant floating city, its abundance of archaic columns and rainbow falls, drifted lazily in the sky, meandering around without purpose.
“Whoa, it’s kind of far north from where it usually is,” she said to herself.
Dash hadn’t been fond of her hometown for a long time. She had left for a reason, and was content to let it float away back south, and out of her mind. West lay Vanhoover, and off in the distance behind it was the shimmering ocean. She felt the ambiguous tug, and kept on flying.
***
Dash soon found that the city itself was shimmering as well. Vanhoover was a metropolis of glass. It was half the size of Manehatten, and unlike the Big Apple this city was constructed with art instead of splendor in mind. The coastal seaport of Vanhoover wasn’t as big as Manehatten, nor as tall, but it had all its own charm, bustle, and mystique.
The University of Vanhoover was easy enough to find after a few flyovers. Nestled in the middle of the city, the greenery of the campus looked similar to the Canterlot Castle grounds that housed the academy and Celestia’s school. Unlike Canterlot, the buildings were very much modern, built with uniform red bricks. She kept an eye out, hoping to find a pink streak in someone’s straight purple mane, but none were found.
The campus was another world to Dash. She had no need for more education than what she had as a filly, so being surrounded by all the scholars was weird to her. If she had been any more introspective, she probably would’ve felt self-conscious being surrounded by ponies her age who were still advancing their studies, but Rainbow Dash’s dream didn’t require higher education, and thus it was outside her mind. It didn’t prevent her from being a blatantly awkward outsider, however no one bothered her despite not carrying a bookbag like most of the ponies around her.
The library sat in a corner of campus. A quick glance to the sign out front labeled it the Weaving Library. It looked like a regular enough building to Rainbow Dash, who found that fact amusing. Then again, she wasn’t qualified to determine what was or wasn’t a regular library, but she was satisfied with thinking this one seemed like a normal, typical library.
The pony, a cool blue unicorn, looked up with a wide smile. “Ah, another new student. Whelp, welcome to J. F. Slate, our quaint community college library!”
Dash shook her head. “N-no, I’m not a new student— Er, not exactly. I’m here looking for a unicorn. She probably would have asked about powerful spells, or looked into old stories about filly tales or fairy tales or something.”
“Sorry, doesn’t ring any bells. Honestly, I’m a new student as well. The semester just began, so if she came as early as last week, I wasn’t here to assist her. This library actually is open year round, so if anyone helped her it would be our head librarian… who is off today.”
Dash rolled her eyes. “Ugh, figures. Fine, just help me find this book. It’s called Filly Tails vol. 2. I’m not sure who it’s by, I was told it was a ‘compilation’ or whatever that means. Something like that.”
The stallion blinked. “Oh, you’re the one that book’s been waiting for. Hold on a moment.”
Dash’s eyes followed him in silence. Waiting for me? Why would they know I’m coming? She couldn’t shake that somehow that was a bad thing, but she couldn’t figure out why.
The Librarian hoofed through a cart of books situated behind the desk, before picking one up and returning to Dash. “I’m sorry, but the book’s been damaged. Would you still like to check it out? If so, we can look into securing another copy for you.”
Dash didn’t say anything at first. Her eyes fixated on the book. She wondered if this book was like the last with pages missing and frantic scribbles. Frantic, but beyond what a wing or mouth could produce. She wondered how little time Twilight had to learn what she needed, and how much she took on the road. The thought brought her out of her trance. “No time, just let me read it.” She made a grab for the book, but the librarian pulled it out of reach.
“When you're done, please bring it back here. Don’t leave it on the return carts,” he said as he gestured to the cart where he had retrieved the book, “as we do need to get this book repaired or replaced. We decided to let you read it as this book is hard to find, and you traveled such a long way.”
Rainbow Dash nodded. The librarian slid the book across the counter to her. She took the book under a wing and walked off to find herself a secluded spot to read.
Again, Dash found amusement in just how small the library was, relatively speaking. Not just its size struck her as interesting, but its shape and layout as well. The entire library was about a third of a circle, fanning out in front of her as she left the desk. Directly in front of her were a few chest high shelves filled with newspapers and magazine. Behind that featured a layer of tables and chairs, where barely any ponies read books this early in the school year. Beyond that lay the portion of the main collection that resided on the ground floor. Above, a line of arches overlooked the selection. She looked left and spotted some stairs in the far corner, and headed for them.
Taking the stairs by hoof was something she rarely did, but with the book gripped snugly under her wing, she trotted lightly up them. Stepping out onto the second floor, she found the it curved as well. It was about half the floor size of the first floor, and for a good reason; each arch she saw from below was an alcove with a booth and table that overlooked the main reading room. To her left, the second portion of the collection lined up against the wall in rows.
Moving to an alcove, Rainbow Dash set the book down and immediately began to hoof through it. It wasn’t long before her mouth was agape again. As she suspected, the book had several missing pages, however the destruction was worse this time.
Her eyes narrowed. “What is it you found, Twilight?”
She continued. As she neared the end, she noticed almost the entire reference section was ripped out. She flipped to the page before the missing pages began, and read.
The Dragon’s Jewel, by Y. Spinner
A long time ago, there was a foolish prince with a bright red shirt with a flowery gold collar and a silly silver sash. He traveled the lands with a big smile on is face, looking for a bride. After months of searching, he found one in the princess of Lepidopetra, a grand kingdom to the southwest. She was gorgeous; her horn was like polished coral, her wings like a strong phoenix's, and her mane like wild rose thorns. She was bold, just like the prince liked. However, she saw through his hollow charms for the fool he was. She needed a stallion who could protect her.If Dash wasn’t at least partly convinced that this book would help her find Twilight, she would have dropped it immediately and let lay on the floor until retrieved by the librarian. She didn’t care what Twilight would’ve thought, the story was already lame. She shook her head, and kept reading.
There happened to be a dragon resting on a mountaintop nearby. The prince, knowing that dragons had vast amounts of wealth stored in their caves, concluded that he needed to steal a jewel from the dragon to prove his worthiness to the fairest maiden he had ever laid eyes on. He set out, conquering the mountain in no time at all. He snuck in while the beast was napping, and stole its most prized jewel. As soon as he touched it, he was imbued with the strength of ten ponies. With his newfound strength, he left the cave with his head held high. However, the foolish prince left behind his sash, casting it aside as the new him didn’t need its immature appeal any longer. Upon returning to the castle, the princess was wowed by his daring and bravado. This newly changed prince that greeted her was more of a stallion than the fool that left for the mountain. She agreed to marry him, and they had the most splendid of feast, inviting both of their kingdoms to unite and celebrate.
Dash wasn't eager to read what happened next. Happily ever endings were boring to her.
However, the dragon’s jewel did more than invigorate the prince. It changed him. He was not the lovestruck prince from before. He began to tease the princess, then taunt her, and slowly he used his strength to dominate her. It wasn’t enough she loved him; she now needed to submit to him. It wasn’t enough that he was the strongest, any stallions caught looking, glancing at the princess needed to be detained. Locked up. Eliminated. The changed prince began to bend the kingdom to his will, and the subjects cried out for reprieve. Then, tracking the prince’s scent from his discarded, the dragon descended upon the kingdom. He granted their wishes, and left nothing standing.
Rainbow Dash let out a slow breath, perturbed by how darkly the fairy tale had gotten. The jewel was more than she expected. The next page was missing, so Dash wasn’t sure if the story was over or not. She was not the type of mare to simply check the table of contents, either. “Again, just as it gets to the juicy bits... Think, Rainbow. Where can I go for more info?”
A smile quickly teased her lips, and she hoofed through the book. It also quickly left as she couldn’t find any pages with dog-eared folds in the corner. She humphed in disappointment. Flipping through once more she looked to see if there were any sticky notes left on a page, and a small smile teased her lips. She probably had missed it the first time, since it was black ink upon black words, but now she noticed a little thing she skipped over originally. It was the word ‘jewel’, circled in ink, in the middle of a story.
Dash wasn’t defeated just yet. She turned to the start of the story, and read the title.
The Love Poison, author unknown.
Dash knew this one. It was a story every young pony was told at some point or another. Of all the antiquated fairy tales tied to Hearts and Hooves Day, it was both the oldest the most famous one, which meant Dash was inherently uninterested, and skimmed through it.
Less than a sentence in, Rainbow Dash was rolling her eyes a second time that day. Why do all these stories need a prince? She returned to her reading.
—a prince found a princess he adored above all else. His every waking moment was consumed by the lovely and fierce princess. However, the prince wasn’t sure if he was up to the princess’ famed standards. She was a mare content on her own, and had turned away the advance of every suitor thus far. He considered wowing her with a large jewel, or heroic acts, but thought neither would be enough. So, the prince hatched a foolish plan.
She was a little put off at how unimportant the word ‘jewel’ was in this story, and wasn’t sure it was even worth noting, or even circling. She guessed that it was at least some sort of connection.
To compensate, he concocted a love potion to woo her. However, he made a mistake in it’s creation.
Dash knew the story from here. The prince screws up the potion, and poisons the princess and himself. Then there’s something about kingdom falling, and chaos reigning, and— her eyes widened as recollection struck her— a dragon! Dash turned through the pages of the first story she read, and stared at the title. Her jaw was tight. The chance of two fairy tales involving a dragon was nothing Equestria-shattering, but as it felt like she was following a trail. It was a particularly dangerous trail it seemed, as both stories ended with a dragon seeking revenge and everyone dead. On one hoof, it was nothing more than a typical ending for bad ponies in fairy tales. On the other, Dash was unsure if Twilight would tempt a fire breathing beast to save her friend, and that was before she saw the ripped pages. She gulped, stuffing the thought in the corner of her mind.
These two common words, dragon and jewel, were huge signposts advertising to her she was doing something right, that there was a connection however weak. She turned back to the page she was reading. Admittedly, the destruction was the only good part of the story in her eyes, but she skipped it because time wasn’t and was never on her side. Inside, she could feel a slight tug, deep and mellow. The story ended just as she remembered.
Lost in each other’s eyes, royal duties laid unattended at their hooves. As their respective kingdoms fell around them, they never left each other’s side, drowning in love till their lands were buried in history.
The End.
Dash was officially done with the book. She had what she thought was important, and love stories were not her thing in the slightest. “Give me a Daring Do book any day. She doesn’t need some... incompetent prince to make her interesting.”
Her thoughts went back to the connection that shot through her brain like a rainboom-ing pegasus. She felt— no, knew both stories shared something, but so what? That signpost only declared she was in the right place which, while helpful, wasn't what she needed. What she needed was where to go next.
She held her head, laying it on the table. “It can’t end here! I’m so close, I know Twilight’s been here!” She half expected someone to shush her, but the library was nearly empty, with the students having no reason to visit this early in the semester.
She sat up in a slump, leaning against the table, and sighed heavily. She flipped back to The Love Poison, read the title and the proclamation that the story was author-less, then back to The Dragon’s Jewel, and read it too. She looked at the author. “Spinner, why are you so important?”
Reluctantly, she closed the book.
As if shot by lightning, Rainbow Dash bolted up, snatched the book and strutted to the desk as fast as one wing would allow. The librarian looked surprised at how fast Rainbow ran up to the desk. Surprised but, Dash noticed, not annoyed like the librarian from Manehatten.
“Whoa there ma’am, what can I do for you?”
“This guy, Spinner.” She dropped the book onto her desk, open to The Dragon’s Jewel, and pointed to the name. “Who is he? Where can I find out more about him?”
The Librarian looked at the author’s name. “He doesn’t immediately ring any bells. The only way we’d have any real info on him would be if he is really famous, or say a researcher.” He shrug was conveyed in his voice. He was pulling at strings. “If he is one, may have a way to contact him in case new information comes to light about his field of study. I mean, it’s a stretch, but hold on. I’ll grab a directory.”
Dash nodded, too excited at the chance to say much else. He hurried off to Celestia knew where, and Dash stayed at the desk. She took the air, lightly flapping to keep afloat, too eager to stay grounded.
“Ah, Rainbow Dash. Fancy meeting you here.”
The voice from behind was so familiar, and very friendly. It spoke with a history one reserves for old friends. Dash twisted in the air, and was surprised to find—
“—Sh-Shining Armor. This is a surprise! What are you doing here?”
He offered a soft laugh. “I don’t work twenty-four seven. I do get days off. And I did just get married.”
“What a lame place to go on a honeymoon.”
“I already had my honeymoon, actually. Cadance is back home,” Shining said. “I’m visiting the city, and I heard that despite it’s size, this library was the best one in town.” Shining approached the counter, and flipped through the fable book. At first he didn’t look at the pages, but he soon noticed the damaged ones. He shook his head. “Twilight would lose her mind if she saw any book in this condition.”
Her friends brought her back to Earth. Dash slowly lowered to the ground. “W-Why are you here, again?”
“I’m sure you can guess.”
Her eyes widened, and her ears perked up as her body involuntarily switched to alert mode. A muscle twitched and longed to run, but she fought it and stayed rooted to the spot. Instead, she took a pleading step towards him. “No, you couldn’t be here for… Shining, please, I—”
“—I’m back!” The librarian started enthusiastically, reading from a sheet of paper. “Okay ma’am, it turns out that he is indeed listed in one of our researcher directories. The story he wrote was the only one he ever published, the rest were scientific writings. What a lucky break. He currently resides in his home in Las Pegasus. It’s an exciting place for a researcher to live, honestly. Anyways, he seems to have been there for years, and hasn’t published anything in some time, but he hasn’t requested to be removed. He’s even still connected to a school down there. My guess is he’s keeping an ear open for more news about… whatever it is he’s researching. Anyway, I wrote down his address for you on this slip. If you like, I can point you towards a post office. Uh, Ma’am?” He finally saw Dash’s strained face. He followed her eyes, and gulped audibly.
Shining looked over at Rainbow Dash. She didn’t dare move as she got a good look at him. She now noticed he was adorned in his Captain of the Guard regalia. The purple and gold plate armor was pristine.
The silence hung in the air for seconds, the librarian staring at the both of them, more so at the new knight in his presence. Shining Armor was the first to speak. He was still looking at the book. “Las Pegasus? Is that where Twilight is?”
Dash stood her ground. “What do you want to know.” It wasn’t a question.
Shining turned to Rainbow Dash, squaring up. He stood tall, with his chest out. Dash was aware of how much he looked like a guard, and not like one of her best friend’s siblings. “I’m under orders to find out what happened to Twilight Sparkle. And that’s my sister; I care about her. What is going on, Rainbow Dash?”
Dash grit her teeth. “How did you find me?”
A new voice laughed a boisterous, joyless laugh. A huge Earth pony stepped up to them from across the room. The magazine racks only came up to his knees. Dash lowered her ears and a slight snarl formed on her lips. She was sure she could feel his steps as he neared. “You’re not exactly the most stealthy pegasus. It came to our attention you like books for little fillies.” He laughed again. Dash emotions were too frantic to register the insult. Instead her mind finally made the connection, and cursed the well-meaning spaz from the Manehatten Public Library to Tartarus and back.
“And sure, you don’t do it often, but you’re the only pegasus we know that leaves a trail of rainbow in the sky. You’ve been in quite a hurry,” the new pony leaned in close to Rainbow Dash, who began to crouch expectantly. His voice shrank to a low rumble, laced with an unspoken threat. “Where are you goin’, lass?”
“Easy, Anchor,” was all Shining said, and the Earth Pony backed away slowly, deliberately, not looking away from Rainbow Dash. His face made it clear he didn’t like being reeled in.
Dash continued to glare at Anchor as he backed up, but eventually she looked down. “I can’t say what happened. I’m not even sure myself. I don’t even want to think about it until I find Twilight.”
Shining turned back to the book on the counter, but he wasn’t reading it. His mouth was a thin line, a slight grimace. “Understand that if I can’t get the information myself, then I have to take you in to face the princesses.”
“You can’t, because Twilight needs me. I don’t think she realizes what she’s getting into.”
Shining raised an eyebrow. “What is she getting into?”
The thought of dragons broke the surface of her mind briefly, but quickly faded. Dash’s eyes snapped to shining. “C’mon, you should know by now. I’m. Not. Telling. You. Anything.” Each word was punctuated by a firm step towards Shining. She had her snout in his face. He leaned back, but kept his hooves planted. “That’s the way its gotta be. Take me, and Twilight is lost. Make a move.”
Shining Armor stood his ground, as still as a guard should be. He never tensed, nor crouched to spring a sudden attack. When he moved, it was to turn his back on Dash. “I will let you go this time.”
“Let me go?” Dash meant to sound tough, but she couldn’t hide the surprise and relief in her voice.
Dash’s jaw wasn’t the only one to drop. “Seriously?” said Anchor. “After all the work we did, Sir? She’s right ‘ere!”
Shining whirled on Dash. “But next time, a choice will have to be made. I am a knight of the Solar Guard; I have to do what my princess commands of me.” His voice softened. He looked over his shoulder, and instead of the burly knight his persona shrank to something less. “But please know, we mean no harm. Underneath all of this formality, we are simply worried. Again, that’s my sister, my L.S.B.F.F.”
Dash smiled at Shining’s acronym, but it shortly turned reverted. She looked away as well. “Then the best thing you can do is leave me alone, until I find her.”
Shining Armor didn’t reply. He stared at Rainbow for a few more seconds, silently sizing up the fierce rainbow mare. He finally waved a hoof in the air, and turned to leave. Anchor hesitated, but eventually followed Shining’s command as he made his way to the entrance. Shining never looked back, but the pony called Anchor did, with a knowing grin that dared the pegasus to try anything. Rainbow Dash stared after them as they went to the entrance, exited, and never came back. She counted the seconds under her breath to be sure that she was truly going to be left alone.
“Uh, miss?”
The librarian’s voice almost scared Rainbow Dash. “Oh, sorry. I’ll just take the paper.” Dash quickly scooped up the slip, and bolted out the door. Bursting back out onto the open campus, a quick look around showed that Shining was really gone. She jumped hard and flew up into the sky as fast as she could, and didn’t dare look back.
Below, three ponies watched intently for the rainbow in the sky.
***
The darkness faded into the library yet again. Dash was familiar with the omen this meant by now. She turned from the door, and looked up the stairs. A Twilight with a shorter flowing mane of night than their last stood there. However, she never spoke. She merely looked down at Dash, contempt and, Dash guessed, mild bewilderment playing across her face.
“You know I’m not going to talk.”
“Perhaps,” said Luna, nigh indifferent, or at least in a way that Rainbow couldn’t tell her intentions.
Seconds, or hours, passed in the dream in silence. Dash crossed her forelegs. She was growing bored of the encounter. She decided to ask a question that seemed more obvious now than ever before. “Why don’t you just dreamwalk Twilight?”
Finally the mare showed emotion. Twi-Luna’s eyes narrowed. “You don’t think I have?”
The mare began to descend the steps. Her regular steps punctuated her speech. “I try every night. I walk the dreamscape. I trot through my domain, trying to find Twilight’s nebula. Most nights, I cannot. She rarely dreams anymore, and when she does it is a horrid black nebula of dark clouds and sludge.”
She was nose to nose to Rainbow Dash now. During her rant, Luna’s mane had flared, moving towards her normal flowing mane, but now it receded, almost appearing like Twilight’s straight locks. Swirls of stars still shone faintly in her hair. Rainbow’s feelings were flickering, giving her odd feedback. She wanted to reach out and touch her friend, the pony she’s been searching for days, almost weeks now, but she knew that wasn’t her. This was just a dream. The imposter was just Luna, and her mask was imperfect. Dash almost didn’t care.
“I have only encountered darkness like that twice in the past millennium. I’m sure you can guess when.”
Realization and red bloomed across Rainbow’s face, and her insides shuddered. The subjected felt incredibly taboo for the company she held. Normally, Dash wouldn’t be fazed about it at all, even if Luna stood in front of her, and brush it off in a brash quip. However, being in her domain, and the tone of her voice, made her feel like this was information she shouldn’t be hearing.
“You’ve met the Mare in the Moon, Rainbow Dash. I speak freely of her, as that past is behind me. While I do not suspect Twilight is going to turn into a dictator of dark magic, this is far from a good omen.”
Dash turned away. Her eyes fell on the red that had appeared in the room. It was everywhere she looked, more than before. It made her feel more worried. She found she couldn’t keep looking at that, and reluctantly her eyes returned to Twi-Luna’s.
“I’m not here to make you talk, my little pony. I’m here to make you understand. You must understand that we care for Twilight. You must understand we are frightened for Twilight.”
She reached out, and touched Rainbow’s cheek. It took all of Rainbow’s power to not press the false hoof against her skin. Even as she fought the urge, she whispered Twilight quietly into the dream. If Luna heard her, she did not react. She was so close, so very close to finding her friend, bringing her back, and letting her know she was there to help pick up the pieces, and to help face what picture those pieces formed. She could do no less.
Twi-Luna withdrew her hoof. “So, Rainbow Dash, when you are brought in tomorrow by the Captain of the Solar Guard, please understand that it is not out of malice, but necessity.”
Her words snapped Dash back to life. “Wait! I swear I’m close! I’m almost there!”
But Twilight’s figure was already fading to black smoke, and drifting apart. Then the red in the room began to spread, to gurgle up from its splotches and begin to engulf the room. Dash took the air, and tried to open the front door. Locked. She went for a window. Locked too. The red kept spreading, moving over the upturned table4, the dislodged paintings, the displaced equestrian bust. And as the room was finally engulfed in red, it shut on her like a bear trap, a deep buzzing and humming of screams touching her insides.
Dash screamed into the cold air. The sensation of freezing wind whipped her face. She coughed, choking for her breath. She propped herself, gulping deeply. The nightmare she thought was waning away had never progressed so much. She wondered if Luna was preventing it from happening, but letting it go a little farther every visit.
To the far east, she could see the sun rising, its rays still trapped at the horizon. Rainbow Dash knew she wasn’t returning to her slumber. She stood with noted effort, and moved to the edge of her cloud to look down at the city beneath her. The nightlife of Los Pegasus was still going strong. The lights lit the underside of the cumulus cloud she rested on. Rarity would’ve been ecstatic.
A deep sigh shook her body. She was exhausted. She had flown more in the last two weeks than she had in her whole life. Endurance flying for hours on end, day after day had made her wings sore and stiff, and her eyes were darkened with the little sleep she allowed herself to get. However, she still felt the tug. It was how she kept focused all this time. Twilight needed to be found, and needed to know that in all this time, Rainbow Dash hadn’t abandoned her.
She descended on quiet wings.
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Oooh, a nice chapter once again. Dash is quite the sleuth.
Three? Shining, his goon, and... ?
Looks like we have a mysterious interloper... And the plot thickening in many ways regardless. Very interesting.
Also; Y. Spinner, huh? As in Yarn Spinner? I think I see what you did there...
More also, I did notice a handful of minor mistakes/typoes/copypasting-gone-wrong. Want me to PM them to you like that last time?
5762185
Y'know, Dash is rather sneaky. Too bad she didn't pack her ninja suit.
Of course you can PM me. I really appreciate.
Actually, it's Yodeling Spinner.
Actuallly, I may be lying.