How worlds live and die

by SoikerNahmu

Chapter 4: Part from the Past

“Ms. Twilight, are you still with us?”

The Unicorn opened her eyes. She was in one of Canterlot's lecture halls. In the last row three other unicorns sat, levitating clipboards before them. To Twilight's left was a cart with a purple egg, to her right she could see her parents, wearing nervous smiles. This was her test for the Canterlot School for Gifted Unicorns, but how did she get here? Wasn't she just in some dungeon with her friends and Homer? They were looking for the Spirit of the past, maybe they were sent back in time by the last trap, but why did she still have her memory. Was that a malfunction of the trap? Or maybe they are supposed to improve themselves by that. She could avoid several mistakes now.

“Ms. Twilight?” repeated the examiner.

“Oh, I'm sorry.”

“We aren't here to find out how sorry you are. We are here to find out how talented you are.”

Twilight nodded and then turned towards Spike's egg. She never thought about this before, but hatching a dragon is a pretty tough test for a young filly. Not even the adult Twilight knew such a spell. This shouldn't be too much of a problem though. She just had to wait a bit for Rainbow Dash to perform the Sonic Rainboom and awaken her magic. With a victorious smile the unicorn pointed her horn at the egg and emerged a few sparks. This was more difficult than thought, which made sense. After all her young body wasn't used to the use of magic.

Anytime now Rainbow Dash. Perform your Sonic Rainboom.

New thoughts were formed in Twilight’s head. What if we weren't send back in time? What if Tempa changed the past, and now we experience the consequences? What if she stopped the Rainboom? My friends might not find their special talents. I might not pass this test. Or see my friends again. What about the Elements? Who will bear them? Who will stop Nightmare Moon? This is no good.

“What's wrong Ms. Twilight.”

The examiners exchanged worried looks. Maybe they were a bit too harsh towards the filly.

“Every....thing”, the young unicorn was hyperventilating and could barely speak.

“There is nothing to worry about. It's okay if you cannot hatch the egg.”

They didn't even expect her to. No one could do that. This test was just about getting to know her limits.

“But my friends?” Now she began crying as well. Never before they had to deal with such a breakdown during this test. Uncertain about what to do, the examiners looked at the filly's parents, who were clueless as well.

“Twilight, calm down!” ordered a voice in the unicorns head. But it wasn't her own. That was

“Homer?” she looked around to find the human. Without success.

“Listen to me,” continued the Spirit's voice, “none of this is real. You are just dreaming. There is nothing to be afraid of.”

“Dreaming?”

Twilight's parents, as well as the examiners, were worried. Who was she talking to?

“Maybe it will be the best to stop now.” Mr. Sparkle walked up to his daughter.

“Come on Twilight. Maybe next year.”

“No!”

“What?”

“My friends need me!” the filly's voice was strong and her eyes showed that she was dead serious. Quickly Twilight turned to the egg and closed her eyes.

“This is just a dream. Everything is possible.”

With these words the unicorn fired a beam of magic at the unborn Spike. It's noise drowned everything else and made it impossible for Twilight to get what happened around her.

As she opened her eyes again, to see if the spell had worked, the unicorn saw Homer sitting in front of her, surrounded by a purple glow.

“I'm glad that hatching spells don't work on mammals.” he commented with a smile.

Twilight was back in the room with the dragon-statue, which had smoke coming from its mouth. Behind it, part of the wall was molten and allowed the look at another empty room. The other ponies were lying around, sleeping but apparently unhurt.

“What happened?”

“Rarity's gem triggered a flame, which opened the path,” Homer pointed towards the hole, “but locked you and your friends in some dreams.”

“Okay, but why aren't you asleep?”

“As far as it seems, the dreams let you re-experience things from your past, just slightly changed. I however have no past to re-experience. Anyway, the others probably won't wake up on their own, so I am going to teach you a little trick that lets you enter their dreams.”

---

“Why do I have to wait in my room til the presents are there?”

Asked herself the young and white mare.

She knew that all the stories were phony.

Her parents got the gifts, not some red coated pony.

Yet every year it was just the same.

She, Rarity, which was her name,

had to wait all the time

until the clock showed quarter past nine.

This year the waiting was especially bad,

because of one special wish she had.

Why does time has to move so slow?

Ten minutes were still left to go.

Their number now reduced to nine,

The hands of the clock moved into the finish line.

The countdown went on, remaining on eight.

What....if they were running late?

With Sweetie Bell born they had much to do,

and no longer all that time for you.

Thoughts went through the young pony's mind,

And not the ones of the pleasant kind.

She even almost overheard the bell,

that signaled the end of her waiting hell.

***

It was a white day this Hearth's Warming Eve.

Everyone was happy, no matter if equine, rabbit or beef.

A purple unicorn stepped through the snow,

even if she didn't knew where to go.

This was Rarity's dream, her house might be a good start.

And finding it should not be too hard.

On her way she came past a house with bright shining light.

It was the only such, so Twilight took a look inside.

There was a filly with her parents and a foal just born.

No doubt, it was Rarity who unwrapped her gift with her magic and horn.

Under the paper a sewing machine came into view.

The perfect gift for the Rarity Twilight knew.

But she didn't appear to be glad.

No. Instead she turned quite mad.

The Filly shouted at her parents, then ran away shedding a tear.

Her crying was the only thing that now Twilight could hear.

While following the trail Rarity had left behind,

the mare wondered what was going through her friends mind.

Soon she found her sitting at the Ponyville Lake.

This was the chance to get her awake.

“Hey little pony what's up with that frown?”

“My parents. They just let me down.”

“What could they have done to make you so sad?”

“They didn't get me the one wish that I had.”

“What have they got you? What was your wish?”

“I want to dance ballet, but they got me some sewing rubbish.

Thought I would like it. Why would I want one of those?”

“Why ballet?” “Because of their clothes!”

“So tell me, young filly, which is the greater success?

You dancing on stage, or them wearing your dress?”

Rarity looked at her friend, making big eyes.

“I guess the second one is more nice.”

“Parents often know us better than we know ourselves.

That's the first lesson to learn for us Hearth’s Warming Elves.”

The filly jumped around the unicorns neck,

said thanks and received a pat on her back.

Quickly she stopped her happy embrace,

and hurried back home, with a smile on her face.

---

What a weird dream, thought Rarity as she stood up. She must have passed out on the ground, but why?

“Uhg. My head.” Twilight, who sat on the ground before the white unicorn, was massaging her temples with her hooves.

“Twilight, what happened?”

With a few short sentences, the mare repeated what Homer had told her.

“I see.” Rarity looked around and saw the human, sitting next to a sleeping Pinkie Pie.

“So, he is inside Pinkie's head now?”

“Yes. He asked me to send him there, before visiting your dream.”

It was rare to see the pink pony so quiet.

“I wonder what she is dreaming about.”

---

Music began playing as Homer materialized inside Pinkie's dream. It was a festive music. His vision was the next sense to return, but what he saw wasn't exactly what he had expected. This was the ballroom from Canterlot Castle. All around the place there was Equestria's royalty.

So Pinkie was dreaming about the Grand Galloping Gala. It's boringness was probably quite traumatizing for an active pony like Pinkie, so it made sense.

“Homer! What brings you here?”

“I was looking for you, Pinkie.”

---

The dream Applejack had was different from the others. It didn't show a scene or something, it was just a bright and white nothing. Twilight looked around and spotted a small green dot in the distance. As it was the only clue where to find Applejack in here, the unicorn began to approach it. As the dot was closing in, and it did so with an surprising speed thanks to dream physics, she saw that the green came from an apple tree and a small circle of grass around it. Underneath the tree sat Applejack, silent and still, her face covered by her hat. In front of the earthpony there were two tombstones. Rather small ones, though. Twilight didn't saw them until she stood next to her friend, who didn't seem to notice the unicorn. Engraved into the stones were the names “Sweet Cider” and “Ebbelwoi”.

“Hey Applejack.”

The farmer winced, but remained silent.

“Whose graves are those?” asked Twilight, hoping to break the silence.

“My...parents'” there was a quiet sob between the two words, that Applejack couldn't suppress.

“Oh.” Twilight never thought about that before. “Do you want to talk about it?”

Applejack raised her hat. The fur underneath her eyes was soaked with tears. She didn't answer. Instead, the white around them began to fade and was replaced by Sweet Apple Acres. They were in the kitchen now, together with Granny Smith, who wore a green helmet and was screaming at a bunch of jars, which were lined up on the table before the old pony. Strangely Twilight couldn't hear a word of what the old Pony was saying.

Outside the window Twilight could see hundreds of apple trees with dark leaves and blue blossoms.

“This was my very first zap apple harvest.”

The orange earthpony was staring into the distance with lifeless eyes. Right next to Applejack sat a filly version of her, watching Granny Smith with an joyful expression, that could not be more different from the adult pony's.

“Everything seemed to be perfect.”

Granny Smith sat her helmet on the filly's head and helped her climbing onto the table, where she mimicked her grandmother. Still without sound.

The old pony left Applejack alone and went towards the door, where Big Macintosh had entered, carrying a can of water in his mouth and a newborn Apple Bloom in a saddlebag on his back. He laid down the can and began to talk to Granny Smith. Still without sound.

“AOWOOOOOOOOHHHHHH”

The sudden and loud howling startled Twilight as well as everyone else in the room. Then a mare's scream followed. Granny Smith and Big Macintosh, who were both close to the door, were gone so fast Twilight couldn't even see them leave. Applejack jumped down from the table, knocking down several jars. Upon the landing, the filly tripped and fell over, losing the helmet she was still wearing. As the young pony stood up again and ran outside as well, the dream faded to white again, and the appletree appeared again, along with the tombstones. Just now Twilight noticed the drawings of Timberwolves beneath the engraved names. Applejack took off her hat and looked at it.

“This is the only memory of them I have left.”

Tears were running down the earth pony's cheek as she put the hat back on.

Twilight didn't know what to say: “I'm so sorry. I had no idea...” she began, but was stopped by the embrace of a crying pony.

“I barely remember what they looked like, yet I still miss them so much.”

The purple Mare patted her friend on the back, since this was the only possibly helping gesture she could think of right now. There wasn't anything about situations like this in any of her books.

“I fear the day when Apple Bloom wants to know what happened to them. What shall I tell her?”

“You will know when that day comes, and no matter what, you will always have your friends who you can talk to. We will do everything we can to help you.”

“Thanks Twilight.”

---

“Had a nice dream?” asked Rarity the two ponies who had just woken up.

“Not really.” answered Applejack, “Brought back some old memories.”

Twilight massaged her forehead with a hoof. This dreamwalking was exhausting.

“Remember, we will always be there to help you.”

“I know. Thanks again, Twilight.”

The earth pony looked around the room and saw the human sitting next to a sleeping Pinkie Pie.

“So, Homer is inside Pinkie's dream?”

“Yes.” answered Rarity.

Applejack eyed them curiously: “I wonder what she is dreaming about.”

---

“More punch?”

“Uhm, okay.” Homer took the cup from Pinkie, who smiled at him. “Do you enjoy the party?”

“Not really?”

“Why?”

“You see, this is not real. It's a dream.”

“How can something this good be a dream?”

“You know that the expression goes ‘too good to be true'.”

“But it's good if something good is true, so why would you want something good to not be true, which would truly not be good.”

“Well, you have a point, but you can trust me as the spirit of knowledge when I tell you that this is a dream, and we need to get you out of here.”

“So, how do you want to get me out of here.”

“I don't know yet.”

“What if you don't know it, because you can't know it, because this isn't a dream.”

“Damn it Pinkie, now you've got me questioning myself.”

The pony smiled before turning around to join the party again with a leap forward. Homer followed her with his eyes, while emptying his punch. The liquid tasted like strawberry. This had to be a dream. The voices in Homer's head would be much clearer otherwise. Or was he getting crazy and beginning to hallucinate.

Without thinking about it, Homer took another sip from his cup.

“Chocolate Milk?”

He looked around to find the source for the sudden change of his drink and saw a small pink cloud quickly flying away, with a deep and unmistakable laughter. In the same moment, the large door at the other end of the hall swung open and let in a flood of popcorn.

“Looks like we might be due for a big old storm of cuisine”

Strangely none of ponies seemed to care about the draconequus appearance, except for Pinkie. Shouting “The catering's here.” she dived into the popcorn.

“So Discord is responsible for the food. This is a dream.”

---

Rainbow Dash was quickly flying through the racing parkour. Only one other pegasus flew between her and the first place and she quickly drew close to him. Passing him should be easy, but the finish line was already in sight, so she still had to hurry. The young filly stretched herself and put her legs closer together. The teachers said that would lower the air pressure or something like that. Whatever it was, it made her faster and that was what mattered. With a few strong flaps she came head to head with the green colt. the two of them exchanged a quick stare, both wearing victorious smiles. The colt sped up, thinking he would leave Rainbow Dash behind. That he was wrong came to his mind as a blue blur followed by a rainbow coloured trail flew past him and across the finish line.

“I won.” greeted Rainbow Dash her competitor after he reached the goal as well.

“Nice try Rainbow Crash.” A pegasus, about the age of Rainbow Dash, with a brown coat landed next to the green one. “Obviously Thunder Lime here was first.”

The two were joined by a beige and grey pegasus.

“Exactly Rainbow Crash. Like you could defeat him.” said the beige one.

“What? No! I crossed the line first.” Rainbow Dash stomped a hoof on the cloud.

“Keep believing that. Maybe one day it will become true.” The four colts began laughing. Now the other participants of the race reached them, but instead of asking what was going on, they just joined the laughing and surrounded Rainbow Dash.

“Hey! Stop it!”

***

“Uhm excuse me, would you mind letting me pass, if that wouldn’t trouble you?” Fluttershy tried to find a way through the crowd that had suddenly formed on the cloud before her, blocking her way.

“Excuse me, I really need to get to my class.” Who was she trying to convince about that? The teacher wouldn’t even notice if she were missing. No one would. As well as no one ever notices her when she’s there.

“How about I beat you guys outside a race? With my bare hooves!”

Why are they fighting? And why are they so violent? The cheering and howling of the other pegasi scared Fluttershy. Trying to avoid them, she cowered down and made herself as small as possible.

“Hey, what are you doing?” A white pegasus stallion, wearing a whistle, landed near the crowd. “Your classes already started. Make sure you get there, or I have to report you.”

“You’re lucky, Rainbow Crash.” said Thunder Lime before flying away. The other pegasi in the crowd just flew away without any more words, leaving the blue filly behind. She bristled with anger.

“That also counts for you.” The teacher said before leaving as well.

“Stupid school. Stupid teachers. Stupid boys.” Rainbow Dash muttered as she turned around. She wanted to take off, but something made her trip. At first the pegasus couldn’t see what caused this, it took her a second look to see the yellow filly with the pink mane, hiding on the cloud.

“What do you think you are doing?!” She shouted.

“S...sorry.” mumbled the yellow filly.

“You better are! Geez, why does everyone has to make my life difficult? Can’t you just leave me alone?”

“At least they notice you!” The yellow pegasus raised her head and looked at Rainbow Dash angrily. The later one could see trails of tears below the filly’s eyes, which widened as she realized what she just did. Fluttershy hid her head under her hooves again.

“S...sorry.”

Her whole body was shivering. That filly seemed to be really scared, so Rainbow Dash couldn’t help but feel sorry for her.

“It’s okay. I didn’t meant it like that.” She walked up to the other filly. “Come on, stand up. I’m not going to bite you.” Rainbow Dash laughed friendly about her own joke.

Slowly Fluttershy stood up and gave the blue filly in front of her an uneasy smile.

“I’m Rainbow Dash. What’s your name?”

“F...Fluttershy.” she looked at the ground again.

“Fluttershy huh. Nice to meet you.” Rainbow Dash held out a hoof for a hoof-bump,which seemed to scare Fluttershy at first, and made her step back. With an awkward smile Rainbow Dash put her hoof back in the ground.

“Are you new at flight school?”

“N..no. This is my second year.”

“Oh. I thought you were new because I never saw you before.”

“Of course you didn’t. No one ever does.”

“Okay. We should hurry to our classes, or we’ll get in massive trouble.” Rainbow Dash took flight, thinking that Fluttershy would follow her. As she noticed that wasn’t the case, the pegasus turned around again to see the filly walking.

“What’s wrong? Aren’t you gonna fly?”

“I’m not really good at flying, so I prefer the safe clouds..”

Rainbow Dash flew back to her again. “How about me giving you some flight lessons?”

“Why would you do that?”

“Well, I feel a bit guilty for shouting at you before, even though you hadn’t really done anything. How about this? You stay kind to me, therefore I will be loyal to you? Deal?” Normally Rainbow Dash would have sealed such a deal with another hoof bump, but she didn’t want to scare her newfound ‘friend’ again, so she kept her hooves by herself.

Fluttershy eyed the blue pegasus that hovered before her. She didn’t seemed like a bad pony. “Deal.” This time, Fluttershy held out her hoof.

---

“Hey you managed to get out of your dreams on your own.” Twilight stated as she saw that Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy had woken up.

“That's great. I don't think I could have performed that dreamwalking spell once more.”

“What happened?” asked Fluttershy while rubbing the sleep out of her eyes.

Twilight briefly summarized what Homer had told her.

“I see.” commented Rainbow Dash, “So he is in Pinkie's dream right now?” She pointed a hoof at the human.

“Yes.”

“I wonder what she is dreaming about.”

---

“How could I have been so blind?” Homer slammed his hand into his forehead.

“What do you mean?” Pinkie’s sudden appearance right next to him startled the spirit, so that he spilled his drink. “I'm sorry.”

“It's okay. Good thing you're here. I just found out how to wake you up.”

“Oh.” The pony didn't seemed happy. Understandable, since Homer just told her that the best party ever is about to end. “So, what is your plan?”

“You see, these dreams don't just trap you in a memory, but in an emotion that you have to overcome as well. I expected those to be negative emotions, like panic, in which Twillight was trapped. You however are trapped within happiness. So I just have to make you sad.” Homer smiled at the pony.

Pinkie began to laugh loud. “Good luck.”

“What do you mean?”

Pinkie only giggled as an answer. Suddenly the music got much louder.

“Look around and you'll see,” began Pinkie to sing, “that everypony enjoys

everything at this party, that you want to destroy.

Everypony dances around, to this musical sound.

Everypony's good mood, thanks to this tasty food.”, After that last word the pony dunked her head in a bowl of chocolate pudding. In the same moment Discord appeared behind Homer to continue the song.

“Take some chocolate rain, and a candy cane, we've got more food than you could ever eaaaaaaaaaaat.”

Pinkie raised her head again and licked the pudding from her face.

“What else could this party need?”

“Well, uhm.” Was everything he could say, before Discord interrupted him by turning him around.

“Look around and you'll see, everything is just fine.

everypony wants to be,” the spirit of chaos turned Homer around again, where Pinkie now sat on a golden throne, wearing a crown made of paper, “near our party divine.”

The music paused and Pinkie raised her hoof: “I order there shall be more punch.” Giggling she jumped down from her throne.

“This Party will last day and night. In here it will always be bright.

I don't know what's wrong with you, to wish this would not be true.

Come and take your chance, get that body to dance.” the pony shoved Homer into the crowd of dancing ponies.

“Such a party that never eeeeeeeeeeeeends.”

“Is worth what without friends.” The music ended, and all eyes were centered on the spirit of knowledge.

“What do you mean?”

Homer slowly began walking towards Pinkie again, and as he did, the music began playing again as well.

“Look around and you'll see, there's one thing that is not right.” as he proceeded he did a pirouette and stopped right next to Pinkie.

“Look around then tell me, is one of your friends in sight?”

“Of course, they're right.....” She paused as she couldn't spot them.

“Can you party alone? Or feel joy on your own?”

“They have to be somewhere!” Pinkie was turning on the spot. Homer kneeled down before the pony and made her stop.

While looking into her eyes, the spirit continued: “Those five are waiting for yee, for their good friend Pinkie.

Even though I feel bad, you have to get sad.

So you can follow meeeeeeeeee.” as he stretched the last word, Homer stood up again with a pirouette and pointed toward the large door, where Discord had entered earlier: “Back to reality.”

---

Pinkie rolled on her back and stretched herself, then she opened her eyes. To her right she saw Homer, his back bent backwards and supported by his arms.

“Well, that was...interesting.” he said since he couldn’t think of a more fitting description for Pinkie’s dream, “Seems like everyone is awake again.”

“Yes.” Answered Twilight who stood before him, “What took you so long?”

“Have you ever tried to end one of Discord’s parties.”

“What?”

“Never mind.” The human stood up and dusted off his pants, “We still have a mission to complete.”

The room which they could see through the hole in the wall seemed to be empty and even after entering it, they couldn’t see any other being. By laying a finger on his lips, the spirit of knowledge signaled the ponies to be quiet, while he proceeded further into the room.

“Homer. It must have a been a long time for you since we last met.” said a dark and loud voice, that appeared to come from every direction at the same time.

“I’m happy you’re already here, Chron.”

“Where else should I be, when the future is lost?” At the other end of the room a dragon appeared. He had a white body with silverish, almost mirror like, scales running down his back. His face was wrinkled and dark rings underlined his eyes.

“Tell me, Homer” he paused his sentence to cough several times. Whenever Spike cough like that there was smoke coming from his mouth. It wasn’t like that with this dragon. His voice wasn’t like what Twilight had heard from other adult dragons so far. It was much clearer.

“Tell me, Homer, do you think my sister did this?”

“No. Tempa’s trap would have killed me then.”

“What a relief.” Chron closed his eyes and laid his head on the ground, showing them a happy smile, “Sadly, I can’t tell you who else could have killed Morus and Vito.”

“A Shadow.”

The ponies turned to the left, where a new voice came from. There, near the wall, another dragon stood, a very young one, with an orange body and her scales alternating between red and yellow.

“A Shadow?” repeated Rainbow Dash, “What is that supposed to be?”

“A being of pure destruction, which roams the void between the worlds, seeking to destroy every bit of existence.”

“And just an old Changeling tale.” added Homer to the description. His expression was different from what he had shown so far. He was way more serious, and the little smile, which had decorated him before, was completely gone.

“I know what I have seen!”

“And I still vividly remember the nights Chrysalis stayed awake to write those stories.”

“Whatever it is, it fits every description of a Shadow and it somehow makes it impossible for me to change the past and save Morus and Vito.“

The spirit of knowledge stood still, thinking about what Tempa just told them. A fictional character, that acted outside Homer’s range of knowledge and made it impossible for the spirit of the past to alter just that. It seemed somewhat unlikely to the human.Just as unlikely as Tempa killing Morus and Vito and telling lies about it.

“How do we know you’re telling the truth?” It was Applejack who spoke out Homer’s thoughts.

“Are you calling me a liar?” The little dragon clenched her fist.

“No. I just wanted to say....”

“What? What did you want to say?” Tempa walked up to Applejack. It was almost cute how the dragonbaby tried to fight an adult pony.

“Stop it! Now!” ordered Homer, “Twilight, can you teleport us back to Canterlot?”

“So you believe me? What a relief.” She sighed, “I feared you would use the Elements on me.”

“I at least believe you didn’t kill Morus and Vito and If we’re really dealing with a Shadow, then we have to inform the others as quick as possible. So,Twilight, can you do it?”

“I don’t think I can teleport a fully grown dragon.” said the unicorn while eying Chron, who watched the scene with one half opened eye.

“That won’t be necessary.” The elder dragon coughed again, “I wouldn’t be much of a help out there. Neither would Tempa.”

“Still, teleporting seven ponies over such a distance is very difficult.”

“What luck that you only have to teleport six ponies and a human.” There was Homer’s smile again. It was an innocent and childish one, that kind of smile that made it hard to say no, since you don’t want to make a filly frown.

“I can try it, but I need some time to prepare myself.”

“That’s okay. It would still be faster than walking. In the meantime, Tempa, can you explain to me how those traps work? Especially that giant room.”

“Well, it’s actually quite easy, if you know that” There was a purple flash and the ponies were gone, together with Homer.

Author's Note:

About Discord: I know, since the events from “Keep Calm and Flutter on”, Discord doing the catering isn't actually unthinkable, but i had already created the scene in my mind before that episode aired, and I was too lazy to think of something else.

About Rainbow Dash’s “reducing the air pressure”: I know it's the air resistance that should be reduced (which would also happen if the air pressure is reduced, but that's a different story), but I think a young Rainbow Dash does not really care about that difference. So the mistake is (sort of) on purpose.

Also, this chapter was somewhat an experiment for me, to see what I could do and how far I could go. I hope it is still acceptable though.