A MLP:FIM version of the DC Comics event Flashpoint
A MLP: FIM fanfic based on the DC Comics event, Flashpoint.
One day Rainbow Dash woke up to a new life, a life where Fluttershy is the captain of the Wonderbolts, a life where Princess Luna is the ruler of Equestria, a life where Equestria is at war, and a life without wings. Something has happened to the world she once knew, it is a world where her friends never met, and the Elements of Harmony have no power. With Equestria on the brink of an all consuming war Rainbow Dash must figure out what happend to her life and get the Elements of Harmony of this time back together before all of reality and time comes crashing down around her and everyone she cares about.
I conceived this idea about a year ago and just now I'm finally getting it written, I welcome comments and constructive criticisms, I know it seems to break away from the Flashpoint plotline, but I try to incorporate some elements of it into the story.
Fast, she had to act fast. Well fast is her forte after all, she's been trained for it since she was a little filly. No one could know she was here, especially the Princess, her hooves never touched the library floor and her wings silently flapped as she hovered quickly through the halls like a ghost. Finally she made it to the computer room. She set herself up by the nearest one she could find and began to log in, after a few seconds of searching and hacking she found herself in the Equestrian Royal Database, the biggest source of knowledge unavailable to the public and only available to high-ranking government officials. The home page wasn't particularly user friendly, she was greeted with a black void of emptiness when suddenly bright green words danced across the screen.
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EQUESTRIA ROYAL DATABASE ACTIVATED
USERNAME: BLACKANDWHITE PASSWORD: *****
PASSWORD ACCEPTED
REBOOTING MAINFRAME REBOOTING DATABASE >LOADING DATABASE >LOADING ALL FILES ACCESSING DATABASE >ACCESSING FILES >RETRIEVING FILES ESTABLISHING CONNECTION TO LIBRARY... PLEASE WAIT... LIBRARY CONNECTION ESTABLISHED
TIME PERIOD: THE LUNAR PERIOD DATE: DARK MOON/DAY 16/ YEAR 1105 OF LUNA LOGIN TIME: 8:26 P.M.
WELCOME TO THE EQUESTRIA ROYAL DATABASE. I AM THE A.I. LIBRARIAN PROGRAM: 7W1L1GH7 5P4RKL3.
SO TELL ME, WHAT CAN I DO FOR YOU?
>SEARCH DATABASE >CONTRIBUTE TO DATABASE >SAVE DATA >LOGOUT
PLEASE NAME THE DATABASE FILE YOU WOULD LIKE TO EXAMINE BELOW.
SEARCH: ESTABLISHMENT OF THE LUNAR PERIOD
EXCELLENT CHOICE, PLEASE WAIT WHILE 5-P1K3 RETRIEVES YOUR FILE.
To know the story of our ruler Princess Luna you must first know of the beginning...
TIME PERIOD: THE SOLAR SOVEREIGNTY DATE: 1 DAY BEFORE THE SUMMER SUN CELEBRATION LOCATION: PONYVILLE, EVERFREE FOREST, THE ANCIENT CASTLE OF THE ROYAL PONY SISTERS ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Almost 1500 years ago during the rule of Princess Celestia Equestria was threatened by Nightmare Moon. The 6 incarnations of the Elements of Harmony, Twilight Sparkle, Pinkie Pie, Applejack, Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy and Rarity defeated Nightmare Moon and returned her to her former self, the sister of Princess Celestia, and our current ruler, Princess Luna. Peace was established between the two sisters and harmony returned to Equestria.
PLEASE WAIT...
TIME PERIOD(S): THE SOLAR SOVEREIGNTY/THE SUNSET FUNERAL/THE FIRST YEAR OF THE LUNAR PERIOD DATE: 20 YEARS AFTER THE NIGHTMARE MOON INCIDENT LOCATION: CANTERLOT, PRINCESS CELESTIA'S CHAMBERS ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
After 20 years of harmony the days soon grew dim. Princess Celestia was old and dying, after the attack on Canterlot by the Changelings, Celestia was wounded by the Changeling Queen Chrysalis, this resulted in a shortening of her lifespan, knowing her end was near she called her sister and the Elements of Harmony as witnesses. It was there she passed her incredible powers to her sister Luna making her the new ruler of the sun and moon. Celestia's powers unfortunately were the only thing that kept her tethered to life and she died in her bedchamber ending the Solar Sovereignty.
The inhabitants of Equestria came far and wide to attend The Funeral of the Setting Sun. Ponies, Griffons, Dragons, and everyone in between came to pay their respects. After the ceremony Luna was established as the new ruler of Equestria thus beginning the Lunar Period.
As the new ruler of Equestria Princess Luna took a step in creating a brighter future for all of Equestria,. She supported the progress of technological and scientific research with Twilight Sparkle as overseer. She opened up trading between kingdoms, she also developed the Lunar Calender and established new laws to approve research. Over the course of the next 1000 years Equestria became more technologically advanced with Canterlot being the central hub of everything. Many ponies worried that this rapid growth of technology would destroy their way of life, but under the guidance of Princess Luna harmony between nature and machine has been fulfilled and peace has reigned throughout the land ever since.
END OF FILE
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WARNING: THE FOLLOWING FILE CONTAINS PRIVATE AND CONFIDENTIAL INFORMATION. UNAUTHORIZED RELEASE OF THIS INFORMATION WILL BE PUNISHABLE TO THE FULLEST EXTENT OF THE LUNAR LAW.
PROJECT: Harmony²
TIME PERIOD: THE LUNAR PERIOD DATE: FIRST-QUARTER MOON/DAY 23/YEAR 1089 OF LUNA LOCATION: CANTERLOT, UNIVERSITY OF CANTERLOT ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Over the course of Princess Luna's rule she had witnessed the deaths of the Elements of Harmony. This bothered the Princess on two levels. One; she had just lost some of the closest friends she's ever had, and two; the Elements of Harmony were the most powerful weapons Equestria had. The government still possessed the 6 elemental gems, but without their pony counterparts, they were just shiny trinkets. With the thought that Equestria could be attacked by another threat similar to Nightmare Moon (or worse) Princess Luna resolved to recreate the elements of harmony by creating clones of the 6 original ponies. This project was called Harmony² and it had to be accomplished by any means necessary. It became apparent that Princess Luna had already planned this project prior to the deaths of the six ponies for she had preserved bits of DNA from each individual pony. While it was somewhat disturbing to some, it made the project move that much faster.
With the DNA collected Canterlot scientist began work on cloning each pony. As biological work began Princess Luna started going over the details on how these little ponies would live their lives. They needed to live similar lives as their counterpart and they had to earn their cutie mark's in a similar way, but most importantly they needed to all be friends.
It was finally decided that the clones would all live together under the same roof. They would be taught what they are and who they are meant to become. They would not be taught how their original's received their cutie mark otherwise the whole plan would fail due to the cutie mark being forced rather than discovered.
PLEASE WAIT...
THE FOLLOWING INSERTS ARE JOURNAL ENTRIES FROM THE LEAD SCIENTIST DR. MANEDEL.
TIME PERIOD: THE LUNAR PERIOD DATE: WANING CRESCENT MOON/DAY 15/ YEAR 1090 OF LUNA LOCATION: CANTERLOT, UNIVERSITY OF CANTERLOT, BIOLOGY AND GENETICS WING, LABORATORY ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Today is Waning Crescent Moon Day 15, 1090 and I have great news! Harmony² was a success! All subjects are stable and growing well, all vital signs are reading normal and all subjects should be fully grown by the next moon. This is unbelievable! I thought the Princess had lost her mind when she suggested such a thing, but it's working! It's actually working! The information on this would be of great value to the scientific world, but she's wanted us to keep quiet about this entire project. Perfectly understandable though, I mean she is crossing many moral boundaries and breaking the laws of nature. Well it's for the good of Equestria, I'm actually pretty glad that I'm a scientist and not a politician, with my work I can just hit the reset button and start over, but in politics, when skeletons come out of you closet, those old ghost will haunt you and your reputation forever.
TIME PERIOD: THE LUNAR PERIOD DATE: DARK MOON/ DAY 23/ YEAR 1090 OF LUNA LOCATION: CANTERLOT, UNIVERSITY OF CANTERLOT, BIOLOGY AND GENETICS WING, LABORATORY ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ What have we done? What did we do wrong? Okay...get yourself together Manedel we can fix this...Oh Celestia...Oh Luna, WHAT HAVE I DONE?! Okay...today is Dark Moon 23, 1090. Something has gone wrong with Subject #4, Rainbow Dash's Clone. We DID NOT expect this to happen at all. All 6 subjects were of similar color 3 moons into the project, we expected they all would change color, which they did! EXCEPT FOR SUBJECT 4! She is not light blue she's still grey! A sickly monochrome grey! What do we do?! We are too far into this project to abort them now! They...they're just about to be let of the tubes...they're about to be "born" soon...what will the Princess think?! She'll be here soon...she...THE PRINCESS! OF COURSE! She's the re-
END OF LINE
IT IS ASSUMED THAT PRINCESS LUNA WALKED IN ON MANEDEL AS HE WAS WRITING THIS. THE COMPUTER AUTO-SAVED HIS REPORT, BUT HE DID NOT CONTINUE TO FINISH IT.
JOURNAL ENTRIES CONCLUDED
PLEASE WAIT...
TIME PERIOD: THE LUNAR PERIOD DATE: DARK MOON/ DAY 26/ YEAR 1090 OF LUNA LOCATION: CANTERLOT, UNIVERSITY OF CANTERLOT, BIOLOGY AND GENETICS WING, LABORATORY ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Today was the big day, all subjects were 11 moons old and were ready to be released from their test tubes. Miraculously, all subjects of Harmony² successfully survived "birth". All clones were virtual spitting images of their original counterpart, except for Subject #4 Rainbow Dash's clone. She was as Mendel described it "A sickly monochrome grey". Each pony was given a name similar to their original counterparts. For the first few weeks they slept, then they became restless and wished to play which they were allowed to do so from time to time, until they were finally ready to live in the castle.
TIME PERIOD: THE LUNAR PERIOD DATE: WAXING CRESCENT MOON/ DAY 8/ YEAR 1093 OF LUNA LOCATION: CANTERLOT, THE ROYAL PALACE, Harmony² APARTMENT ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Princess Luna wanted to keep the fillies close to her so she had an entire floor built into the castle for the clones to live in, but soon they would have to move to Ponyville to begin their new life. Time passed and as the scientist and caretakers watched the girls grow, their observations noticed that the clones did share many similarities with their original counterparts. These traits allowed some of them to earn their cutie marks rather quickly.
THE GIRLS ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ SUBJECT #1:Nightfall Shine A light purple unicorn mare with a dark purple mane with purple and pink streaks going through it. She prefers being alone, but is happiest in the company of friends, and like Twilight Sparkle, she is also very intrigued by books. Although a clone of Twilight, Nightfall's magic is particularly weak. She would have trouble casting the most simplest of spells and sometimes would mess it up completely, thus she has not yet earned her cutie mark.
SUBJECT #2: Ambrosia Named after the apple, Ambrosia is an orange earth pony with a bright blond mane. As the clone of Applejack she is strong, hard-working, fun, reliable, energetic, stubborn, tomboyish, and brutally honest. From the day she could kick she was assigned everyday to buck apple trees, this instilled a disdain for apple-bucking, and she wished to do greater things, she was introduced to more high-class occupations, but after a few jobs she realized that working with apples was what she wanted to do for the rest of her life and she had earned her cutie mark.
SUBJECT #3Majesty Majesty the unicorn has the indigo curls and white coat of her fabulous counterpart Rarity. She also possesses her eye for fashion and works very hard to create many wonderful outfits for her and her sisters. She also possesses Rarity's generosity, as she is willing to help anyone in need in any way she could. Rarity's other talent Gem Finding was activated when Majesty was walking around the Canterlot bazaar looking for fabrics, her horn detected the location of some gems in a rock, Royal Guards dug out the gems and Majesty received her cutie mark.
SUBJECT #5:Posey Posey is the spitting image of Fluttershy, a shy pegasus pony with a pastel yellow coat and wavy pink mane. She isn't a very strong flyer, and is incredibly quiet as well, but she is also incredibly kind. Her talent for communicating with animals was discovered when she found an injured rabbit in the royal garden, once she nursed it back to health on her own, she earned her cutie mark.
SUBJECT #6:Fuchsia Tart Fuchsia Tart was given the same lifestyle Pinkamena Diane Pie was given. She was required to work on a rock farm daily and would attend long boring religious sermons afterwards. Her coat is a dull grey pink and her dark pink mane is straight and hangs low in a bob cut, her personality is solemn and reserved. She doesn't spend much time around the others and has no interest in cakes, cookies or anything sweet in general. She doesn't laugh or smile, and as such she has no cutie mark yet.
For Fuschia recreating Pinkie Pie's childhood was successful, but to create the rest of her life the project needed a crucial element to give Fuschia and Nightfall their cutie marks, a Sonic Rainboom. The first Sonic Rainboom created by Rainbow Dash made a shockwave, that according to the original six, helped them discover their cutie marks. (Research showed that 4 of them could have discovered their talent on their own at some point, but it was crucial for Twilight and Pinkie) When the Sonic Rainboom occurred, the shockwave tapped into Twilight's powers and activated them, and the beautiful colors inspired Pinkie to always be happy. Unfortunately subject #4, Rainbow Dash's clone was in no position to provide such a thing for she has no colors.
SUBJECT #4: Monochromia Flash Monochromia Flash is a pegasus pony with a grey coat and a black and white mane, her eyes are inverted as well with the iris being white with a black sclera. Scientist do not know why Monochrome does not have the colors Rainbow Dash did, DNA test show that the she is Rainbow Dash's genetic counterpart so she is supposed to have the colors, the good thing is she has Rainbow Dash’s talent, going fast. When she was able to fly Monochrome was taken out into the Cloudsdale race courses to constantly fly and develop her speed. At such a young age she had already beaten all of her predecessors flight camp records by more than just a few seconds, a lot more. It is possible that Monochrome may in fact be faster than Rainbow Dash. Although without any colors she has no hope of ever creating a Sonic Rainboom. Attempts were made at creating a Sonic Rainboom, but despite the exact calculations, form, and speed all Monocrome could do was produce a standard Sonic Boom. Monochrome has another flaw as well, she doesn't have Rainbow's personality, she isn't as brash or headstrong as Rainbow Dash and she doesn't enjoy the thrill of racing or flying, after flying sessions she would go to her room and sleep for the rest of the day, she would only come out for classes, meals, and to hang out with her sisters. She doesn't have the passion of Rainbow and is very apathetic to most things in life and prefers to walk rather than fly.
With Monochromia Flash being the weak link the system it may take time for The Elements of Harmony to be recreated. For now they reside in Canterlot within the Royal Palace.
UPDATE: It has been aprox. 7 years past the intended date of Sonic Rainboom, this may possibly hinder the quality of Harmony² Subjects due to their approaching maturity. Possibility to re-clone Rainbow Dash and the others are being speculated and debated.
END OF FILE
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While it is believed that the Elements of Harmony are kept in the royal vault in Canterlot Castle, they were moved after they were easily stolen by Discord. Princess Luna currently keeps explosive decoys in the royal vault while the real Elemental Gems are buried with their respective pony in their tombs.
LOCATIONS ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Twilight Sparkle: Crown, Element: Magic LOCATION: Ponyville Library, ebony coffin in the root catacombs
Pinkie Pie: Necklace, Element: Laughter LOCATION: Inside a model cake in Sugarcube Courtyard
Applejack: Necklace, Element: Honesty LOCATION: Sweet Apple Acres, Cutie Mark Crusader Tree House
Rainbow Dash: Necklace, Element: Loyalty LOCATION: Cloudsdale, Hall of Fame, inside Tank's old shell
Fluttershy: Necklace, Element: Kindness LOCATION: Everfree Forest, Lake Zecora, Poison Joke Island
SO WHAT WOULD YOU LIKE TO DO NEXT?
>SEARCH DATABASE >CONTRIBUTE TO DATABASE >SAVE DATA >LOGOUT
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THANK YOU FOR VISITING THE EQUESTRIA ROYAL DATABASE SYSTEM! WE HOPE YOU WILL LOG IN AGAIN SOON!
>LOGGING OUT USER >RETRIEVING FILES >LOCKING DOWN DATABASE >REESTABLISHING SECURITY PROTOCOLS
>FIREWALL SET
TIME PERIOD: THE LUNAR PERIOD DATE: DARK MOON/DAY 16/ YEAR 1105 OF LUNA LOGOUT TIME: 9:18 P.M.
>SHUTTING DOWN...
GOODBYE
The screen went black. The pony at the computer took a step back processing the information she had just read, she got the information she needed, now she had to steal what she needed. She left the library and began to fly, she never needed her wings this badly, but this time speed was her friend. She twisted and turned between the towering skyscrapers that pierced the skies of Canterlot, this was nothing compared to the flight camp courses, although the flying cars were a bit of a challenge. Cloudsdale was very far away from Canterlot, but no worries, she'd get there soon.
Elsewhere in time a pegasus pony with a rainbow mane and pale cyan coat was hovering above her friend bragging and boasting in her usual manner.
"Well duh!" Rainbow Dash proclaimed, she grinned, confident in her statement.
"Oh please Dash," Twilight rolled her eyes, "that's just a silly gimmick they use in comic books to make them look more action packed and dramatic."
"Nuh-uh! I could do something like that!"
"Really? YOU could create a tornado vortex strong enough to levitate something?"
"Hay yeah! It would be so strong it could...it could..." Dash darted her eyes looking for something impressive enough to lift from the ground, and she spotted a rock, "it could lift up that rock!"
"You mean, that rock?" Twilight pointed a hoof at it.
Dash looked over yonder and saw that the rock was bigger than she thought, and deeply embedded into the ground. Moss was growing around it, weeds were spread out all over, it was virtually merged with the grass and soil. And it was huge, it was as big and was as heavy as two Big Macintosh's.
"Er..." muttered Dash a little worried, "Well...of course I could!" Dash sounded confident, but was starting to regret her decision.
"Well all right if you're up for it then." Twilight said with a sly grin. She and Dash went over to the rock. "If you're going to do this right you need to know what to do, first-" she was suddenly cut short.
"I know what to do! I've seen in comics a bunch of times before! I just spin around it really fast and the flow of air should lift it up! Or something like that...easy pie!" Dash approached the rock, ready to perform the task at hand.
"But Dash, you need to know about air currents, velocity and how fast you need to go to actually accomplish this!"
"Oh be quiet you egghead, it's just a matter of monkey-see, monkey-DO!" and with that Dash began to spin around the rock in a rainbow blur. The grass rustled as the vortex began sucking in air by the small tornado Dash was starting to create. For a second it did seem like things were going to go Dash's way, when suddenly a black blur came in out of nowhere right through Dash's tornado knocking the pegasus pony flat on the ground at a high velocity.
Twilight almost fell over from the gust that blur brought with it, the trees bended forward in the direction of the blur and all of their leaves were torn from their branches leaving them bare, and not only that, but the rock was lifted up from the ground easily and was in midair, it landed close to Dash with a ground-shaking thump.
"Ugh...who the?" Dash dizzy, saw Twilight come towards her.
"Dash! Are you alright?!" Twilight helped her friend up.
"Ugh...yeah...I'm fine" Dash was feeling groggy and disoriented, she's never hit the ground that hard.
Both ponies looked up and saw just a few feet away from them the silhouette of a pegasus pony looking down at them from atop of a hill, her body shrouded in shadows, all they could see was a pearly white grin of razor sharp fangs and a red lighting bolt shaped gem on her chest.
Something was wrong, Twilight could feel it, there was something familiar about this pony, but what? Rainbow Dash could feel it too, she eyed the lighting bolt gem attached to the ponies chest, upon closer inspection she saw that it was attached to a silver necklace, a very familiar looking necklace, there was no way, "Hey! That's my necklace! My Element! How did you get it? And what the hay did you do to it?!"
The pegasus simply grinned and began laughing, Dash was getting seriously ticked and she screamed at the top of her lungs over the echoing laughter, "WHO ARE YOU?!" With the angry words fading meaninglessly into the wind.
Rainbow Dash woke up, her back was aching from being hunched over her desk all night. She slowly opened her eyelids and saw the clock on her desk, it said 8:0-wait, a desk? Dash’s eyes shot open and she looked around at her surroundings. She was sitting in a very small and cramped cloud room, it was littered with candy bar wrappers, and crushed cups. There were a few cabinets and lockers in the room that seemed very unkept some didn’t even have a door, inside were brooms, mops, and buckets. The walls were barren except for a mirror leaning on the wall, a board that had various notes taped to it, and an old Wonderbolts poster which was wrinkled and torn. What was this place? Where was her house and her room? Where was Tank? Suddenly there was a knock on the door, “Um...come in?” said Rainbow Dash cautiously.
The door burst open and in trotted a brown pegasus pony wearing what seemed to be a blue and yellow Wonderbolts flight suit, only more bulkier and padded. “Hey, Rainbow Crash, you were supposed to clean the mess hall and locker rooms last night! Did you forget we had a party in there? There’s garbage everywhere!” it was Dumb-Bell, one of Dash’s least favorite pegasi.
“What the hay are you talking about Dumb-Bell? I don’t go around cleaning other ponies messes!” argued Dash.
“That’s Sergeant Dumb-Bell to you! And I think it IS a janitor’s job to clean up other ponies messes!” Janitor? That was the last straw.
“Oh yeah? Well I’ll clean you up Sergeant Dumb-Nu-AH!” Rainbow Dash had leapt over her desk, but instead of a burst of speed to tackle Dumb-Bell she tumbled over her desk and fell on the soft cloud floor.
“Ha! Ha! Typical Rainbow Crash, now get your nubs moving, or I’ll get Spitfire on your flank!” Dumb-Bell trotted out of the room, satisfied and laughing to himself.
Rainbow Dash had never been more humiliated and confused in her life. What was going on? Where was she, how was Dumb-Bell a member of the Wonderbolts? She got up on her hooves, it felt weird to stand up, she felt lighter, like she was missing something, hold on a second, ‘nubs’, what did he mean by that? Dash looked at her back, she was wearing a dark blue shirt, and not only that, but she had no cutie mark!. “No...it can’t be...” she thought. Quickly she tried to take off her shirt, she struggled for a few seconds and to her shock discovered the truth. Sticking out of her back were two cyan blue nubs where her beautiful wings once were. Tears began to stream down her face, “No...nonononono, it can’t be! NOOOO!!!” She grabbed whatever she could in the room, a bucket, a broom and began throwing them at the walls, all they made were a soft ‘thump‘ and fell to the floor. She looked at the mirror at her broken self, tears were streaming down her face, her rainbow mane was faded, her flank was bare, and her wretched nibs twisting about in confusion. “RAAH!” she screamed as she took a bucket and threw it at the mirror shattering it. What a befitting sound to all this madness, the only thing that seemed to make sense today. Dash curled up on the floor hoping to drown in her own tears or wake up from this nightmare.
“Um...hello? Dashie?”
Another sound ringed in Dash’s ears, a familiar sound, a familiar voice. It was soft, comforting...and also kinda wimpy, that voice could belong to only one pony. Dash opened her eyes and looked up.
“Fluttersh-” she stopped, eyes once again wide open in shock at a new and unfamiliar sight. “No...” Dash whispered.
It was Fluttershy alright, but it wasn’t the Fluttershy she expected to see, for this Fluttershy was clad in another altered Wonderbolts flight suit, it wasn’t as bulky as Dumb-Bell’s, it was more streamlined fitting a mare’s body, but it had similar padding and armor, and it also had a big pink butterfly similar to Fluttershy’s cutie mark (assuming Fluttershy’s cutie mark was the same in this world) proudly displayed across her chest plate.
“Um are you okay Dashie? I heard some loud noises coming from your room, so I came in to check if you were alright, um, if that’s okay, with you, I wasn’t bothering you or anything was I?” Still the same Fluttershy, but at the same time, NOT the same Fluttershy.
“What? No, NO! How could this be? How could YOU of all ponies be in the Wonderbolts!?” Dash immediately got up and started checking out Fluttershy’s suit, it was indeed a Wonderbolt flight suit, but why was it so armored?
“What are you talking about Rainbow Dash? I’ve been in the Wonderbolts since we graduated Flight School, you remember that don’t you?” Flight School? What was she talking about? She spent most of her life on the ground after Flight School! And how could she manage to have the guts and the skills to get into the Wonderbolts?
A pony suddenly walked by the janitor’s office and poked her head in, “Captain Fluttershy? You’re needed on the runway.”
“Oh, okay, thank you Lieutenant.” replied Fluttershy with a smile and the pony walked away. CAPTAIN?! Not only was she in the Wonderbolts, but she was CAPTAIN too?! This was all making Dash’s head hurt.
She fell to Fluttershy’s hooves and began to beg, “Please Fluttershy! Tell me! Tell me what’s going on! Where’s Twilight? Maybe she can tell me what’s going on!”
“Twilight? Who’s that?” inquired Fluttershy.
Dash’s heart sank. “Come on Fluttershy, quit kidding around, Twilight Sparkle, y’know? The most powerful unicorn in Equestria? Ponyville’s librarian? Princess Celestia’s student? Our own little egghead?”
“I’m sorry Rainbow Dash, but I’m afraid I have no idea who you’re talking about. And who’s Princess Celestia?”
This much information was too much for Dash to take in all at once; just yesterday she was hanging out with Twilight doing...doing something, what were they doing again? Something happened, a gray blur, some wind, red lighting, it hurt to remember. Dash’s head felt hot and tingly, like it was crackling and bubbling as if it was about to burst! “AUUUUUUUUUGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!” she began to scream as different colors of lightning began to flash from her body and zap everything in the small room. Fluttershy began to squeak in panic.
“Ah, AH?! Rainbow Dash, what’s wrong, are you okay?!” Fluttershy tried to scream over the crackling thunder and lightning filling the room.
Suddenly, Dash remembered, yesterday was the victory party for the Wonderbolt group that took out one of the Solar Empress’ battlements, she was supposed to clean the locker rooms and mess hall, but forgot to. Wait, who was the Solar Empress? Oh yeah that’s right, she was the one who attacked Equestria on the day of the Summer Solstice, Princess Luna has been at war with her for almost a year now. The Solar Empress has taken almost a quarter of Equestria and is going strong, she took over what was once the Changeling lands two months ago and has been focusing her attention on the Dragon Country which is where the Wonderbolts and the Equestrian Army have been fighting for the last few weeks.
The lighting in the room stopped, most of the clouds absorbed it and became various shades of gray and black. Fluttershy was in awe, wondering how her friend performed such a feat, and survive it. Rainbow Dash groaned as she tried to get up.
“Wait right there, Rainbow Dash, I’m going to get a nurse.” Fluttershy began to take flight, when she felt her tail get snagged in Dash’s mouth. She stopped and turned around as Dash let go of her.
“Wait...I’m fine, please, don’t go.” Dash uttered quietly as her strength began to return to her.
“But Rainbow Dash, I don’t think pegasi can normally do that, you really should see a doctor.” Typical Fluttershy, always the doting mother.
“Please Fluttershy, I’m alright now,” she began to stand up, “, but you have to promise me, you won’t tell anyone about this, just keep this between us, okay?” Dash was incredibly serious about this, she had enough insight to know that they would probably send her to a loony bin if she told other ponies where she was from or what she remembered. She looked Fluttershy dead in the eye and glared at her, even if she was Captain of the Wonderbolts she was still Fluttershy.
Fluttershy backed down, withdrawn, she stared at the floor, “Um, okay...”
“Pinkie Promise?” said Dash sternly.
“A Pinkie-what?” asked Fluttershy curiously. Oh that’s right, if she hadn’t met Twilight then she probably doesn’t know who Pinkie Pie is.
“Um, never mind, just promise me you won’t tell anypony about this, alright?” said Dash
“Okay, but we need to talk about his later, meet me in my quarters at 1900 okay? Will you promise me that?” said Fluttershy worryingly.
“Okay, I will.” said Dash. Fluttershy smiled caringly and began to walk out of the small dark room, suddenly Dash remembered something, “Wait Fluttershy!” she called out to her.
“Hm? Yes Rainbow Dash?” Fluttershy turned around.
“Tell me, do ‘The Elements of Harmony’ mean ANYTHING to you?”
Fluttershy thought about it a moment. “Ummm...nope! Can’t say that I’ve heard of them.
“Oh, I see...” said Dash, somewhat disappointed.
“Okay...I’ll see you at 1900 okay? Don’t forget!” said Fluttershy as she flew away.
“I won’t!” weakly cried Rainbow Dash as she managed a meager smile. That smile quickly went away as she looked around at her current mess of a room, she thought about this whole ordeal, first her friends and now the Elements? Things were worse than she thought.
1900, 7:00 pm that was a long time from now. If Dash had to wait until then to tell Fluttershy what was going then so be it, for now she was going to find out answers on her own, as a janitor apparently. She gathered whatever janitor like things she could, a bucket, a mop, a broom and placed them on a cart parked outside her room. She took a quick look at the board hanging on the wall to see if there were any reminders she left herself. Not much really, most of the notes were pretty old, but there were a few interesting pictures of her and Fluttershy; one had a picture of her and Fluttershy standing next to each other, Fluttershy was wearing a dress uniform, a scribble on the side said “Air Force Graduation!”, another picture was Fluttershy in a Wonderbolts flight suit and Dash in a janitor’s uniform, the scribble in the corner of this one said, “First day on the job!”, the board had a few more pictures of memories she doesn’t remember ever happening, but all of them were of just her and Fluttershy, but there was one particular picture that bothered her. It was very faded, and worn, but it seemed to be a filly Fluttershy sitting next to what seemed to be a filly Rainbow Dash in a hospital bed. The writing in the bottom corner was too faded to be legible, Dash’s head started to hurt again, she decided to start working before another lighting storm happened.
Stepping out of her room and into the hallway she found to be empty, it turned out these were the living quarters and everypony was out doing drills, which explained why nopony else showed up when Dash started blasting lighting. Dash remembered she had to clean the mess hall, but where was that? She, herself have never lived her before, maybe the Rainbow Dash of before, but not this mare. She managed to find a directory by one of the exits. “Cloudsdale Air Force Base” it said in the top corner. Air Force Base? Why would Cloudsdale need an Air Force Base? There was never one here before, oh right, there’s a war going on. After finding out where the mess hall was, Dash began to take her first step into this strange new world, unprepared for the changes that lied ahead.
Rainbow Dash found an Air Force Base alright, everywhere pegasi clad in armored flight suits were doing various drills and formations both on the sky and on the ground. As she made her way across the base she saw Fluttershy on the ground addressing a group of Wonderbolts over today’s agenda. On her right-hoof side was Soarin, also wearing an armored Wonderbolt flight suit, at least some things didn’t change, but when he turned around to lead a small squad into the air Dash saw he had three scars going across the left side of his face. “Wow, there really is a war going on, isn’t there?” Dash thought to herself. Finally she made it to the mess hall, she trotted inside to find chaos, garbage was everywhere, bottles, plates, cups; THIS is what she had to clean?
“Rainbow Dash!” cried a gruff looking pegasi from across the counter, “You’re late, lunch is in a few hours and you’ll need every second to clean up this mess! Now get to it!” he grumbled and trotted into the kitchen. Dash grabbed a broom, grumbled as well and started sweeping up all the litter. This would be so much easier if she had her wings, but she reminded herself not think about it, these nubs just didn’t feel right, and she would never feel right with them. A few hours passed and Dash felt she had done a pretty good job, her stomach grumbled, she felt the need to sit down and eat, but was stopped by that pegasi again. “Uh-uh, you’re going to have to work through lunch missy, once this place is clean, then you can eat.”
“Mmrrr...” Dash grumbled as she continued sweeping. Pegasi began filling the mess hall one by one sitting down to eat. A sudden realization dawned on Dash that she would have to clean up this mess too, she was going to be working on an empty stomach for quite some time.
As she continued to sweep and mop the floor Dash couldn’t help, but overhear some peculiar things about this new Equestria.
“Did you hear about this pony that sided with the Solar Empress? They say she rides an Ursa Major, she took out 3 battalions before they retreated, I hear she has control of the Everfree forest.”
“What’s she called?”
“Survivors said she calls herself ‘The Incredible and Immortal Trixie’.”
“What kind of name is that? She might as well call herself ‘Lulamoon’ or something.”
No way, that Trixie? The Great and Powerful Trixie?
“I hear the Princess managed to get the griffins to join our side.”
“Ah dude, that’s awesome, I was stationed once in the Gryphon Kingdom, they are some awesome fighters.”
“Yeah, but aren’t they also really arrogant and stubborn?”
“Well...yeah, but they make up for it in power. Check this out, there’s this one Gryphon, what was her name...ah, Grizelda! “
Gilda?
“She is just awesome, in a sparring match I saw her take down three of our guys, without even breaking a sweat!”
“Do birds even sweat?”
“Hm...I don’t know, but I hear they might be coming to the base in a few days.”
Wow, there was a lot in this world Dash was not prepared to expect.
“But the wings aren’t even ready yet!” Wings?
Dash saw three ponies sitting by themselves at a table away from most of the soldiers, they had on white lab coats and didn’t particularly seem like soldiers, one was a pegasi, while the other two were and earth pony and a unicorn. The unicorn must be using one of those spells Twilight used to get her and the others up to Cloudsdale, they seemed like researchers or scientist or something nerdy like that. “We can’t attach the wings to a test subject yet it’s just too soon!”
What were they talking about? Dash decided to sweep closer to their area to hear what was going on.
“Come now Marecel! There are pegasi out in the field who need this, if we hold back now, there won’t be enough out there to fight the Solar Empress!” said the Earth Pony.
“But if we give it to them in this state, we may cause more harm than good!” said the Pegasi Marcel.
“Hm, I’m sorry Potts, but I’m going to have to agree with Marecel on this, the Icarus project is indeed doing well, but it’s not ready for deployment.” said the Unicorn.
“Thank you Palmer, and don’t worry Potts, the Equestrian Air Force is strong, they won’t dwindle that easily. said Marecel.
Potts sighed, “Well I guess your right, I just can’t stand to see all those injured pegasi in the infirmary who so desperately want to fly again.”
“This is something we can’t rush, we need to be thorough about his or else we’ll-” Palmer stopped short to see Rainbow Dash on his left side getting uncomfortably close, “Um...can I help you madame?” Dash realized her intrusion.
“Ah! Oh, um...do you need that taken away?” she pointed a hoof at Palmer’s full tray of food.
“Um, no I’m still eating, but thank you.” Palmer said awkwardly.
“Oh! Uh, sure okay, no problem!” Dash quickly rushed away from the group of scientist, whew that was close, but she managed to hear one last thing from Marecel.
“We’re almost finished with it Potts, we’ll just make a few more adjustments and then pack in early tonight.”
“Sounds good.” said Potts as he ate his hay fries.
Dash needed to find out more about this Icarus thing, if they were talking about what she thought they were talking about she needed to get in on this, but for now, back to work, everypony seemed pretty mature about themselves and threw away food in the proper cans, everypony except for those three, Dumb-Bell, Hoops, and Score, who were, big surpise, all Wonderbolts. Surrounding them was a mess of cups, plates, and hay fries.
“Hey Rainbow Crash! You missed a spot!” cried Dumb-Bell, pointing around him and his friends area. Dash begrudgingly, went over to clean up their mess, after she was done, she turned to leave when she heard, Dumb-Bell call her again. “Hey Rainbow Crash, I said, you missed a spot!” as Dash turned around she saw him tear open a ketchup pack and squirt all over the pristine floor. He laughed and dropped the packet on top of the glob of ketchup.
“Ha ha! Hey, you want some fries with that?” said Hoops as he dumped his entire carton of hay-fries on the ketchup.
“And don’t forget a drink on the side!” said Score as he slathered on his drink all over the fries and ketchup creating a soggy mess. All three of them started laughing real loud, proud of their little display.
Dash calmly looked at the mess, then at them, took a deep breath and said, “Hey guys, you wanna know another spot I forgot to clean?”
“Yeah what’s that?” said Dumb-Bell.
“YOUR FACE!” she cried as she took her broom and cracked it across Dumb-Bells face.
CRACK!
The broom split in two upon impact instantly knocking out Dumb-Bell, Dash may not have had wings, but she was still strong. The cafeteria fell silent and Hoops and Score looked at Dumb-Bell in shock, then glared at Dash.
“Ah, horse feathers...” quietly whispered Dash.
Hoops and Score jumped over the table, Dash took a mop and stuck it in Hoops’ face, she dodged Score who fell tripped on his own mess and landed face first on the floor. Good to see she still had speed on ground. Dash grabbed a bucket full of dirty water and dumped it on Hoops head. She then proceeded to bang on the bucket with her broken stick making it ring like a bell. Score tackled Dash to the ground and they proceeded to grapple with each other. A bunch of high ranking officers including Soarin’ and Fluttershy ran into the cafeteria to find the fight and quickly proceeded to stop it.
“EVERYPONY STOP WHAT YOU’RE DOING RIGHT NOW OR I SWEAR TO LUNA I WILL BUCKING HAVE YOU FLY LAPS AROUND ALL OF EQUESTRIA UNTIL YOUR FEATHERS FALL OUT OF YOUR MOTHER-BUCKING WINGS! DO I MAKE MYSELF CLEAR!?” cried Fluttershy.
Dash and Score immediately stopped. Dash was surprised, looks like this world’s Fluttershy was a lot tougher than she thought. Her and Score got up off of each other and immediately stood in line. Fluttershy walked up to both of them and gave them “The Stare”, but this one was different, in the world Dash knew, “The Stare” was just intimidating and hypnotic, this one felt almost, bloodthirsty, this really was a different Fluttershy. She looked at Score and Hoops, who finally got the bucket off his head. “You two, get the Sergeant to the Medical Bay.” she said sternly, they both complied and dragged Dumb-Bell out of the mess hall. Fluttershy then looked at Dash who was starting to feel pretty scared, another minute of that “stare” and she would faint. “And YOU...” Dash prepared herself for chastisement. “I want you to retire to your quarters for the rest of the day, and think about what you did.” That’s it? Typical Fluttershy, Dash grabbed her cart and tools, and dragged it back to her office. Once there she slumped back into her chair, tired, frustrated, and hungry, she closed her eyes and drifted off to sleep.
Her dreams had Twilight calling out to Dash saying something she couldn’t quite hear, then she heard the cackling of a familiar voice and then a pair of white eyes. Suddenly she awoke to knocking.
Dash awoke with a jolt, the clock on her desk said 7:00, suddenly she heard another knock. Dash yawned, “Come in...” she replied.
In came Fluttershy, Dash prepared herself again for what she assumed was the true rage of Captain Fluttershy, but she saw that she had a worried look on her face. “Dashie? Are you sure you’re okay?”
Dash looked at Fluttershy, and saw that her flight suit seemed to be unzipped and loose, she was also holding a basket. “I’m fine Fluttershy, what’s in the basket?”
“Well I heard, Grill Marx, didn’t give you lunch, until you finished your shift, and I guess you didn’t get a chance to with your fighting and all. So I made some sandwiches and tea.”
“Oh right, thanks Fluttershy.” said Dash sheepishly remembering her antics from earlier.
“Dash, are you sure you’re okay?” how many times was Fluttershy going to ask her that? “You’re normally not like this. First shooting lighting out of your body, then fighting soldiers in the lunchroom, and actually holding your ground against them.”
“What do you mean Fluttershy?” said Dash distressed, “I should be asking you that! Nothing should be the way it is!”
“What are you talking about Dashie?”
“You, me, this, everything! You shouldn’t be in the Wonderbolts, and neither should those three idiots! I should not, not have wings, and Equestria shouldn’t be at war with this Solar Empress character!”
“Dash please, let me help you, we have some of the best doctors on staff, psychologist, therapist, all of them can help you out of this...thing you’re going through.”
“Please Fluttershy listen to me, what I’m telling you is-GAAAAAUGGGGHH!!!!” Lighting started coming out of Dash again.
“Oh my goodness! I’ll get help!” Fluttershy made her way to the door, but was stopped again, but Dash.
“No please...stay.” weakly said Dash as the lighting began to grow in intensity, “GAAAH!!!” she fell in Fluttershy’s hooves and suddenly everything started to become clearer. She began to see things, vivid images of her ‘past’.
“I-I remember now...it was in flight camp...I challenged Hoops and Score to a race, to defend your honor...but, I won that race...no...I fell. I was falling behind, I didn’t want to lose, so I took a short-cut through a lenticular, but it was way off the course of the race track, and I ran into a migrating dragon. The gust of his giant wings pulled me into them and I was smacked, my wings took the most of the force, and I fell. Then you came to save me, but I thought you fell and landed in the forest? No, you didn’t you stood your ground, and when you saw me falling you dashed to my rescue and saved me. You broke a speed record and became the youngest filly to break the sound barrier. You gained your cutie mark that day and I lost my wings...they had to amputate them...”
“That’s right Dashie, you’re starting to make sense now.”
“Then you graduated as one of the best fliers in flight school and signed up for the air force and got into the Wonderbolt Battalion, and I was unemployed, a pegasi without wings is pretty much useless, and you got me that job as the janitor here...”
“Good...good. You’re starting to remember.” said Fluttershy as she eased Rainbow Dash onto her desk.
Dash stared blankly at the floor, concerned, she felt like accepting this current turn of events, but then she remembered the reality. “No no no! This is all wrong! That’s not what happened! I made a sonic rainboom on that day! I got my cutie mark and so did you, Twilight, Pinkie, Rarity, and Applejack!”
“Oh Dashie...just when I thought you were feeling better.” said Fluttershy disheartened. “Nopony has ever made a sonic rainboom, it’s just an old mare’s tale.”
“Please Fluttershy, you have to believe me! This isn’t how it’s supposed to be!” she stopped when she saw that Fluttershy wasn’t believing her, she had to try a different approach. “Okay Fluttershy...um...tell me, do you like this war?”
“Of course not, I’ve seen too many good ponies die putting their lives on the line to protect others, and even those we fight to protect sometimes die as well despite our efforts. It’s heartbreaking really...”
“Well Fluttershy, what if I told you that there is an Equestria where there is no war and no Solar Empress, an Equestria where everypony lives together in harmony.”
“Well that’s a very fine dream Rainbow Dash, but I-”
“It’s not a dream! I’ve lived it! I remember it! But my memories keep syncing up to this new Equestria! Fluttershy please! I need your help to change Equestria back to the way it was.” she was breaking into tears at this point, but none of this was getting to Fluttershy who remained stoic as ever, she shook her head.
“I’m sorry Rainbow Dash, but I can’t help you continue this silly belief, this is the real world, where there is a very real war going on and real ponies die, ponies I have to look out for. You have until tomorrow to get your head on straight, or you’re going to find yourself in a hospital...enjoy the sandwiches.” Fluttershy stepped out of the room, closed the door, and left their meeting at that.
Dash slumped back into her chair exhausted, she grabbed a daisy sandwich and took a bite out of it, it tasted so familiar, like home, her real home. Then, a rather depressing thought creeped into her head; maybe this is the real world, and everything she’s experienced up till now was just a dream.
She closed her eyes ready to accept this truth, and slipped away, suddenly her thoughts went to the last time she had a sandwich like this, it was the day before Princess Cadence and Shining Armor’s wedding, when they beat the Changeling Queen and saved Equestria. It was pretty awesome, but it was just a dream of course, the changelings, Twilight's brother getting married...Twilight Sparkle, the mare that introduced her to the joys of reading, after she started reading Daring Do they had late night reading sessions together after that, huh, that lovable egghead, but despite her lack of physical ability she still managed to beat her and Applejack in the Running of the Leaves. Applejack...her athletic rival and close friend, a mare who not only matched her in strength, but in stubbornness, but always managed to stay so elegant even when working, a trait that Rarity would even be jealous of, huh Rarity...the silly outfits, the finicky and stuck up disposition, but despite all that she's always willing to go great lengths to keep her friends happy, kinda like Pinkie Pie. Ha! Pinkie Pie, her laughter, her smiles, her songs, her strange antics, she could only imagine what kind of pony she turned out in this Equestria, hopefully nothing like Fluttershy, she never thought she would miss the kindness and compassion of timid little Fluttershy. But most importantly she missed the thrill of flying, the speed, the adrenaline, the excitement of diving, and twisting, and twirling. All these memories, these dreams, they felt so real...
THAT’S BECAUSE THEY WERE REAL!
Dash opened her eyes and scarfed down the sandwich, no, this is not the real Equestria, the Equestria she knows and loves isn’t just in her memories, she wasn’t going to let it slip away from her, she was going to make things right, even if she had to do it on her own, but where to begin? Dash decided to start with her wings, if she was going to get her life back, she first had to get her speed back.
Dash needed to get her speed back, and if she was going to get her speed back she needed her wings. Those three ponies, Marecel, Potts, and Palmer were talking about something big, something that could give pegasi their wings back. The Icarus Project, who Icarus was, she had no idea, probably somepony of significance in this world, but it didn’t matter, those ponies had lunch in the mess hall so their laboratory must be on location. They said they were going to turn in early, so she decided to wait until everypony was asleep.
2:00 A.M. That looked like a good time to sneak out, dash grabbed a small flashlight in her locker and went on her way. Although she had no wings Dash was still quick on her feet, she stepped outside of her room and into the darkness of the barracks hall, where she made for the base map, but no laboratory or science building was labeled on the map. How could this be? Where was she going to find those three now? Suddenly light seemed to be coming from her right, Dash could hear hoofsteps approaching around the corner, drat! She forget there might be guards patrolling, this is a military base after all! Unsure of what to do, the guard finally turned and Dash taken aback by her unpreparedness froze when the guard caught her in his flashlight.
“Oh, Rainbow Dash is that you?” said the guard pony.
Dash surprised by her lack of chastisement cautiously said, “Um, yeah?”
“Doing some late night cleaning? Probably punishment from the Captain huh?”
“Um, yeah sure!” said Dash going along with the pegasi’s story. From what she could make out he wasn’t a Wonderbolt, but he was still an Air Force soldier. He had a black coat and from his helmet she could see a little bit of a greenish-grey mane, she couldn’t make out his cutie mark in the darkness, but he seemed somewhat familiar. Looking at his suit it was fairly similar to the royal guard pegasi in her Equestria, but the armor was more streamline and in a dark shade of indigo rather than gold.
“Hey Dash.” said the Pegasi
“Um, yeah?” unsure of what the guard wanted.
“I want to say that was an awesome thing you did earlier in the cafeteria, everypony’s talking about it!”
“Really?” asked Dash amused by such a compliment.
“Yeah, those three are a group of flankhole’s anyway. It was really cool to see somepony like you stand up to them! Heh, if you had a pair of wings, I bet you would have made it into the Wonderbolt’s no problem!”
Dash, fond of such praised basked in the glow of it, she smiled proudly, but speaking of wings...”Hey uh, do you mind telling me what building those scientist are bunking at?” asked Dash.
“Huh? Scientist?” asked the guard perplexed.
“You know, a unicorn, a pegasi, and an earth pony?” pushed Dash hoping to get an answer. “I’ve got a major mess to clean up there.”
“Oh those three! Yeah I know who you’re talking about, they’re stationed in a building just north of the main office.”
“Okay, thanks a lot!” said Dash excited as she made her way out.
“Hey Dash!”, said the guard. Dash stopped again, getting a little bit irritated.
“Yeah?” said Dash as she turned around once more.
“We should get a cider sometime, names Thunderlane by the way.” said the guard
Thunderlane? Really? Wow...that was unexpected... “Um, sure thing Thunderlane! Say hi to Rumble for me!” and Dash ran out of the hall.
Thunderlane sighed, satisfied by their conversation, he always thought Dash was kinda cute, wings or no wing-wait, how did she know the name of his little brother? He shrugged it off, maybe he can figure it out tomorrow, for now, back to patrol.
Dash quickly trotted to the main building and went north from there to the only building standing in the area, she found a large hanger and for a second questioned if she was in the right place; pressed for time she decided to look in anyway to see what was inside. Once inside the hanger was very spacious, there was a jumble of large machines and wires emitting a light from the center of the room and a small curtained area where the sound of snoring could be heard. Good, they were asleep now she just had to check out what they were working on. As she made her way through the jumble of large machines fortressing the workspace and floodlights Dash found what she was hoping for. A pair of mechanical wings suspended by wires and cables, just as she thought, these ponies were working on artificial prosthetic wings for disabled pegasi. Wow, where did she learn all those words? Probably from hanging around Twilight and books for so long.
Dash admired the metal wings, they were very beautiful, but kind of flimsy, but they were all she had for now. Dash examined the wings for another minute and realized, how was she going to put them on? They didn’t exactly have a harness or anything, they were literally just a pair of wings. Dash saw a pile of papers and a computer on one of the desk of the scientist, she had some time, it wouldn’t hurt to quickly flip through a few pages.
The pile looked smaller from where Dash was standing, but up close it was towering. Dash took a deep breath, “Let’s do this.” she started grabbing papers hoping to find out what she could from them, but all of it seemed useless, she then found a notebook, on the cover it was scribbled “Marecel’s Journal”, this would have to do for now. She opened it up and skimmed through it.
“Day 01, Marcel’s Journal
We’ve been given the O.K. to start our work on the Air Force base, Potts and Palmer are of big help here, together our knowledge-”
Boring! Dash skimmed faster.
“-a lightweight metal found in the mines of Canterlot, ideal for flight.”
“-we have decided on how to connect the wings to the pegasus body-”
Bingo! Jackpot, Dash read carefully.
“-to attach the wings to the pegasi, Palmer and Potts have developed a mechanism that connects the mechanical wings to the nervous system in the pegasi body, the nerves connect to a series of needles (developed by Potts) imbued with a spell (cast by Palmer) that seep into the spirit of the pegasi (or so says Palmer) that allow the wings to merge with the pegasi in mind, body, and soul.”
Ew, needles...not something Dash particularly enjoyed, but how else was she going to get things done? She read on to find out how to attach the wings to her body.
“Palmer claims you need to have a unicorn present for the surgery to succeed, but a considerable lack of unicorns in Cloudsdale has forced us to attempt to create a system that cuts out the unicorn in the bonding process. Palmer developed a ring that is attached to the humerus of the prosthetic wing so that when it comes in contact with a pegasi the needles work themselves to find the proper nerve endings and attach themselves, we just finished it a few days ago and finally attached it to a prototype, there are still a few kinks to work out, but we may be able to find a suitable test subject next week.”
So all she had to do was walk up and jam those suckers in, seemed easy enough. She went up to the platform the wings were suspended above, she got underneath the wings and tried to lead her nubs into the sockets. As she approached the opening of the sockets they began to glow and immediately attached themselves to Dash’s nubs. “AGH-” Dash cried, but she quickly covered her mouth as she didn’t want to wake the scientist. As the ring began to tighten and coil around Dash her eyes began to tear up, although the bonding lasted for a few seconds the pain was excruciating; dozens of tiny needles were prodding and stirring her flesh; attaching themselves to her body, but that moment when the needles finally found their mark was like a burning pinch as they connected to her nerves. She began to feel something warm flowing from the wings that she could feel all throughout her body, this must have been the magic, and little by little she started to ‘feel’ the wings. She began to move the mechanical joints slightly, but sudden stings in her nervous system made her jolt and rapidly jerk the wings tearing them away from the wires they were suspended from, the wires attached to other mechanical stands and arms fell to the floor with a crash. She was still getting used to the wings, but they felt so right, a little longer and heavier than her old ones, but they were there. Dash's moment of nostalgia was cut short as she heard moans coming from the tented room.
“What in blazes...?” said Potts as he groggily stepped out of the room, rubbing his eyes. They shot open when he saw Dash in their lab wearing the wings. “Wait...what are you...?”
Dash quickly jumped off the platform knocking down various equipment in the process and made for the hanger door.
“HEY! YOU! STOP! YOU CAN’T TAKE THAT!” cried Potts as the other two began to rise from their slumber to see what the commotion was about. Dash grabbed a hanging switch and pressed it, the large hanger doors slowly began to open making a rusty screech as they did. Marecel while in deafening pain made an attempt to fly towards Rainbow Dash who was trying to beat her mechanical wings in panic.
“Come on, come on, come oooonnnnnn...” muttered Dash, she made little hops, skips, and jumps trying to catch air, but to no avail, she could see Marecel hot on her hooves and with another jump and one more push of her wings she caught flight and made a dash towards the hanger doors which finally opened all the way. Beating her mechanical wings she out raced Marecel who watched in awe as Dash flawlessly flew upwards with her new wings into a group of black clouds.
Potts and Palmer came out of the hanger, it was raining outside and they saw Marecel hovering in the air. He looked down to see his two compatriots. “Did you see that?” he asked astonished.
“No time Marecel! We have to alert the guard!” cried Potts as he and Palmer rushed back inside the hanger. Marecel took one last look in the direction the rainbow haired mare went in and followed Potts and Palmer back inside.
As she was flying through the rain Dash was amazed, these wings were like her own wings, they twisted and turned to her body naturally like they were made for her, but celebrations could be made later. Now for the next part of her plan, it was time to get her cutie mark.
Unfortunately it was getting harder for her to remember how she got it, but why? Were these new memories overlapping her old ones? Dash thought hard and remembered her training with Fluttershy for the Best Young Fliers Competition, how she made a nosed-dive chasing after Rarity. After flying through the black cloud she found herself on the other side of it, and on the other side was a flight course. In the darkness it wasn’t too hard to see, but it seemed rather difficult, but hey she’s Rainbow Dash, complete with wings, nothing was going to stop her. Suddenly Dash heard an alarm coming from the base. If the track didn’t stop her, maybe they might.
She had no time to lose, she flapped her wings and they propelled her forward, she quickly started dashing towards the rings passing through each one with ease. The floodlights suddenly came on in the flight course, leaving Dash exposed, she started to see soldiers make their way toward the course, but Dash continued to follow the rings and she soon found herself at a peak that quickly descended downwards. With both hooves extended she dipped aiming towards the ring at the bottom which seemed like miles away. The black clouds soon began shooting off lightning, Dash ignored them focusing on the task at hand, but from the corner of her eye she could see the soldiers making that same dip but at a sooner point in the course. They weren’t going to catch her, soon she would make a sonic rainboom in no time, or was she?
This didn’t feel the same as she remembered, she felt she was going too slow, was there not enough momentum from that point she came down on? She kept her body as streamline as possible, but as the ring kept getting closer and closer she didn’t feel any faster. “Come onnnn...come onnnnnnn...COME ON!” the lightning began to get more extreme as the other pegasi began to fly back, but it didn’t help Dash at all for she was still going too slow. “COME ON!” with that a lightning bolt struck Dash, she felt an electrical current go throughout her entire body and as she struck the ring she ricocheted off of it making a rainbow colored explosion and she shot upwards into the sky leaving a rainbow trail behind. The clouds disintegrated from the shockwave the rainboom created and it sent an earth-shaking rumble all throughout Equestria. Dash still flying into the air, looked at her achievement, a rainbow trail was being created behind her as she flew higher and higher into the air.
Dash smiled proudly, but her joy was soon cut short as she heard a metallic ripping sound from behind her. She took another look at her wings and saw that they were charred and were starting to fall apart. They quickly began to tear away and vanish into the air and in no time at all she lost everything but the coils around her nibs. The rainbow trail soon disappeared and Dash began to lose altitude and started to go into a free fall. As she flipped and flopped in the night sky a pink and yellow blur passed by her, Dash confused and disoriented didn’t know what to do, as she saw Equestria getting closer she closed her eyes, and saw images of her friends and the Equestria she knew. Knowing the end was near, Dash quietly whispered to herself, “I’m sorry everyone...” and prepared to accept her fate, suddenly she felt like she was tackled by something, she opened her eyes and found herself to be in the hooves of the pink and yellow blur by the name of Fluttershy. “Fluttershy...” whispered Dash as she and her slowly glided towards the air force base. “Th-thank you...” said Dash quietly.
Fluttershy was silent, as they got closer to the light, Dash could see she had a very serious scowl on her face. Their flight felt unusually long despite the short distance, finally Fluttershy broke the silence. “This is the second time I’ve saved your flank from becoming a splatter on the face of Equestria, don’t make me regret it this time.” her voice was cold and harsh. Dash disheartened looked down at Equestria, it was lush and green even in the pale light of the moon. It was quiet again; and once again Fluttershy broke the silence. “Dashie?” she said in a somewhat kinder tone.
“Yeah?” Dash said quietly.
“I’m proud of you...” said Fluttershy rather unexpectedly.
Dash was taken aback, “What? W-why?”
“Because you finally got your cutie mark.” said Fluttershy kindly, but still somewhat stoic.
Dash looked at her flank and there it was, the white cloud with a red, blue, and yellow lightning bolt coming from it. Dash smiled and sighed with relief as her eyes began to well up, “Great...that’s just great...” still smiling she passed out from exhaustion with tears of joy going down her face. Fluttershy broke her serious demeanor and panicked a little quickening her pace towards the runway, she cried for a stretcher as she hovered above a group of pegasi and the three scientist. When a stretcher came Dash was placed on it and taken to an infirmary, but after getting the necessary treatment she was quickly moved to another room.
Dash woke up again in another tiny and cramped room, she tried to move, but found her front hooves bound together with cuffs and chains as well as her rear hooves. Still groggy from her escapade she looked around the room, it was very solid, with no clouds making up it’s structure, and there was a mirror like glass on one of the walls. The only things in the room was a lamp hanging above a table and two chairs, one of them she was sitting in. Suddenly the door clicked open and in walked Fluttershy. “Fluttershy? What’s going on?” asked Dash still sore and tired.
“Um...Rainbow Dash, we’re in an interrogation room on the air force base, you’re being...um...well...interrogated.” said Fluttershy rather nervously.
“What? Why?” asked Dash as she began to feel more anxious.
“Listen!” Fluttershy whispered quietly, but sternly. “You stole a government-funded project, and you created a sonic rainboom which the royal government thinks is a new weapon made by the Solar Army!”
“But that’s crazy!” said Dash in the same hushed tone.
“Listen, we can try to convince them that you aren’t a Solar Spy, the worse they can do is put you in a military prison or detainment center, but if you tell them about your lightning or alternate reality stuff, Princess Luna might put you in an experimental facility!”
“Wait, Princess Luna?” asked Dash.
Suddenly the door opened and in walked in an orange earth pony with a blonde mane tied into a pony tail with a charred red ribbon, she had on a worn out old brown stetson riddled with holes and tears and she was clad in golden body armor with a red apple-shaped chest plate. On her face was one scar across her eye and one on her nose.
“No way...Applejack?” whispered Dash, bewildered by her familiar friend.
Then in walked in a tall alicorn with a dark sapphire blue coat, she was wearing a silver breastplate and boots, her mane was like a flowing cosmic nebula of the deepest reaches of space, and adorned on her head was a silver crown signifying her royalty. Applejack stood by the door attentively guarding it and the alicorn sat down at the table in front of Rainbow Dash.
Rainbow Dash remembered what her new memories showed her, the ruler of this world was Princess Luna, was this her? It must have been, but she looked so much older...she looked like she could almost be Celestia's age...Celestia...why hasn’t anypony heard of Celestia?
“Now then, let’s get down to business.” said Luna quietly.
But would that mean? No...it couldn’t could it?
“Who are you and where did you get that weapon?” asked Luna sternly.
Dash wasn’t listening, she was too busy piecing together this world’s history.
Luna, offended by the rainbow pegasus’ lack of attention repeated her question, “I’ll ask again, who are you and where did you get that weapon?”
Dash’s eyes shot open in epiphany and she stood up immediately. Applejack got into a stance to attack in case Dash tried anything funny and Fluttershy was in the corner trying to hide her anxiety.
Luna perplexed by the mare’s sudden action looked at her cautiously, but the worrying look on her face made her seem less threatening.
Rainbow Dash looked Princess Luna dead in the eye and spoke, trembling at her own words. “Princess Celestia’s the Solar Empress isn’t she?”
Luna’s eye’s widened and her mouth fell slightly agape at words she never expected to hear.
Applejack and Fluttershy looked at each other confused by the sudden exchange. After what felt like minutes, Dash finally sat back down in her chair.
Luna still confounded by Dash’s words regained her composure and looked Dash in the eye again and asked a different question, but in a much graver tone.
The air was tense in the small room as Luna asked Dash again the same question, her voice getting more and more intense with each syllable. “How do you know that name?”
“Because where I come from Equestria is not at war!” cried Dash, “I come from an Equestria where everypony lives together in harmony; a harmony that’s shared even between two sisters!”
Luna was once again befuddled by the words coming out of this mare’s mouth, she looked at Fluttershy, “Captain! What is the meaning of this!?”. Fluttershy at a loss for words moved her lips in an awkward fashion trying to voice an explanation.
“Listen Luna! I know the story and it’s not supposed to have happened like this, you were banished from Equestria, not Celestia!” said Dash trying to keep her composure as the Princess of the Night seemed to grow larger and fiercer in this small room, darkness seemed to engulf the space they stood in and her eyes began to glow white.
“That’s PRINCESS Luna to you commoner, and how dare you make up such fantasies and silly stories of Equestria’s proud history! I will have you detained in the Bay until the end of your miserable little-”
“You used the Elements of Harmony to banish her didn’t you?” interjected Dash. This stopped Luna cold in her tracks as she gave the rainbow haired pegasus another wide-eyed look. The room became brighter again as the Princess seemed to shrink back in her chair, once again dumbfounded.
“H-ho...h-how?” stuttered Luna quietly.
“Something happened between you two, didn’t it? And one of you became a monster because of it, so to save everyone you had to use the Elements of Harmony to banish your only sister, but something like that would only last for a thousand years.” said Dash
Luna slowly nodded, completely at a loss for words.
Dash suddenly realized something from her little speech, “But I don’t get it, weren’t you supposed to find the pony incarnates of the Elements of Harmony? Didn’t they gather the elements and stop Night-er, I mean ‘The Solar Empress’?”
Luna disheartened looked at the ground, “l couldn’t find them...” she quietly whispered.
Dash was shocked, “What?”
“I couldn’t find them dammit!” cried Luna, “I had searched all over Equestria, but nothing! I had no choice, I had to build an army, if the Elements weren’t going to stop them, then the power of Equestria would!” Dash had to tell her, she had to let the Princess know how to stop them!
“But Princess, you have three of them right now in this room!”
“What?” said Luna with a look of cynicism on her face.
“Yes!” she pointed at herself, “I’m the Element of Loyalty,” she pointed at Fluttershy, “,Fluttershy’s the Element of Kindess,” then she pointed at AJ “,and Applejack is the Element of Honesty!”
Dash was hoping the Princess would accept these conditions and let her go, but instead she just laughed. “Ha! You’re kidding, you’re kidding right?” Dash didn’t understand, Luna began to elaborate, “Captain “High-Flyer” Fluttershy is hardly known as a ‘kind’ pony, despite her docile exterior, our Wonderbolts captain is an ace combat flyer with a record of over 50 aerial kills and with dozens more on the ground; and according to many of her subordinates and squad leaders the Captain has a very intimidating and bloodthirsty ‘Stare’ that has caused many enemies on the end of it to kill themselves out of sheer fear. She can hardly be called an ‘Element of Kindness’!”
Dash was shocked by such information, she looked over to Fluttershy who didn’t seem too particularly proud of her track record, for she was retreating into her hair as she always did when she was nervous.
“And Major Applejack is also quite the decorated war pony with one of her most infamous campaigns involving an intricate web of lies and deceit that won us the battle of Appleloosa. If you knew of the schemes and double crossings she made with the now non-existent Appleloosa Mafia you would hardly consider her ‘honest’.”
Dash looked over at AJ who still remained stoic, unfazed by her Majesty’s praise.
“And you, as far as I know you betrayed the trust of your Captain and you stole a government project meant to help pegasi more deserving of those wings than you! Rather undeserving of the title, ‘loyal’ if you ask me.”
Dash sunk into her seat, she thought she had the Princess on her side, but once again she was back to where she started.
“Please Princess you have to believe me! There’s an Equestria that isn’t at war like this, and my friends aren’t ruthless killing machines!” Luna glanced at Dash as she continued, “Fluttershy is the kindest pony you’ll ever meet! She takes cares of animals and everypony she can, and Applejack works at an orchard in Ponyville with her Granny, Brother and Little Sister!” Applejack’s stoic demeanor broke at that last part as she took a sudden interest in the peculiar pegasi.
Luna’s once mocking demeanor suddenly softened into something akin to pity. “I’m sorry my little pony, as lovely as that sounds, it just isn’t po-”
“Please Princess you have to believe me! The Elements of Harmony are the most powerful things I have ever seen! I’ve seen them stop you, I’ve seen them stop Discord-”
“Discord?” Luna thought, as she continued letting the pegasi ramble.
“-the Elements might be the only thing that can change Equestria back to the way it was!”
The Princess was quiet as if considering the possibility, but instead she said, “I’m sorry, your words are pretty, but we’re in too deep to back out now. You may not be a spy, but I don’t think I can trust you, for now you’ll be incarcerated on premise.” she turned to Applejack, “Major, please take our pegasi to a holding cell, I will retire to my quarters for the rest of the day.” Applejack saluted, then Luna turned to Fluttershy, “Captain, I want you to return to your quarters as well, and you are not allowed to have any interaction with your friend until further notice, be thankful you haven’t been suspected in this as well.” Fluttershy saluted meekly. “Dismissed!” cried Luna as she exited the small room.
Fluttershy quickly made her way out of the door, she seemed like she was about to cry, while Applejack approached Rainbow Dash who was still trying to make attempts at talking to the Princess, “Wait! Please Princess!” shouted Dash hoping her voice would reach Luna.
Applejack suddenly put a hoof up to Dash’s mouth and said gently “Sugarcube, please...ah think both of y’all have had enough for tonight...”
Applejack was right, Dash was exhausted, she sunk into her chair as Applejack attached a bridle to her mouth to lead her out of the room and into her cell. The building they kept her in was very solid, like the interrogation room, no clouds, and it was a greenish gray color, AJ led her to a cell a few feet away from the interrogation room, she took off the bridle and Dash went inside, the cell was cold and lonely, only a toilet, a sink, a mirror, and a cot on the floor resided in this bleak space. Dash heard the bar door slide shut and lock with an echoing metallic thunk. She laid herself on her cot ready to sleep, but was surprised to see that Applejack was still standing in front of her cell.
“Yeah? What do you want?” said Dash annoyed, AJ amused to see Dash in such a position? Applejack didn’t reply and just stared at Dash.
“Well if you’re expecting to see a show, don’t bother, I’m going to be sleeping for the time being.” Dash curled up and nuzzled her nose into her legs and closed her eyes, but was awaken again by the sound of AJ’s voice.
“That Equestria you were talkin’ about...is it real?” asked AJ inquisitively.
Dash opened her eyes and raised her head, “Yeah, yeah it is...why?”
“Ponyville...what’s it like?” AJ asked as she got closer to the bars.
Dash began to scoot closer too. “Well, it’s a small town really, but it’s got lots of open space too, green fields and blue skies far as the eye can see.”
“Yeah...” Applejack’s face started to look like a cross between happy and sad.
“And there’s lots of cool stuff in town too! The bowling alley, the arcade, Sugar Cube Corner, the library, Sweet Appleacres.”
“Yeah! Yeah, what’s that like?” said AJ seeming like she would burst into tears.
“Well...it’s a huge orchard of apples, it’s where you and your family work, you harvest apples and make them into cider and a bunch of other delicious stuff.”
“Yeah, yeah! That’s true, that’s what I used to do!” Despite her smile Applejack was actually starting to wipe teardrops from her eyes.
“You work on the farm with Granny Smith, Big Macintosh, and Applebloom.”
“Yes! Applebloom!” Applejack couldn’t contain it anymore she put both hooves up to cover her mouth as tears began streaming down her face.
“AJ what’s wrong?” Dash got closer to the bars to the point where she could see Applejack’s red eyes dripping hot tears.
“Nothin, jus-just please g-go on...” her voice was starting to shake and her entire body began to shiver too, “t-tell me bout’ Applebloom...”
Dash sighed and tried to think, “Well I didn’t spend that much time with her to be honest,” Applejack suddenly seemed disheartened, Dash quickly tried to save herself, “But...I do know that she’s a proud, honest hard working filly like her big sister.” Applejack smiled again and started to wipe away more tears from her eyes.
“Heh heh, eeyup, that’s true...”
“She would always be causing trouble around town with Sweetie Belle and that pip-squeak Scootaloo all because they’re trying to find their cutie marks.”
“Yep, that sound’s just like her...”
Dash smiled and kept going, “She’s a real cute one too, with a yellow coat and a red mane tied up with this big red bo-” Dash saw the charred ribbon in Applejack’s hair and stopped herself, she looked at AJ who was silently crying into her own hooves.
Dash was quiet for a few seconds and then looked up at Applejack. “Applejack...what happened to Applebloom?” Applejack sniffled and looked up from her hooves, her tears still wet on her somber face. She took a hoof and pulled her ponytail up to Dash showing her the charred red bow.
“It was the Summer Solstice Celebration a yearly holiday fer Equestria, Ponyville was given the honor of holdin’ the festivities. Everythin’ was goin’ great, ponies were dancin’, eatin’, drinkin’ just havin’ a good ol’ time, when suddenly in a ball of fire that damn’d Solar Empress fell on Ponyville like a plague. I’ll never forget the heat, the screams, the fire, she was going to burn down everything, we tried to get as many ponies out as soon as we could, but our efforts just weren’t enough...Applebloom was one of the first few victims of the Solar Empress, she died in mah own hooves...from that day forward I joined the army, my ambition and strength advanced me forward in the ranks in no time at all.”
“Why did you join the army?” asked Dash.
“Cuz I promised myself that I would avenge Applebloom by putting my hoof through that flaming mare’s skull.” said Applejack rather morbidly.
“What about Big Machintosh and Granny Smith?”
“Big Macintosh is in the army with me, he’s stationed in Dragon Country right now tryin’ ta fight off the Solar Army, but Granny Smith...she was heart-broken after she heard what happen’d ta Applebloom and she died a few weeks after.”
“I’m...I’m sorry...” said Dash sadly.
“Don’t be, cuz' you’ve got the power to change this!” Applejack said. Dash was confused.
“Wh-what do you mean?”
“If you say that the real Equestria is a place where my family is alive, then that’s all I need to trust you.”
“Really!?” said Dash, finally excited that she has someone on her side.
“If you can fix this world and change all this pain many of us have had to suffer through, then I’ll do everythin’ in mah power to help you.”
“Thank you! So will you let me out?” asked Dash.
“Shyoot no!” said Applejack dumbfounding Dash.
“But, but you just said-”
“Ah know what ah said Sugarcube, but you’d be mighty useless without those wings of yours and a fugitive soldier won’t be of any help neither if we’re always on the run. We need to be patient and plan our next step, I’ll talk to the Princess and see if I can convince her to trust you, you seem to have really gotten in her head. I’ll convince her, honest I will.”
Dash slumped back, disappointed but satisfied as well. “Alright we’ll do it your way for now, but please make it soon!”
Applejack began to walk away, “Don’t worry sugarcube, I’ll be back, ah promise.” she left the cell block and the door closed with a heavy thud. Dash lied down in her cot, she was tired, but hopeful, she closed her eyes and waited for Applejack. Her dreams had her flying fast again, but she was flying fast because she was racing someone...but who?
Luna was in the office the Air Force provided her. She couldn’t sleep, her thoughts preoccupied her mind about this pegasus and her situation, the knowledge she possessed, who was she? Luna’s brain was wracked with such speculation and eventually it came that time to raise the sun, as she brought it over the horizon Applejack came in and stood at attention. Unfaltering from her duty she addressed the Major simultaneously. “Yes Major? What can I do for you?”
“Yer majesty it’s about the pegasus Rainbow Dash...”
“Yes what about her?”
“I trust her and I want you to release her so that she may find these ‘Elements of Harmony’ you two were mutterin about.”
With the sun able to rise on it’s own, Luna turned her attention again to the Major. “Are you giving me an order Major?” she asked rather sternly.
“No yer Majesty, I’m just suggesting that we trust what she has to say and trust in her power.”
“On what grounds?”
“She seems to know more than she lets on yer Majesty. She knows about Ponyville and she knew about this Celestia figure.”
“It’s not nice to eavesdrop Major.”
“Yer Majesty...” said Applejack nervously. But the Major was right, of all the things Rainbow Dash had said it was the Discord one that surprised her the most, nopony alive today knows about the ancient battles her and sister became involved in, Discord’s especially. This pony knew things and if she does know who the Elements of Harmony are, then she may be of a more valuable asset than she thought.
“Alright Major, I will release Rainbow Dash.” said Luna
“Yer Majesty!” said Applejack happily.
“But you and Captain Fluttershy must accompany her from now on her mission to locate the Elements of Harmony.”
“Yes Ma’am!” Applejack quickly made for the door, but was stopped by Luna.
“But first thing’s first Major, get that pegasi some wings.”
Applejack was excited with the results of their meeting, the Princess gave AJ Dash’s Royal Pardon and she quickly galloped to the cell block to release Dash, she met the guard at the door, showed him the pardon, and stepped inside. “What’d I tell ya Rainbow Dash? I told you I’d-” AJ walked inside the cell block only to find a colorful lightning storm in the farthest cell. “What in tarnation?!” she quickly made her way to the cell to find Rainbow Dash on the ground convulsing wildly as bolts of colored lightning flew from her head. “Rainbow Dash!” with no time to open the the lock on the cell door, Applejack bucked it and sent it flying to the other side of the cell, she got in and tried to get close to the explosive pegasi. “Rainbow Dash! What’s going on?!”
“AUUGGGHH!!! MY MEMORIES! AGH-THEY’RE SYNCING UP AGAIN TO THIS NEW EQUESTRIA!” cried Dash through the pain.
“WHAT THE HAY DOES THAT EVEN MEAN?!” Applejack shouted over the storm.
“IT MEANS I’M STARTING TO FORGET MY OLD LIFE! AND EVERYONE I KNEW!” Dash saw herself in the hospital as a young filly with Fluttershy at her side, she saw herself being home-schooled by her mother and father after she got out of the hospital, she remembered her first day on the job as the janitor.
“YOU CAN MAKE IT STOP DASH! JUST TRY! DON’T FORGET WHO YOU ARE! DON’T FORGET MY SISTER!” Applejack tried to cry over the lightning as it got more intense. It began scorching the cell block and even reaching outside the building which alerted the guard.
“AUUUGGGGHHHHH!!!” cried Rainbow Dash, she was trying, she really was, but the memory surge was getting too strong, was this it? Was this the final sync? Suddenly she felt an even sharper pain to the side of her head and she found herself tossed to the other side of her cell, the lightning stopped, the memory changes stopped and everything went black.
Applejack looked at Dash who was passed out on the floor, she didn’t like it, but it was the only thing she could think of doing at a time like this; bucking her upside the head until she was knocked out seemed to do the trick, but if this was the only way to keep those memory surges from happening they weren’t going to make much progress on their mission if she had to keep knocking her out every now and then.
“Major Applejack! What happened here?! Were we attacked by the Solar Army?” Princess Luna, accompanied by Fluttershy and a few other pegasi came into the cell block.
“No yer Majesty, it was just Rainbow Dash.”
“What?” Luna looked into the cell block to see it charred with black, ashy spots. “What happened here? What did she do?” she was beginning to reconsider the pardon.
“She told me it was some kinda’ memory sync, and that while it happened she would forget her memories of the Equestria she knew.”
Fluttershy vouched for Applejack on this explanation. “It’s true your Majesty, she was doing the same thing yesterday and every time it did she would talk about her memories of this Equestria and the one she knew.”
Luna mulled it over and considered the idea, this was a very different and unique pegasi, first her knowledge now this. “So you’re saying that if this continued to go on she would forget everything about her old life and only remember this one?”
“Um...I suppose so...” said Fluttershy. Luna thought, if she forgot everything about her old life, then she might end up forgetting about the Elements, and that would be a setback indeed.
“Alright then, we’re going to have to fix this.” Luna stood over Rainbow Dash who’s head was still crackling with multi-colored sparks. She closed her eyes and her horn began to glow, she zapped Dash’s head and the crackles began to decrease and vanish. “Alright everypony, while she’s still like this let’s get her to the lab.” --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Somewhere a dark pegasi was watching from a pocket outside of space and time, she was laughing to herself, “Huhuhuhuhu...foolish foal, I know what she’s trying to do...I’ll stop her...”
“No...” said a voice in her head, “Let her get the elements back together, let her make a feeble attempt to make everything right, by the time she gets her act together it will be too late...”
The pegasi and the voice laughed, it was a grim laugh, but it was also one filled with a haunting mischief. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Dash later awoke lying face down on a hospital bed in a very familiar building, she was very drowsy and her head was aching, she lifted her head to look at her surroundings, a few familiar machines various cables and wires. She yawned and stretched her front legs, then her back legs, then her back, then her wings- wait wings?! She turned behind her to see a beautiful pair of metallic blue wings, they looked nothing like the ones she stole last night, they weren’t rickety and unstable, they looked very strong and powerful, almost like real pegasi wings! She stepped out of bed ready to try these babies out, but was stopped by a voice before she could get 2 inches off the ground. “Now hold your horses there my dear, you just woke up from the surgery, we don’t want those things to break right now do we?” it was Marecel the pegasi scientist. “Give me and the other guys a second to check them out.” the other two scientist. Palmer and Potts, came in with peculiar devices and clip boards and they began to push those objects onto Dash as they measured and scanned collecting various data and jotting them down on their clipboard.
“Alright Miss Rainbow Dash just to let you know these wings are a lot more different from the prototype wings you, well, took from us.” said Potts.
Sheepishly Dash looked at the ground and gave an awkward smile, “Heh, oops, yeah, um sorry about that.”
“No trouble at all dear, we were going to toss them out anyways, with these new puppies in store we didn’t really need them for much anymore.” said Marecel. “Once we got the data we needed from the prototype we began building a set for live testing.”
“These will certainly withstand the speeds you’ll be going at and perhaps even more.” said Palmer, “Their structure is a lot more durable than those old things, and you’ll feel a lot more flexibility in them as well, they should feel just like a pair natural wings!”
Dash smiled at the possibilities and was itching to give them a try, but the observations and examinations felt like they were taking forever!
After what seemed like an hour Marecel finally gave Dash the O.K. “Alright Rainbow Dash, now just gently try and hover off the ground about a few feet up.” Slowly Dash began to flap her wings, the action felt so natural and soon enough she was hovering more than a few feet above the heads of the three scientist. Dash couldn’t help it, these wings felt like her old wings, powerful, elegant, graceful, she just couldn’t contain her excitement!
“Alright now Dash if you would just please-” ZOOM! Dash dashed right past Marecel and out of the hanger and into the blue skies of cloudsdale, all three of them began to chase after her as fast as they could, astounded by the blue pegasi’s zeal. Dash was flying through the air force base performing all of her old moves to the wonder of the soldiers. It felt amazing, to once again be flying like this was one of the best feelings in the world, but as she began to feel another electrical twinge in her skull she quickly made a landing. Marecel and the others caught up with her at her landing spot.
“Ow...” Dash said rubbing her temples.
“Is something wrong Rainbow Dash? Is it the wings?” asked Marecel.
“No, it has nothing to do with the wings, it’s my head...”
“And it’s going to keep being a problem if you continue to pull antics like that.” said Princess Luna as she emerged from the crowd. Marecel and the others bowed to the Princess, Rainbow Dash looked up at her and said,
“What do you mean?”
“I’ve cast a spell on you that will temporarily slow down your memory syncing process, but it will accelerate if you increase your bodily activity and brain function.” towards the end, the meaning of the explanation became lost to Dash, it was apparent on her face, Luna sighed. “If you become too excited or physically active you’re memories will begin to sync up again, my spell is only temporary and somewhat shaky, I regret to say that I do not have much experience in spells that manipulate one’s memories, but my magic is powerful enough to provide a temporary blockade to your condition.”
“So you don’t have anypony around that could make my condition better?” asked Dash.
“I’m afraid to say I don’t. Unless you have somepony else in mind, I may have to accompany you on this journey to keep your mind in check.”
Dash thought for a while and got an idea. “I think I may know somepony that can do the trick!”
“Oh? And who might that be?” asked Luna.
“She’s one of the most powerful unicorns I know, if anypony knows stuff on magic as complicated as this it’s her!”
“What’s this unicorn’s name? I’ll send word out to retrieve her and bring her here.” said Luna as she motioned for one of the guards to come over to her.
“Sure thing, her name is Twilight Sparkle!” said Dash proudly.
Suddenly Luna looked at her with eyes wide open in utter shock. “What did you say?”
“Twilight Sparkle!” Dash saw the shock on Luna’s face and became uneasy, “Hold on, what has the Twilight of this world done?” asked Dash worried.
Princess Luna dismissed the guard and other ponies away from them, she then regained her composure and told Rainbow Dash the grim truth about Twilight Sparkle, “The unicorn you mention, Twilight Sparkle, is responsible for the deaths of over 4,000 ponies in the city of Canterlot.” Dash couldn’t believe what she just heard, with jaw agape and eyes wide open, she could only manage one reply,
Dash was lying back in her seat on a blimp ride to Canterlot, at suggestion of the Princess she was told to refrain from doing any physical activities until the mind spell was reinforced. With her was Fluttershy and Applejack, while the Princess was in her own special cabin. Looking out the window she saw the fluffy white clouds, the rolling green landscapes and the towering purple mountains of Equestria. It all looked the same, so similar, but unfamiliar. No matter how it looked this still wasn’t the Equestria she knew and the information she received about Twilight Sparkle was a painful reminder as to how different this place was.
Dash closed her eyes and thought about what happened just a few hours ago.
“What?! That’s impossible! Twilight would never do something like that!” Twilight Sparkle killing 4000 ponies, what was this? Applejack and Fluttershy may have killed before, but they’re soldiers it’s part of their job. What in Equestria’s name happened to the Twilight in this world that made her kill 4,000 ponies?!
“Please let me explain.” began the Princess, “Twilight sparkle was a young filly who attempted to enroll into my academy for gifted unicorns, but a spell gone awry during her entrance exam resulted in an explosion that was responsible for the deaths of over 4,000 Canterlot citizens.” Dash was shocked, her story almost ran parallel to her Twilight’s experience. “But it didn’t stop there, her magic was out of control and incredibly powerful, she had to be contained, if we didn’t capture and imprison her she would have destroyed all of Canterlot!” Princess Luna felt ashamed to say such words. “We brushed off the explosion as a mishap with an mana energy test, nopony suspected a thing, but we had to rebuild and restore the lives of many other ponies as a result.”
Dash processed the information and looked up at the Princess, “Where is she now?”
“She currently inside a secret vault within Canterlot Castle.” said the Princess, “I can take you there now if you so wish.” ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
And so here they were, in a blimp an hour from now closing in on Canterlot. AJ saw Dash moping by the window and she motioned Fluttershy to join her to try and cheer her up. “So,this uh...Twilight feller’...what’s she like?” asked Applejack trying to break the ice.
Dash thought long and hard about that question, she looked through her memories in a mind that slowly was deteriorating and found a familiar answer. “She’s one of my best friends and one of the most powerful unicorns I know. She’s also a bit of an egghead, but being one really comes in handy for her. She knows a bunch of stuff from reading lots of books,” Dash chuckled to herself, “Y’know this one time, during the Running of the Leaves, you and I were racing and we were so busy trying to out do each other it turned out that...that...um...”
“What happen’d sugarcube?” inquired AJ.
Dash was at a standstill, she completely forgot what happened during that event. What happened between the three of them? “Oh no, I’ve forgotten!” It must have been the memory synch. “We really need to get to Canterlot as soon as possible! Can this thing go any faster?!”
“Hold your horse’s Dash, we’re already here.” said Applejack as she motioned for Dash to come over to the window. Dash looked outside and the culture shock hit her again like a freight train.
This Canterlot was completely different from the Canterlot Dash knew, she expected some changes, but nothing so grand as this! While the Canterlot she knew was built into the side of the mountain, this Canterlot WAS the mountain, the same castle was at the very peak, but down the face of it was an enormous city of white and gold engulfing almost half of the mountain itself! In retrospect Dash realized that there could not have been a way for Twilight to kill 4,000 ponies, the Canterlot she knew had a population of roughly 1,500, less than half of the reported casualties, this city was enormous, there must have been tens of thousands of ponies living here! She noticed at the foot of the mountain was an area that wasn’t particularly as shiny and pristine as the upper half.
“What are those?” asked Dash as she pointed a hoof at the area.
“The refugee zone, most of them are from Ponyville.” said Applejack with a sullen look.
“Oh...” said Dash, she saw the small area became smaller and smaller as they got closer to the royal palace. On the way they passed an area that seemed to be under construction, cranes and half-finished buildings were all concentrated into a specific area. “Hmm, that must be the place Twilight misfired.” thought Dash, the area was rather large with a lot of construction equipment and building projects, one entire area was just a dirt pit centered in all the construction, that must have been the epicenter of everything. The sheer range of the explosion was shocking, blocks and blocks of streets being rebuilt, just how strong was this Equestria’s Twilight?
Dash was about to find out as she felt the blimp slow down and come to a stop on the docking bay of the castle. Princess Luna came into the girls cabin, “Alright everypony, come with me.” she said as they got off the blimp. As she followed Luna and the other’s she saw her reflection in a large window of the docking bay lobby. When she saw herself back in the janitors office she looked much less like herself, no cutie mark, no wings, a faded mane and tail, now that she got another good look at herself she saw the old Rainbow Dash, awesome cutie mark, a colorful flowing mane, and powerful wings that she proudly stretched and admired in her reflection. “Rainbow Dash, don’t dawdle!” said Luna farther ahead. Dash quickened her pace to the group and found herself passing through thick white walls and as she was she was frisked and checked by guards, much to her displeasure, but everypony else, including the princess was as well. Dash was expecting this Canterlot Castle to be different as well, but looking at it now, it didn’t seem too different from the one in her Equestria, there were more guards and they were clad in sapphire armor, but the castle still had it’s ivory and alabaster towers crowned with golden spires, it’s lush green garden and grand ballrooms, it was somewhat comforting to see such a sight.
“Alright everypony, follow me.” the Princess led them down a few corridors leading deeper into the castle, a few left turns, a few right turns, and soon they found themselves in front of a large steel door that was being guarded by two soldiers. They saluted their Princess and moved out of the way. Princess Luna approached the door, engraved on it was a large six pointed star, the symbol seemed somewhat familiar to Dash, Luna then inserted her horn into the keyhole found in the center and the symbol glowed, turned clockwise and the doors split apart revealing another hallway.
The Princess and the others entered this hallway, it was a very peculiar looking hallway, the ceilings and walls were adorned with crystals. “Where are we?” asked Dash.
“The Crystal Cavern’s within the mountain, they were once home to greedy ponies who wanted the gems housed, but they shut down a long time ago when all they could find were these worthless crystals. Now they house your friend Twilight Sparkle, the reflective properties of these crystals refrain her from using her magic, lest she hurt herself.”
Dash continued to follow the Princess and the others until they came to a much larger cavern that housed many ponies, mostly soldiers and a few scientist. At the end of the large cavern was an even larger steel door that had the same symbol found on the door that entered into the caverns, but it was colored pink and had other several white stars surrounding it. Dash realized that this was Twilight’s cutie mark! She must have been behind that door.
One of the soldiers a familiar white unicorn stallion with a blonde mane approached Princess Luna and saluted her. “Your Majesty, this is a rather impromptu visit.”
“It is Sgt. Blueblood,”
“Blueblood?! Oh you’ve got to be kidding me...” thought Dash.
The Princess continued “But it is rather urgent, where is Commander Armor?”
Wait, Commander Armor?
“When the top brass heard about the Trixie incident at Everfree Forest they sent the Commander there to provide reinforcements and aid to the 35th and 26th battalion.”
“Why wasn’t I notified about this? I specifically assigned the Commander to this post for a reason!”
Dash just had to interrupt, “Hold on, hold on! Are you saying that Shining Armor is in charge of this whole operation? He’s in charge of keeping his own sister imprisoned?!”
Blueblood was taken aback, but Luna finally seemed to have gotten used to Dash’s surprising knowledge.
“Yo-your majesty who is?” stuttered Blueblood in surprise.
“It’s a long story Sergeant, but right now we need this door open, that Pegasi needs to see Star Subject.”
“Um, o-of course your Majesty...” Blueblood bowed deeply then turned his attention to the soldiers. “Alright Gentlecolt’s open the vault!” Him and five other unicorns got onto separate lifts that brought them each to a white star. One by one they inserted their horns into each star in a specific order, the stars glowed and that glow flowed into a line that entered the large pink star’s outline making it glow as well and the incredibly large door then rose into the ceiling. Once the procedure was done Blueblood approached Dash, “You have one hour to get whatever business you have with Star Subject done and leave.” he then left her to enter, hmph still a jerk even in this Equestria Dash entered the large room inside and the large door closed behind her, in the distance she could see something that resembled a white glowing orb. Dash approached it with caution and as she got closer she saw that the orb was more of a glass dome embedded into the stone floor. It was lit up from the inside and all Dash could see was books. Books that stacked up so high that they almost touched the top of the domb, so many books that they made a wall inside the dome keeping anypony from looking in.
Dash began to circle the large dome trying to find an opening of some kind and finally she found one, it seemed to be the dome’s door and it’s pathway was the only thing books didn’t clutter looking down the door’s path Dash could see a purple pony with a dark purple mane, she was wearing a black suit, red glasses and she was sitting on a couch reading a book. Dash put her face up to the glass door, “Twilight?” she asked through the holes in the thick glass, the pony looked up from her book, it was Twilight alright, but something was missing.
“Um, hello?” said Twilight curiously she got up from her seat and began to approach the door, Dash was glad, this Twilight was probably the most familiar counterpart she had met, that is until she got closer to the door and Dash could see that this Twilight had no horn!
Dash continued to stare at Twilight’s bare forehead with her jaw agape, while the purple pony tilted her head quizzically and asked,
“Um, hellooo?” said Twilight Sparkle to the cyan blue pegasi who was fogging up the glass door. She tapped the door with her hoof and that snapped Dash out of her funk.
“Oh uh, hey Twilight.” said Dash awkwardly.
“I’m sorry, but I don’t think I know you, but how do you know me?” asked Twilight.
Dash was once again entranced by the missing horn on Twilight’s head. Twilight noticed what she was staring at this time and decided to get this whole issue out of the way. “Oh this thing?” she pointed at her forehead then moved her bangs out of the way to reveal a stub of a horn. Dash’s attention was once again re-focused.
“Twilight, w-what happened?” asked Dash with worry.
“Oh they file it down every few months or so to keep my magic from getting too strong, you see as a unicorn’s horn grows her ability to cast magic does as well, for example Princess Luna’s horn matches her magical potential. The bigger the horn the more magic a unicorn is able to produce, so when they file down my horn and shorten it, the restrict my magic output. I’m still able to perform some basic spells, but nothing too strong.”
“But why would they?” Dash then remembered the restoration efforts in Canterlot. “Oh, right...”
“Sooo...who are you anyway? I don’t get many visitors aside from the guards and the scientist. Well nobody, BUT the guards and scientist ever come to see me.”
“Name’s Rainbow Dash!”
“Well hello Rainbow Dash, my name is Twilight Sparkle, but I guess you knew that already.”
Dash started to remember her past and the first time she met Twilight Sparkle, she crashed into her and they both landed in a mud puddle, then she used a raincloud and her Rain-blow Dry to clean her up, her mane looked so silly afterwards! Then Twilight...what did Twilight do?
With Dash trying to find her memories she didn’t realize that she was making an awkward silence between the two of them which lasted for a good four minutes. “Um hellooo...” Twilight began waving a hood in front of her face which snapped Dash out of her funk. “Are you alright? You seem to be zoning in and out of our conversation.”
“Ah yeah, sorry bout’ that.” said Dash as she shook her head. “Anyways, Twilight do you know anything about the outside world?”
“Um, not much really, I know that there’s some kind of war going on outside, but other than that not much else, I’ve been in here since I was just a filly.”
All those years? She’s been here since she was that young? So she never became a student of the Princess, she never went to Ponyville, and she never found her calling as the element of magic. Dash was appalled, “What are they keeping you in here for? Yeah your magic is ridiculously strong, but couldn’t they have taught you to control it?”
“Rainbow Dash...I deserve this.” said Twilight somberly.
“What?”
“4,000 ponies died because of me. Stallions, mares, fillies, colts, and even more, I’m afraid of this power, I don’t know what to do with it, but they do. I trust the ponies here to put my magic to good use. That’s what they’re doing to me here, they’re studying me; my magic. They say that they want to use my magic as a clean source of energy for all of Equestria!” Twilight then showed Dash her horn stub again. “Right now, even though my horn is like this, it still has the power of 10 master-level unicorns, I could easily regenerate it right now to the point where my power is equivalent to Princess Luna’s, perhaps even more!”
Dash was surprised, this Equestria’s Twilight was even more powerful than she could have imagined. Twilight let her bangs cover her horn again and she looked down at the glass floor somberly. “My magic hurt thousands of ponies, the least I could do now is let it be used to help them.” She turned away from Dash and inhaled deeply, she then turned around to face her with a meek smile on her face. “So that’s my story Rainbow Dash, what’s yours?”
Dash, bummed out by Twilight’s sad tale, recomposed herself to tell her story. “Twilight, what if I told you that I come from another Equestria? An Equestria without war, and an Equestria that doesn’t have you living in a bubble?”
Twilight thought about Dash’s claims. “Well I guess it wouldn’t be too far fetched, the idea of parallel universes is something that has been considered by various scientist over the years, from Stephen Hawk to Carl Neighgan...” Dash was pleased, finally a pony who didn’t think she was completely crazy! “But what proof do you have that you’re from another universe?”
Great, this question again “Well, I guess the most proof I have are these wings.” she stretched out her glorious metal wings.
Twilight’s eyes widened in amazement, “Oh my gosh, they’re beautiful...are they from your Equestria?”
“Er, well, no. They were made in Cloudsdale, but the Equestria I come from, I have a real pair of wings.”
Dash saw Twilight was starting to get skeptical, “Well that’s all well and nice Rainbow Dash, but that’s not exactly proof that you’re from another universe, if anything you probably just lost your wings in an accident and had them replaced with prosthesics.”
Dash needed to win this one, “Well that is kind of what happened, at least according to this world, I was injured in Flight Camp as a filly, and I had my wings amputated, but where I come from that never happened I never lost my wings!”
“And how do you know about your past self from this universe if you’re from another universe?”
Dash was getting more anxious as Twilight began to shoot down her claims, “It’s my memories, they keep changing to match this world, just a few days ago I didn’t know anything about this world. I was just with you...”
“With me? So in your Equestria, we know each other?”
“We don’t just know each other, we’re best friends! You introduced me to Daring Do, we saved Equestria three times, you brought us all together at our lowest points, you’re the leader of our group and the strongest, smartest and bravest unicorn I know!”
Twilight was silent for a minute, but then she began to speak “I’m sorry Rainbow Dash, it’s nice and all; everything you’re saying, but without any hard evidence, I’m not sure if I can believe you.”
Dash was getting desperate, “Twilight please, the reason I’m here is because I need your help, I need you to help me find a way to fix everything, and I can’t do that if my memories keep changing. The Princess cast a spell on me to keep my memories from changing, but she doesn’t know how long it will last, I told her that only the smartest and strongest unicorn in Equestria could help, and the first pony I thought of was you, and you don’t even know me! Isn’t the proof enough?”
Twilight was silent again and once again she shook her head, “I’m sorry Rainbow Dash.” she said with disappointment.
No, no this time she was so close! How was she going to get Twilight out of this one? How was she going to reunite the other’s? Her head felt hot, her temples sore, and once again, the lightning came.
“AAUUUUUUGGGHHHHH!!!” The storm was bigger than ever it left scorch marks on the glass and reflected off the crystal walls.
“Rainbow Dash!” cried Twilight, without even thinking Twilight instinctively blasted the glass door sending it flying. Suddenly a loud siren and alarm began ringing throughout the cavern. The large steel door quickly opened and in came a squadron of Royal Guards with horns down aimed at Twilight. Fluttershy and Applejack were behind the squad, unsure of what was going to happen.
“Stand down Star Subject! Head back to your cell and we’ll handle the pegasi!” cried Blueblood.
Twilight was about to retreat back into her dome, but watching Rainbow Dash in such pain and not being able to do anything was unbearable, but then she heard a large booming voice echo throughout the cavern.
“NO, YOU WILL STAND DOWN MAJOR!” cried Princess Luna as she approached from behind the soldiers. “TWILIGHT SPARKLE, STAY WHERE YOU ARE!” Confused and scared Twilight did not dare move from where she was standing.
“But your majesty, Star Subject has escaped and-” began Blueblood.
“THAT IS AN ORDER MAJOR!” cried Luna in the Royal Canterlot Voice.
“But...”
“THAT IS AN ORDER BLUEBLOOD!” cried Luna with the utmost authority.
“Y-yes...you’re majesty...” said Blueblood meekly, he then turned to his soldiers. “You heard the Princess! STAND DOWN!” The soldiers hesitated at first and then proceeded to raise their horns and let the Princess pass through as she approached Twilight Sparkle and the still convulsing Rainbow Dash.
Princess Luna began to speak to Twilight, “Everything Rainbow Dash has said is true, I casted a spell that would hinder her memory changes, but only you can reinforce it. She specifically requested you. I know you have the power and the knowledge to do this, this mare is our only hope. Do you understand my little pony?” While she did not use the Royal Canterlot Voice, the tone was commanding and Twilight understood immediately and focused her attention on Rainbow Dash.
“What do I have to do?” she asked.
“The spell requires you to go into the mind of your subject, you must dive into their memories and find a wall, that wall will be constructed by Rainbow Dash’s memories, once you find the wall you must find the rift, the rift will be swallowing the old memories of your subject and creating new ones. You must put yourself between that area of old and new and create a bond that will seal the rift and keep both sets of memories from overlapping with each other. Can you do that Twilight Sparkle?”
“I-I’m not sure...” said Twilight with hesitance she had read many books on psychology and mind spells, but she had never performed them before, but looking at Rainbow Dash and thinking about what she said, what if all she said was true? There was only one way to find out. “Alright, I’ll do it.”
Twilight closed her eyes and her horn began to glow.
She aimed it at Rainbow Dash and fired the spell, suddenly she couldn’t feel her own body, she felt as if she had been taken out of it and was now floating around, but no she was moving and being directed towards Rainbow Dash’s head. Before she knew it, she had crossed a barrier into what she assumed was the mind of Rainbow Dash. It was incredible, unlike anything she felt before, but there was no time to be amazed, standing before her was a large moving wall electrified with colorful lightning similar to the type that was coming from Rainbow Dash, on that wall were images that were moving quickly, these must be her memories.
But Twilight couldn’t find the rift, the memories on the wall were moving to the right very quickly so she decided to follow their flow, as she moved her ethereal body she couldn’t help but examine the memories embedded in the wall. All of it was so joyous and exciting, there was Rainbow Dash soaring through the sky with a proud smile on her face, no metallic wings. On another panel she was racing another pony with a blond mane and orange coat. And there she was with Rainbow Dash, first she seemed like she was giving her psychiatric help, and then next they were reading books together, then they were fighting an alicorn that looked a lot like Princess Luna, she saw herself wearing a golden tiara with a pink star on it, and then there she was in the center of group hug surrounded by other ponies a pink one, a yellow one, a white one, that orange one, and then Rainbow Dash again. It all looked so wonderful and beautiful, but who was this pegasi and how was she such an important part of her life? Then she saw the one that convinced her, she saw a wedding, and she saw a pony that looked a lot like her brother only older dancing with a beautiful pink alicorn, she seemed familiar
Twilight soon saw those colorful memories disappear into a void, this must have been the rift! The rift was a large dark crack and colorful memories were vanishing into it while on the other side memories were springing forth from the void, these memories were nothing like the ones Rainbow Dash had; there was one of her lying in a hospital bed with a yellow pegasi sitting by her, there was one where she was on the streets of a city begging for money, then another of her being harassed by pegasi soldiers in a cafeteria, these memories were so dreary and lifeless, the others were so colorful and full of...hope.
Twilight couldn’t sit idly by and let this happen she focused her energy and fired upon the rift, she tried to imagine it coming together; she visualized creating bonds and bridges to connect the rift and before she knew the rift began to seal together welded together by Twilight’s magic. The two memories were at a standstill separated by a thin glowing line, the memories in question involved some kind of tortoise on one side, and some kind of dark office on another. Twilight hoped that she wasn’t too late, and she found herself being sucked out of Dash’s head and back into her own.
“Whoa...” Twilight felt rather woozy, after floating in an ethereal form like that, she was trying to get used to being grounded again.
“Did it work?” asked the Princess.
“I think so...” said Twilight nervously as she looked at Dash who was slowly getting up from the floor.
Despite a rather painful groan, Dash seemed okay, “I’m alright, I don’t feel any migraine’s or headache’s, I feel great actually!” she hopped up and began hovering in the air she proceeded to do a few loops without feeling any pain, in her head or otherwise.
“Um, Rainbow Dash?” said Twilight as the pegasi stopped in mid-air.
“Yeah Twi’?”
“I...I think I believe you now.” said the unicorn with certainty.
“Really?!” said Dash excited, “What made you change your mind?”
“Well, when I was in your mind...I got a glimpse at your memories from your world, and they all looked so beautiful, so happy, and full of life...”
“They are...” said Dash, “And they’re real, that’s the Equestria I want to go back to, and I need your help to get me back there.”
Twilight though about it for a second, she looked at her dome, the only life she’s known for years, and then at Dash, a pony from an Equestria filled with hope and harmony, she made her choice. “I’ll do it Rainbow Dash. I’ll join you.”
“Hold it right there Star Subject!” Blueblood quickly approached the two with the battalion at the ready. “You’re not going anywhere!”
“Yes she is Major.” said Princess Luna as she got between them. “As of right now I am giving a royal pardon to Star Subject: Twilight Sparkle.”
Dash smiled with joy while Twilight was overwhelmed with surprise.
“But your Majesty! This is not some petty criminal, s-she’s a national threat! You’ll need the approval of the Royal Parliament and Council as well to-”
“YOU THINK I DO NOT KNOW HOW MY OWN SYSTEM OF GOVERNMENT WORKS MAJOR? DAMN THE PARLIAMENT AND COUNCIL TO TARTARUS! IF TWILIGHT SPARKLE IS NOT RELEASED AS OF RIGHT NOW OUR SECURITY WILL BE THREATENED REGARDLESS!” The Royal Canterlot Voice sent a few of the soldiers flying out of the cavern. “Do I make myself clear Blueblood?” Luna said in a terrifyingly calm manner.
“Y-yes Auntie...” said a completely submissive Blueblood.
“Good, come now everypony, you have an Equestria to save. And you Blueblood, I’m sure you can explain to the Commander the situation. Goodbye.” Blueblood meekly saluted and retired to his quarters.
“Yes!” Cried Dash as she made her way to the front of the group with Applejack and Fluttershy following behind. Luna and Twilight Sparkle were farthest back following the group, Twilight wanted to ask the Princess something personal and she knew.
“Princess Luna?” asked Twilight nervously.
“Yes, my little pony?”
“When you cast the memory spell on Rainbow Dash...did you see the memories on her wall too?”
Luna paused for a few seconds before answering. “Yes, I did.”
“And is that why you’re putting this much faith in her?”
Again the Princess paused before answering, “Yes.”
Twilight felt satisfied with the answer and decided to leave it at that, but then the Princess spoke again.
“Her memories gave me hope...they showed me the Equestria that could have been under my sisters rule...it has given me...insight.” the Princess said somberly.
Insight? What did she mean? She decided to leave it be for now, because for the first time in years she was finally going to see the outside world! She was finally free.
As Blueblood watched the Princess and the four ponies walk away he sighed, exhausted from today’s ordeal. He had to file a report now to the parliament and council, but right now he had a very important message to deliver, “Barb!” he called, a small dragon with purple and green scales appeared before him.
“Yes Major?” she said.
“Send a message to your brother, I need to talk to the Commander via fireside chat, tell him it’s urgent.”
“Right away Major.”, the purple dragon took out a quill and parchment and began to write the request, once she finished she incinerated it in a puff of green fire, the fire then twisted and turned upwards until it found it’s way out through a vent in the ceiling.
On the other side of Equestria far from Canterlot in the Everfree forest a purple and green dragon was relaxing in a tree when he suddenly belched fire and a note, after reading the note he quickly got off the tree he was sitting in and ran to Commander Shining Armor who was overseeing preparations for an attack on The Immortal Trixie. “Commander! Commander!” he said with a shortness of breath.
“Yes Spike? What do you need?” said Shining
“It’s Major Blueblood, he’s requesting a fireside chat with you right now, he says it’s urgent!”
“Alright then, send my approval and then patch him through.” as Spike wrote the letter and sent it away, Commander Shining turned to his comrades, “Gentlecolts, I’m afraid I’ll have to cut this meeting short.”
“It’s alright Commander, we can take it from here, you’ve already been of great help to us.” said one of the soldiers. Shining nodded, saluted his comrades and retired to his personal quarters with Spike.
Spike suddenly burped and received a new letter, he opened it and read the contents, “Commander, the Major is ready for you.”
“Patch him through Spike.” said Shining.
Spike took a deep breath and blew a thin stream of green fire that began to coil into a circle, inside the circle an image began to form of Blueblood, Barb was doing the same thing in the caverns. Soon the images became clear and complete and both unicorn’s could see each other.
“Major.” said Shining as he saluted Blueblood.
“Commander.” said Blueblood as he saluted in return.
“At ease, how are things in the Cavern?” asked Shining.
“Well you see, that’s what I needed to contact you about. It’s about Star Subject...”
“What happened? Has she escaped?” said Shining with a sudden urgency.
“Well...kind of...” said Blueblood unsure of how to break the news to the Commander.
“Kind of? What does that mean Major? What’s going on?” said Shining in a much more demanding tone.
“Well you see...the Princess has pardoned her...” said Blueblood rather quietly.
“WHAT?!” cried Shining as he stamped a hoof on the ground.
“Earlier today the Princess came in with Major Applejack, Captain Fluttershy, and a pegasi with metallic wings named Rainbow Dash. She allowed Rainbow Dash to visit Star Subject, and after some strange events that I just cannot understand or explain, she gave a rather impromptu royal pardon to Star Subject!”
The Commanders face was dead serious and deep in thought, after a long silence he spoke in a harsh tone. “How could you let this happen Major?!”
“She’s the Princess her authority supersedes mine and yours, plus she’s my aunt, so that doesn’t help much either.”
“But doesn’t she need the approval of the parliament for something like this?”
“She said to Tartarus with them, if she didn’t release Star Subject then Equestria would be in danger, that’s what she said.”
“Equestria will be in danger regardless if Star Subject is let out, she-she’s a monster...” said Shining with a low growl.
Blueblood was rather appalled, “Commander...isn’t calling your own sister that a bit...”
“I KNOW WHO SHE IS!” he cried fiercely before trying to regain his composure, “And I know what she did, it may have been just an accident, but I can’t afford to let her roam free and repeat her mistake.” he sighed, “I should have been there, Princess or not I would never have allowed her to leave.”
They were silent for a very long time, “Shining I-” began Blueblood.
“Wait...” interrupted Shining, he looked serious, he began looking left and right, up and down, Blueblood was perplexed
“Commander what’s-” suddenly he heard an explosion where Shining was, the image shook and he saw Shining tumble over before he disappeared. “COMMANDER!” cried Blueblood. Barb stopped her stream, “Barb! What’s going on? What happened?”
“I don’t know commander, Spike broke the connection, and I can’t reconnect!” Barb tried to create the same stream of fire, but without the same results. After trying a few times she was quiet, her worried green eyes looked up to Blueblood, “D-do you think they’re alright?” she asked. Blueblood placed a hoof on her head.
“I hope so...”
In the Everfree forest the whistling sound Shining heard was the sound of a battalion of Solar Soldiers dive bombing onto the small Equestrian Army encampment. Exploding with a tremendous force sending flaming shrapnel flying into the camp. The force of them landing shook the ground making Spike fall over breaking the connection with his sister and Blueblood. Shining Armor had fallen over as well, but immediately got back on his own hooves, he strapped in his armor and stepped outside his quarters to see the entire camp on fire with his comrades fighting back the Solar Soldiers in the blazing inferno. These creatures resembled skeletal beings almost similar to Changeling’s, but they were engulfed in flames. Their bodies composed of a white-hot exoskeleton, their eyes were burning red and their wings were made of flames.
“Come on Spike!” cried Shining as the little dragon hopped on his back. Shining blasted a few Solar Soldiers out of his way and reached a small group of his comrades who were finishing some off as well, two pegasi and two unicorn’s. “Come on! We need to get the injured to safety and find survivors!”
“What about the camp?” asked one of the unicorn’s
“The flames are too much for us to handle, especially with these Solar’s setting everything they touch on fire, now come on!” Him and his group dashed off through the blazing encampment towards the medical tent, which was starting to catch on fire. He looked to the two unicorns, “You two, put out that fire, and get out the injured” he looked at the pegasi, “You two head up top and find any of our guys, then escort them out of this place!” The teams went and did their jobs, suddenly a few Solar’s came in out of nowhere to ambush Shining Armor and the unicorns, “Take care of the fire, I’ll handle them!” Shining immediately blasted one of them into oblivion, the other three came at him head on. He jumped over one, but with his hind legs he bucked the head off the other. His hooves felt warm and they stung a bit, but he had to ignore the pain. The other one tried to jump him again, but he used his horn to blast him, but because it was a weaker spell it only sent the creature flying into a post that broke upon impact sending the burning tower down to the grass which immediately caught on fire. Shining dived out of the way, but then he remembered he had Spike on his back, so he tried to angle his landing so the dragon wouldn’t get hurt, but instead Spike flew off and Shining landed awkwardly and twisted one of his hooves. “Agh! Spike?” Shining looked to his side to see that the dragon was not burned after landing in a burning tent, but he was knocked out.
Shining looked over and just through the fire he could see that the two unicorn’s were getting the injured out, but on the other side he saw that the Solar had gotten up from the wreckage and was starting to approach the unicorns.
Shining got back on his hooves, “Hey! Hot-head!” he cried, the creature looked at him and was blasted in the face by another spell sending it’s head flying off. Shining smiled as he saw the unicorns get the injured out, he took Spike and tossed him on his back, he was preparing to jump over the fire and escape with them, but he suddenly felt a burning force that knocked him to the ground.
As Shining came to, he saw that the left side of his body was scorched must have been a fireball from one of those things. He felt a rib go out of place as he tried to stand up, across from him he saw Spike sprawled on the ground still unconscious, hopefully. As Shining focused on trying to stand up again he saw that more Solar’s were surrounding him, just four, easy to take on, but in his condition, he wasn’t sure he was going to make it. Spike was probably going to be okay, he could stand the heat, but these things were more than just fire, he had to make sure Spike wasn’t going to get maimed Shining made it his duty to protect Spike at the cost of his life, he was the only thing that reminded him of her.
As Shining continued to break more bones in his body and irritate his burned flesh trying to stand, one of the Solar’s pounced at him with fiery jaws agape, ready to tear off his face, it all happened so slowly, when a sudden purple blur brought everything back to real time. The purple blue had knocked the Solar into the ground, it slowly got up, but was stumbling and screeching incoherently because it’s jaw had been blown off by the blur’s attack.
Shining looked from the Solar to the thing that attacked it, but before he knew it, it had become a purple blur again and it was attacking the other three Solar’s with lightning fast speed all of them completely incapacitated after the blur had finished with them. In his awe Shining didn’t notice the screeching Solar as it began to approach him, Shining struggled to get up, but the pain was keeping him from moving any faster. The solar began to pick up speed and was charging at him when it suddenly met a hoof to the face from the purple blur, but Shining could now see that blur was a pony, a pony dressed up in a very ridiculous outfit.
As the Solar flew to the other side of the burning field the costumed pony gently drifted down, it’s dark blue cloak draping over it’s haunches and onto the ground gracefully. It wore a purple fedora, a purple uniform of some kind as well as dark blue shin guards, he couldn’t see the ponies face for it was wearing a mask of some kind with large light blue lens where the eyes were. On the uniform was a purple circle with a blue M on it. The mysterious pony spoke, “Commander.” her voice was feminine, but assertive.
“Wh-who are you?” asked Shining completely confused.
“Oh forgive me about my lack of manners, I am...the Mare Do Well.” as she said that she took a dramatic bow. Suddenly growling could be heard from behind her and suddenly more Solar’s approached them.
“Grr...damn...” Shining was getting irritated, where were these things coming from? “Come on! We have to do something!” he finally was able to stand up and was ready for a fight, but the Mare Do Well looked unusually calm and composed, well at least that’s what he could gather since she was wearing a mask. “Well? Aren’t we going to do anything?”
“Wait for it...” she said. Suddenly rays of light came from behind them and they hit the Solar’s dead on. Looking behind him he saw many unicorns, pegasi, and earth ponies charging at them, all of them wore a red uniform with a red and gold cape draped across one side of their body, on it was an unusual symbol, it was a blue shield with a golden pony on it. Some of the ponies ran past them to fight the Solar’s while others stayed to extinguish the fires, one pony approached Spike who was finally getting up.
“Shining was amazed, “W-who are they?”
“They’re the CMC’s” she said.
“The what?”
“The CMC, the Crusader’s of Mother Canterlot, my army.”