//------------------------------// // Chapter One: The Sky Above // Story: Darkest Star // by The1Ryu //------------------------------// Chapter One The Sky Above “So whatta think’s up with Twilight callin’ us all so early?” Rainbow Dash asked with a yawn looking down at her blonde-maned friend as she lazily followed her hovering a few feet off the ground looking like she was still half asleep. “It ain’t a social call that’s fer sure; Spike was sure in a hurry to tell everybody. And whacha mean early Rainbow Dash, it’s almost noon.” Applejack’s green eyes met her friend’s with a critical glare. Applejack, unlike her blue friend, was wide awake and had been working the farm since sun up, she knew Rainbow Dash liked to sleep in, but this was excessive even for her. “The Weather Patrol doesn’t have to clear the sky till this afternoon, so I stayed up late reading Daring Doo last night and was going to sleep in.” Rainbow Dash said gesturing to the sky which was full of wandering clouds. “Sleepin’ in mah trees ya mean,” Applejack rolled her eyes. “So?” Rainbow Dash shrugged. “So I was gonna buck that tree t’day,” Applejack shot back a glare. “Oh like, there’s not a hundred other trees you could have bucked,” The old argument started up again from there. The pair quarreled, but there was not very much animosity in their fight. It was like another competition between the two, each one trying to outwit the other with some clever argument that the other had not considered. “Ah’m just sayin’- Oh howdy there Fluttershy.” Applejack suddenly exclaimed looking past the blue pegasus to the yellow coat and pink mane of her other close pegasus friend. Rainbow Dash gave her friend a confused look for a moment before turning to see their friend flying up to them. “Oh I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to sneak up on you guys, but I didn’t want to interrupt your fight,” Fluttershy said softly staring down at the ground as she landed next to her friends. “We weren’t fighting,” The blue pegasus and orange earth pony said at once. “Sounded like a fight to me. Oh, but not a no holds bar cage match with diving elbow slams and body tackles, that would be so cool but where would we get a folding chair at this hour?” Pinkie Pie announced excitedly suddenly popping up out of nowhere to skip alongside her friends and she pondered the problem of where to get the chair a hoof rubbing her chin. “We weren’t fighting,” The pair declared again. “Really? Fighting again you two, it is such an unladylike display especially in public,” A white unicorn with a deep purple mane chimed in trotting up to the group who had long since reached the town of Ponyville. The pair started to protest again but stopped themselves with a sigh, giving up on their effort to convince their friends they were not in fact fighting. There was little point in trying to argue given that their friends never believed them when they say they were not fighting and in truth, they did get into a fair share of real fights this just was not one of them; besides they had reached Golden Oaks Library. “Twilight dear we are here darling!” Rarity called to the upper rooms of the tree as they entered. None of them bother to knock, it was a public library after all, and none of the six were ever barred from each other’s homes. In moments they were all in the library, the door suddenly slamming shut behind them and Twilight Sparkle appearing from a flash of light, she and Spike stood in the middle of the room. “I’m sorry to have to call you all here on such short notice, but the Princess wants us for a mission of the utmost importance. The Princess has sent us a special guest here to Ponyville and wants us to do all we can to make sure she feels welcome.” “We get to be hostesses to a friend of the Princess, that’s simply wonderful darling!” Rarity gushed hugging at the purple unicorn who ducked out of the way leaving Spike to be scooped up in the white unicorn’s hooves. The little dragon’s eyes filled with hearts as the unicorn cuddled him, too excited to care that she had missed her friend. For his part, Spike had no complaints about his new position, and the others responded with stifled giggling. “Who is it Twilight, who is going to be staying with us?” Twilight Sparkle paused as if unsure about something. Rarity seemed very eager about this visitor and the others all looked on curiously too, but none of them knew yet of the troubling circumstances around their visitor’s arrival. “Princess Luna,” The purple mare admitted. However, before Twilight Sparkle could explain further Rarity’s eyes shot wide and she began to sway uncertainly back and forth. “P-Prin... Princess Luna is coming here!” Rarity stammered dropping Spike from her hooves without even realizing it, the small purple dragon quickly jumped back to his feet and moved to catch the tipsy unicorn should she fall. “A visit from Princess Luna, how wonderful,” Fluttershy exclaimed quietly with a smile. Then a worried look came over her face, and she shrunk down nervously, “Oh umm... she’s not going to bring all that scary stuff like the last time she was here, is she? One Nightmare Night a year is enough... actually a little less would be better.” “Princess Luna was pretty cool last Nightmare Night; she pulled some awesome pranks!” Rainbow Dash exclaimed with a chuckle, then frowned remembering how the Princess had scared her with her own thundercloud trick. “Why in tarnation is the Princess comin’ t’ stay here?” Applejack asked a concerned look playing across her face, she didn’t want to ruin everyone’s excitement, but she could tell there was more to what Twilight Sparkle wanted to say on the matter. The others all stopped their excited chatter and looked from Applejack to Twilight Sparkle curious as well now. “Well, the letter said that Princess Celestia wanted to give her sister a chance to relax for a while. Being away for a thousand years has left her a little displaced and after taking in so much over the past couple of years has left her a little drained.” Twilight Sparkle explained pacing back and forth in front of the girls. It still seemed like there was something she was not telling them, but before anypony could venture to ask Spike jumped up in with an explanation. “Ya, that and she’s going nuts.” “Spike!” Twilight Sparkle and Rarity snapped at the small dragon with disappointed glares. Spike backed up from the unicorns twisting his claw nervously, a little hurt from being chased by the two mares he loved the most in their group. “There’s no reason a sweet dragon like you should be spreading such rumors,” Rarity added causing a smile to spread across the green spiked dragon’s face. Rarity turned back to Twilight Sparkle, “When is the Princess going to arrive Twilight?” “WE HATH ALREADY ARRIVED!” A forceful voice sounded from atop the stairs. The girls turned to see the proud form of the Princess descend the stairs. The girls all bowed low, save Twilight Sparkle who stepped up to the stairs. “Princess Luna I didn’t realize you were coming so soon.” She said giving the princess a short bow, “I haven’t had time to make any plans or schedules, or organize a celebration for your arrival.” “Umm no, such formalities won’t be necessary Twilight Sparkle, for as thou knows I am here unofficially.” Princess Luna said, no longer forcefully projecting her voice; she had only really done it before out of habit. In fact, she seemed uncharacteristically unsure of herself, and even a little embarrassed by the whole situation. “My sister did not feel that I would be able to sufficiently ‘relax’ if I came to Ponyville as one of the Royal Pony Sisters. She even has me cast an illusion spell that would disguise my appearance.” Pinkie Pie tilted her head a look of confusion spreading across her features. She stepped around the princess looking her up and down her head tilting from side to side. Princess Luna watched the odd pink mare with abrasive concern. Finally, Pinkie Pie finished her inspection and pursed her lips and furrowed her brow into a critical pout. “Are you taller,” She asked at last. “Um no,” Princess Luna responded with confusion. “Shorter?” “No.” “More purplie?” “No?” “Pinkie the spell doesn’t work like that,” Twilight Sparkle said shaking her head at her friend. “The Princess looks the same to us because we know it’s her, other ponies won’t know it’s her.” “They will unless she wears a disguise,” Pinkie Pie said critically. “She’s wearing a disguise you just can’t see it,” Twilight Sparkle nearly growled. “Alright,” Pinkie Pie said letting the argument pass, “But it’s not a very good disguise if you can’t see it.” Twilight Sparkle groaned slapping a hoof to her forehead; the others shook their heads as well. Princess Luna paused for a moment, not understanding why the pink mare was confused about her disguise as Twilight Sparkle had done an excellent job explaining it, she would not expect any less from her sister’s top student. She had grown up around unicorns, so magic was second nature to her, and she had hardly ever met a pony who did not understand its workings. When the princess thought back on the conversation taking it for Pinkie Pie’s point of view, she found herself stifling a laugh. The others looked at Princess Luna shuddering with suppressed laughter and realized as well how ridiculous a disguise that could not be seen sounded and let out their own amused giggles. Soon eveypony was laughing, except for Pinkie Pie who had been serious for a change, but never one to be left out of a laugh she too started laughing loudly as well. They all enjoyed the laughter for a few more moments before Princess Luna coughed into her hoof drawing everypony’s attention back to her. “Regardless of any disguise I am still a member of royalty, and it is my responsibility to make good use of my time. As such I do not require personal attendance, but do require thou, my subjects, to allow me to be useful during my stay.” “Say what?” Rainbow Dash asked rubbing her head in confusion. “She’s sayin’ she’s wantin’ t’ help out while she’s stayin’ with us,” Applejack said with an approving nod. “Oh, but we couldn’t let a member of royalty get her hooves dirty performing menial tasks!” Rarity exclaimed with a shocked gasp. “I have to agree with Rarity on this Princess,” Twilight Sparkle said glancing from the princess to Pinkie Pie, Rainbow Dash, and Applejack. She could only imagine what Princess Celestia would say about the state Princess Luna would return in after those three got through with her. “Maybe you could just help me here at the library or Rarity at her shop.” “Oh yes,” Rarity quickly agreed with a large smile, “I would love for a princess to model for me.” Princess Luna backed up a step from the eager unicorns remembering the recent trouble in the Caterlot library, and the excessively pink dress Rarity had put her in last Nightmare Night. “No that’s quite alright; I have had enough of such things at the castle. Perhaps I could find something to do that is more... out in the open.” At that suggestion, Rainbow Dash jumped up into the air hovering over the others and waved her hoof eagerly, “Ohh; the Princess can come help me, I gotta clear out the clouds from yesterday’s downpour and I could use the help.” Princess Luna nodded to this, “Yes that is an excellent idea. I would like very much to explore my pegasi heritage. From what I have been told Rainbow Dash is a great credit to pegasi kind and would make a fine instructor for the education of modern pegasi ponies.” Twilight and Rarity stared agape at the princess, “But... but... you can’t,” They stammered together. “Heh, heh, sorry guys, Princess’ comin’ with me today,” Rainbow Dash said pumping her arms triumphantly. “Yes, now I can get the job done twice as fast and spend the rest of the day chillaxing.” “Rainbow Dash,” Applejack yanked the rainbow maned pegasus out of the air by her tail, causing her to crash flat to the floor, “Princess Luna’s not ‘ere so ya can go weaselin’ out of yer responsibilities.” “I ain’t weaselin’ outta anything. Me and the Princess are gonna hang out after we’re done, you don’t have to be sore just cuz you lost our rematch yesterday.” Rainbow Dash shot back glaring up at her blond-maned friend. “Y'all know ya only won ‘cause ah was plum tuckered from getting ready fer the rain while ya sat on yer flank and let the other pegasi do all the hard work.” Applejack countered glaring back at her friend. “Well I’ll be doing all the hard work today so guess we’ll settle who’s better this afternoon!” Rainbow Dash said flicking her tail from Applejack’s grasp, stood, and turned to stand face to face with her friend. “Deal,” Applejack agreed, and the pair spat on their hooves and pressed them together sealing the pact. Princess Luna, who had been a little worried that a full on brawl might erupt from the argument, breathed a sigh of relief. Twilight Sparkle groaned into her hoof at the thought of letting the lunar princess go with her blue friend, while Rarity became almost faint with shock at the brash display being put on in front of the princess. Pinkie Pie’s mind was a swirl of exciting plans and potential responsibilities; she briefly considered throwing the princess a secret celebration for her arrival, or an impromptu party for the winner of the heated race. Then she remembered that would interfere with her usual afternoon plans and decided against it, after all, she had so much to talk about today. Fluttershy just smiled at the pair and turned to the others and said, “Well I really should be getting back to my animals, I will see you all later.” The others all waved her off, but none of their minds seems to on the yellow pegasus at the moment, but as soon as she opened the door to the library, Rainbow Dash shot over to Princess Luna and grabbed her. “Come on let’s hit it,” She said and rushed the princess to the door before Twilight Sparkle or Rarity could offer another word of protest. --- Rainbow Dash grunted as she slammed her hooves through a large cloud that broke apart into three smaller clouds. She surveyed her work with a pleased nod and dashed back to Princess Luna who was watching nearby. “There see one good buck will break up the big ones and one more will make the little one just poof away.” “I see,” Princess Luna said with a curt nod, her head held high as she surveyed the massive gray storm cloud that covered the area. “It is good to see that some things have not changed in my thousand year absence.” Rainbow Dash frowned, she was started to feel a certain air of pompous arrogance around the princess, the same kind she felt when she would be forced to spend time around the Canterlot elite. Princess Luna kept her head held so high that she always seemed to have her nose in the air and was looking down on ponies; Rainbow Dash did not like ponies to look down on her. The way she spoke was starting to annoy Rainbow Dash as well; she always sounded as if she already knew what Rainbow Dash was telling her and that it was something that was obvious. That was not something Rainbow Dash was willing to take from another pony, and soon her annoyed frown crept into a sly smile as the brash pegasus decided to knock the princess down a notch. “All right let’s get started then,” Rainbow Dash shouted rushing up to the large cloud. “I’ll break up the big guys, and you clear the little ones, ok. Ready?” “Of course,” The Princess shouted back moving up and bucking a cloud firmly, dispelling it. She moved from cloud to cloud, dispelling each easily as if she were a trained member if the of the Weather Patrol. It was a bit of a workout for the princess, but she pushed herself to maintain a steady pace focused on doing a good job. All of her recent attempts to absorb more of her royal duties from her sister had resulted in miserable failures due to her poor luck, so she was determined to prove she could at least work as well and hard as her subjects. Rainbow Dash watched the princess as she worked while zipping around herself to break up the larger clouds and float them back towards the princess of the night with a beat of her wings. When the princess had settled into a steady pace the blue pegasus chuckled to herself and sped up a little faster. As the volume of clouds began to increase so did Princess Luna’s efforts. She rushed desperately back and forth keeping the clouds on the left and right from sneaking past her as the collection in front of her continued to grow. Rainbow Dash was careful to make sure none of the clouds bumped into each other, which would cause them to merge back into a larger cloud. However, there was still a veritable army of clouds amassing before the princess. It was not long before the constant rushing back and forth forced the purple princess to stop to catch her breath. Seeing the army of clouds massing before her, growing by the moment Princess Luna began to get concerned; perhaps Rainbow Dash was used to having a more seasoned pegasus helping her with a project like this. The blue eyed princess was determined to help, but at this rate, the mass of smaller cloud was threatening to create a bigger mess than any one large storm cloud. Princess Luna flew up over the clouds with a strong flap of her wings hoping to convince the rainbow maned pegasus to slow down a bit. However, when she cleared the wall of clouds, a speeding cloud zipped over the others and slammed the starry-maned princess in the head, hitting like a fluffy pillow and disappearing with a puff like it had been bucked. The sudden attack sent Princess Luna off balance, and she tumbled back several feet before setting herself right again. As Princess Luna shook off the dizziness, the sound of hysterical laughter came to her ears. She looked up to see the blue pegasus rolling around on a cloud holding her sides as she laughed uncontrollably. Noticing that Princess Luna was glaring across the sky at her Rainbow Dash rolled onto her stomach resting her chin up on her hooves, “Sorry Princess, my modern Weather Patrol methods ain’t too tough for you are they?” A jolt of worry passed through the purple princess, and she quickly looked around to see if any pony had heard the blue pegasus, but thankfully they were safely alone. The fear of being found out passed and Princess Luna realized that the rainbow maned pegasus was making light of her, a royal princess. However, the blue-eyed princess let the anger pass without saying anything and calmed herself, maintaining her royal poise. Princess Luna reminded herself that Rainbow Dash was not attempting to be malicious and that, as she had seen during Nightmare Night, the ruby-eyed pegasus was an impish trickster, but not mean, and clearly good at her job. A sudden competitive spirit flared to life in the princess of the night. She had been embarrassed by the speedy pegasus not just for falling for her trick, but also falling behind; this was something she could not let that stand. “Nay, I simply noticed that the new clouds were coming slower and was checking to see if thy was taking a rest.” The starry-maned princess said coolly, “Pegasi excel at speed but are known for poor endurance, unlike earth ponies. Thou will have to rest quite a bit if thy wishes to defeat thy earth pony friend Applejack in thy race. I shall endeavor not to finish too quickly, so thou will have more time to rest.” “What!” Rainbow Dash shouted jumping up from the cloud ready to tell the princess off, but she had already disappeared diving back down into the smaller clouds. Her horn was aglow with magic allowing Princess Luna to cut through the smaller clouds dispelling them with a flurry of kicks and swipes of her horn. Rainbow Dash wanted to protest that using her horn was cheating, but a quick thought of the Iron Pony competition silenced her. “I’ll show her who’s the toughest and fastest around here.” The blue pegasus growled to herself shooting back to the large cloud. They worked like a pair of furies, Rainbow Dash breaking up the large cloud like the unseen point of a jackhammer tearing through it repeatedly and the smaller clouds broke against the purple princess’ horn and hooves like waves breaking against the rocky shore. Slowly the tide of clouds grew smaller and smaller as the starry-maned princess caught up to the rainbow-maned pegasus. Rainbow Dash tore through the last piece of the large cloud fracturing it into three smaller clouds. She smiled to herself, breathing heavily, and took a quick look around to confirm that no part of the large cloud had splintered and floated off without her notice. Satisfied that nothing had been left undone, she turned back expecting to see the princess still struggling to catch up. Instead, the blue pegasus turned to see the princess buck and slice through the last three clouds, a clear picturesque sky behind her. The pair looked from the clear sky behind the other to each other, both panting heavily to catch their breaths. After a moment their eyes locked, the competitive spirit sparked by Rainbow Dash’s trick and Princess Luna’s snide comments was hardly snuffed by the exhaustion. In fact, since the cloud competition had effectively been a tie that spark had grown into a burning flame. Without a word, the two mares shot forward pumping their wings furiously trying to out-fly each other. Rainbow Dash quickly took the lead, years of high-speed training allowing her to cut through the air without much resistance and her light pegasus body was easily carry through the air. Princess Luna fixed her eyes on the rainbow streak coming off the pegasus as she pushed herself to go faster, keeping pace for now. Memories of such races with her sister returned to the princess of the night; she had not flown like this in so many years, even if she did not count her unfortunate imprisonment. Her life as a princess had put an end to such things; it had been all about how they presented themselves for so long she had forgotten about the freedom of the sky and the wind rushing around her. The feel of flying like this and the memories of good times with her dear sister brought a genuine smile to her face. The smile widened for a moment then turned into a determined grin as she pumped her wings harder putting more strength behind them then the smaller pegasus could and started to close the gap between them. It was their shadows that first told Rainbow Dash that the princess had started to catch up. The rainbow maned pegasus always loved to watch her shadow ripple along the ground; it created the odd sensation that there was some dark mare racing along the ground with her. She had found this thought to be comforting like no matter how alone she was there was always somepony with her who could keep up with her even when she pushed herself to the limit. Although lately, she had not needed to take comfort in her shadow having found a real flesh and blood mare who could keep up with her, at least on the ground. The blue mare had been so confident that her opponent had no chance of keeping up with her that she had taken a moment let her mind wander, but the sight of a second shadow catching up with her own snapped her back to reality. She could not believe her own eyes when she saw the second shadow running rapidly along the ground catching up with her own. Rainbow Dash looked back, and sure enough, there was the princess quickly closing the gap between them. The shock was quickly replaced by thrill, for very few ponies ever managed to keep up with Rainbow Dash in the air. She smiled; this was going to be a challenge. Rainbow dived towards the ground, followed quickly by Princess Luna who only hesitated for a moment at her opponent’s sudden dive. There was, of course, no track or set course to this race, it was a test of who was the fastest and best flier, so naturally, it was whoever was in the lead that decided their path. Rainbow Dash led them into the rolling hills and sparse woods of the countryside, skimming along and weaving between the trees at near fatal speeds daring the princess to follow her. Princess Luna had what felt like a lifetime of practice flying swiftly returning to her in the heated race. It took all of this considerable knowledge and experience, for the starry-maned princess stayed on the rainbow maned pegasus’ tail neither gaining nor losing any distance on the naturally skilled flier. Despite that Princess Luna could not help but smile at the annoyance she saw on Rainbow Dash’s face when the blue pegasus glanced back and realized she had not shaken the princess in the least. Rainbow Dash growled in frustration, but could not help the small smile that spread across her face before lifting off from ground level arching back into the sky, Princess Luna followed. The blue pegasus struggled to keep her breathing level; she never had such an intense race in her life especially following so much hard work. She had already hit one wall and pushed past it, but a second was fast approaching, and when she hit that one she knew the purple princess would pull ahead of her; she knew she had to definitively end the race now before it became a test of endurance. Both mares pumped their wings hard and fast arching up into the sky, Princess Luna’s strength and endurance allowing her to close the gap between them slowly. Their competitive spirits pushing them on to greater speeds neither holding anything back, but it was the blue-eyed princess that continued to gain. Princess Luna’s nose reached past Rainbow Dash’s flank when they reached the peak of their ascent, an unseen adjustment of the rose-eyed pegasus’ wing caused her to plummet down, Princess Luna following without delay. Princess Luna smiled again to herself; Rainbow Dash may have thought that the drop would give her the advantage as her smaller body could cut through the air with less resistance, however, the purple princess’ larger heavier body allowed her to accelerate more quickly. The blue eyed princess gained more on the blue pegasus her nose reaching the base of her opponent's neck quickly then it stopped, and Rainbow Dash began to pull away. Princess Luna tried to pump her wings harder to recapture her speed, but she was already giving it everything she had, and the rose-eyed pegasus continued to pull away. To the princess, it was as if the world had gone silent as she watched Rainbow Dash continue to pull away from her so fast it was as if Princess Luna had stopped moving. She could not believe it; she reached out with her hooves as if trying to grab her; a feeling of abandonment washing over her. Sound returned to her world as a brilliant explosion of spectral light burst forth from Rainbow Dash who disappeared into the sky as nothing but a streak of rainbow. The wall of spectral light slammed into the princess, and everything went dark. Princess Luna felt the faintest sensation of tumbling through the air uncontrollably, then being steadied as if caught in somepony’s hooves followed by the inevitable reunion with the ground... “...cess, Princ..., Princess! Oh please, please, please be ok, or Twilight’s gonna kill me!” Princess Luna groaned at the frantic voice of Rainbow Dash who was standing over her. “You’re alive?” Rainbow Dash asked skeptically then jumped into the air with are relieved cheer as the princess sat up, “You’re alive!” Rainbow Dash fluttered back down to Princess Luna looking down at the ground sheepishly. “Sorry that was my bad, I pushed myself so hard I ended up doing a Sonic Rainboom without meaning to. The shock wave must have knocked you for a loop, are you alright?” Rainbow Dash asked looking the princess over. “Yes… I believe I am,” Princess Luna said with a nod and a small reassuring smile. She ached from the force of the Sonic Rainboom hitting her and looked as if she had just flown through a tornado. Her fur was scruffy, her mane and tail were spiked out in a dozen different directions, and her crown was askew, but there were no cuts or broken bones despite the great fall she must have suffered. Assured the princess was alright Rainbow Dash could not help but break out into a giddy giggle, which she tried to stifle by bringing a hoof up to cover her mouth. “Sorry, but that race was so awesome! Nopony can even keep up with me when I’m flyin’. I’d thought you’d be a major slowpoke sittin’ around on a throne all day.” Princess Luna gave Rainbow Dash a cold look when she started to laugh, thinking that she was laughing at the princess' very un-regal appearance. Realizing that the blue pegasus was complimenting her, the princess gave a small blush. “I thank thee Rainbow Dash; I once often raced with mine sister when we were but fillies.” Princess Luna explained gazing off into the distance for a moment lost in a fond memory. “Mine sister Celestia always outshone me in all that we did, I felt no bitterness to her for this after all she was the eldest, but neither did I give up trying. Flying was the only thing I could do better then she and I would challenge her over and over; she was always very kind to humor me and never turned down a challenge. However, after we took the throne there was no longer time for such things, and I soon forgot all about such pleasures.” Princess Luna looked grimly at the frowned as she remembered her time as co-ruler of Equestria and its conclusion. Rainbow Dash stood by watching the princess and soon began to keenly feel the need to say something reassuring in hopes of breaking through the gloomy feeling that had fallen around them. Rainbow Dash, however, was not very good at such things. She started and stopped a few times unable to find the right words. “I thank thee Rainbow Dash,” Princess Luna said suddenly looking up with a smile saving Rainbow Dash from having to say anything. “Thy have been most kind allowing me to work and race with thee. I hope that we shall have the chance to do so again soon.” Rainbow Dash almost blushed at the princess’ words. She was used to being praised, of course, being as awesome as she was, but this seemed different. The blue pegasus shook it off with a proud smile and puff of her chest. “Hey don’t worry about it, I’ll take ya on anytime, why don’t we go get some lunch, and I’ll give you another shot at me.” Rainbow Dash offered, inspecting and polishing a hoof casually. Princess Luna smiled and took to the air with a few flaps of her wings, “I am afraid I must decline dear Rainbow Dash. I am afraid I am not used to staying up so late, and our work and play have left me rather wary. I think I shall retire to Twilight Sparkle’s library,” Princess Luna said turning to leave, but paused and turned back to add with a smile. “Besides thy friend Applejack would be most disappointed if thou missed thine rendezvous this afternoon.” Rainbow Dash’s eyes went wide realizing that she had forgotten all about her and Applejack’s rematch, the orange cowpony would have been furious if she failed to show up once again. Not to mention the blond mare counted her absence as a forfeit and Rainbow Dash was not about to lose now that she had just pulled ahead again. “Right well I’ll see you later ‘kay!” The rainbow maned pegasus shouted as she dashed off at full speed. Princess Luna continued to smile at the rapidly disappearing mare for a few moments before she took off back to Twilight’s library. ---- “Oh my, Princess what happened?” Those were the first words out of Twilight Sparkle’s mouth when the deep purple princess returned, her mane, coat, and tail still horribly disheveled from her fall. “Ya Princess you look terrible,” Spike chipped in from where he stood, holding a broom in the middle of the library’s main room. “Spike!” Twilight Sparkle snapped at the young dragon. “What?” Spike replied defensively shooting back Twilight Sparkle’s glare. “She looks like she took a Rainboom to the face.” Princess Luna could not help but chuckle at Spike’s remarkably accurate assessment of what happened. “Do not worry Twilight Sparkle I merely took a tumble out of the sky, but I am all right.” “You fell out of the sky!” Twilight Sparkle shrieked rushing to the princess’ side. “Oh, ohhh,” Twilight danced nervously from hoof to hoof. Then she snapped into a stiff stance, an angry look spread across her face, “I knew I shouldn’t have let you go with Rainbow Dash.” “Oh, now thy stop this at once Twilight Sparkle,” Princess Luna said firmly taking on an almost motherly tone that made Twilight Sparkle look up curiously at the princess. “Thy friend Rainbow Dash was a fine hostess, and I enjoyed myself immensely. Now worry no more about this, I am wary and require peace and quiet to get a good day’s rest.” That said Princess Luna lifted her head regally and made her way to the stairs, though her messy state made the princess look quite humorous. Twilight Sparkle was a little taken aback; she had not seen the princess in such good spirits since the end of last Nightmare Night. The purple unicorn smiled, her anger with Rainbow Dash was gone, for whatever she had done seemed to have worked. “Of course Princess Luna, I’ll place a sound proof spell on the library,” Twilight said with a quick bow. “I have some rather nosey neighbors.” --- Rainbow Dash rolled over in her sleep snuggling into her cloud bed, whatever dream brought such a content smile to her face would not be remembered in the morning. Her mood was much improved from when she had flopped unceremoniously into her bed some hours earlier. The blue mare had lost the rematch to her blond friend without much of a fight, the hard afternoon labor and race with Princess Luna had taken quite a toll on her; a point that she related in great detail to her friend. This only served to give Applejack reason to tease Rainbow Dash, about almost being beaten by a princess. This, of course, led to a fight between the two close friends, especially when Rainbow Dash let slip that she had almost forgotten about the race and the declaration that another rematch was needed to settle things ‘once and for all’ was made once more. The day’s events had left the rainbow maned pegasus exhausted and, turning down Applejack’s offer to stay the night; she had fallen straight into her cloud bed as soon as she got back home. So deep asleep and engrossed in her sweet dreams that the blue pegasus would not have heard a crack of thunder erupting in the distance. So she had no hope of detecting the dark figure that flew up to her cloud house from moving as silent as a shadow as it settled upon her roof. It moved, still totally silent, about the numerous curves and edges of the cloud house settling about an undoubtedly sinister search. After several long moments, the search was done and the dark figure took to the air. Turning back to the cloud house an aura of dark energy flared up around the figure’s forehead revealing a unicorn horn, and the figure dived towards the house. Rainbow Dash suddenly shot awake as a large piece of thick cloud dropped from her ceiling smacking her in the back of the head. “Wha-what the heck’s going on?” She shouted, wildly looking back and forth. The clouds of her home had begun to crack and split apart as if some midair earthquake had hit it. Suddenly she felt the bed begin to give way beneath her and she quickly jumped off flapping her wings to stay aloft as the floor and bed sank away, dissolving into nothing. Rainbow Dash was not a cloud smith by any means, but she knew enough to know that her house had started to come apart and that the only way that could happen was if the stone-cloud support pillars had been damaged. The pillars were ten times stronger than normal cloud, and no pegasus could have destroyed them without making enough noise to wake her up even in her deep sleep. The sound of two slow taps on glass snapped Rainbow Dash out of her thoughts, “Tank,” she gasped turning to face the sound. Tank stood at the edge of the glass tank he lived in his face pressed up against the glass his eyes filled with worry. Tank was not wearing his flight harness, and while the glass tank he lived in was magically enchanted to be able to sit on cloud, a fissure in the floor was quickly snaking its way to the tortoise’s home. Rainbow Dash shot towards the glass tank, but it was too late and before she could grab hold of it the fissure slither beneath it and the weight of the tank caused the cloud to split, and it plummeted towards the ground. “Tank!” Rainbow Dash cried diving after her pet, folding her wings and streamlining her body shooting down at top speed after the falling tortoise. Tank felt himself go weightless causing his stomach to jump and his eyes to water. He had gone flying many times with Rainbow Dash and had no fear of sailing through the air, in fact, he quite enjoyed it. This was not flying; this was a terrible uncontrolled plummet and tank instinctively knew that his shell would be of little protection when he hit the ground. Tank heard Rainbow Dash call out to him and looked up to see her diving after him. Rather he saw her blue form turned a deep blue in the shallow light of the waning moon. Behind her, he saw the rest of their home break apart, while a dark figure hovered nearby watching them. Despite all the love and faith, Tank had in Rainbow Dash he was not about to use this as the opportunity to test her flight skills. Instead, the determined tortoise mustered all of his strength and jumped up towards his owner tucking into his shell as he left the glass tank. The glass tank hit the ground with a thunderous crash, shattering its glass, snapping his clay water dish in two, cracking several sandstone rocks, and spraying a thick layer of sand in all directions. The wind quickly came along to sweep several of the smaller pieces of debris further along the grassy landscape as the blue pegasus thrust her wings out and caught herself swooping low to the ground and back up into the air, a green tortoise shell clutched tightly to her chest. Rainbow Dash panted heavily, more out of fear than exertion, thanking Celestia that Tank had jumped when he did or else they both would have ended up making a painful crash landing. Her deep breaths shortened and she lifted the tortoise up to eye level to check on him, “Tank are y...” She was cut off as some unseen force clipped her back at a high-speed flyby causing her to spin around violently like a top. Tank went flying from her hooves hitting the ground in a similar spinning roll coming to a stop on his back. His head popped out of his shell, his eyes still rolling slightly in dizziness, but at least he was all right. Rainbow Dash was much closer to the ground then her house had been, and the roll had absorbed much of the impact. Rainbow Dash stopped herself and looked down to see that Tank was all right and let out a sigh of relief. “All right who’s there, show your lousy homewreckin’ flank!” Rainbow Dash shouted unnecessarily turning to find the dark figure hovering in the sky seemingly next to the edge of the waning moon. It was still cloaked in shadow, but Rainbow Dash gasped at the sight of both wings and horn as well as a menacing swirl of darkness from the figure’s mane. “Princess Luna?” The blue pegasus puzzled, the figure’s answer coming in a long, sinister laugh. Rainbow Dash clenched her teeth at that, anger quickly dispelling her confusion. “What’s your problem,” Rainbow Dash shouted up at the figure. She did not care if it was the princess, if she was the one that had destroyed her cloud home and almost killed Tank then she was going to get bucked into next week, Princess or not. “Why’d you do that? Because I beat you? So you thought you’d come up here and use that lousy magic of yours to sneak attack me. Well, Rainbow Dash ain’t goin’ down that easily!” Rainbow Dash snarled fiercely up at the figure who just laughed in response. “That’s it we’re settling this like pegasi!” Rainbow Dash shot full speed at the figure, who seemed to disappear as it ducked down out of the way. Rainbow Dash turned back and took a moment to catch sight of the figure diving towards a grove of trees. “You’re not gettin’ off that easily!” Rainbow Dash spat and dived after the figure. The adversaries swayed back and forth dodging through the trees like a pair of opposing pendulum. Rainbow Dash smiled sinisterly, the dark figure was faster than the average pegasi, but she was hardly average, and so with little trouble, the rainbow maned pegasus caught up to the dark figure matching course and speed easily. “Ha, what’s the matter,” Rainbow Dash pulling up alongside the dark figure, “Too tired from earlier or have you really spent too much time sitting on your royal flank to keep up with a real pegasus.” The dark figure seemed to ignore the comment not even looking over at the blue pegasus that had so easily caught up to it. They started swayed preparing to swoop around another large tree, but suddenly the dark figure banked hard the wrong direction slamming into Rainbow Dash pushing her off course and straight for the tree. The collision took Rainbow Dash completely by surprise she had no time to curse or shout at the dark figure, she needed to move. Quickly she tucked her legs in and pushed back into the turn, this time banking the opposite direction. She started around the tree but quickly realized that she was not going to be able to bank wide enough to make it. With no other choice, she reached out with her legs and touched down on the tree. This was an extremely dangerous maneuver, for Rainbow Dash could not run nearly as fast as she had been flying and running along the side of a tree with her wings out at those kinds of speeds was wreaking havoc with her sense of balance as terrestrial and aerial senses fought for domination. As such she could only take a few steps before she had to kick off and continue to bank in the air, but it worked. Only the blue pegasus’ tail slammed into the trunk as she managed to clear the tree, her hooves aching from the kickoff. “What the heck!” Rainbow Dash cursed, the dark figure had just tried to kill her, as tough as she was a head-on collision at that speed would have been the end of the blue mare. The pony could not be Princess Luna, could it? No matter how petty or jealous of Rainbow Dash’s skills she was the princess would not kill anypony would she? Then what if it was not Princess Luna, what if it was... Rainbow Dash decided that she needed to get out of there now. She had needed to get to Twilight Sparkle and tell her what was happening; they needed the Elements of Harmony! Before that though she had to get clear of the woods where she would be able to fly full speed then she would be able to reach the library in no time. She started to climb through the air towards the canopy only to have the dark figure drop out of the air and slam its hooves into her back, forcing the rainbow maned mare towards the ground. Dazed and unable to pull up fast enough Rainbow Dash followed her instincts again and hit the ground running. The blue pegasus had not been flying nearly as fast and was able to catch herself long enough to recover and take to the air after only a few steps. Rainbow Dash looked through the gloom for her attacker, but there was no sign of the dark figure of course in the dark of the woods the figure would not be seen until they wanted to be. Unwilling to sit and wait for her attacker to find her like some scared filly Rainbow Dash made another break for the canopy and stuck close to one of the large trees hoping it would give her some cover. Once again the figure dropped seemingly from nowhere, but this time Rainbow Dash was ready, and she dodged out the way, the dark figure flying right by her. It came to a smooth stop at the base of the tree its horn aglow with a dark magic aura which it swiped at the large tree. The tree snapped off at its base and started falling towards the side Rainbow Dash was flying along as its surface began to crack and splinter with dark magic. Rainbow Dash picked up speed and dove for cover in the next tree. She could have easily dodged the falling tree and kept going, but her instincts told her something much more dangerous was about to happen. The rainbow maned mare remembered some boring lecture Twilight Sparkle once gave her and their friends about the magic Nightmare Moon had used to try and stop them from getting the Elements of Harmony, including the destruction spell that had destroyed the cliff face. However, the tree did not merely split apart like the cliff face. Instead, it exploded with a thunderous crack cascading thousands of splinters of all sizes across the area. They shot everywhere, burying themselves in tree trunks and branches, and shredding leaves and small branches to pieces. The dark figure stood calmly in the center of the explosion which did not seem to affect it at all. The figure looked up watching as a blue form shot up from the top of a ruined tree and took to the air as fast as it could. The dark figure laughed its slow chilling laugh then took to the air racing after its prey. Rainbow Dash had the distinct impression she had been turned into an equestrian pin cushion, but the adrenaline surging through her system dulled the pain of whatever injuries she had suffered to a manageable level. She pumped her wings hard just concentration on getting away, when she finally dared to look back there it was, the dark figure, calmly gaining on her. Panic rose up in Rainbow Dash’s chest, but she did not let it shake her, and used it to fuel her expedient retreat. She flew on faster, harder, knowing she had one chance left to escape, the Sonic Rainboom. She kept her eyes forward pushing to go faster until the only thing she felt beyond the racing of her heart and the beating of her wings was the tangible pressure of the sound barrier. She knew it would just take a little more speed... However, moments, before she broke through the barrier Rainbow Dash, felt something she never had before when performing a Sonic Rainboom, the presence of another pony. She opened her eyes and saw it, the dark figure pulling up next to her. The moment it reached her it turned and looked at her, she could see that it was smiling even though for some reason she still could not see the pony’s face. Then the figure surged with dark energy, and it spoke in a whisper that was impossibly clear giving their speed. “Shadoic Boom,” The words were like an icicle in the rainbow maned mare’s heart. Then there was an explosion of dark energy, a spectrum of dark shades, which knocked Rainbow Dash head over flank. Rainbow Dash did not remember falling; everything had gone dark and weightless as if the blast had sent her into a void. She did, however, remember hitting the ground with a wet splat, she remembered the pain and the numb feeling of being encased in something thick and wet.