So far it seemed to be Rainbow Dash’s lucky day. Not only had there been no attack the pervious evening, but this morning’s dawn came without a fight too. It seemed the stars were aligned to allow her a day of rest.
Which only created a new war in her heart, a war of restlessness.
Back in Ponyville, she may have earned a reputation for being lazy at times, but that was because she liked to live life with a good high low mix. And it just so happens that the low part involved lengthy naps on low laying clouds.
But days like today, where she was supposed to forgo her bursts of high activity, made her too restless to sleep through the periods of low activity. And so here she sat, on the corner of the keep roof, her ears focusing on every voice they could find, searching for something to entertain the mind. Her tail flicked every few seconds as she subconsciously rejected yet another boring conversation and turned her unknowing attention elsewhere.
From her perch she could see the main courtyard of the castle. Not that there was much to look at. Just a lone Sky Knight standing guard by the fountain, a few ponies here or there tending the gardens between the buildings, and maybe a pony or two going from one building to another once in a while.
But it was not those tending the wheat, or the carrots, or the lone apple tree, nor the scribes and squires of the Sky Knights darting to or from the keep that captured Rainbow Dash’s attention. It was two knights flying a slow patrol over the west wall that captured her ears.
“Something’s wrong,” the dark blue stallion said.
“Oh? How so?” the green mare asked.
“Three twilights have come and gone without an attack. That’s rare enough on it’s own, but on top of there there’s no signs of shadow pegasus activity gathering nearby either.” He shook his head slowly. “It’s like they don’t plan on attacking us tonight either. That NEVER happens.”
The green pegasus nodded.
“True. But we’ve never had a paladin successfully defeat one of the overlords before, either. Let alone two.”
“That’s what worries me. The shadow pegasi have nothing to do with the overlords, they are just an extension of the Dark Summoner. Killing an overlord doesn’t make the shadow pegasi weaker. It’s almost as if she’s abandoning her own lieutenants by not sending the shadows to help them.” With a grim look on his face, the blue pegasus added, “No, something’s not right. Truthfully, I’d be surprised if something bad didn’t happen before day’s end.”
The mare gave a nod as if to agree. But a wary smile and a spark of hope in her eyes hinted that she wanted to think he was wrong. Either way the stallion’s words had put an end to their small talk.
Not exactly the diversion that she’d hoped for, and the eavesdropping hadn’t passed much time to boot. But it did bring an important question to Rainbow Dash’s mind that she wouldn’t have thought of on her own.
Why hadn’t the shadow pegasi interfered? Sure the first time might have been a surprise, but what about the fight with The Tormenter? Why hadn’t there been at least some shadows patrolling around the town that second day?
There was one place she could get answers, or at least an educated guess. But even as Dash stood up, the sky darkened. With an upward glance she dared to wonder what cloud had dared to get between her and the sun without her permission.
Much to her surprise, there was none. It was as if the sun had simply dimmed for no reason. And if that wasn’t reason enough for a shiver to run down the paladin’s spine, a feeling like being in the dark magic presence of an overlord was.
Amidst the sudden and unnatural gloom that had overtaken the castle, a half dozen spheres of light emerged from the buildings. (Four from the mare’s dorm and two from the stallion’s.) The spheres glowed softly with a bluish light, but they were wrapped in wispy dark tendrils, as if they were being pulled along by dark magic.
Then the screams came.
In a heartbeat, Rainbow Dash was diving for the nearest window in the mare’s dorm, as that’s were the loudest of the screams had come from.
She came skidding to a halt more or less in the middle of the room. Some ponies were lying on their beds. Some were cowering under them. The Sky Knights in the room looked like they were about to take flight out of one of the windows but stopped the instant Rainbow Dash had showed up. But as far as she could tell there were no demon ponies or shadow pegasi around.
“What’s going on?!”
The paladin’s shouted question came a second after she failed to find anything to be afraid of.
“It’s the Spirit Thief, she struck again!”
It had been one of the Sky Knights who aborted their takeoff that had answered her. And even as they did so the darkness over the castle lifted.
For her part, the paladin could only tilt her head slightly and say, “Yeah, this is all new to me so… who’s that?” Even as the words left her mouth she’d already guessed the answer. With a title like that who else could it be?
“One of the overlords,” the knight confirmed. “About once a month she uses her magic to steal the spirits of some of the ponies here at the castle.” With those words her eyes shifted to the three ponies lying in bed.
Dash’s eyes became dots when she realized that one of those ponies was Storm Gale. In a heartbeat she was at the Equestrian pegasus’ side.
“Gale! Wake up!”
Rainbow Dash’s cry went unanswered even as she shook her fellow weather pony’s shoulder.
“That won’t accomplish anything.”
Being first male voice in the room, this new speaker grabbed the attention of most there. Although it took little more than a glance to see that Cloud Sword had arrived. Yet, before he could say anything more the soft yet hurried clatter of small hooves approaching commanded everypony’s attention. It quickly proved to be the blue pegasus filly named Scooter who came rushing out of the hall.
“Paladin! You gotta help! She got Sweet Chime!”
A few dreaded gasps along the lines of ‘Oh no!’ and ‘Not the healer!’ were breathed by many who had heard the filly’s plea.
Dash welcomed the blue filly into a hug, holding her close to her chest. “It’ll be alright.” Turning her heard to the previous paladin, she quickly added, “How do I make this alright?”
“The short version is to return their spirits before their bodies die.”
The mare with the prismatic mane looked down to the seemingly slumbering body of her Ponyville coworker.
“How do I do that? And how long do I have to do it?”
“As you can imagine the Sprit Thief isn’t exactly kind enough to sit down and tell us all the rules of her magic. But from what we’ve been able to figure out on our end, some spirits are strong enough to break free and come back on their own.” With a sigh he added, “Most need to be rescued.”
“The good news is, that as far as we can tell, anypony who survives having their spirit stolen once, their spirit becomes strong enough to becomes immune to repeat attacks. Like this kid,” Cloud added, while ruffling Scooter’s mane. With a sigh even deeper then the last he added, “As long as she’s been left alone by that demon, I was beginning to think that the healer would be the first filly in this castle who’s spirit was strong enough to never get taken… But I guess that was too much to ask for.”
Looking down to the incapacitated mare on the bed, he said, “Most bodies last a day without their spirit. The record is three days. From what we can tell the stronger the pony’s spirit the longer they last. The ones that lasted three days for example, where usually the ones whose spirits returned themselves.”
“You still haven’t told me how to save the ones that need saving,” Rainbow Dash urged.
He placed a hoof on her shoulder.
“I know you are eager to right this wrong, but hear me out on this. The Spirit Thief is the only overlord I’ve ever fought on purpose. And the first thing you need to know is that even though she appears to be an earth pony, she is a master of illusion magic.”
A haunted look entered into Cloud’s eyes as he continued, “And there’s something… wrong, with her words. She’ll talk to you, try to get inside your mind, make you slip up. Something about her words… affect you. That’s why I’ve always kept my battle with her short. Whenever I had to go into that graveyard I’d hit hard and fast, disrupted her dark magics enough to make her lose her hold on the souls she’d stolen. And then I got the heck out of there.”
A shiver ran down the stallion’s spine. Taking the resulting pause to mean he was done talking, Rainbow Dash turned toward the window and spread her wings. But as soon as she did, she felt a hoof press down on her back, keeping her on the floor.
“There’s one more thing you should know. Her dark magic can heal her somehow. She doesn’t even bleed. That’s what scares me the most. I know that a prolonged fight with her is a bad idea, and I’m not sure it’s even possible to take her down quickly. I think that’s why every paladin whose tried to defeat her out right before has died trying. That’s why I’ve always fought her with quick hit and runs.” Pausing for a second he looked her in the eyes and added, “No pony will think ill of you if that’s what you do today.”
With that he finally stepped back, allowing Dash to do as she pleased.
At first she stood still and thought for a moment.
“You said graveyard, you mean the big one southwest of town, right?”
Both Cloud Sword and Scooter nodded, along with half of the ponies in the room.
“I’ll have to defeat the overlords eventually, anyway. Might as well take down this one today,” she said, flashing a bold, heroic smile.
“While that’s true, it might be wiser to face the Spirit Thief on your terms rather then when she knows you’ll be coming.”
Rainbow Dash’s smile lessened slightly.
“I don’t like giving up. But I’ll keep the ‘try again another day’ option in mind.”
And with that she gave her wings a powerful flap and disappeared out the window.
* * * * * * *
Having flown the long way around the town, she approached the graveyard from the north-northwest. Low and fast she zipped over the old, rusty iron fence the lined the massive graveyard. The first target in her sights was the lone watchtower in the north part of the graveyard.
The square, stone spire was maybe a little taller then the average two-story building, though it was also notably slimmer than the average one-room house. As one might expect form a watchtower. A small pyramid-like shelter stood in the middle of roof that would have allowed somepony to stand watch on top of the tower while still being sheltered from the rain.
It was beside that shelter that Rainbow Dash landed, where she took a moment to take note that somepony had placed a small telescope under the rooftop shelter. A telescope not too unlike the one that the Cutie Mark Crusaders of her world kept in the top observation room of their clubhouse.
On one side of the roof she found the hatch that would lead into the tower. Opening it she ignored the ladder and just hovered down into the tower’s only room.
Although she didn’t have to get far before she cringed and breathed a heavy sigh in disappointment.
A filly-sized skeleton lay in the middle of the room. Clumps of faded yellow mane still clung to the black bow resting against the skull. Rusty brown hooves that hinted at the filly’s body color in life now sat in stark contrast to the pale white bones that remained of a filly taken long before her time.
In a way Rainbow Dash knew when she promised to come looking for this filly that the child’s friends had been right, that dark powers had controlled this place far too long to expect this endeavor to end in rescue.
And yet Dash wasn’t done in this small tower room. Beside the fallen filly’s skull was a note written in blue crayon. Leaning down she read the note.
That THING isn’t my sister! It’s killing everyone, granny, big brother are gone… Sweet Chime was right, I should have believed her! Now I’m trapped here. If I go out there it’ll find me and I’ll be a goner for sure.
I know it’s stupid to be hope’n this, but if somepony finds this note, please tell Sweet Chime I’m sorry I didn’t listen to her. Oh and tell Scooter I took the snacks she left here. If I somehow get out of this alive I’ll replace them, honest! And if I don’t, well tell her that I’m sorry I took them without asking… and that I’m sorry I didn’t live long enough to replace them.
Uh oh, it just got dark for no reason… I think this might be-
The note ended in a long blue streak of crayon, as if the pony writing it had suddenly collapsed. And sure enough, between the skull and the note lay a blue crayon.
“Avenge it is,” Dash muttered as she stood back up.
A crate was barricading the door to the stairs that served as the main entrance to the tower. Not that it had been a hindrance to the dark magic that doomed the filly hiding in the tower. Although it was enough to convince the pegasus to leave the same way she came.
Once more flying low and fast, the paladin set her sights on the large mausoleum that stood at the heart of the graveyard, just as the farm house stood at the heart of Sweet Apple Acres in her world.
Landing around the side, she then snuck her way around the building. Finding no other entrance she made her way toward the front. At the front she found a heavy oak door already open, and Cloud’s warning about being expected echoed in her mind.
A rainbow mane and two rose eyes peeked around the corner, into the open doorway. Inside they found a living room much like that of her friend Applejack’s home. If AJ’s home had been made of stone anyway. There was a doorway off to the side and the back of the room, and a stairway that probably went up to the bedrooms. But unlike her friend’s home this place also had a stairway down.
This glaring difference in a world of odd similarities certainly caught Dash’s eye. Sure the Apple family home had a cellar too, but that one had to be accessed from outside. And besides, in this world that liked to twist everything she knew, she could only imagine that horrors would await her in the cellar that should’ve been a treasure trove of sweet, sweet apple cider.
The stairway down was long, straight and dark. Small touches lined the decent providing just enough light that just a few steps would be in complete darkness between them.
At the bottom of the stairway she emerged into a large and mostly empty room. There were two torches on the walls to either side of the entrance. What little light there was seemed to be draining out, like water going down the drain thanks to two large, dark auras in the corners of the room to either side of the entrance. And though it took a moment, Dash realized that those black holes were the waters of night and day charged with dark magic.
At the back of the room was a purple earth pony with a black mane, tail, and cowboy hat.
“See’n as you’re here, Ah reckon that means its time to get this rodeo started. Let’s start by seeing if ya can fight.”
“Let’s.”
Even as she answered, Rainbow Dash lunged. At the same time, the dark vision of Applejack disappeared, leaving the paladin’s wing blades to cleave empty air.
“Right, an illusion,” Dash muttered as she allowed herself to land and take a defensive stance.
“Yep, but there is one illusion that’s as good as the real thing.”
The country voice spoke from everywhere and nowhere all at once.
“Oh yeah? And what’s that?” Dash asked, looking for any sign of where the pony casting the illusion really was.
The clop of hooves on the stone floor echoed from everywhere. There could have been six ponies running circles around her and it would have sounded the same to Rainbow Dash. She grit her teeth, knowing she couldn’t tell which set of hoofsteps was real and which ones were the illusion.
The answer came with a flash of blue light and the feeling of a horseshoe slamming into her left shoulder.
“The illusion of invisibility!” The demon’s words came as Dash tumbled across the floor from the blow.
Scrambling back to her hooves, Rainbow Dash swung the wing blades in the direction she’d been hit from. But apparently her unseen attacker hadn’t followed after knocking her down, as she cleaved only air.
Her next instinct was to get airborne and periodically taking a blind kick at the untraceable hoofsteps down below. That lasted all of ten seconds before she felt something grab her tail and use it to throw her to the ground, once more prompting the blue flash of the wing blade’s protective magics.
Getting back up, she then dashed to the middle of the room and spun herself around, lashing out with the wing blades, whenever she heard the hoofsteps drawing close. From the sounds of the hooves, it seemed she was forcing the invisible demon pony to call off her attacks and jump back. As nice as the reprieve was, Rainbow Dash knew she wasn’t going to win like this. But how was she going to beat an enemy she couldn’t see?
If only it wasn’t so dark maybe she could see a flaw in the invisibility spell. But the only two torches in the room where already lit and it was hardly enough to see the far walls of the room. Not that those two pools of the waters of night and day charged with dark magic were helping the matter…
The pools! That was the answer, she’d seen pegasus magic change of the waters of night and day from dark to light magic before!
In the blink of an eye, Dash darted to one of the pools and, landing hard in the waters, slammed her front hooves down as if she was trying to get lightning out of a storm cloud. Mostly golden light erupted from the pool, along with ribbons of silver and blue light.
For a brief moment the paladin caught a glimpse of a transparent version of the demon pony. But as quick as it came the purple demon pony backed away from the now radiant pool and once more disappeared from sight. Judging from the distance, as long as Dash kept the pool charged with light, the magic glow of the waters of night and day could only reveal the invisible demon a few feet from the water’s edge. But that was enough to stop the attacks.
Every now and then she would spot a transparent purple hoof appear and the fact that her eyes instantly locked on to the demon’s attempts to draw near made the demon pony withdraw.
“Ya can’t win, just hide’n in your little sanctuary like that. Why keep fight’n?”
Glaring back at the seemingly empty room, Rainbow Dash answered, “Because my friends are counting on me! They’re waiting for me to being back all the pegasi your boss kidnapped from my world. And I won’t leave them hanging! I will come through for them!”
“Your friends?” The demon asked with a cackle. “You mean the friends who returned your loyalty by betraying you?”
“What? My friends haven’t betrayed me!” Dash replied, stomping her hoof, re-energizing the pool with radiant magic.
“Really? Then what do ya call Pinkie Pie’s tradition of stabbing ya in the back every cider session?”
“Hey! I didn’t really consider her a friend until recently. So it’s not like she owed me any loyalty before.”
“True enough,” the demon answered. “But even after ya became friends that didn’t stop her from trammeling on your feelings, did it?”
With the Spirit Thief’s words a ring of magic opened in air, in the middle of the room, showing an image of Fluttershy flying alongside an angry Rainbow Dash.
“The rush? Don’t you remember what happened last year? Or the year before that? Or pretty much any cider session ever?” Dash’s past self asked.
“Oh, well, uh.”
“Pinkie Pie!” the Rainbow Dash in the illusion answered her own question. “She always ends up ahead of us in line! And then they always run out of cider!”
The image shifted and then showed Pinkie Pie with a dozen mugs of cider, while Rainbow Dash stood in line, scowling.
Another shift and the illusion showed Rainbow Dash next in line for cider only for the dispenser to run dry for the last time that day. Then Applejack saying you couldn’t rush their recipe and that they’d have more tomorrow.
Then it showed Pinkie Pie right in Rainbow Dash’s face saying, “She’s right you know. You can’t rush perfection. And this year's batch was perfection!” Effectively rubbing her crime in Dash’s face.
And she didn’t stop there. “I’ll never forget the cider I just drank. It’s a moment in time that will never exist again,” Pinkie said laying herself across Dash’s back while the blue pegasus growled in frustration.
With that the illusion vanished and the demon who sounded like Applejack spoke again.
“And that was after ya considered her a friend. And didn’t she consider everypony in town to be her friend, anyway? No wonder nothing changed and she kept betraying ya. Just. Like. Before.”
Paladin Rainbow Dash took an unintentional step backward, only to stop herself on feeling the edge of her watery sanctuary.
“And need Ah even mention Applejack’s part in that crime?” The demon asked.
“What are you talking about? AJ has to sell the cider. Her family needs the money, so it’s not like she can just give it to her friends. And besides, she gave me my money back once she realized I hadn’t gotten what I’d paid for.”
“True, but she still saw her so-called friend next in line when she ran out of cider to sell you. And where were you the next day?”
The illusion returned and showed Applejack once again apologizing for running out of cider and asking ponies to come back tomorrow. Then a Rainbow Dash a full hill away from the front of the line shouted, “Oh, come on!”
“Tell me, spirit of loyalty,” the demon continued. “What would loyalty have done, had your roles been reversed, and you seen your friend next in line to buy what you where selling?”
“I-I would’ve made more cider, after I sent the crowd home. Then I’d have invited my friend over for dinner or something, to give them a chance to do some after-hours business.”
“And yet, she did nothing. She saw Pinkie Pie tormenting you and despite having the solution within her hooves, she did nothing. And let’s not forget her claim that she couldn’t make enough cider for everypony. The claim she proved was a lie all along with that contest a few days later. Granted, she needed help, but then she made ya wait in line like everypony else, for the very cider you helped create!”
A tremble traveled through Rainbow Dash’s body, as hear heart sank. The demon was right. That cider session had given Applejack two chances to return even a fraction of Dash’s loyalty, and both times she’d failed miserably.
*Wham!
Two hooves slammed into the paladin pegasus, sending her flying right into the nearest wall.
Scrambling back to her hooves, the paladin realized just how dim she’d allowed the waters of night and day to get. No wonder the demon was able to remain invisible close enough to surprise her. Slashing wildly at the darkness, Dash ran back to the pool and stomped her hooves into its wasters.
The light surged from the waters and once again Rainbow Dash caught a glimpse of the Spirit Thief retreating back to where her invisibility spell was fully effective.
“Ah’ll ask again, why are ya fight’n so hard to get back to friends who ain’t loyal back? Who betray ya?”
“Okay, so AJ and Pinkie are bad examples. But Fluttershy’s been with me ever since we were foals! She’s stuck with me for years even though we’re nothing alike! That sounds like loyalty to me!” Yet even as she spoke the name she regretted it, a part of her knowing the retort that was bound to come.
“Your kidd’n, right? Of course she stuck with ya! She’s a coward and ya went and appointed yourself her personal guardian angel. But we both know she’s just use’n ya! Like ya said, ya served her for years, but when you out right asked for her to return a shred of the loyalty to ya, what did she do? She betrayed ya on the spot!”
The illusion magic returned, this time showing Fluttershy’s cottage. The yellow pegasus had her hooves held firm to the frame of her front door, while Rainbow Dash was trying to push her long-time friend out said door.
“Come on, Fluttershy! I watched that boring butterfly migration with you! Now come watch the dragon migration with me! You owe me!”
The memory of pain itched at Rainbow’s chest, gut, and the back of her head, even before the illusion continued.
“NO!” illusion Fluttershy shouted, spinning around and slamming her front hooves into past Rainbow Dash’s chest, knocking the blue pegasus to the ground. And immediately proceeding to slam her hind hooves down on her friend’s gut, before darting out a window and leaving illusion Dash lying on the floor winded, dazed and in pain.
The illusion faded, and the real Rainbow Dash couldn’t help but slide a hoof over her stomach even though the pain she felt now had no real source, the memory of the pain she’d felt that day lingered. And she couldn’t help but remember how she’d had to lie there on the floor for over five minutes before the pain had faded enough for her to get up.
The demon was right. Years of having Fluttershy’s back, boring herself out of her mind watching the butterfly migration, and when she’d dared to ask a favor in return, she’d been throw to the ground and kicked in the gut.
The irony of it all was that even the favor in question was meant for Fluttershy’s benefit. If she’d just grow a backbone, Flutters would see just how amazing she really was. And hiding in a trench watching dragons fly overhead wasn’t exactly an overly bold request of her, especially considering that would also mean sitting next to a unicorn who’s magic was powerful enough to put up a shield if needed.
Not that any of that had mattered, as the illusion had been a perfect replication of Rainbow Dash’s memories of the event. Her yellow friend had indeed openly betrayed her.
“Rarity?”
Truthfully even Rainbow Dash wasn’t sure if she’d said that as a statement or a question. Like Pinkie Pie, Rarity was a recent friend, unlike Pinkie Pie, Dash hadn’t even really known Rarity at all before their mutual friendship with Twilight caused them to become friends. As little time as they spent together and as short as their friendship had been, surely Rarity hadn’t even had time to betray her in any meaningful way. Had she?
“Yes, Rarity,” the demon chuckled. “If ever there was a pony who owed you loyalty it would be her wouldn’t? Ya saved her life twice, after all. Course, the only reason ya had to do that the first time was because she went and decided to compete against ya in the competition she’d supposedly come to help cheer for ya.”
“Rarity already admitted she wasn’t thinking clearly. And besides, if she hadn’t done that I’d have never done the sonic rainboom for the second time. Or saved the Wonderbolts!”
“Ah suppose ‘no harm, no foul’ works there. That little betrayal of hers worked out in your favor after all. Though that wasn’t the only time she’s betrayed ya despite owing ya her life twice over!”
Rainbow first reaction would have been to ask what the heck the demon was talking about, but in truth, she was too afraid to say anything. Not that she had to.
The illusion returned, this time showing a stagecoach and a simple cart. The former being pulled by four stallions, with Applejack and Pinkie riding, and the latter holding Twilight and Rarity while being pulled by Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy.
“Well I heard a sorry in there. That’ll have to do for now. I’ll get a real apology later,” illusion Pinkie said. “Raritycatchme!” she quickly added as she jumped off the stagecoach.
Unprepared to do anything of the sort, Pinkie crashed into Rarity and both went tumbling off the back of the simple cart.
The real Rainbow Dash could only tilt her head and raise an eyebrow. That was from the time Applejack had run off and they where trying to convince her to come home. And for the life of her, Dash couldn’t recall Rarity doing anything bad to her on that trip.
The illusion shifted to show only Pinkie Pie and Rarity using a handcart to ride the railroad. Pinkie was chanting “chimicherry or cherrychanga?”
Rarity looked down and snarled, “When I get back, you’re gonna get it, Rainbow Dash!”
Even as a shiver ran down her spine, Rainbow Dash caught something.
“How do I know that’s true! I wasn’t there for that. I don’t know what Rarity and Pinkie said on their way back!”
“Heh, heh, heh,” The demon’s slow laugh seemed sincerely amused. “Ah may be the demon born of honesty’s heart, but Ah’m still the demon of honesty! Besides why should Ah lie when the truth is painful enough on it’s own? Can ya deny that her vengeance didn’t happen when she got back? Ya saved her from her own foolishness, Ya saved her from a dragon’s foolishness, and that’s how she repaired you! A real loyal one, that one.” The demon’s last line having been said dripping with sarcasm.
Another shiver made its way through Rainbow’s body. Rarity’s vengeance had indeed happened. Worse yet, Rarity’s idea was vengeance hadn’t been kind. That unicorn’s idea of vengeance had been to hit where it hurt the most. That was to say, not physical pain, but emotional pain, or in that case embarrassment. Long story short, let’s just say that was the day Rainbow Dash learned to check for hidden cameras whenever Rarity needed her to model for a pegasus dress.
That thought alone prompted another shiver from her.
The feeling of two hooves slamming into her chest and sending her flying into the wall behind reminded her that she’d gotten distracted and allowed her defenses to laps. A quick dash and slashing at her unseen attacker and she got back to the pool. Another lightning kick and she had it shining once more.
“Don’t ya see? All of your friends have betrayed ya. They ain’t worth fighting for, returning too.”
“Twilight is.”
Yet, even as Rainbow Dash said it, she knew the lavender unicorn’s crime. The Mare Do-Well incident all to sharply burned into her memory. But she had a counter argument ready for that.
Sure enough, the illusion returned. Sure enough it showed a masked mare being pinned down and unmasked by her past self. Then, one my one, her friends came out of the woodwork proudly announcing how they’d help make a fool out of her. How they’d betrayed her.
Whether the tear forming in Dash’s eyes was from the pain in her chest from the recent blow or the daggers that watching the illusion was thrusting into her heart by the endless reminders that her friends indeed had no loyalty for her she couldn’t say.
Yet, when the illusion ended, she said, “They only did that to rein me in, to show me how a real hero should act.”
With that she directed a bold grin into the empty room. She’d already forgiven Twilight Sparkle for that crime, and unlike Rarity, Twilight didn’t have a second act of betrayal. Or at least not one that she could think of.
“Ah reckon we both know that’s not how ya really felt about that day. But if ya want to be stubborn about it, what about the time she abandon and replaced ya in a heartbeat?”
The paladin pegasus raised an eyebrow. The ‘what are you talking about?’ look on her face was clear enough that it didn’t need to be said.
The invisible demon laughed and the illusion returned.
This time it showed the interior of Twilight’s library. Though for some reason there was a gapping hole in the side of the hollowed out tree library accompanied by a bolder that was likely the cause of said hole. Beyond the hole, in the world outside the ground had become a double blue checkerboard pattern and several houses were on floating islands.
The final nail in the coffin was that four of Twilight Sparkle’s friends present in the illusion were all grayscale versions of themselves. The only color to be found on the four ponies were the golden necklaces with the brightly colored gem resembling the cutie mark of each of their holders. This must have been when Discord was using Ponyville as his chaos capital of the world.
“Come on everypony, Let’s go!” illusion Twilight said.
At that point the illusion showed Spike run up beside the purple unicorn and say, “But Twilight! Aren’t you missing somepony?”
“Nope! We got the liar, the grump, the hoarder and the brute. That just about covers it.”
“What about Rainbow Dash?”
With hardly a moment’s pause, Twilight used her magic to strap the element of loyalty around the youthful dragon’s neck and said, “Congratulations, Spike, you’re the new Rainbow Dash. Now let’s go!”
“Me!” Spike cried, one more chasing after Twilight. “B-b-but, what if she finds out I’ve been impersonating her?” Slumping down slightly he added, “Uh that won’t end well.”
“Too bad, you’re Rainbow Dash. Now let’s go defeat Discord-”
With that the illusion shifted to outside the library, where Discord stood, casually leaning against a tree, with a pair of sunglasses on and a target hanging from his midsection.
“Rainbow Dash! Get over here!” Twilight commanded.
Reluctantly, Spike responded to the pegasus’ name and went over beside Twilight Sparkle.
“Alright, let’s get this over with.”
After Twilight’s words the illusion went on to show the unicorn power up the elements of harmony, ready to strike out at the spirit of chaos. While the other elements started to glow, unsurprisingly, the element of loyalty failed to react to Spike. The light of the elements fizzled out and the ponies fell unceremoniously to the ground. And with that the illusion ended.
“Ya didn’t really think she could be bothered to find ya on her own, did ya? No, that so-called friend o’ yours only came to find ya because those magic gems gave her no choice.”
Rainbow Dash took a shaky step backward. Had Twilight really replaced her so easily?
“We were all being affected by Discord’s magic,” she said.
“Don’t play dumb! We both know that his magic made ponies lose their color, Twilight hadn’t lost her color, She wasn’t under Discord’s power when she did that and ya know it!”
“That… that can’t be how it happened! I wasn’t there for that! You could show me anything you wanted and I wouldn’t know if it was true or not!”
“Come now, ya know full well it was true. Even if ya didn’t see that happen, ya saw enough afterwards to know something was wrong.”
Dash’s blood froze in her vanes. Spike had been acting weird around her for a week or two after Discord’s defeat. Or out right avoided her when he could in that time. Why had he done that? He had no reason to… Unless the illusion had been true, and he didn’t want her to find out that he went along with replacing her like that.
The paladin’s wings went limp. Not even bothering to fold them to her side, she let their tips splash into the waters of night and day. Her mouth hung open in disbelief. All of her friends had betrayed her one way or another. Her eyes turned an unfocused gaze to the dimming waters below her, its glow would be strong enough for only a little longer, and she didn’t care. Her heart felt numb. The spirit of loyalty had no loyal friends… Did she even have a reason to go on living anymore?
Amidst her ever-numbing heart, Rainbow Dash found one spark still burned.
Her eyes came back into focus. A bold grin appeared on her face and she kicked the waters, returning their light to its peak. She knew her mistake now, she had only been thinking of her adult friends. But she did have one loyal friend.
“Scootaloo.”
At first the declaration was met by silence. Then a hearty laugh.
“That brat who ruined your reputation with the school newspaper? Didn’t it take ya weeks to get folks to forget that hit piece she and her friends printed of ya?”
“No. I watched that pony die. She burned to death in the fires of her own passion right in front of me! And like a phoenix a new Scootaloo rose from her ashes! The Scootaloo who shared her hopes, her dreams, who bore her very soul to me! That Scootaloo would charge into the very depths of Tartarus with me if I asked her to!”
There was no doubt in the paladin’s words and this time it was the demon’s focus that faltered. And the instant the invisibility spell failed, Rainbow Dash attacked.
Dashing forward, she cleaved the demon’s side.
But the demon did not bleed. Instead, the wound glowed with blue light. Then two spheres of blue light emerged and the wound closed in the wake of their exit from the demon’s body. Backing off, the demon started to fade away, restoring the invisibility spell.
Knowing she wouldn’t get another chance like this, Dash kept with her target, continuing to swing the sacred wing blades with all due zeal. Another strike, another gash, and more orbs of soft blue light joined the first two in floating about the room.
The demon started fighting back. But now that the paladin could see her foe, hoof met hoof, and blow with blow.
Through her speed, agility, and the numerical advantage in the number of limbs, Rainbow Dash was able to keep the demon off balance. Slash after slash, wound after self-mending wound, more orbs of light filled the air of the room above the two combatants.
Begging for rest, the muscles in her wings burned and finally forced Dash to let the demon stumble away from her. Both taking the moment to breath heavily and glare at each other.
The demon started to fade away. Yet, the purple demon pony failed to disappear completely. Instead she remained transparent in the blue light of all the floating orbs in the room. The surprise in the demon’s eyes quickly turned into an angry glare at the spheres.
With that the demon charged.
Although the reprieve had been short lived, it was enough for Rainbow Dash’s wings to obey her mind again. Charging in turn, she side stepped the demon at the last second and swung the wing blades once more. Immediately spinning on her hind legs she added a second strike to her attack.
From one of the gashes two more spheres of light joined the multitude of lights floating around the room. From the other a splash of black blood fell, bursting into ghastly black flames in the process. More importantly the bleeding wound didn’t close, but continued to trickle the burning demon blood.
“Ah, shoot!” the Spirit Thief growled.
Almost as soon as the words had left the demon’s mouth, Rainbow Dash plunged the sacred wing blades into its chest.
Coughing up more burning blood, the demon reached out and wrapped its front legs around the paladin. And then she tightened her hold, as if to pull the pegasus into a hug, and plunging the bladed wing even deeper into her own chest.
Naturally, Rainbow’s first response was to give the demon a confused look. Why would a demon make the wound worse by hugging her? Then she remembered what happened to the last two demons when they died. Realizing the hostile nature of the embrace, she kicked the demon back, pulling her wing free of its chest, her eyes darting about the room.
The life faded from the demon’s eyes, as its body hit the floor.
Figuring she didn’t have the time to get out of basement before the inevitable blast, Rainbow Dash dove for the nearest pool of the waters of night and day. Kicking a hoof down as she reached it, its light filled the room. And though the pool wasn’t deep enough to submerge in, she lied down and thrust her face into the water.
Not a second later, she heard the explosion and felt a wave of flames wash over her still exposed torso and the back of her head. Her scream was muffled by waters below and drowned out by the fires above.
The instant she felt the pressure of the blast wave pass by, she rolled over, dousing the flames clinging to her mane, tail and the fur on her rump.
A moan of both pain and pleasure came from the pegasus as her now-hyper-tempter-sensitive skin traded the burning heat of the flames for the sudden chill of the water.
Lying on her back in the shallow pool, Dash waited for the pain from her burned patches to subside. As she did so, she watch the numerous orbs of light begin to exit the room. Most simply floated up, through the ceiling. A few darted off at an angle that had them going through the walls.
Eventually, only two orbs remained. The brighter of the two orbited over the paladin’s head. The dimmer one seemed to be drifting about aimlessly, as if lost.
Then the brighter one went over to the dimmer and began to fly circles, as if trying to coax the wayward one toward Rainbow Dash. And after a moment it seemed to notice the other orb and started following it hesitantly. With that, the brighter one led the other over to the lone pegasus in the room.
When they drew near the paladin the bewildered orb seemed to hop, as if it recognized the mare, and began to fly straight. When the two orbs reached Rainbow Dash they pressed into her chest, disappearing into her.
Instantly Rainbow Dash felt as if she was in the presence of a filly and a mare, despite being the only one in the room. She could feel the mare’s fear, and she could feel that the filly wanted her to help guide the mare home. The words, ‘She doesn’t know the way,’ popped in Dash’s mind, and though no voice had accompanied the idea, she knew it was the filly.
Rising up from the pool, the paladin spread her wings and spoke to the empty room. “Alright you two, one ride back to Liberty Castle coming up!”
* * * * * * *
Orange hooves slammed into the trunk of a tree and obediently the tree relinquished several of its apples to the mare.
“Ah shoot. That’s the tenth time today,” Applejack moaned and frowned, when she saw that she’d hit the tree hard enough to leave an imprint of her horseshoes in the bark.
To make her mood even worse she couldn’t deny the frustration that had found its way into her apple bucking. Like all of Rainbow Dash’s friends, Applejack’s mood had taken a turn for the worse when the official search for their missing friend was called off. Needless to say AJ had been among the volunteers who’d continued searching for the missing pegasus.
But just like everypony else, she could only put her own life on hold so long. Eventually the demands of the family farm forced Applejack to stop spending her days searching far and wide as well. Working the farm over searching for a missing friend was necessary, but that didn’t make it feel right.
A gentle breeze moved through the orchard, causing the leaves of the trees to rustle. With her ears awakened, another sound caught AJ’s attention, the sound of children laughing.
Looking to the source, she was reminded that the crusaders were sticking by her for now. Ever since Celestials decree that pegasus ponies shouldn’t be left alone, Scootaloo had become a near-permanent addition to the Apple family farm. It seemed the filly’s father was too busy investigating the source of the pegasus disappearance to come home most days. Needless to say, Scootaloo’s friends weren’t about to let their friend go home to an empty house when something was targeting pegasi, so Scoots had been on a chain of sleepovers ever since Celestia’s decree went out.
A shame that Celestia’s decree did nothing to answer the question of why pegasi shouldn’t be alone. Not that it really needed to. Pegasus ponies were going missing, and no pony seemed to know why or how or who was behind it. So when the decree went out, it wasn’t hard for the rumor mills to figure out that something was targeting pegasi and whatever it was the authorities didn’t have it under control.
Of course simply being around other fillies didn’t seem good enough, so Applejack had insisted that the Cutie Mark Crusaders stay in line of sight of an adult. Just as a precaution of course, seeing as something might be targeting Scootaloo just because she was a pegasus.
Hence why the trio of friends were currently playing with a ball, tossing it about to each other. Seemed that was one of the few mobile games that would allow them to move with AJ as she harvested, but was also slow enough to keep them from straying too far from said adult.
For a pony living under a mysterious threat for no reason other than being born with wings, Scootaloo seemed to handing this situation well. Or perhaps it was just because she was young enough that ‘out of sight, out of mind,’ was the rule of the day for her.
Although it wasn’t as if the filly was unaware that something was making pegasi go missing. AJ had even asked her why she wasn’t bothered by the implications of the situation. Scootaloo’s answer had been something along the lines of, ‘I’m not worried because we crusaders have a plan, and I don’t mind being the bait for the trap if it means we save Rainbow Dash!’
The thing that scared Applejack the most was that she didn’t doubt for a second that those three fillies probably did have some ‘Cutie Mark Crusader, Rainbow Dash rescuers!’ plan at the ready if anypony tried to foalnap Scootaloo.
It wasn’t right. No pony should have to be in danger just because they were born with wings.
And no pony should have to be in danger just because they were friends with a pegasus. Especially not children. And especially not her little sister. It just wasn’t right.
And don’t get her started on Celestia. When pressed on the matter of the past event that these recent events reminded her of, she gave the kind of answers that had a lot of words without saying anything at all. The kind of answer of somepony who knew more than they wanted to say.
Throw on top of that the fact that Celestia only had the royal guard looking for Rainbow Dash for a week, and AJ wasn’t exactly happy with the princess of the sun. The spirit of loyalty was missing and Princess Celestia called off the official search for her after one measly week! If it weren’t for Scootaloo’s father being in the guard, the farmer would’ve thought no pony was even looking anymore. All the official sources were doing their best to play down the disappearance as much as they could, while telling pegasus ponies to act like something was hunting them. All this acting like everything was normal when there was clearly something wrong, that wasn’t right!
“Uh, Sis, Ah think ya already harvested that one.”
Apple Bloom’s words drew Applejack out of her thoughts enough to realized that she’d just kicked the same tree for about the fifth time, despite the fact that it had relinquished its apples on the first try.
“Yeah, Ah guess Ah did,” Applejack said sheepishly. Then looking to all of the harvest buckets filled with apples around them, she added, “Think ya girls can help me bring this load in?”
Apple Bloom quickly agreed, needless to say the filly was accustomed to receiving chores from her big sister.
Just a quickly Scootaloo agreed. Ever since the forced chain of sleepovers had begun, Scoots had seemed eager to earn her keep at whichever of her friend’s places she was staying at.
And though she said nothing, Sweetie Belle set about the tack along side her friends without complaint.
Before long the four of them had gathered the apples into a wagon. And having hitched herself to that wagon, AJ now led the three fillies on their way to the nearest apple cellar. Along side her, the crusaders walked, talking amongst themselves, casually kicking their ball forward every time they caught up to it.
Looking at them, Applejack saw three friends who were trying to pretend that everything was normal. Trying to pretend that they didn’t notice how most of the parents were taking turns standing guard over the schoolhouse when they were at school. And one young pegasus trying to pretend that she didn’t mind not being able to really cut lose with her scooter anymore, since there weren’t any adults around who could keep up with her and she wasn’t allowed to be alone.
It wasn’t right. Those weren’t burdens that should be carried by ones as young as these three.
Breathing a deep sigh Applejack made up her mind. Respect could only go so far, and her respect for Princess Celestia had reached its limit. She was going to get answers.
* * * * * * *
After handing over watching the Cutie Mark Crusaders to Big Mac, Applejack made her way to Canterlot and soon found herself approaching the gates of the Canterlot Castle.
Of course a pony with nothing but a cowboy hat on drew more than enough glances just walking the streets of the capital city. So one can only imagine the odd glances she drew from passersby when she turned down the path to the castle gate. Despite the scoffing reactions of the well-dressed ponies on the street, the guard looked upon the farm pony with little surprise. If for no other reason than all kinds came to the castle for one reason or another.
“Halt!” He said in a commanding tone. “State your name and business,” he added in a more automatic tone of a rehearsed phrase that he’d likely repeated more times then he wanted to know.
“Applejack. And Ah’d like to have a chat with Princess Celestia.”
The stallion’s first response was to look at a clipboard that was hanging on the wall nearby. But even as he did so, he knew that wasn’t right. For some reason, he knew that name, and he never knew the names of the ponies on the scheduled appointment list.
Poking his head inside the guardhouse, he looked to the wall just beside the door. On that wall was a large glass case with about twenty or so plaques in it. These were the names of ponies who had standing permission to enter the castle at will. And sure enough among those plaques was one that read ‘Applejack, Spirit of Honesty.’
Looking back to the mare in the cowboy hat, he waved her in and said, “Welcome Miss Applejack. Would I be correct in guessing that your visit wasn’t scheduled in advance?”
“That’s right. Ah’m sorry if that’s ah problem.”
“Not at all, Ma’am. If you’ll follow me to the waiting room, I’ll inform Celestia that you’re here.”
With that he led the farm mare into the castle.
The waiting room was a large dead-end room. On one side there were several rows of plush seats with bright red cushions and gold plated frames. On the other was a long table with ornate decorations like gold plated candlesticks and refreshments like a few plates with pastries from the royal kitchen, and a punch bowl.
While most of the chairs were empty, Applejack wasn’t alone. In one place there was a unicorn mare and her son waiting in adjacent chairs. Elsewhere in the room a unicorn stallion with a fancy top hat sat, working out something on a clipboard while he waited. Finally there was a group of three pegasi sitting together enjoying the food, although one of them also wore a somewhat solemn look, while the other two seemed more like they’d only come along to make sure no pegasus was traveling alone.
Taking one of the many open seats, Applejack waited, letting her thoughts broil in her mind, planing her conversation with Celestia. At first she saw herself explaining the plight of ponies like Scootaloo and Fluttershy and asking why the spirit of loyalty had seemingly been abandon by the monarch to whom Rainbow Dash had openly pledged her loyalty.
The farm pony kept playing that conversation out in her mind over and over, with each iteration, her planned speech to the princess becoming more hostile until it was a full on rant.
Then Applejack felt a sudden warmth wash away the troubles in her heart. And for some reason it reminded her of the day the Cutie Mark Crusaders had been going around town asking Twilight and all of her friends about their cutie mark stories. Or more specifically the big group hug that resulted when they’d all been gathered in Sugar Cube Corner and learned that Rainbow Dash had helped all five of them earn their cutie mark when she’d earned her own by performing the sonic rainboom for the first time. That was what Applejack felt, the warmth of all of her friends gathered around Rainbow Dash, showering their appreciation on the ace flying. And the brash pony daring to hug back as best she could.
Reliving that memory brought a sense of calm to AJ. Even as the memory shattered away, leaving only the stubborn earth pony and the blue pegasus alone in a field of white light, shifting it into something she knew hadn’t happened.
The Rainbow Dash of her imagination gave her a hearty smile.
“When have I ever left you hanging, AJ? Have faith in me. I’ll save the day and come back, I promise.”
“Miss Applejack!” The guard’s call snapped the farm pony out of her thoughts. “She’s ready for you now,” he said, motioning for the mare in the cowboy hat to follow.
Even Applejack raised an eyebrow at the realization that she was the most recent addition to the waiting room and yet she was the next one called in. The slight blush that formed on her cheeks disarmed most of the looks coming her way. She truly hadn’t meant to cut in line like that, but how was she to know she’d get the VIP treatment? Although, only the unicorn with the fancy hat still seemed indignant at the clear favoritism that she received by the time she left the room.
She was brought to the throne room. Or she would have been if Celestia hadn’t met her in the hall just outside it.
“Would it be alright if we walk while we talk?”
With a nod Applejack agreed and the two set off down the hall.
“So, what did the spirit of honesty want to talk about?”
“Shoot, princess, just Applejack is fine.”
“Don’t deny me this act of humility, Applejack,” Celestia said. Then leaning in close and covering the back of both of their heads with her wing, she whispered, “I don’t get to do it often. Trust me, most of the ponies I have audiences with aren’t the kind I can pretend to be humble with.”
With that the princess straightened back up, though she now wore a playful smile.
“Right…” Applejack said, her thoughts suddenly drawn to the snooty stallion with the fancy top hat.
“All jests aside. I really am curious as to why you came all the way to Canterlot instead of having Twilight send a letter on your behalf.”
“Honestly princess, Ah was planing on chewing ya out about calling off the search for Rainbow Dash. But when Ah was waiting, the strangest thing happened. Something came over me and Ah felt that Rainbow was just fine, even though Ah got no reason to be thinking that. Ah suppose the only thing that’s still bothering me is that Ah’d like to know what you meant in your letter about ‘non-public stuff’ reminding ya of something that happened in the past. What was that about? And why does it make ya think Rainbow don’t need help?”
“Applejack, can you promise me that what I tell you will remain a secret?”
“Of course, Ya have my word.”
Celestia gave a quick check to ensure that the hallway was empty. Then she answered, “There have been sporadic reports of shadowy pegasus figures and magic portals tied to some the pegasus disappearances. An unusual phenomenon to say the least. And one that has only happened once before, to the best of my knowledge.”
“That thing that happened with Rainbow’s ancestor?”
The princess responded with a nod.
“Ah can see why ya’d think the two events are connected and all. But why call off the search for Rainbow? Just because ya never found out where those portals were going the last time, don’t mean ya can’t figure it out this time.”
“Applejack, it isn’t that I don’t want to find Rainbow Dash, it’s that I don’t believe that I can.” A raised eyebrow and a bit of a glare from the earth pony prompted the alicorn princess to continue. “I know it isn’t common knowledge, but there are worlds and realms beyond our own. Starswirl the Bearded discovered several himself. And many of these realms are beyond the reach of our magic.”
Applejack’s eyebrow remained raised.
“I believe the most commonly known ‘other realm’ would be Tartarus. You are aware of that, correct?”
A nod answered the question.
“For example, my magic can’t locate somepony that I know is in Tartarus unless I actually pass through the gates of Tartarus and cast the spell from within that realm. But what you’re asking, Applejack, isn’t just for me to find a pony who is in another world. What you’re asking of me is to find a pony in a world I don’t know how to find.”
AJ’s eyes became tiny green dots as a look of realization came over her face.
“Do you see now why I kept this a secret? Can you imagine the panic that would come if ponies knew that those who disappear are beyond my help? And that, just like 300 years ago, it will be up to those who are in that other world to find their way back?”
“Hold on a second there, princess. What do ya mean up to them?”
“Like I just said. I don’t know how to find the world that the pegasi seem to be disappearing to, let alone reach it. But it is clear that those in that world know how to cast portal spells that can connect to Equestria. I can only presume that that is how Lighting Dash brought back the missing pegasi back then. By finding the way to open a portal back to Equestria from that world.”
“Ah see. Thank ya for your time, princess. Though Ah wish there was something we could do to help, Ah reckon you’re right to put your faith in Rainbow.”
* * * * * * *
Rainbow Dash returned to the bunkroom where Storm Gale was and found that all of the female ponies who’d been affected had been brought to the same room. Most were now sitting up in their beds, being attended to by friends or family. Sweet Chime and Gale were the only two still asleep. And apparently Sweet Chime had been placed in the bed next to Storm Gale’s.
Even as Dash hovered her way over to the two stricken ponies, the brighter orb of light emerged from her, as if sensing the nearness of its proper place. The orb shot over to Sweet Chime and entered into the unicorn filly.
Almost immediately the filly’s eyes opened. She turned her head to the approaching paladin, smiled and whispered, “Thank you, Paladin Rainbow Dash.”
It wasn’t until the paladin landed beside Storm Gale that the mare’s spirit came out and made the jump back to her body. Like the filly, Gale awoke in mere seconds. Although in her case, the mare’s eyes started darting around the room in a panic until they found Rainbow Dash.
“Am-am I alive?”
“Yes, Gale. You’re alive.”
Looking down the bed she was on, the pegasus mare said, “It was a dream? Oh, Rainbow Dash! I had the worst nightmare! I dreamt that a demon ripped out my soul!”
Rainbow Dash blinked, and then a nervous smile appeared on her face when she said, “Yeah… that’s kinda what happened.”