//------------------------------// // Chapter 20 // Story: Only One Speck of Dust // by TheMareWhoSaysNi //------------------------------// To live in such a place was not synonym of safety. In fact, it was even worse than living in Ponyville. No pony came to protect you from danger, and danger was plentiful in the Everfree Forest. If it was not because of wild creatures, it came from the clandestine population routing through here. Former banished criminals, wandering ponies moving along the woods and wild paths in-between the major cities… Choices were endless. In order to survive, Twilight had to compromise. She was living from harvest that was rather poor during winter. Sometimes she would steal loots that were not hers, thanks to magic and fighting techniques she still mastered. The most difficult thing, however, was not being able to buy new books. It had been only a few years since she had resolved to live in such a dreary way, yet she felt as if she had been hiding for a century. For now, it was impossible for her to come back to Ponyville in broad daylight. Her eyes permanently hidden and her wooden hoof scared the others. Seeing her clashing with Rainbow Dash had risen some rumors about her. However, this survival state could be over soon. She had been promised a new reputation, the royal library’s management and the reorganization of science center of the palace as she liked. All it took was for the Unavowed Army to overcome The Militia. Prince Blueblood had not called her in again but Twilight knew something was getting prepared, something bigger than the last one and she was sure she would be requested any time soon. Honestly, she did not care at all about the Fallen Heir Apparent’s cause. All she wanted was to be back into the real world, to take back the place that had been snatched away from her at the same time than her hoof. Twilight thought she heard the sound of a twig breaking. She turned around, watched her surroundings, lighting up her horn. The wind was blowing between the trees, and made small pile of snow falling on the ground. A tiny rabbit hopped forward, then hid back behind the bushes. Nothing. Nature, nothing but nature, unmastered by ponies, in the raw. After a last glance, she trotted again, and shortly after, she was home, under cover behind her door. The gleam of an oil lamp lit up the only window of her small shack for a few minutes, then they were off again. No more sounds pierced through the dark night. She probably was asleep. The wind went through the top of trees which were luxuriant even through winter. A proof that this forest was nothing normal… Except that venturing here was the only solution for Rainbow Dash to achieve her ends. Her head surfaced from between the leaves and made a sign on her side. Then Soarin appeared, who followed her as soon as she landed softly on the ground. In front of the shack where Twilight was living, snow had been cleared. The earthy ground still was freezing cold yet she had no other choice than to let her boots home. The least faux pas could make everything crumble and the mare did not want to take such a risk for a clothing problem. She had prepared this intervention with meticulousness, during days and days. It was not a very complicated plan. In fact, it could even be achieved rather quickly if it was rightly performed and if the target agreed to collaborate, of course. Rainbow Dash thought it was in her own interest. Her body level with the ground, she gestured to Soarin to go around the shack. When she had sent Pinkie Pie, as a spy on behalf of The Militia, in reconnaissance mission a few days earlier, the latter had said she had noticed another door leading to outside toilet blocks. It would probably be locked up for security and that was why she had asked her coltfriend to come with her. He had enough strength to break into the lock with only one kick. Exceptionally tonight, they both had called reservist ponies to replace them during their watch. The operation they were about to perform was a priority. The whole safety of Ponyville depended upon it, Rainbow Dash had assured. In fact, it was not really a lie. From what would happen in here would ensue a few changes. As soon as Soarin disappeared, she got her head out of her black camouflage suit, and took a glimpse inside. Everything was dark and nothing seemed to move. Silence was resounding all around her, as if the forest itself had suspended time in the expectation of what was going to follow. She pushed the window a little, hoping she would not have to break a pane of the glass, what would wake Twilight up for sure. By chance, the window half-opened with a slight grinding noise. Rainbow Dash slowly slid her body on the sill, then little by little, went to the other side. Her eyes were used to the darkness, and she was able to distinguish some elements of the room. At the back, at a few feet from the door, there was a bed which was in reality a plank of wood with sheets and blankets piled up together. A small table on which was a tumbler of winter red berries took center stage, supplied with an old cushion looking dilapidated. On the other side, there was a basin of water and an old wood-burner, as well as shelves overloaded with books. The narrowness of the shack was going to make things easier. In case Twilight would wake up before she could reach her, there was not a lot of places where she had the possibility to hide. Unless she would use her magic… Rainbow Dash did not have enough time to think a little further. The room got lit up suddenly, and she felt a violent pain in her left wing. Thrown against the wall, she quickly realized she had just been trapped by her prey, who had pinned her against the wall with a sword. Her mane tangled and her eye-patch a little crooked, Twilight Sparkle appeared in front of her. Her frown and the flame in her eyes were an indication that she was not really glad she had a little surprise guest. Her face at a few inches of her, she put her hoof on her rival’s neck, ready to crush her throat if the situation worsened. “Did you really think I wouldn’t notice?”, she grumbled. “I’m not a fool.” “Really? Well, you see…” A roar of wood and metal came from the back of the house, lessening in half Twilight’s focus. It was the right moment to attack, and Rainbow Dash had always had the perfect idea of how the unicorn would not respond to what was going to happen next. With her teeth, she snatched away Twilight’s eye-patch that she had not positioned well in her rush. Immediately, a burning sensation devoured her retina, as if her head had been plunged in a basin full of acid. She cried out, trying to close her eyes though she knew she could not. Quick. To find something to put around her head so she would stop the inflammation to consume her entirely. Twilight palpated around her, looking for her eye-patch. It was so painful her good eye irritated her as well and made it all more complicated. It had to be done now. Rainbow Dash was able to free herself from the sword hammered in her wing that had started to bleed and called in Soarin, while Twilight was wobbling around, a hoof on her eye. Really… Not to be able to overcome this gift from above was not an advantage. The stallion grabbed the syringe in his saddlebag, and threw it through the room. It asked Rainbow Dash a big effort to take off high enough so she could catch it on the run. Now, Twilight had pressed her eye against a blanket, and awkwardly tried to breathe again after such a restlessness. The pain barely started to soothe when she felt a needle driving inside her flank. She cursed herself inside for she had not think a second that Rainbow Dash would never have ventured here without any backup. Then, nothingness overcame her. ------------------------------------------------------ When she regained consciousness, Twilight realized somepony had put her eye-patch back around her head. She was no longer positioned like before but now lying against the floor, her head resting against her old worn cushion. On the other hand, her wood hoof had been taken off and her hind hooves had been tied together. Her eyes followed the floor until she distinguished four blue hooves. So, Rainbow Dash was still here… When she had fallen asleep abruptly after the injection that had been inflicted to her, Twilight had really thought her time had come. She knew her rival had not hesitated to finish off Double Diamond and that she had killed August Charmer in the most violent manner. At first glance, it looked evident that she would liquidate her as well by choosing to inject a poison in her blood. And eventually, when thinking about it… maybe it was not that evident. There was a precise reason behind these both deaths. She, Twilight, was not in agony. She had killed nopony and only been an envoy. The Sacred Law could not be applied to her case. Leaning on her one foreleg, she straightened up her head. Rainbow Dash was sitting in the middle of the living-room, right beside the table, and she spoke to the stallion behind her, wrapping a bandage around her wounded wing. “When I think that I’ve finally stop limping… Just my luck! How am I going to go back ho----” She rose an eyebrow when she saw Twilight in front of her, her jaw clenched. “Here you are? Finally, awake?” “What have you done to me?” “I simply sent you off to sleep with a little sedative, not a big deal.” Twilight had thought she had died. She had been attacked in her own house, then tortured before a product which she did not know the ingredients of had been injected into her veins… And this damn pegasus mare had the brass neck to tell her it was ‘not a big deal’?! She deserved a good lesson. Oh, she might be trussed up and obliged to crawl in order to go forward, but she still had a significant advantage – her horn. Since the mishap with Double Diamond, she had been motivated to train back in magic in a more serious manner, and by dint of practice a lot of spell had come back to her mind. She focused with all her might. A slightly painful energy climbed back up from her heart to her brain, shook by shots. But it all fell back immediately, without the least spark to appear. “Oops, sorry, I forgot to tell you… It was a mix of sedative and of sacred poppy seed juice.” A magic neutralizer. Twilight then realized the little dramatization had not been happenstance. Everything had been orchestrated from the beginning, to the least of her reactions – except maybe the fact she would laid into one of her wings. Back in time, she remembered, Rainbow Dash had not been that organized. She had not dared to stand up to Master Crimson Moon, of course… But the latter never bothered to punish her in humiliating ways on several occasions each time the mare pegasus was stubborn – and that was all the time. She often even had told her to learn something from Twilight who always listened. None would have guessed that time would reverse things so much. Her, Twilight Sparkle was now hidden away in one of the most dangerous forests of Equestria while her former friend, the spirited tomcolt Rainbow Dash was The Militia’s Head and the kind of pony to think about each and every details, even the most insignificant ones. “I know, it’s very sad to use such tricks”, Rainbow Dash claimed, stepping closer. “But frankly, this was the only solution to make sure you’d listen to me without a scandal. I’m surprised that, smart as you are, you didn’t think I wouldn’t come here alone… By the way, do you know Soarin?” The powder blue stallion behind her displayed a nervous smile which made not him look very smart. By pure instinct of defense, Twilight’s answer arrived quickly and was a mocking one. It was not this poor pony’s fault and usually she would never have dared such a boldness, nonetheless as long as she did not know Rainbow Dash’s visit real purpose, she would stay on the lookout. “Of course, I know him… He’s your stopgap!” She immediately saw the fake smile on the face of her rival crumbling down and her mouth twisting into a rictus of vexation. “Don’t you ever say it again. Ever.” In front of Twilight’s lack of reaction, her magenta eyes almost turned to black and narrowed. She pressed a hoof against the unicorn’s one foreleg. “Take back what you’ve said. Take it back!”, she insisted, increasing her push. Twilight suppressed a painful shriek, before she gave in and swore she took her words back. It only had been a provocation yet she never thought it would have such an impact. She probably cared for the stallion more than what her actions suggested if she felt the need to clean his honor. Soarin had to admit it. His marefriend’s reaction had surprised him too, so much he had not been able to articulate the least of words to defend himself. Until then he had always thought that, although she enjoyed his company, she was rather far from having more serious feelings for him. From the moment when Rainbow Dash got off her hoof, the smile she had lost a little earlier came back to the surface. It was a strange expression that Twilight did not know about her. A mix of her usual overinflated ego with a touch of teasing mischievousness, the look of a brat who would have pleasure in mentally torturing a helpless filly. Rainbow Dash trotted to the table on which she climbed before she took a few berries from the tumble, as if she were home. “Well, anyway, I guess you know we’re not here to chat about the bad weather. We have an attractive offer to make to you. An offer you can’t refuse. Do you want to know what it is?” “Do I have the choice?” “Glad to see you’re so enthusiastic… I don’t know if you know, but it’s such a chore to find a Quartermaster worthy of the name. Looks like no pony in this city knows what it means to have a good sense of organization. I had to dismiss all those who stood until now, and meanwhile, Spitfire’s the one in charge, and frankly, you don’t know what it’s like to be managed by Spitfire. She’s worse than the Academy of the Cavalry’s instructors. I even wonder whether her and Master Crimson Moon aren’t hidden twins…” At the mention of the Fighting Master’s name, Twilight felt an additional tension inside of her, her nerves tight against each other. Rainbow Dash was making fun of her and only wanted to torture her more than she already was. She was convinced about it. “Just to say that I desperately need a competent Quartermaster, and with what had happened recently, I need it more than ever. Let’s be honest. No pony is as qualified as you are for the job, Twilight Sparkle. Look, even your shack in the middle of a bewitched forest is shining like this is a museum!” Despite all her bitterness, Twilight had to admit it was thought provoking. Of course, the proposition made by Prince Blueblood was in fact more interesting. Her only problem was that it came along a condition of victory. If she understood what Rainbow Dash had told her correctly, oppositely to the other offer, it would take effect as soon as possible. It was everything she had wished for during years and years. That somepony would finally recognize her worth and offered to restore her. What bothered her was that, in her dreams, it was never about making another strategic pawn out of her. What she had wished for had to be spontaneous. Not dictated by the need to make the scale lean from one side to the other side. Furthermore, she had learned by the Fallen Heir Apparent an information about Rainbow Dash that had disappointed her. It was the same information that had made her accept the other offer, in the same way as the supposed advantages she would acquire by joining the Unavowed Army. If it was true, then Twilight knew she deserved better than this. Indeed, how could she entrust a mare who had sacrificed the pony she loved the most for the sake of her own ego? “Why would I join forces with a coward of your kind?”, she said mockingly. “Hey, who you’re calling coward, you crippled!” Really, Rainbow Dash did not want to be contemptuous or insulting. Sometimes, words came out of her mouth the way they were, filter free. She did not even have to be annoyed or upset like right now. It was a part of who she was. “You. It’s you I’m calling coward. Prince Blueblood told me everything about Time Stellar’s death.” Just like when it was about Crimson Moon, saying this name always hit the bull’s eye. Twilight saw Rainbow Dash freezing. Soarin, in the background because he was nothing but a backup, had suddenly looked up, his ears on alert, almost shocked she had dared to say the name of the deceased. The truth was that he knew Time Stellar had died and had been his marefriend’s first love, but he did not know how he perished. At many occasions, he had expected Rainbow Dash to tell him, and every time, she had not said a word or had gone talking about a different topic, like the adventures of her parents during the Fratricide War, or stories about her mother and Applejack’s back when they were bounty hunters. It was now or never. The moment of truth, the one he had expected for so long. For all that, Soarin was not really sure he wanted to know. “Come on, tell us what he told you exactly, I’m curious.” “When Wind Rider challenged you to duel him hoping it would draw your uncle’s attention because he thought he was still faithful to The Web, you’ve realized he was more experienced than you and that you could lose. So you’ve asked Time Stellar to help you to attack Wind Rider by surprise. He’s died because of you and he’s received a sword strike that was meant for you. Because you’re a coward and a liar.” It was impossible for her to remain impassive after such a description of the facts. Maybe they were a little deformed, maybe Prince Blueblood even overstated the point in his account… Whatever it was, it was clear she was going to react. She had to react. If they were at a turning point as strategic as she let her believe, it could not be otherwise. And Rainbow Dash reacted. A nervous laugh crossed her lips, her chest rising and falling quickly, the tip of her hoof playing with the edge of the tumble. “So, this is what Prince Blueblood told you… What does he know about it? Was he there? I DON’T THINK SO!!!” The small basket flew through the room, and the berries inside came to crush all around Twilight Sparkle. She had to close her left eye narrowly to stop the acid juice from the berries to crush against her irises. Rainbow Dash bounced from the table to the floor to stand in front of the unicorn. One of her temples on the side pulsated under her rainbow mane and she could be heard exhaling to the other corner of the room. Usually, Soarin would have rushed to comfort her. But he was unable to move. Frozen, with powerlessness, he looked at his marefriend, as scared as captivated by what was going to be said. “I would’ve won this duel hooves in the nose. I wasn’t afraid to lose, I’m never afraid to lose. It was the first time that Time Stellar tried to forbid me from fighting and I didn’t listen because I was sure to win. So he’d done what I did all the time. He hasn’t listen to me and he secretly witnessed the duel. When he saw he’d underestimated me, Wind Rider… He tried to stab me in the back. In the back. Do you think it’s loyal to try to stab a pony in the back?” The question was for no pony in particular. At this stage, she had forgotten who she was talking to. Never again, since the events that had changed her life forever, had she said out loud the truth about what had happened on this night. Except Wind Rider and herself, no pony really knew. There had been rumors, but they were completely made up around hints and clues as thin as a piece of paper. Traces of blood in an alley. Begging screams heard by some. Injuries that were never the same from mouth to mouth. Because he knew this would help his cause, Prince Blueblood had told Twilight a deformed truth, a patchwork made out from nothing at all. She had to tell about it. The secret eventually had to get out of its box, in which it had rot and which the pestilential smell bothered her. So that the past would be exorcized at last, so that the gates of a forbidden world could be within her reach. So, Rainbow Dash kept on talking, not daring looking at Twilight and even less at Soarin… She spoke almost unceasingly, not trying to tone down the facts. It was not to get the center stage. It was because that was how the things had happened. The only detail on which a doubt could be pronounced was the outcome. Maybe she would not have won. Maybe right now, she would have been dead and Time Stellar would have been the one forced to keep on living until his heart got unburdened. Yes, maybe. But ‘maybes’ would change nothing to reality. “I haven’t immediately understood what was happening. As if time had stopped… I saw Time Stellar between Wind Rider and I, and this stab in the back that was meant for me had touched him instead. He’d pierced him with his sword, from back to belly. I couldn’t have said anything, couldn’t have done anything. He was already dead. I bet you’ve never been covered by the blood of the pony you loved, Twilight… When this blood spurts in your face, you’re paralyzed. You wonder whether this isn’t a nightmare. There’s this lifeless body in front of you, this body that had held you through the night and now it’s nothing but an empty shell.” She had tried. She had struggled. Saying to herself this was far from her now, that she had forgotten the details with time. Thinking that talking about it could no longer hurt her, as if she only mentioned a school memory, just a little bit more painful. In vain. She could not stop nor hide the tears rolling along her cheeks. And too bad for her if she had promised herself never to cry in front of anyone. Her heart was not made of ice, unlike the popular stories went. Her heart was suffering. Despite it all, she kept on talking. Now that she was started to walk down that road, she had to complete it. When she had realized that Wind Rider had disappeared, it had made her blood boil. With fire in her stomach, she had cleaned out each corner of Ponyville under heavy rain that a smart pony had decided to make fall in the hope it would dissuade her from having this duel. Time Stellar, obviously, had foreseen that something dreadful had been about to happen. Maybe he even had taken the decision to sacrifice himself from the very beginning... She would rather not know. Rainbow Dash had found Wind Rider in the North Gates area. He had the intention to cross a part of the Everfree Forest to skirt Ponyville, in order to take a boat on the coast that could lead him to Las Pegasus, in the South Shore. Without further delay, she had unsheathed her sword and dashed briskly straight forward. The first strike, which had got a shriek out of him, had not buried far in the flesh. At the second strike, she had felt the sinews giving in under the blade, tender like in soft butter, then some kind of resistance when the cutting edge tripped against the bone. The same way he had ran through Time Stellar’s body, she had run it through his shoulder. But she had not stopped for all that. She had struck again, and again, until the left side of his body looked like nothing but a heap of bloody flesh. Wind Rider had cried, begging her to stop torturing him. He wanted her to finish him off, and when he had heard she was calling the physician ponies, he had begged even more, swearing he deserved to die. The words she had said to him still resounded in her mind. “Oh no, you don’t deserve to die. You deserve to suffer. And you will!!!” From his blood, she had written on the ground the catchphrase it was tradition to say when this sacrosanct precept was applied. Blood by blood, this is the Sacred Law of Equestria. Thus, there had been little doubt about who had been “guilty” of the attack. A Member of the Militia had just revenge their deceased Head. The Sacred Law never asked for death at any cost. It was the enforcer who judged the fate deserved by the transgressor, as long as it was a pony entitled to do it. Her account stopped here. There was little interest to tell the rest. Twilight knew what she had to know. It was different when it came to Soarin. If he asked, she would tell him everything. She would explain the tears, the cries of pain, and the decision she had a hell of a job taking when she had discovered she was the one Time Stellar had appointed as his replacement if he ever died or left his function. That was only now she finally turned around to meet their eyes, though in reality she did not dare looking in Soarin’s direction yet. Still lying on the floor, Twilight was staring at her, lost for words. Rainbow Dash had been the only one to cry, and the thick translucent tears on her cheeks merely started to dry. Of course, Twilight could choose not to believe her. She could decide to rather believe in Prince Blueblood, thinking the mare pegasus was only trying to touch her. If she had not known her back then, if she had not witnessed the love she had for Time Stellar, for sure, she would have believed the one who wanted to be called the True King. Since she chose to believe Rainbow Dash, she owed her apologies. For calling her a coward, for forcing her to get out of her silence, and to confess this painful truth. “Sorry, Rainbow Dash… I didn’t know all this, I swear.” “Now you can’t say that anymore”, she declared while wiping her last tears with the back of her hoof. “What I want to know now is what’s your opinion about my offer.” The objection Twilight had until now no longer made sense. To be honest, she always distrusted Prince Blueblood and his promises, but in the absence of other possibilities, and especially because he clearly had let her know he would save the same fate as Double Diamond for her if she would not obey, she had agreed to his deal. Now, new perspectives were within her reach. There always will be the threat to be tortured by the Fallen Heir Apparent, but if she fought with The Militia, she would no longer be alone to confront him. Also, she would get a better frame in which training her magic. However, there was one last detail she cared about. She had to find back some kind of worth, to prove to herself she still was able to rise above the mass, to get rich from knowledge, instead of letting him in agony. “Let’s say I agree. There’s one condition.” “Hem, which condition?” “A duel. You against me.” Despite herself, Rainbow Dash could not help laughing. Alright, Twilight was very good in magic, but the period when she was one of Crimson Moon’s student was far, and in the mare’s own opinion, she was a little rusty. Even with her wound at her wing, she knew the result of the fight. “Are you aware you have no chance of winning?”, she finally asked her. “I don’t care about losing or winning. I want this dual for myself. Are you in or are you still willing to give Spitfire the management of everything?” Rainbow Dash had to suppress a chill. As Quartermaster, her eldest was competent but likely to behave with her and the other Members as if she was instructor at the Academy of the Cavalry, and everyone was under her orders. Even though this position made her under the orders of her niece by marriage. “You know what? We got a deal. Whenever you want, wherever you want.”