“Excuse me, Princess Twilight?” Fluttershy asked shyly as they continued though the forest, both Twilight and Rarity using a basic ‘candlelight’ spell to create little balls of light that hovered just over their horn tips to light the way a little better, “What’re the other Elements again?”
“Yeah, if Laughter helped us get past the first trial, the others might help with the rest.” Dash agreed as she hovered above them.
“I’m not a Princess, not really.” Twilight sighed, “I don’t know why Nightmare Moon keeps calling me that. I mean I still don’t know how I managed to transform myself last time, but it must have been a spell or something…” She paused and took a deep breath and moved away from the subject, hating that she did not know something, “There’s five Elements that are known,” She settled into lecture mode, “Laughter is one of them, then we have Honesty, Loyalty, Kindness and Generosity. I’m not sure how we could weaponize any of those though, I think we’re probably going to have to just play it by ear a lot of the time.”
“Well laughing at the wolves worked, so I bet we can work it out somehow.” Pinkie Pie seemed unbothered by the uncertainty, an attitude that both bothered Twilight and made her slightly envious. She knew she generally over thought things, it was a part of who she was. She was not like a lot of other ponies who could jump into something and change the plans. She had a weekly schedule and she stuck to it like glue. This whole fiasco was ruining it but for once it was okay, purely because her plans had been to celebrate the rising of the sun with Spike, which she obviously could not do without a sun in the sky.
Sometimes though she envied the ability of most of the other ponies she knew. They could adapt and change their plans without feeling stressed or worried and act on a whim. Twilight had to plan time to do things like that into her schedule. She even had assigned ‘worrying’ times. She could not help but wonder if the mess she was in countered as one of those and if she could move one up from further in her timetable in order to reorder her week once this was over.
The woods seemed a little less scary with the knowledge that they could frighten off the creatures made from the darkness with a simple laugh and their pace picked up, especially once they made it past the canopy of trees that cut the river that trailed through the Everfree Forest off from the rest of Equestria. Rainbow Dash let out a whoop and shot skyward, enjoying the open air. She soared upwards, needing to spread her wings after being cooped up under the trees for so long.
“Aren’t you going to join her?” Twilight asked Fluttershy curiously, only for the light yellow unicorn to shake her head.
“I don’t need the sky like Dash does.” The animal loving filly replied with an embarrassed smile, “I tend to stay a lot closer to the ground. I mean I can fly, but…”
“You don’t like to?” Twilight asked softly. Fluttershy shook her head, blushing slightly and scuffing the floor with her right fore-hoof. “That’s okay, you can help us to work out how to get across the river while Rainbow’s stretching her wings.”
The river in question looked placid but that did not mean anything. It could be hiding a rapid current underneath that, could catch them as they tried to swim across. If it did it would quite easily drag them under and they would never make it to the other side, yet alone the Palace of the Two Sisters.
Rainbow swooped overhead, doing a loop-de-loop which looked very pretty with the rainbow trailing behind her, but was not helpful. Twiilght realised she was not trying to be when Applejack let out a startled exclamation and a trio of black pegasi shot past in hot pursuit, driving Rainbow further up into the clouds.
The pale blue pegasus in question was hard pressed to keep the trio off of her tail as she lost sight of her friends because of the cloud cover. She had no idea where they had come from, but they were shockingly fast, almost as quick as her and that was saying something. They were not as agile though and that was where she had the advantage.
They were dressed a lot like the Wonderbolts, except their jump suits were a dark purple, their goggles were all the same shade except for the glass which was a bright and slightly glowing purple and their head gear was black. What creeped her out a little was the cutie marks emblazoned on the flanks of their jumpsuits. A white pony skull with a wing extending from it made it quite clear that they were not fooling around.
“Found you.” One of them, the only mare of the group if she was right, crowed as she appeared from below Rainbow, “Boys, she’s over here!”
Dash did not give the other two a chance to arrive, doing a wingover and vanishing into the cotton like clouds. The mare let out a frustrated noise and followed her, calling out, “Rainbow Dash, we just want to talk...”
‘Which was why they tried to knock me out of the skies.’ Dash thought sarcastically, staying silent, ‘There’s no way they should know my name either. They have to be a trick or a summon, like those wolves...’
“Forget her.” Rainbow’s train of thoughts got derailed when she heard one of the stallions talking, “She’s long gone, probably back to the barrier out. Let’s go deal with the others, especially the Princess.”
Oh no. That was not happening. She was not allowing it to happen. Dash dove through the cloud cover and emerged the other side in time to see her friends who had been crossing the river carefully being divebombed by the trio of pegasi who had been chasing her a few moments earlier.
“Hey! Did I say you could ignore me?” Rainbow demanded before barrelling into the mare who tumbled in midair, nearly sending both of them into the deeper waters just a little further down.
“Who said we wanted to ignore you?” The mare smirked as she righted herself, “We want you on our side, Rainbow Dash, and we’ll do anything to get it.”
Rainbow did not get a chance to ask what the hell she meant before one of the stallions slammed into her, knocking her skywards, away from both the river and the mare.
“Rainbow!” She could hear Twilight’s worried call and saw Fluttershy actually take off, as if to help.
She did not react to either. Instead she smirked at the triad of dark pegasi and shot skywards, leaving behind a challenge of “If you want me, come and get me!”
The trio of pegasi followed at such a pace that Rainbow was hard pressed to stay ahead. It was exhilarating as much as it was scary and Dash caught herself letting out a genuinely delighted laugh as she narrowly dodged a sideswipe from the bigger of the two stallions.
The dark pony in question yelped and dropped a couple of foot at the sound, making Dash take in a sharp intake of breath. They were not ponies anymore than the wolves had been. The pegasi chasing her were simply a product of the darkness or something summoned by Nightmare Moon in order to stop their progress.
That revelation cost her though and she let out a pained cry and tumbled nearly twenty foot straight down as the bigger of the two stallions collided with her deliberately. Before she could right herself the second stallion had slammed into her and sent her rocketing sideways where she collided with the side of a mountain before bouncing off of the solid rock and tumbling down, stunned by the pain and dazed by the collisions.
It was, shockingly, the mare who stopped her painfully colliding with the floor. The false pegasus moved a cloud into Rainbow’s path. The pale blue filly landed on it instead of the hard, rocky ground below.
“Y...You helped me?” Rainbow stared at the mare in shock as she tried to pull herself to her feet, wincing as her muscles protested and her injuries pulled.
“I told you Rainbow Dash, we want you for our team.” The mare replied, “Which means you’re no use to us dead.”
“What team?” Dash snorted, preparing to take off again and flinching as her wings snapped open but pain flared down her right side, “You’re not real.”
“Oh we’re just as real as you are, Rainbow Dash. When Nightmare Moon told us that the best flyer in all of Equestria was passing through we just had to meet you and get you to join our team. Forget the Princess and those losers and come work with us. We could be better than the Wonderbolts and we want you as our captian.”
It was too good to be true. Which was a shame because it sounded wonderful.
“Yeah, right, I’m supposed to believe some awesome flying squad was just passing through the Everfree when a demonic Princess passed through and just happened to tell them that the best flyer in all of Equestria was passing through? The only part I believe is that I’m the best.” Dash snorted, “And even if it was true, you introduced yourself by attacking me and when you lost sight of me, you went after my friends and that’s not okay. Now go away, I’m not joining your team and I’m not letting you hurt my friends, not even Princess Twilight. I might not know her very well, but she’s worth a million of you.”
“Wrong choice, Rainbow Dash.” The mare growled out, launching herself at her. Dash narrowly escaped the strike by folding her wings, jumping off of the cloud and dropping like a stone out of the sky. The three evil pegasi followed her down at high speed, not wanting to lose her, only for Dash to open her wings at the last minute and pull up. The mare managed to copy her antics, soaring up after her, but the two stallions collided with the ground, hard and burst into clouds of purple and black mist.
“Two down.” Rainbow panted, trying to ignore the pain in her side and the complaints of her wings as she climbed again, fully aware that the mare was on her tail. “Just one to go…”
“Yes,” The mare shot up in front of her, forcing Dash to break hard, making her let out a pained whimper as her muscles, which were pushed to their limits, screamed for her to stop. “But that last one is me,” The mare smirked, “Nightingale. And I always deliver.”
“Yeah well, not this time.” Dash snorted, diving down and skimming the river, trying to keep an eye on where Nightingale was. “How the hell does a Shadow creature have a name, anyway?”
“If you have to know,” Dash started and nearly tumbled into the water as Nightingale pulled up alongside her, looking smug, “My brothers and I were normal ponies before we were banished to the Shadows. We live there now and when we’re defeated in this world, we just end up back in the dark. You’ll be joining us soon. Nightmare Moon has sworn it.”
“No way.” Dash snapped back, barging Nightingale and rowing for height, fully aware she was slowing down, “Even if you get me, my friends will fix it and I’ll be me again before you know it.”
“Not if your mortal form is dead.” Rainbow did not have time to react to that as Nightingale collided with her and forced her down into the river. The pair of pegasi plunged into the deep river, just down from where the others had crossed and Dash found herself caught in the currents.
Nightingale transformed into purple mist and fled, leaving Rainbow in the river alone. She struggled and fought against the current desperately heading for the surface, but the current was too strong for her and her muscles were too heavy from the heavily draining flying she had been doing before. The lack of rest between her practises and now and the fact she had had no chance to take a deep breath before she had been plunged into the waters did not help as she struggled for air.
Then, just as her world was going dark something orange plunged into the river next to her and grabbed her before pulling on a rope with her teeth. Somepony had to be on the other end of it as they were slowly dragged to shore but Dash was not conscious to see them touch down on dry land.
Twilight watched in stunned horror as Fluttershy shoved Applejack aside and started trying to get Rainbow Dash breathing again, her shock breaking a little as she heard cackling from above. She looked up as a shadow passed over them and revealed itself to be the same pegasus mare who had driven Dash into the water.
Something in Twilight snapped when she saw the mare was coming in for a fresh strike as they tried to save their friend and the puzzle glowed brightly, the same changes overcoming Twilight’s form as she stared up at the pegasus.
Nightingale pulled up sharply when she saw the unicorn grow taller and wings sprouted from her back. Wide purple eyes narrowed and turned a bitter, angry ruby red as the heavily damaged wings spread to cover the alicorn’s back and rump and dark magic swirled around her like flames. She was no fool. She recognised power when she saw it and the alicorn before her was nothing but power.
Still she had sworn that she would deal with the Princess and her guards when she had been summoned. Nightmare Moon had promised freedom for her and her brothers if they managed it so alicorn or unicorn, Princess Twilight was going down and going down hard.
“What’s the matter, Princess?” Nightingale sneered, glad at she did not have to outrun an alicorn in the skies. Rainbow Dash had proved a surprisingly good challenge and Nightingale was tired and sore. Up in the skies, however, she had the advantage. “Too afraid to fly? Oh wait, you can’t. Those wings wouldn’t lift a butterfly, yet alone a fat mare like you.”
Twilight glanced over her shoulder when she heard Rainbow coughing and spluttering behind her, bringing up the water she had swallowed and the momentary distraction gave Nightingale the opening she was looking for. She rammed into the Alicorn, sending her sprawling before rowing for height.
The Princess ignored the concerned calls of her allies as she carefully watched Nightingale’s flight trajectory. Just because she could no longer fly, it did not mean she did not know what to expect of an aerial combatant and the pegasus was overconfident. She chuckled darkly as Nightingale swooped in to finish her, taking a leaf from her earlier battle and calling up a card from her deck but not a monster this time.
Instead the mare, who, if her muzzle and ears were any indication, was actually of a similar shade of coat to Rainbow Dash, went crashing into a wall of light and bounced off, hitting the floor hard. One wing wrenched out of place in the collision leaving the pegasus in a great deal of pain as she picked herself up and just as ground bound as Twilight.
“You’ll pay! You’ll pay!” Nightingale screamed at her as she charged her, lowering her head with the intent to ram the alicon. Twilight dodged it easily and tripped the furious shadow spirit. She stumbled and staggered a few steps further than she had intended giving the Princess enough time to blast her with the same spell she had been using to keep the creatures from earlier at bay.
It sent Nightingale tumbling, the already injured pegasus going sliding across the ground before coming to a halt at the water’s edge, her goggles going tumbling into the river. Fear was clear on her features as Twilight approached, she knew she could not win. That had been clear from the moment that she had lost her ability to fly, but accepting defeat meant losing her chance to get her and her brothers out of the dark void they had been trapped in for so long. Even now if she died she would just return to that dark place instead of moving on. She had to get away.
The Princess seemed to have no intention of letting her do that as she stood before her, anger clear and magic crackling around her. Nightingale cowered, hoping that showing that she knew she was beaten would get her off lightly or make the Alicorn make a mistake.
“You hurt my friend,” Twilight snapped, her voice stern and disapproving as she glowered down at the terrified shadow spirit, “Trespassed in my soul, and you’ve lost at your own little twisted game.”
That was far too true for Nightingale’s liking and she let out a whimper before begging, “Please,” She tried, “I’m sorry. I didn’t know...”
“Yes you did, don’t lie, it only makes it worse.” The Alicorn hissed at her, cutting her off, “You were aiming to kill Rainbow Dash when you drove her into the river.”
“Please, I’m sorry,” Nightingale backed up, knowing she was in trouble, “Please, I’m beaten, you don’t need to...”
“Twilight.” Fluttershy called, causing the purple former-unicorn to perk an ear up, twitching it slightly in her direction. It was the only indicator that she had heard the pale yellow pegasus but Fluttershy cantered up to the Princess’s side and then stood between her and Nightingale. “You’re better than this. You’re not Nightmare Moon. Don’t let it control you like it does her.”
Red eyes narrowed a little further as Twilight harrumphed and backed up a couple of steps, giving the flyer a little more room, her anger clear. “She hurt Rainbow Dash.”
“I know.” Fluttershy informed her, her voice stronger than normal. She had a soft but worried smile as she glanced towards the blue filly who was looking a little shaky but otherwise okay, “But Rainbow’s okay now. Princess Celestia wouldn’t want you to fall to the power and neither does Rainbow, right?” The last was directed to Rainbow Dash who shook her head, “See?”
“But...” Twilight started.
“A little kindness goes a long way.” The animal loving pegasus pony told her softly, before looking at Nightingale, “If we let you go, will you leave us alone?”
“I...yes, I swear.” Nightingale nodded rapidly, having already decided to stay far away from the possessed Alicorn in the castle in the middle of the forest and terrified of the dark flames licking around the Alicorn before her. She was fully aware that the Shadows she could feel from the Princess could do so much worse to her then kill her current form and send her soul back to the darkness and wanted nothing more than to get as far away from her as possible. If she could not win, after all, she had to survive, for her brothers.
“She’s not a threat. You can let her go.” Fluttershy told Twilight with all the patience and care offered to one of the more dangerous creatures the pegasus dealt with on a daily basis. The angry Alicorn snorted but backed up a little more, watching as her friend turned to the Shadowbolt. “Are you hurt?” She asked, showing the same concern that she gave any pony.
Nightingale looked started as she nodded, extending her wrenched wing as far as she could. Fluttershy let out a worried sound as she started examining it, “This is going to hurt and you’ll need to rest it.” She warned, “I’d say for you to get this done properly by a Doctor, but do shadow things even have Doctors?”
“N...no.” Nightingale admitted, startled by the question, “You want to heal me?”
“I can’t heal it, but I can put it right so it’ll heal right by itself.” Fluttershy offered, “If you want. I mean.”
“Y...yes, thank you.” She stammered, nodding rapidly. Her form would reset when she was sent back into the darkness but she had no intention of going back yet and a functional wing would go a long way to helping her avoid the demon Alicorn that taken over the forest.
“You’re welcome.” Fluttershy smiled at her, “Now, hold still. Applejack, can I have a hoof please?”
“Uhh…” Applejack glanced at Twilight and Dash, both of whom nodded, though one did not look too happy while the other looked unsure. Then she cantered forward, moving to Fluttershy’s side. “What’dya need?”
“Just a little strength.” Fluttershy replied directing Applejack to the right places to hold the joint. The orange earth pony followed her lead, full aware that Fluttershy had nursed birds that had dislocated their wings before and sure this would not be much different. “Now, ready?” She asked the injured pegasus, who looked worried.
“Ready for wha…ahh!” Nightnigale cried out in pain as the surprisingly strong but timid pony, with Applejack’s assistance reset the dislocated limb and leaned against Applejack for a few moments to prevent her legs buckling as the earth pony let go. “Hay and horsefeathers!” Nighingale gasped as she pulled herself together.
“Sorry.” Fluttershy actually looked embarrassed as she checked the appendage was back in place properly and that it could extend correctly again, “But I don’t have anything to dull the pain with me. My medicines are back at my cottage.”
“Th...That’s fine.” Nightingale shook her head as she let Fluttershy check her wing and noting that while it hurt, it was nowhere near as bad as the pain she had been in while the joint had been out of place. “Thank you for what you’ve done. I owe you one.”
With that she took off, leaving the party from Ponyville behind. Fluttershy let out a relieved sigh as she watched Nightingale lift off and vanish out of sight above the trees they had just come through. Then she turned to the Alicorn their friend had become, expecting to have to talk her down still. That turned out to be unnecessary. The mare before her seemed confused but much calmer than the pegasus would have expected of her.
The pale yellow filly considered the Princess before her carefully. She did not look exactly the same as their friend. Her coat was a couple of shades darker for a start and the wings were a new addition, though Fluttershy could not help but internally wince when she saw them, for as little as she like flying she could not help but remember the horror stories of pegasi who had gone crazy because they had been grounded by such injuries. It was the eyes more than anything that indicated to Fluttershy that this Twilight and the ‘normal’ one were not the same. She had to pay close attention to her animals if she wanted to work out what was wrong with them, since none of them could talk and the eyes were normally the best way to read an animal’s true mood.
The normal Twilight’s eyes were wide and bright with curiousity and, most importantly, purple. While the Alicorn’s were narrowed with suspicion and if she was reading them right, a little fear, though what such a powerful pony was frightened of was beyond Fluttershy and red, very red, like the rubies that Rarity had dug up the other day for one of her fabulous jewellery pieces.
She did not get a chance to ask though as the puzzle flashed and suddenly it was Twilight Sparkle she was looking at, though she seemed confused for a few moments, as if trying to regain her bearings. Then the unicorn spotted Dash was on her feet and a huge smile crossed her features as relief shone through.