//------------------------------// // Gift // Story: Corrigenda // by Jay Bear v2 //------------------------------// Rainbow Dash was in Rarity’s craft room when… No, that wasn’t right. Not anymore. Rainbow Dash was in Fluttershy’s and her craft room when Kyubey appeared. She and Fluttershy had met the Ponyville resident organizer, Amethyst Star, that morning and learned about Rarity’s last will and testament. It provided that if Rarity went missing for more than two weeks, managers would take over the house in exchange for a stipend. If she was not found after seven years, Rarity would be presumed dead, and the managers would inherit her property. As of that morning, Rarity had been reported missing for two weeks, and her last recorded act in life was to name Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash her managers-in-waiting. After they had signed a mound of paperwork with terms like ‘defeasible estate,’ and ‘revocable trust,’  Amethyst had summed it all up: “Unless she shows up and wants the place back, it’s yours to keep.” So it was theirs to keep. The stranger had made that clear. As the cathedral labyrinth evaporated, the stranger had levitated Rarity’s necklace to show it was split in half down the middle of the gem. Afterward, the stranger had silently guided them to Sweet Apple Acres and yet again disappeared when they weren’t looking. For two weeks after that, there had been nothing. By some unspoken agreement, they went to Rarity’s mansion—no, their mansion—after meeting with Amethyst. They paused at the entrance, stood in front of an antique fainting couch, and paid their respects in quiet. Then Rainbow wandered the house alone. She didn’t pay attention to where she was until she pushed open the door of the craft room. In its middle were the two mannequins presenting the dresses Rarity made for them. Rainbow walked around them at a distance. Fluttershy’s was so innocent, like something a filly would wear for a dance or a cute-ceañera. It was perfect for her. By comparison, Rainbow’s dress was… So awesome. The way the fabric looked heavy but also like it was floating. How the color of the undercarriage was darker than the rest as if lightning was about to rumble out. That the pocket in the folds along the side. How the lines of the dress streaked across the back, like it was already flying. That Rarity had sewn tiny sequins in the seams, and how they reflected little sparkles of different colors like water drops catching a rainbow. No one had told her it was the dress she was meant to hunt witches in, but no one needed to. Rarity transformed her piles of fabric and threads into this masterpiece. Rainbow knew she had to transform her pile of a life into something equally amazing. She knew she would never have the chance. When she got to the other side of the dress, she noticed Kyubey in the doorway leading to the hall. “What do you want?” she said. Kyubey answered by bounding away down the hall. Rainbow cursed under her breath and left the craft room. She saw him duck into the master bedroom, followed, and found him on the bed nestled into the pillows near the headboard. The room was surprisingly messy. The bed was unmade, with its quilt thrown to the floor and its decorative cushions shoved to one side. A drawer on the bedside table hung open, and a book with an ornate cover jutted out from it. There was a lingering musty smell and the walls seemed caked in a layer of dust that swallowed the sounds from the hallway. Rainbow was tempted to open the windows to let in a breeze and maybe a little background noise, but decided against it. “So yeah, what do you want?” Rainbow stepped into the room. “Do you want me to make a wish? Rarity said she was going to talk to you after we left, and I figured it was about, y’know, not turning us into hunters.” “She did.” “Did she make you promise? Cross your heart and hope to fly?” “I don’t have a heart.” “Right.” Rainbow rolled her eyes. She let her thoughts roam for a moment, and at last said, “So you’re an alien.” “Yes.” “An alien who keeps promises.” “Yes.” “Promises to dead ponies.” “As well as living ponies,” he said, “and non-pony sentient beings of any life state.” “Great.” Rainbow rubbed her face. “All right, I should go. I’ve got, y’know, probate stuff with this house.” “I understand. It was very charitable of Rarity to bequeath the mansion to you and Fluttershy, but the upkeep must be very demanding.” “Yeah, it’s something.” She hesitated, and then added, “Why are you here, anyway? You’re not here for us, and you don’t seem sad, so you must not care about Rarity. Are you just bored?” “I am a creature of need,” Kyubey said. He rose to all fours, his expression unchanged. “I exist because I am needed, and where I am needed, I exist.” “And why exactly are you needed in Rarity’s bedroom right now?” “Rarity asked that I look after you and Fluttershy if something were to happen to her.” “Wow, even more promises! If you break one, do you explode or something?” “No,” he said, “but witch hunting is dangerous, as you’ve seen. Many hunters ask me to handle certain tasks if they die. It often comforts them to know at least some of their affairs will be wrapped up after their death. That lets them focus more on hunting.” “So it’s all about keeping hunters happy. How about you? What do you do when you need comfort?” “I don’t experience comfort, or any emotion.” “Swell,” Rainbow snarked. “What’s that like?” “Normal. What are emotions like for you?” Rainbow searched for the right words, but none existed. “You know what? Emotions suck.” “That’s unfortunate.” “No, it’s sucky, and so are you.” She waited for Kyubey to correct her, or agree with her brattiness, or be awkwardly silent, or do anything she could use to launch a new round of tongue-lashing at him. Instead, what he said caught her off guard. “What do you want, Rainbow?” “I don’t know,” she conceded. “There is something I want to get off my chest, though. This thing’s like a bat in an attic, slamming into the sides, screeching all night, and no one is getting to sleep until it gets let out.” “What is it?” “It’s two.” Rainbow sat on her haunches and raised her front hooves. “One, two. This one’s Cup Cake, and this one’s Rarity. They’re the two ponies who died because of me.” Kyubey was silent and unreadable. “Aren’t you going to tell me it’s not my fault now?” she asked. “I didn’t intend to.” “Heh.” Rainbow let her forelegs down. “Maybe you get it after all.” “Would you feel better if they were still alive?” “It doesn’t matter,” she said, “unless you can wish someone back to life.” “It’s entirely possible. Several hunters have wished to bring a loved one back from death.” “Really? I mean, you’re not…” Rainbow stopped to think, and then laughed. “Aren’t you a sneaky little heartless alien? Trying to make me wish them back to life, huh? Then I’d have to be a witch hunter, wouldn’t I?” “Rainbow, that won’t…” “Gosh, you broke that promise to Rarity like it was nothing! Well, maybe you get off on a technicality, though, since you won’t have to do anything to recruit me.” Rainbow took a deep breath, closed her eyes, and said with a self-satisfied smile, “I wish Rarity and Cup Cake were still alive.” She cracked open an eye to look at Kyubey. “So now what? Do I also have to sign a contract or something?” Kyubey shook his head. “I’m sorry, Rainbow, but it doesn’t work like that. You can only make one wish.” “Yeah, and I made one wish! It’s just got an ‘and’ in it.” “It counts as two wishes. It’s hard to explain the metaphysics, but whether a wish is singular has to do with how many discrete objects are subject to the wish, and how directly the wisher controls the outcome of the wish. For example, you also can’t wish for a chocolate chip cookie and a sugar cookie. However, if you wished for a magical plate that’s always full of different kinds of cookies, it’d probably have some chocolate chip cookies and some sugar cookies on it, and it would still count as one wish, even though it technically encompasses an infinite number of cookies.” “So I can’t wish for two ponies to come back to life?” “That’s correct.” “That sucks.” “It’s unfortunate.” Rainbow sagged to the floor. “The number is always two. Two ponies dead because of me, two wishes to set things right…” “You could wish for one to come back, and someone else could wish for the other.” Her eyes flashed to Kyubey. “And two ponies in this house.” Rainbow flew out the door and down the stairs. “Hey, Flutters, I’ve got an awesome idea!” Fluttershy wasn’t sure what to call this room. It was windowless and illuminated only by the gaslights sprouting from the wall. It was secure, with its entrance tucked into the middle of an inconspicuous hallway on the first floor and a sturdy deadbolt above its handle. And it was small. Even empty, it would have made for, at best, a walk-in closet. An expansive desk in its center and curious bureaus along the walls outfitted with long, flat drawers resulted in there barely being any room for her to turn around. The name came to her when she opened the first drawer and let a clutch of maps spill to the floor: it had been Rarity’s map room. Which raised the question: why did Rarity have a map room? The maps themselves offered few clues. Most were copies of the overall Ponyville map, although they were sometimes attached to more detailed maps of specific buildings or locations around town. Every one that Fluttershy saw bore added notes, figures, symbols, grids, and diagrams, mostly drawn or written in a neat style with blue ink, which Fluttershy assumed was Rarity’s quillwork. However, one particularly yellowed stack also had pencil annotations in a rougher style like something a pegasus or earth pony would write. Fluttershy accepted that the purpose of the maps would have to remain a mystery. She had more pressing work to attend to. Taking care of the house. Taking care of Rainbow. Taking care of herself. And most importantly, taking care of ponies before witches could seize them, like she and Rainbow had promised Rarity. That was where the idea of turning Rarity’s mansion into a therapy center had come from. She’d have to discuss it with Rainbow, of course. First she needed to finish clearing the map room so it’d be ready for whatever it was to become. She had made good progress by the time Rainbow’s voice rang down the stairs and through the house. “Hey, Flutters, I’ve got an awesome idea!” Fluttershy smiled, enjoying the anticipation of sharing her own awesome idea. She stuck her head out the map room doorway and gave directions until Rainbow appeared in the hall. “Would it be okay if you helped me in here while you tell me your idea?” she asked as Rainbow approached. “No sweat! What do you need help with?” Fluttershy pulled back into the map room, and Rainbow joined her, hovering over one of the bureaus so they both had space. “I’m clearing out these cabinets. They’re all filled with copies of this Ponyville map.” She pointed out one of the maps lying open on the floor. Rainbow inspected the map for a moment. “Are you throwing these out? It looks like Rarity uses them to track something. Maybe it has something to do with witch hunting.” Fluttershy shrugged. “I couldn’t understand them. Sadly, there’s probably no way to know for sure.” An odd smile appeared under Rainbow’s mischievous eyes. “Actually, that brings me to my awesome idea. I was talking to Kyubey upstairs…” “Oh.” The word came out like an arctic gust. Fluttershy caught herself before she said anything else laced with paranoia. She forced herself to sound warmer when she added, “I’m sorry, you were saying?” Rainbow hesitated. “Look, I know you don’t want us doing this stuff, but wait until you hear what kind of wishes he can grant.” “Wishes,” Fluttershy said, letting the frigid winds billow out and the paranoia infuse, “as in, how he’d make you become a witch hunter.” “Well, yeah.” “Stop, Rainbow, please stop. It doesn’t matter what wishes he grants. There’s nothing either of us could want so much that we’d risk our lives for it.” “That’s just it, though! The wishes wouldn’t be for us, it’d be for Rarity and Cup Cake. Flutters, Kyubey can bring ponies back to life.” Fluttershy couldn’t meet Rainbow’s gaze anymore. “There’s a catch, though. He can only bring one pony back per wish.” Rainbow walked around the table, into Fluttershy’s line of sight. “I know this is the biggest thing anyone could ever ask for, but I can’t wish for them both back. It’s totally cool if you need time to think about it, but…” “No.” “What?” “I said, ‘no.’” Rainbow did nothing for a moment. Then her expression contorted into smoldering outrage. “Why?” Rainbow demanded. “Why wouldn’t you do this for someone who gave us all this?” She gestured as if capturing the whole room and the last few weeks that it represented into her front hoof. “For someone who saved our lives?” “I think they deserve peace is all.” Fluttershy was surprised by how meek her voice sounded. She put more force into saying, “Sometimes, someone is beyond help, so you move on, and you help the ones you can.” “You can’t be serious!” Rainbow sputtered. “There’s no way, not in a million years, that you’re okay with never seeing Rarity again. And what about Cup Cake?” “Cup Cake was in a lot of pain.” “So?” Fluttershy swallowed. “So now she’s not.” “No!” Rainbow yelled, her voice echoing down the hallway. “You don’t mean that! Are you really that scared? Or did you get greedy after you saw the mansion?” “I’m not greedy,” Fluttershy said. Her head hung as she waited for Rainbow’s indictment. Instead there was a whoosh of air and Rainbow was gone, leaving only a string of papers dancing in her wake. Fluttershy took a deep breath, let it out slowly, and repeated several times. It helped her calm down. It gave her time to clear her head. It reminded her she could do at least one thing right. Fluttershy retreated from the map room and decided she needed a smaller project to start off with. After ruling out the other rooms on the first floor, she climbed the stairs and found her way to the master bedroom. This would be an easy win. The room was messy, with an unmade bed and some of Rarity’s personal effects lying around unorganized, but it was far less daunting than the map room. There was even a nice breeze coming from an open window to keep Fluttershy comfortable as she worked. She started with the bed, nipping one corner of the quilt to pull it back, and silently promised herself not to leave this room until it was clean. Then the doorbell rang. Fluttershy startled, but once she regained her composure, she giggled and released the quilt. She trotted downstairs and to the front door, to find that Rainbow had left it open. At the threshold stood an unfamiliar earth pony wearing a dull grey necklace. “Howdy!” the visitor said. “My name’s Applejack.” It could have rained, at least. A derecho to soak the soul would have been better, but Rainbow would have been fine with a mix of drizzle and fog. Instead, it was a bright, cheery day in Ponyville, with not a cloud in the sky but for her floating home, and everyone in the world was as happy as could be. Rainbow didn’t belong out there. She confined herself to her den, with her blinds drawn, her cider bottle open, and her thoughts freewheeling. They careened from spite to flaw to frustration, and finally crashed into how weird it had felt going through Rarity’s home. Almost frightening, actually. Not like at a haunted house, but in a way that made her think about the meaning of “rest in peace.” Rainbow decided to play a game to distract herself. She imagined she had died, and that Fluttershy and Rarity had been sent into her house to take stock of her worldly possessions. To better understand what they would see, Rainbow left her house through the front door, and a moment later, re-entered. “Oh my sun and moon, what brave decorating choices Ms. Dash made!” she imagined Rarity saying. “I am especially fond of her use of every color of the rainbow. She truly lived up to her name!” “Do you think this is the right thing for us to do?” she imagined Fluttershy saying. “Maybe she’d be bothered by us coming here without her permission.” “Nonsense, darling, nonsense. Rainbow is quite dead. Nothing bothers her anymore.” “I really miss her. I wish I hadn’t told her not to be a witch hunter now.” “Don’t let the past upset you, my dear! Rainbow did worlds of good in her life. Even her death was heroic, rescuing all those orphans and old nags from that pack of diamond dogs. When those horrible monsters dragged her into the ground, she kept fighting until the very end. What courage she had!” She walked to her trophy room, which she had adorned with Wonderbolts posters, biographies of famous pegasi, and souvenirs from a decade of air shows. Photos of her racing across Cloudsdale at various ages sat together on a corner table. A second-place ribbon accompanied one photo of her as a beaming filly at the finish line. Only one. “Our dear friend was blessed with such lofty ambitions.” “I know this isn’t very nice, but I used to watch her race in Cloudsdale. She could have tried a little harder.” She walked to the dining room, in which her dining room set had spent year after year gathering dust. She remembered the one time she had invited Fluttershy over for dinner. Only one. “Rainbow tried to make spaghetti and zucchini-balls, but she burned it. I offered to cook the next time, but we always ate out after that.” “We all have our banes and boons, don’t we?” Rainbow moved to the den. There was a half-empty bottle of cider next to a chair, and all-empty bottles beside it. Way more than one. The game wasn’t fun anymore. Rainbow disposed of the empty bottles from the den. Then she dumped the rest of the cider from the half-empty bottle into a bathroom sink. She returned to the kitchen, took the case of cider bottles out from storage, and methodically ripped off each cap to pour the bottles’ contents down the drain. It felt freeing. It felt like the right step forward. It felt like she’d done this a dozen times before and it hadn’t worked any of those times, either. Cider gone, Rainbow went to her bedroom in search of the oblivion of sleep. She wasn’t totally surprised to find Kyubey standing in front of her bed. “Not that I’m mad to see you here,” she said, “but didn’t anyone tell you only pegasi can walk on clouds?” “As I said, I am a creature of need. It appears I am needed here.” She walked around him, climbed into her unmade bed, rolled onto her back, and started counting the cottony rolls on her ceiling. “Why did you want Fluttershy’s help bringing Rarity and Cup Cake back?” he asked. “Duh. Because they’re both dead.” “You could have wished for one of them back.” “Exactly. I could have wished for one of them back. Only one.” Rainbow propped herself up to get a better view of Kyubey. He was still on the floor but had turned to face her. “Wouldn’t bringing back one pony be enough to make you happy?” “No.” “But bringing back Cup Cake and Rarity would be?” Rainbow felt weak. “No.” The admission was a crack of thunder heralding the storm about to break. “You wanna know what would make me happy?” Rainbow closed her eyes and thought very carefully about what she had to say. “If something mattered again.” “Again?” Kyubey asked. “Was there something that used to matter?” “Protecting Fluttershy mattered.” Rainbow didn’t even have to think before saying it. “You know about bullies, ponies who hurt other ponies because they like it? She was a magnet for them. This one time we were going to a calliope recital, and on the way there we heard this colt snickering around a corner. So, I flew over the top, and I see him with this bucket of water he was going to douse her with. Well, I got him for that. Grabbed the bucket out of his hooves, dumped it on him, and then chased him around Cloudsdale until he was begging to say sorry to her. “Keeping her safe mattered, so I made sure no one hurt her, and no one ever did. Not really, at least. It’s just, she doesn’t need that anymore. We’re grown up now, and all we get are problems we’re told to care about. Gotta make your cloud quotas. Gotta get your bombing drills in. Gotta do better in your next race. But if you don’t, what would really change? Nothing.” Kyubey swished his tail. “Would you be happy if there were a new threat to protect against?” Her shoulders sagged. “If you want to know the truth, I don’t think I can do it anymore. When I kept bullies from messing with Fluttershy, it wasn’t like I was the toughest, fastest, smartest filly around. I had this passion, though, this drive to get better. It wasn’t all for Fluttershy, either. It was for me. I’d practice because I was stoked about getting more awesome. “Something happened to that drive. I don’t know what, but there’d be these little moments where it started to slip away. I’d get second in a race or I’d barely pass a math test, and I knew I should keep pushing myself, but I wouldn’t. Even back then, I’d ask, ‘what’s the point?’ Because I knew that stuff didn’t matter. By the time Fluttershy went to college, that drive was totally gone, and nothing took its place. All that’s left now is…this emptiness.” Kyubey appeared beside her on the bed. “What do you want?” “This thing I’m feeling right now. The emptiness. Do you understand what I’m talking about?” “Yes.” Rainbow locked eyes with Kyubey. “I wish I never felt this way again.” “Okay,” he said, “then it’s done.” Fluttershy couldn’t quite accept that Applejack was real, but she couldn’t quite disbelieve her eyes, either. She listened to the earth pony introduce herself as an old friend of Rarity’s who had found out about the unicorn’s untimely demise and came to pay her respects. As if on auto-pilot, Fluttershy responded by giving her name and saying she’d inherited the house from Rarity. In her daze, it somehow slipped her mind to mention Rainbow. Applejack was gaunt, with a frazzled blonde mane and flaps of loose orange skin hanging from her neck and barrel. There was no denying the family resemblance, but Rarity must have been confused about Applejack’s relationships. She looked more like Granny Smith’s sister than Apple Bloom’s. Fluttershy took Applejack on a tour of the house. It wasn’t until they reached the dining room that Fluttershy remembered how she accused Rarity of fabricating the pony standing next to her. “Rar’ used to use this part for a gym in the winter,” Applejack said of the dining room, “but she’d be outdoors any chance she got. During the summer she’d set up a big ol’ obstacle course out in the garden. Said I could join her whenever I wanted. I told her, you want to work out, why don’t you get yourself down to the farm? Us Apples’ll make sure you don’t ever get a jiggle on that belly.” “I never knew she was so devoted to physical fitness,” Fluttershy said. “Then again, I only knew her a few weeks.” “And she wrote you into her will?” Applejack whistled. “How about that.” “Yes, she was very giving,” Fluttershy said. It felt like an alibi. Seeking a change in topic, and Fluttershy’s attention fell on Applejack’s necklace. It was the same style as Rarity’s, which Kyubey and Rarity had said were part of witch hunting. “I couldn’t help but notice your necklace. I think Rarity had one just like it.” “Aw, do you like it?” Applejack beamed and pushed her chest out, giving Fluttershy a clear view of the apple-shaped gem. “Rar’ made it for me.” Fluttershy blinked. “She made it?” “Yep! Caught me taking a shine to hers, so she booked a few hours at the jeweler’s workshop and made me a copy. I ought to get mine cleaned, I suppose. Say, did she ever get you a necklace like this?” “No. She did make me a dress, though.” “You don’t say? She told me she used to dream about making me a sharp little outfit all in red, but she never got around to stitching it up.” Fluttershy nodded and smiled back. “Hey, mind if I show you something?” Applejack asked. “Won’t take but a minute.” She led Fluttershy to the library. When they entered, Applejack trotted to a small table with a wooden checkerboard pattern next to a cushy reading chair. She pulled open a drawer and produced from it an array of small black and white statues, a thin screen, and a pencil and writing pad. “Is that a checkers set?” Fluttershy asked. “Nope, this is laurys! Rar’ ever play with you?” Fluttershy shook her head. “You’re in for a treat. Rar’ must have whupped me a thousand times at this old thing but I never could get enough. C’mon, let’s do a quick match.” Applejack spoke even while navigating the pieces to the tabletop with her mouth. “How do you play?” Applejack grinned like a shark as she set down the last piece. “What you want to do is lie a lot. I better warn you, though: I’m real good at it.” Rainbow’s necklace had appeared first, bright and gleaming gold surrounding a red lightning bolt-shaped gem. It looked so great on her that she barely paid attention to Kyubey’s lecture about Grief Seeds and psychic energy stuff, until he said it was time for her to summon her weapon. “First…” he said. “What do I get?” Rainbow flew around the room as she spoke. “Am I going to get a needle like Rarity had? Or was that because she could sew? Yeah, I bet I get something different. Maybe like a wicked fast slingshot, or some kind of sneaky dagger. I can’t wait!” “First,” Kyubey said, “I need you to calm down.” “Oh.” Rainbow giggled. “I’m sorry, I can’t help it. This is awesome! I’m going to fight witches. I’m going to land a hoof right into their evil sides and smash them to little witchy bits. I’m going to save ponies! There are going to be ponies out there alive and happy thanks to me. Isn’t that amazing?” Kyubey was silent. Rainbow took a seat. “So what do I do?” “Picture yourself fighting a witch.” Rainbow closed her eyes. She was in the circus grounds again, surrounded by horrors, alone, and fearless. “Next, concentrate on your need for a tool. Don’t try to focus on any specific device to fill that need. Instead, think only about the need.” Rainbow Dash sat, imagining herself unarmed. In the imaginary circus grounds, she looked around her for something, anything to defend herself with. “Finally, while continuing to concentrate on the emotion, stop imagining the witch.” The circus and its villains were gone, leaving only her and her need. She tried to focus on it, truly feel it, but it was as if she was squeezing a hole in the ground. As soon as she had a grasp on it the emotion seemed to crumble. Rainbow began to fret. Could it be she’d never get a weapon? She had already made her wish and she would never get a second. How could something that was going to give her life meaning end up being a huge waste? Being a witch hunter was the most important thing, the one thing she really needed, the one thing that mattered… There it was, the once-familiar pensive absence. Rainbow latched onto it, let the urgency fill her, until she could taste and feel it in her mouth. “That’s strange,” Kyubey said. Rainbow opened her eyes and saw him focusing on her nightstand. She tried to ask him what was so strange, but discovered something like a riding bit stuck in her mouth. She spat it out. The mystery object wasn’t a bit, but instead a short bar of polished silver with a round bronze cage on either end. “Is that my weapon? It kind of looks like a foal’s rattle.” Kyubey examined the rod for a moment. “That’s a vajra! It’s been a long time since I saw a pony summon one of those.” “A vaj-what?” She pawed at the little metal stick. “Am I supposed to throw it or something?” “No, it shoots lightning. When you’re holding it, imagine lightning striking something, and the vajra will activate. Why don’t you try it?” “When you say ‘lightning,’ do you mean a tiny static shock or like a thunderstorm going off?” “The vajra will produce whatever you imagine.” Rainbow smirked. She had seen enough pegasi survive being on the wrong end of a cumulonimbus electrical disturbance at the Weather Service to know not to mess around with lightning. “Yeah, I better try this outside, then.” She grabbed the vajra and shot through the window. A few minutes later, she reached a lake near the Everfree Forest. She glided closer to the surface, the vajra ready in her jaw, and imagined a tiny creek of electricity connecting her and the water. For an instant, the world was nothing but blinding white and deafening roar. When she could hear the rumble of thunder coming back as echoes, Rainbow opened her eyes. Not that closing them had done much good: she was unable to see anything until the afterimage of the fork-shaped blast faded away. Then she grinned. She imagined a volley next, and short blasts zapped across the lake exactly as she wanted them to. After that came arcs between the lake and trees, waves of plasma lapping across the ground, balls of light burning as bright as the sun, thunderclaps exploding in the sky like fireworks, and thick glowing columns that shattered trees. She kept igniting the sky until she ran out of ideas, and then started her flight home, only to discover she was struggling to fly. Every part of her felt worn down to its rudimentary form, as if she needed to be torn down to her foundation before being rebuilt. It was like being born again. Born better. When she arrived at her bedroom, Kyubey was perched over a book propped open on her bed. “The vajra is awesome,” she said. “I owe you a million, billion thanks.” “Believe me, Rainbow, I’m the one who should thank you. You’re doing a wonderful thing for my creators.” He nodded to the book. “Can you tell me about this?” Rainbow lifted the cover to get a view of its title. “That’s The Adventure Book. It’s supposed to tell you this story about rescuing a prince from a dungeon or something while you’re doing boring stuff like chores. I stopped playing it pretty quickly, though. It’d do this thing where you were in the middle of a story, and then all of a sudden it’d say there’s nothing interesting happening and you need to go somewhere else. Why do you ask?” “It’s absorbing psychic energy.” “What? I thought you said only these necklaces could do that.” Rainbow hopped onto the bed, lifted the book up, and peered at it. “I’m as puzzled as you. It’s not absorbing as much as a necklace, though. I only noticed when you summoned your vajra.” “Why would that make you notice?” “A hunter summoning a weapon emits a small, but detectable, amount of psychic energy. Don’t worry, it recharges after you defeat a witch.” Rainbow shrugged and went back to considering The Adventure Book. “What do we do with this?” “We should find out who made it and investigate. Where did you get it?” “It got mailed to me a few weeks ago. There was a letter that came with it, but I don’t think I kept it. I remember it was from some unicorn, though.” “Perhaps it was one of your unicorn friends?” Rainbow huffed. “I don’t have any unicorn friends. I mean, I guess Rarity was one, but…” Something clicked in Rainbow’s mind. “I remember now! I was talking to Rarity and Fluttershy about it, and Fluttershy said she had a copy, too. I better go ask her.” Kyubey rose to all fours. “Are you going to see Fluttershy now?” “Yeah.” Rainbow looked out the window. She felt her blue feathers ruffle in the wind. “Besides, I’ve got some new stuff to show her.” “You’re in danger there, partner.” Fluttershy’s eyes caught Applejack’s. “Well, at least a lancer is.” The earth pony nudged one of the black pillars on her side of the board up one space, and then leaned back in the reading chair. “Oh.” Fluttershy gazed at the board, trying to “knock the varnish off the truth,” as Applejack had said. Fluttershy still struggled with the basics of laurys, even after they had played a practice round without the veil. Applejack had told her to imagine the game like a team of adventurers navigating a dungeon to destroy the four medusite stones hidden behind the veil. Fluttershy was playing as the six adventurers: three vanguards, two lancers, and one mezzmer. She kept forgetting the rules about when her pieces could move or attack Applejack’s pieces, but she remembered her mezzmer was the most important piece. Applejack called herself the evil queen. Before the game, she had arranged the medusite stones behind the veil to hide where they were from Fluttershy. During the game, she moved her “mirror” pieces around the board and tried to capture the adventurers by bouncing a beam from one of her hidden medusite stones off of her mirrors. When she captured one of Fluttershy’s pieces, it turned into another mirror. As long as the mezzmer was out, she had to give Fluttershy a one-turn warning that she was going to capture a piece. However, she only had to say what kind of piece she was about to capture. At one level, it made Fluttershy think of a group of hunters navigating a witch’s labyrinth. “If I don’t move either of my lancers, then you have to capture one of them, don’t you?” Fluttershy asked. “That’s right, but you might want to think twice before killing a lancer off,” Applejack said. “Your vanguards and mezzmer can only kill a medusite that’s right up against the veil. If you lose both the lancers, and I wasn’t a plum fool who put all her medusites next to the veil, then I win the game right there.” “Oh.” Fluttershy examined her pieces again. The mirror Applejack had moved was now on the same row as Fluttershy’s front-most lancer, one space away from the veil. Her other lancer was still at the bottom of the board. If she lost her forward lancer, she’d have to bring the next one all the way up again. She pulled her lancer back one space. Applejack stomped the floor with one hoof. “Why in Equestria would you do that?” Fluttershy stammered. “Your mirror was on that row. It was going to take my lancer, so I had to move away.” “First off, don’t you remember that I said this game was all about lying? I might have been moving this mirror to distract you. Look, if I had a medusite here,” she wiggled her hoof over a spot behind the veil, “I could have bounced off the mirrors here and here, and taken out any piece on that column. When you pulled back like that, your lancer was still in that column, so for all you knew you weren’t doing anything to save your lancer.” “I see. I should move diagonally, shouldn’t I?” Fluttershy said, a little proud of her realization. “That’s one. Second off, see how close your lancer was to the veil? You should have moved forward and made an attack.” “But I don’t know where your medusites are.” “Well, by now, you ought to have a pretty good idea about one of them, but it doesn’t matter. You got nothing to lose making an attack, and even when you miss, you at least learn where the medusites aren’t.” “Oh. I don’t know why I didn’t think of that.” “I’ll give you a mulligan on that move.” Applejack said. “Go on.” Fluttershy nodded, and pushed her lancer up to the veil. Before lifting her hoof away, she remembered about moving diagonally, and shifted it one space to the left. “I attack.” Applejack picked up the pencil and scribbled something on a notepad. “You don’t have to say it. It’s assumed,” she said, the pencil still in her mouth. “Missed, by the way.” Fluttershy sighed. “It was worth a try at least.” “Sure was.” Applejack relaxed. “You know what, how about we call it a draw. It was awful rude of me to get us so wrapped in this game. Here I am, intruding on you, and I don’t even give you a chance to say more than some how-do-you-do’s. Why don’t you tell me about yourself, Ms. Fluttershy?” Fluttershy felt herself blush at Applejack’s interest. “There’s nothing interesting to say.” “Aw, c’mon now, everyone’s got a story worth telling! Why don’t you start at the beginning. You from around here?” “No, I moved here from Cloudsdale,” Fluttershy said. “I like Ponyville a lot, though.” “And how were things in Cloudsdale?” The memories of her bullies chilled Fluttershy. “It was nice.” They were both quiet for a moment. Applejack cleared her throat. “How about your family? They still in Cloudsdale?” “My mom and dad are. My brother moves around a lot for school.” “A stallion of the world, huh? What kind of places has he been to?” “It’d probably be easier to list the places he hasn’t been. He was in a mane therapy school in Fillydelphia for a while, then he was on an archaeology expedition to the Crystal Empire, then bisonology in Appleloosa, then dancing classes in Canterlot…” “No kidding! I took some dancing in Canterlot, too,” Applejack said. She leaned towards Fluttershy. “Now that I think about it, we might have been in the same class. What’d you say his name was?” Fluttershy didn’t recall telling Applejack his name. “Zephyr Breeze.” Applejack’s shark-grin returned. “Yeah, Zephyr Breeze. Ol’ Zeebree. He was a right nimble fellow, if I recall correctly.” “You might be thinking of someone else. Zephyr dropped the dancing class after the first day.” “No, I’m pretty sure I’m right. I was sorry when he left because he was a real pretty shade of blue.” Fluttershy shook her head. “That couldn’t have been him. Zephyr has a sort of light green coat, like key lime pie, and a light gold mane and tail.” Applejack slumped. “Is that right?” They were quiet again. Fluttershy broke the silence first. “What about yourself?” Applejack twitched at the interruption. “Nothing much to say. You know Sweet Apple Acres, way out on the edge of town? I used to live there.” “I do know about Sweet Apple Acres. As a matter of fact, I used to work for your family as an au pair.” Applejack blinked. “Did you now? About when was that?” “It was a long time ago. Apple Bloom was a little toddler when I first arrived.” “Glory be.” The corners of Applejack’s mouth barely contained her smile, but her eyes could not hold back her sadness. “I bet she doesn’t even remember her big sister.” “Who’s her…” Fluttershy snapped her mouth shut. Applejack looked impossibly old to be Bright Mac’s daughter, but maybe Rarity had been right. Applejack was oblivious to Fluttershy’s aborted question. “I missed getting to watch her grow up.” Fluttershy offered a forehoof for her to grasp. “It’s not too late. She’s a young mare now, but I’m sure there’s times she’ll need a big sister to talk to.” Applejack shook her head. “I’d be happy to chat with her, but I doubt I’d be too welcome over there.” “Why is that?” “It’s a long, long story, and you probably know more of it than you think. Let me ask, what’d Pa do after I left?” Fluttershy thought back to her first days at Sweet Apple Acres. “When I first arrived, Bright Mac was building the cider bar.” Applejack let out a dry, choking laugh. “That son of a gun didn’t waste his time, did he? Ms. Fluttershy, you may not have known this, but Pa never met a mug of cider he didn’t prefer empty.” Fluttershy nodded as she realized her mistaken assumption that Bright Mac’s drinking had started after the cider bar. “He’s changed now, though.” “No pony changes.” Applejack snorted. “Wait, I take that back. No pony changes for the better, but they can get a whole heck of a lot worse. That’s what I see for him. An old sack of bones and hair spinning out of control. Only a matter of time before he flies apart.” Fluttershy thought back to her time raising Apple Bloom at Sweet Apple Acres. “I think it’s true that it’s hard to change by yourself. Bright Mac had help, though. I wasn’t invited, but one night Apple Bloom called a family meeting and must have said something that made him a much better pony. A few days after that, Bright Mac was a completely different pony and everyone else’s mood was so much better.” “Apple Bloom did all that, huh?” Applejack paused, a sorrowful look on her face. “Did he shut down the bar?” “No, but I don’t think he drinks anything he makes. Whenever I go, he asks me how things taste, like he hasn’t tried it himself.” Applejack was still. “Would you like to see him for yourself?” Fluttershy asked. When Applejack didn’t respond, she added, “You could take someone with you, if it’d help.” “Maybe. I might need some time.” Applejack rubbed her chin quietly. “I might want to see Apple Bloom first.” “I think that’s a wonderful idea.” Fluttershy smiled. For a long moment, Applejack was motionless in the chair. Then her head jerked up and she wiped a tear away. “What a mess I am,” she said through her sniffles. “I owe you an apology, Ms. Fluttershy.” “It’s no trouble at all. I’m happy to help.” “Not for this, I mean…” Applejack gestured towards the ceiling, as if what she wanted to say was hiding somewhere in the house, on the verge of revealing itself. When no answer appeared, she dropped to all fours. “Never mind. I should go.” Applejack slid off the chair and began to walk to the hall. Fluttershy caught up to her and walked beside her in silence. After a few seconds, Fluttershy pointed towards a doorway that led to the foyer. “It’s a left…” “I know the way,” Applejack said in a monotone. Something in Applejack’s flat voice unsettled Fluttershy. She allowed a little space to open up between her and Applejack. Around another turn, the main entrance came into view. Fluttershy hurried ahead to open it for Applejack. “Is what you said true?” Applejack said as she passed the fainting couch opposite the door. “About ponies changing? About Apple Bloom?” Fluttershy approached her. “I’ve seen ponies change. Sometimes it’s for the worse, and it’s sad to see. Other times, even though they’re filled with incredible pain, they find the strength to turn their lives around.” Rainbow’s words from earlier that day returned and became hers. “What I’ve learned is everypony needs help. Sometimes that help is acceptance, and sometimes that help is a guiding hoof. In either case, it’s never too late to help a pony who really needs it.” Applejack smiled a soft, enervated smile. “I’d sure like to believe that.” She took a step towards the door, but then paused as if a new concern had reared its head. “Is everything okay?” Fluttershy asked. Applejack rubbed the back of her head. “I’m fine, just fine. There was one thing, though. I kind of got lost on the way here, and a real nice pony gave me some directions. If it weren’t for that, I’d be halfway to Las Pegasus right now. I never caught the pony’s name, though, and I was hoping I could show my appreciation somehow.” “Could you describe the pony you met? I might be able to tell you who it was.” Applejack bowed her head. “Thank you kindly. This was a pegasus, with a blue coat and feathers, and rainbow stripes in her mane and tail.” Fluttershy’s stomach twisted. Nothing about what Applejack said made sense. She was describing Rainbow Dash, who had left the mansion too distraught for words and in flight. Applejack would never have encountered her on the ground, much less get directions from her. Other quirks from Applejack’s visit returned to trouble Fluttershy. The necklace. Rarity’s training. Applejack’s skill with a pencil, like she’d had practice scrawling on Rarity’s maps. Then there were her questions about Zephyr, whom she thought had a blue coat, and her claim to have met him in Canterlot. Fluttershy’s kindness had been betrayed: Applejack was involved with witch hunting somehow, and she wanted Rainbow Dash. “I’m sorry,” Fluttershy said, “I don’t know anypony like that.” Applejack looked puzzled. “You sure? No one could forget a mane like that. I said it was rainbow-striped, didn’t I?” “You did.” Fluttershy felt cold. “I don’t know anypony with a rainbow mane.” “I only want to say my thanks, I swear.” “I’m very sorry, but I can’t help you find her.” Fluttershy finished with an empty smile. Applejack was still for a moment. Then a tremor crossed her face. “Whatever you say, Flutters.” Fluttershy froze. No one besides Rainbow Dash had ever called her ‘Flutters.’ “Because it sounded like she had an awesome idea,” Applejack continued, “and I, for one, would be awful glad to hear it.” “You need to leave now,” Fluttershy said. “Please.” Applejack faced Fluttershy. A loop of rope dangled from her shark-grin, and her necklace glowed like the ashes under a bonfire. “Why don’t you put yourself in my horseshoes? Here I am, getting two sweet weeks to enjoy a life of luxury that I so richly deserve after abiding that tyrant of a unicorn. All of a sudden, two airheads show up and act like the place is theirs. I got to make myself scarce awhile, let them have their little spat. Then I shimmy on down through the bedroom window, pretend I’m fresh off the road, and beg to be let into my own house. Only after going to all that trouble do I get my chance to ask, in the most friendly and good-natured way I can manage, what in Equestria you think you’re up to. And what do I get in return? Nothing but a sack of lies!” Fluttershy recoiled as the rope split the air by her left ear like a whip. “Wouldn’t you be mighty upset, too?” Applejack bellowed. The air exploded by Fluttershy’s head again. “If you want to get right by me, Flutters, you better start telling me where your buddy, the one with the rainbow hair and the awesome idea, has scurried off to.” A third crack to her left. Fluttershy scrambled for the door, only to have the rope snake around her right back leg and pull her to the ground. “Don’t you worry your pretty little head about telling me everything. I got plenty figured out already. For one thing, right now, I’m sure you’re scared and not greedy. For another, you didn’t ask where I got this rope from, which means you got a good idea of what I can do with it.” The rope writhed in Applejack’s jaw, alive and coiling for a lethal strike. “I’ve got a score to settle with your blue buddy, but you can bet I’ll take some of it out on you, and there’s not a thing you can do about that. If you give me a good reason to, though, I could see my way to letting you go. So you got a choice to make: you can start talking, or you can stop breathing.” Before Fluttershy could say a word, Applejack swung. Fluttershy ducked to the right, only to find herself gliding into the rope’s path. Her eyes shut, and she waited for its brutal lash. And when she met the floor unhurt, her eyes sprung open to find Rainbow Dash hovering over her, the rope sizzling on Rainbow’s back. “Rainbow,” Fluttershy whimpered, half in warning, half in gratitude. She reached up for her friend, but froze when she saw the dangling necklace. “You,” Applejack said as she locked her sights on Rainbow, “look right nimble.” Rainbow snarled and shook off the rope. “I don’t care who you are, or what you want, but you better leave this second, and don’t even think about coming near Fluttershy, or her home, again.” “I will certainly take that under advisement, featherbrain, but let me ask you something. How do you plan to make me?” Rainbow winced. At first, Fluttershy thought it was a delayed reaction to the injury from the whip, but then she saw that a pair of small brass bulbs jutting out from Rainbow’s mouth. “Look at that little thing!” Applejack guffawed. “How do you think that’s going to scare me?” “You don’t want to know,” Rainbow said. “Nah, that’s some sort of fancy bit you got there, ain’t it? Let me take a closer look.” Applejack threw a lasso around one of the bulbs and snapped her head back. Rainbow held firm. “I warned you!” Rainbow growled. Then for an instant, Fluttershy was at the center of the end of the world. Her senses failed, immersing her in an overwhelming white void. Her vision returned first, after what felt like a lifetime. Rainbow was in front of her, with forelegs wrapped around Fluttershy to hold her up. Fluttershy’s hearing came next. “Are you okay? What did she do to you?” “Nothing.” Fluttershy could barely hear herself. She looked down at Rainbow’s chest, to the necklace resting on it. She tapped her own chest where the necklace would have been on her. “You made a wish.” “Yeah. Kyubey found me after I went home.” A smile darted across Rainbow’s lips, but was followed by a quiver of distress. “This isn’t the way I wanted to tell you. I’m sorry, Flutters.” Behind Rainbow, an orange jumble of limbs lay against the opposite wall. A thin trail of smoke drifted up from it. “Applejack. What did…” “You have to believe me, I only wanted to stun her.” Tears streamed down Rainbow’s face. “I didn’t want to start it like this. I was supposed to save ponies, but now the number is three, and I don’t think…” “Oh my goodness.” The voice came from the jumble. Their heads whipped around to face it. Applejack rose, her limbs collecting themselves and regaining coordination, with a fresh rope in her mouth. Her necklace was the color of charcoal and oily vapor wafted up from it. “Oh my goodness,” Applejack repeated. “Sparky, you sure do know how to give an old fashioned whupping.” Applejack winked. The whites of her eyes flashed like a dagger emerging from behind a cloak. Rainbow planted her hooves on the ground and hunkered down. Applejack tossed her rope into the air and spun it into a lasso. “Now,” Applejack said, “why don’t we see how good you are at getting one?” Then came the storm: a deluge of strikes, each as quick as lighting and as merciless as a flood, flashed through the air. They cracked like thunder. They howled like a tornado. They burst like lightning. And Rainbow was no match for it. She crumpled to the floor, welts raging across her hide, and released the brass rod. Applejack was on top of her in an instant, looping a lasso around Rainbow’s neck, and with a back leg planted on Rainbow's head, she jerked the rope taut. One strained cry escaped from Rainbow. In seconds, her eyes and tongue bulged. “Please stop,” Fluttershy whispered as hot tears dribbled down her muzzle. “Why are you doing this?” Applejack didn’t respond. Fluttershy’s mind raced. Applejack had told her something before. She had asked about a blue pegasus, one named Zephyr Breeze, and she’d called him nimble, but nothing she’d said matched up with Rainbow. This other Zephyr must have been the pony Applejack was looking for. This all had to be a mistake. “She’s not who you’re looking for!” Fluttershy cried. “Her name is Rainbow Dash, she’s never taken dancing lessons, she’s never been to Canterlot or Fillydelphia or anywhere besides here and Cloudsdale, and you couldn’t have walked past her on your way here because she always flies. She’s always flying.” Something she said bent Applejack’s steely resolve. The rope loosened, letting Rainbow suck down a series of rattly gasps. “That true?” Applejack said, her voice soft. “You ever been to Canterlot?” Still wheezing, Rainbow shook her head. Applejack turned to Fluttershy. “You a hunter?” Fluttershy shook her head. Applejack pointed to Rainbow. “She said Kyubey saw her today. She have that necklace before today?” “No. She made the wish today,” Fluttershy said. “She wanted me to become a hunter with her. I said no, and we fought about it. That’s when she asked if I was scared or greedy. You heard that.” Fatigue seemed to settle on Applejack like a blanket. She dropped her rope, took a few dazed steps to the fainting couch, and curled up in it. Fluttershy waited. When she heard the first snore, she grabbed Rainbow Dash and fled. “I’m fine, Flutters, really,” Rainbow said as she waved away a second pot of tea. Fluttershy had deposited her onto a ratty green sofa in Fluttershy’s cottage. She tried to push herself up, so she could at least sit upright, but Fluttershy pushed her back down with surprising force. “No, you’re not. You may feel fine, but after that kind of trauma to your throat and neck, you need much more time to recover. Where is Kyubey? He should be here, helping you.” “He’s a creature of need.” Rainbow relaxed back into the cushions. “What does that mean?” Fluttershy blinked. “I can’t believe you’re speaking already. With how strong she was, Applejack could have fractured your hyoid bone or thyroid cartilage.” “I guess she didn’t.” Rainbow managed to slip off the sofa before Fluttershy could stop her again. “Was that earth pony Applejack? Like, the friend Rarity told us about? She never said Applejack was a hunter.” “Rarity must not have told us everything. Oh, Rainbow, Applejack said such terrible things about Rarity. About Bright Mac, too. She seemed to be fond of Apple Bloom, at least.” Rainbow considered that for a moment. “Hey, I’ve got an idea. What’s the quickest way to Sweet Apple Acres from here?” “I wouldn’t tell them about this. Let the Civil Guard take care of it, they’ll know what to do.” “Like they did with Cup Cake?” Fluttershy was silent. “Anyway, I was thinking I could get some apples, like the freshest ones they have, and bring them to Applejack. It might remind her of home.” There was a beat of silence. Then: “No, good heavens, no, you can’t go back there! She’s so dangerous. Before you got there, she told me how she was hiding in the house the whole time we were there. She eavesdropped on us, and she was trying to use what she learned from us to get to you. Applejack was just biding her time until she could kill you.” “She didn’t, though. I mean, I guess she tried, but it wasn’t like we had to overpower her. You told her I wasn’t the pony she was looking for, and she let us go. She’s not after me.” “How is that better?” Fluttershy was shuddering. “She had no idea who you really were, but she didn’t have any second thoughts about choking the life out of you! If she thinks you’re in her way, she’ll do it again.” “What if I don’t get in her way? She’s a bad pony, so what if I help her become a better one? We’re part of a pretty small club, after all.” Rainbow tapped the pristine necklace swinging around her chest. “That’s another thing we need to talk about.” “We will, I promise.” Rainbow tousled Fluttershy’s mane. “Actually, Kyubey and I discovered something about The Adventure Book that I need your help with, but that can wait. So how about those directions?” Fluttershy sighed. “Okay, I’ll show you the way.” “Flutters, I don’t think you should come with me.” “Why?” “You’ve got every right to be angry at her, and I understand that.” Rainbow hesitated. She felt like she was shrinking, but she moved to the door, filled with determination. “Right now, Applejack is in a lot of pain. I think it’s about time she met someone who won’t give up on her.”