After only two hours of flying back and forth Rainbow Dash had already gathered all the supplies she needed just as the chariot arrived, the guards landing as gracefully as ever. Their glorious steel armor gleaming in the sunlight. Their muscles rippling underneath their skin as their wings flapped furiously causing them to stop.
As soon as they were on the ground Dash threw on a bag filled with all the essentials and climbed in. Then they were off.
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No conversation existed between the guards or her, of which she was extremely grateful. However only an hour into the flight they started to descend and the lead guard quickly explained they needed to take a break for certain reasons. The landing this time was less soft and Dash's bag fell on the ground as the guards scattered faster then she could pick it up.
She was completely alone. Around her was a nice meadow, a few birds humming in the distance, and a bunny jumped up to her hoof. "Fluttershy would love it here," Dash quickly commented to herself before she heard a sound coming from a bush nearby.
"I'm so glad you're back, can we get going?" Dash asked towards the bush before a knife slipped around her neck and held there solid. A pony walked out of the bush she was talking to a few moments ago. Dash's mind worked quickly but she couldn't comprehend it, how would they have found her... Wait, those white coats, those muscles... they weren't guards at all, they were just thugs.
Her head twisted slightly and her eyes shot back at the pegasus holding a knife up to her throat behind her.
"Hey, Zeb, you remember what happened to our friends in canterlot?" The leader asked the pegasus behind Dash.
"Ya, the way I remember it, this little pegasus killed them. She didn't even let them have any fun with her," Zeb said.
Dash remembered it, how their apparant friends tried to rape her in the alley, only to find them dead the next second, yet she hadn't lifted a hoof, she wasn't responsible.
"Exactly, so how about we exact our revenge on her then?" Zeb asked knocking Dash out of her recollection.
Another rustling could be heard nearby as another pony walked out of the forest who looked around in confusion. The new pony, was Postim, yet at the same time it wasn't. His coat was now white and strangely his eyes were blue.
The two brute ponies holding Dash smiled at the newcomer and just said, "Hey why don't you leave right now, and we won't even hurt you." Postim shook his head slightly with a tiny frown forming on his features.
"Ok, then I'll kill you." The leader said as he pulled out a large knife from a pouch on his side and held it in between his teeth.
Postim took one step forward and seemed to disappear only to reappear behind the brute and use magic. Dash, had never seen such a feat, Postim's horn started to glow and the brute literally appeared to fall to dust before her very eyes. Slowly she also felt the pressure of the knife disappear. When she looked back at her assailants, they were nothing but dust piles.
Rainbow Dash stood there, afraid for her own life. Her mouth tripping over the words as she tried to get a hundred questions out at once, but before she could ask Postim said in his sweet yet wise voice. "A extremely powerful spell, now where were you going."
"Uh," Dash remained silent before remembering her purpose, "I was going to Princess Celestia. Hopefully she can help Fluttershy."
"Ah, you have not given up hope. That's good, I will accompany you there if you could pull me." Postim said, his hoof outstretched towards the carriage.
Rainbow Dash quickly nodded and ran up to the carriage harness, strapping herself in. With a mighty push she lifted of the ground. The flight was strangely easy and eventually she looked back at Postim, only to find him using magic to help provide Rainbow Dash some extra strength. Normally she would have told him to stop, but she knew the necessity, and this would just speed them up.
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The white walls and towers seemed to gleam with the suns light. Their structure imposing over everything nearby as they shot up from the sheer cliff, yet it was not an intimidating place. It seemed to radiate harmony, and peace; and for Rainbow Dash, hope.
The castle's courtyard was, by any standard, gorgeous. It's flowers were organized and neatly in lines and patterns. 'Fluttershy would have loved this' Dash thought before snapping out of it.
Her hoofsteps were frantic as she attempted, unsuccessfully to land the chariot. All she felt was her breaking free from the harness. Then the entire world went black for a second as her face dug into the grass. A single tear fell from Dash's eyes as she tried to ignore the pain burning through her from the landing.
'One hoof after another now' Dash told herself as she slowly proceeded up the stairs towards Princess Celestia's throne room where the guards allowed her in.
There sitting on a gorgeous throne, was the majestic alicorn, Princess Celestia.
"I am so glad to see you my dear Rainbow Dash, how have you been?" the princess casually inquired.
"Excuse, but I have no time for formalities Princess," Dash responded quickly.
"Oh, please forgive my hesitation, if you'll follow me," Celestia said as she rose from her throne. Her hooves carried her effortlessly towards a smaller set of doors, both inlaid with a design of a shining moon.
Rainbow Dash quickly followed suit as Celestia's horn glowed and the doors swung open gently. The doors were completely misleading, inside were hundreds of shelves of books. Each seemingly having something to do with spells. "So..." Dash said before hesitating for a second, "does this mean you found a cure?"
"I think so, it is a very difficult spell, contained in this book." Celestia said as a book hovered from a nearby table into a cloth bag which she quickly gave to Rainbow Dash. "Tell Twilight to use this spell, and it should help your friend."
"Thank you Princess!" Dash shouted as her legs carried her back outside. On the way out of the room she saw Postim enter and wave goodbye to her. At this point Rainbow Dash didn't care about her luggage, or the chariot.
As soon as she was in the courtyard she flapped at a rapid pace as she gained altitude and sped back towards Ponyville.
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After arriving in Ponyville, Rainbow Dash flew straight towards Twilight's library, only to find her standing outside.
With a audible thud Rainbow Dash landed. The surprise landing caused Twilight to jump back, and her head to pop up. Dash felt like she was the queen of the world as she let go of the bag and gave it to Twilight.
"Celestia said there is a spell in there that you can do that will help Fluttershy." Dash said, jumping up and down with impatience as Twilight scanned the book. However her excitement did not last as Twilights face sank towards the ground.
"Rainbow, do you remember how hard it was for me to give Rarity wings?" Twilight asked, still looking at the ground.
"Ya, but now you're stronger, what about it?" Dash asked cautiously.
"This is more then a ttwenty times more difficult then that, this is one of the most complicated spells I have ever seen, I'm sorry." Twilight said as she let the book drop on the floor. The slight wind rustling the pages was the only sound, Dash knew what she meant. The entire book was written in strange runes and symbols.
"So you can't do it?" the blue pegasus asked, her usual lack of energy returning.
"Well that's not the problem. The problem here is that, this gives the energy I need to perform a spell that could save her life. But this spell only gives the energy, I already know how to save her life, but I need the resources first." Twilight explained.
"So what's the problem, do the spell!" Dash shouted impatiently.
"I can't because it requires the ponies that represent the elements of harmony," Twilight continued.
"Ok, last time I checked, that was us." Dash said, quickly getting exasperated at Twilight's delays.
"They're souls need to be connected, this is the bad part. Connecting a soul to another is possibly the most dangerous thing you could do. You could die, or go crazy, but worst of all. You could lose yourself in the process, if you don't have a strong enough will, you will become corrupted by outside forces. And you will be no better then Fluttershy." Twilight finished.
"And? This is a problem because?" Dash asked.
"Because, everyone needs to be as strong as possible to even survive this experience, including Fluttershy..." She finally stated and went silent as she let the words sink in.
'So either we will all die, become corrupted, or fail? There really isn't anything we can do... There is no way that Fluttershy can survive, she's going to die. And I can't do anything?' Rainbow Dash thought as her eyes closed and she looked towards the ground.