"That was mean, y'know. Like, this was a dream, right? Couldn't you have just given me another five minutes before bringing everything crashing down?"
"First of all, five minutes? Really?"
"What can I say, Rainbow Dash does everything fast. I'm awesome like that."
"...Moving on. I would also like to note that if events had progressed as you wished, the entire admissions panel would have played voyeur to your encounter with Miss Rarity."
"Actually, that sounds kinda hot."
"...Definitely moving on. I admit at this point I'm surprised you actually went to investigate the alarm, instead of continuing to seduce the High Lady."
"I thought about it? But Rarity wanted to go too and I didn't want some giant monster walking in on us. Besides, I figured if we played our cards right we could have an actual excuse for me to be in Rarity's room getting a 'debriefing,' if you know what I mean."
"Our armor doesn't have... never mind. So the alarm went off, and the two of you went to investigate. Surprisingly, everything played out standardly from there, at least for a little while..."
"Lieutenant, report! What's happening?"
Dash and Rarity had rushed over towards the war room as soon as the alarm had gone off. They found the pony in Communications and pulled him over for an update on the situation.
"Officer Dash," the lieutenant replied, "we have reports of an assault by the rebel forces against the castle. They somehow managed to bypass the anti-teleportation wards in the dungeons and broke their compatriots out, and now we've lost contact with at least two units. We believe they're jamming our communications, but we can't be sure."
"Okay, the first thing we need to do to is figure out what they want." This was actually serious, and Dash quickly put her brain in Tactical Mode. "We can't plan around them until we know that. If they're after the Queen, then this should be enough of a distraction to draw her out. But then what?"
"Nightmare Moon is an immortal alicorn," Rarity pointed out. "Even if they could draw her out, they can't possibly expect to be able to hurt her."
"Uh oh." Dash suddenly remembered what was in her saddlebag. "I think I know what they're after."
That was when the first wave of magic flung her across the room.
"Ugh." Dash groaned and looked around the war room. Whatever had hit her had sent everything in the room flying. Chairs were toppled over, papers were scattered everywhere, and the lieutenant was out cold in the corner. Dash saw the subtle rise and fall of his chest, so he was still alive, but he was definitely down for the count.
And as for the other occupant of the room... "Rarity!" Dash glanced over at the other side of the room, and saw the High Lady glaring at the entrance of the room, her horn glowing and a magical bubble surrounding her.
"My apologies, Officer Dash," she said, steel in her tone. "I couldn't get the spell up in time to protect both of us."
"It's fine," Dash replied, getting back up on her hooves. "What even was that?"
"A concussive wave of force powered by approximately point-four-two thaums of magical potential." Dash turned towards the entrance of the room, where a familiar purple mare stood alongside three others.
"Oh, it's you guys," she said. "Duh. I should've guessed."
Twilight Sparkle, Applejack, Fluttershy, and Pinkie Pie all strode into the room, bodies tense and ready to fight. "Well, well, well, look what we have here." Applejack said. "If it ain't the High Lady herself. Twilight tracked the location of the poison to this room — guess I should've expected you'd be the one holding on to it."
For her part, Rarity didn't even try to contradict Applejack. "Applejack," she said, venom lacing her tone. "Fancy seeing you here. I never expected I'd get to be rid of you myself. I must thank you ever so much for giving me the pleasure."
"Oh, the pleasure's all mine." Applejack stepped forward, and Rarity's horn glowed brighter. "So, are we gonna do this the easy way or the hard way?"
"I think you know the answer to that, darling." All around her, splinters of wood began to float into the air and spin, creating a mini-tornado of shrapnel. "You turned my own sister against me, you cur. I'm going to enjoy tearing you apart. Slowly."
"I didn't do nothing to Sweetie Belle," Applejack replied. "She's the one who came to me and warned me you were gonna hit Sweet Apple Acres. I'd do a lot to get rid of Nightmare Moon, but I'd never go after family. You know that."
"Regardless, I'm very tense right now, and your little sortie interrupted some much-needed stress relief." The makeshift weapons paused and all turned to face the rebels. "So it looks like I'm going to have to resort to another form of physical therapy."
"It's four against one, Rarity," Applejack retorted. "You can't win."
"Four against two, actually." Rarity inclined her head towards Dash. "I may not be the most martial pony, but Rainbow Dash is an officer of the Shadowbolts."
"We'll take you both on, if it comes to that." Applejack turned to face Dash, and her expression softened. "But I hope we won't have to. Dash, you know that Nightmare Moon has to go. Equestria's suffering, and the land is dying with the sun. We gotta take her out."
"I swore an oath, AJ," Dash replied softly. "You don't have to do this either, you know. We don't have to fight." She turned to face Rarity. "You too."
Rarity scoffed. "A fine sentiment, but these ruffians won't understand anything but violence."
"And the High Lady here needs to take a bit of her own medicine."
"Are you sure we can't talk it out? Maybe there's something we can learn from each other?"
Another voice echoed through the room as a dark mist filled the air. "Oh, I'm afraid the time for talking is past, Officer."
"Despite how the rest of the trial went, I want to commend you on your actions during this phase of it."
"What, you're not gonna crap on me for not taking a side?"
"In this case, no. You tried your best to de-escalate a situation before anypony could get hurt. It was worth a try, even if it didn't work out."
"Oh. Well, thanks. So, the last part of the trial was the thing with Nightmare Moon, right?"
"Yes. While the third trial can play out in different ways depending on the choices made by the dreamer, the ending will always involve Nightmare Moon and rebels facing each other in some context."
"And you're sure the trial isn't about whether we can beat Nightmare Moon?"
"Nightmare Moon is an alicorn fueled by the power of a dark spirit that amplifies her powers beyond that of her baseline. She was not designed to be defeatable, but rather to test an applicant's resolve to fight in the face of certain defeat. And to teach the harsh lesson that not all fights can be won, and that while one should never stop fighting, one should also not expect to win every fight. It's a lesson that all those in the guard have had to learn multiple times in the past few years."
"Yeah, you guys really didn't think about me when you invented this thing, huh?"
"Your Majesty!"
Rarity immediately bowed as Queen Nightmare Moon materialized in the room. "These are the leaders of the rebellion we've been tracking for the past year. Officer Dash and I were just about to subdue them."
"Were you now?" Nightmare Moon glanced over towards Dash, whose armour was still dented from the shockwave Twilight had launched at her. "I fear you may have overestimated your abilities. After all, this is my sister's prized pupil standing before me."
"Your reign of terror ends tonight!" Twilight shouted as she released the magic building up in her horn. A beam of light struck Nightmare Moon right in the chest... and did absolutely nothing.
The dark alicorn cackled. "I'm almost insulted that you thought that would work." Tendrils of darkness extended out towards the rebels. "I think it's time we put an end to your futile antics."
"Wait!"
The tendrils paused as Nightmare Moon turned to face Rainbow Dash, annoyance clear on her face. "What is it, Officer?" She asked. "My time is much more valuable than your life, so this had better be good."
"I don't think you should kill them." Dash looked at both Nightmare Moon and Rarity as she spoke. "There's already been too much pain and suffering since all this started. Maybe it's time to give friendship a chance."
"Princess Twilight really did a number on you, didn't she?"
"Little bit, yeah."
"You know, we thought we'd seen every possible reaction to this final trial. Ponies standing by and watching, throwing themselves in front of Nightmare Moon's attack, sacrificing the rebels for a chance to strike at her. One candidate even tried to negotiate a promotion for capturing the rebels — she was not chosen to continue, of course. Not a single one of them tried friendship on the power-mad alicorn, though."
"Are you telling me that, after everything that's happened to Equestria, it was a bad idea?"
"...let's move on."
Everyone had kinda stopped what they were doing to stare at Nightmare Moon laughing for a good thirty seconds.
"Are you sure you are not my Court Jester, Officer?" the Queen finally asked. "Because surely you were japing when you suggested that I befriend these interlopers."
"I'm just saying, I think there's a lot you could learn from them." Dash walked over to Applejack, who was staring at her like she'd lost her mind. "Like Applejack, here. She's the most honest mare I've ever met, and she's the most reliable and dependable pony in Equestria. It'd be nice if your subjects listened to you without having to scare them into it, right?"
"I am the night," Nightmare Moon retorted. "Why do I need honesty when I have more than enough terror to spare?"
"Alright, fine. What about Fluttershy, then?" Dash lopped a foreleg around her oldest friend, who "meeped" and flinched at the touch, but didn't move away. "Everypony loves Fluttershy because she's so kind and sweet. And they want to do stuff for her because of that."
"A little kindness goes a long way," Fluttershy agreed with a nod.
"And the threat of punishment goes even farther." Nightmare Moon continued to look unimpressed, but Rarity's disbelief had slowly faded into consideration.
"And then there's Pinkie—"
"—Oh, are you going to say how everyone needs a little laughter in their lives, and how ponies work better when they're cheerful rather than sady-wady, which is really just the same thing as saying that morale is really important?"
"Uhh, sure. Let's go with that. Anyways, so Pinkie's got some good ideas, and Twilight does too. I mean, she managed to bring the rebels together, and she's probably been studying to be a leader and stuff since she was a filly. She's managed to make some great friends along the way, too, so whatever she's doing is probably working."
"I am not going to take counsel from a lackey of Celestia—"
"Actually, I think Rainbow Dash may have a point."
Everyone turned to look at Rarity, and even the mare herself seemed to be shocked that she'd said something. "I mean, with all due respect, Your Majesty, perhaps there are other ways?"
"Are you listening to this traitor?" Nightmare Moon gestured at Dash as she spat out the words.
"I don't think she is, Your Majesty." Rarity shot Dash a nervous smile. "A traitor, that is. Officer Dash has proven herself to be loyal to you, and I truly believe that she does not mean to strike against you."
"I swore an oath to you and to Equestria, Your Majesty," Dash said, meeting Nightmare Moon's glare with her own steely gaze. "And I'm not going to go back on either one."
"Enough!" Nightmare Moon's horn glowed, and darkness filled the room as the light was drained into nothingness. "This farce ends now!"
A spear of inky blackness materialized in front of the alicorn and pointed towards the rebels. "I'm going to dispatch them first, and then we're going to have a long and painful talk about the meaning of loyalty."
The spear was launched forward, right at Applejack's heart.
There was a flash of light, and the spear splintered into pieces less than an inch from its target.
"Wh-What?" Nightmare Moon gaped at the deep purple light protecting Applejack. "What trickery is this?" She turned around to try and find the source of the magic, and her eyes settled on her right-hoof mare.
"I— I'm not sure." Rarity was radiant as a magical glow surrounded her. Her eyes were pure purple, and every word she spoke resonated with power. "I couldn't let you hurt them, Your Majesty."
"I will not stand for this treachery!"
"It's— it's not like that." Dash's vision was clouded with red, and something powerful welled up from deep inside her. She felt strong, like she could create a storm that could devastate a city all by herself if she wanted to, but she didn't want to. This power wasn't for hurting, and she didn't want to harm anypony.
She wanted to help them.
"Rainbow Dash is right." As Rarity spoke, Dash looked around the room and saw the rebels glowing with their own light that called out to her. "I have served you faithfully these past years, and you have given me everything I've ever wanted in return. And now, it's time I gave you back a gift."
Rarity's magic reached out to her, and Dash gave over control of whatever was possessing her without a second thought, a gesture of pure trust that was rewarded with a familiar feeling of having their souls mixing. Had she felt this joining before? It felt like she had.
"Generosity is not simply about giving." The others had also blended their magic with Rarity's, and Rainbow Dash could feel a connection beyond anything she'd ever experienced before with each of them. "It's about knowing what somepony needs most, and being willing to sacrifice yourself to make sure they receive that."
Rarity and Nightmare Moon each charged up a spell. "I'll eviscerate you!" Nightmare Moon screamed as she let loose a beam of raw dark magic.
"What you need, Your Majesty, is friendship." A rainbow of light consumed the darkness, and then raced forwards to wrap the stunned alicorn in a tapestry of color. "Let me show you a better way. The way that Rainbow Dash showed me."
The world was consumed in light, and when Dash could see again, Nightmare Moon was gone.
In her place was a smaller mare, barely larger than Dash herself, with a dark blue coat and a look of unfathomable guilt on her face.
Something inside Dash's mind clicked, a forgotten memory restored, and she stepped forward. "Princess Luna," she said, extending a hoof towards the reformed alicorn, "will you be my friend?"
"And that was when the dream spell crashed."
"Which really sucks, because Rarity and I had a date to finish."
"Unfortunately for your imaginary love life, the trial was completely unprepared for you reforming Nightmare Moon. That wasn't supposed to be possible."
"I kinda did it before, remember? Like, in real life?"
"With the aid of the Elements of Harmony, which weren't supposed to exist in the dream world. The spell created a world where Nightmare Moon had won and destroyed the Elements."
"Yeah, but the Elements were inside of us all along. We just needed to bring them out."
"So you were trying to turn Miss Rarity over to the side of the rebels!"
"It's not like that. This wasn't about sides. It's about honesty, loyalty, laughter, blah blah blah, you get the picture. The others already had their things; AJ was still honest, Twi was making friends, and Pinkie Pie was still being Pinkie Pie — that's why I had to take the poison away from her, to make sure she stayed Pinkie Pie. But this Rarity forgot that she was generous, so I had to remind her."
"And then you could turn her against Nightmare Moon."
"Again, not about turning. I never turned against Princess Luna. Rarity and I were both loyal to her at the end. I think that's why my Element still worked. We just realized that what Luna needed more than anything was friendship. So we gave it to her. With lasers. Pretty awesome, huh?"
"You shouldn't even have been able to remember what the Elements were."
"Friendship finds a way, I guess."
"That's bull manure."
"Yep, that's pretty much what every bad guy says before taking a friendship laser to the face. And I didn't really remember what the Elements were. I just knew that I needed to bring out Rarity's generosity and make Luna happy again."
"So seducing Miss Rarity..."
"I mean, it helped with the whole generosity thing? But like, that was pretty much just for me. Because like hay am I gonna give up the chance to get with her. I'm definitely asking Luna to give me another chance to go all the way. Now that I know how the trials work, I can just speed right by them."
"The Iudicium Somniorum is not a tool to be used lightly. It is a dignified tradition for testing the resolve, loyalty, and willingness to give one's life up to protect the innocent."
"Right, and why did I have to take it again? Like, did you all look at all the times I saved Equestria and go 'you know what, maybe the Element of Loyalty isn't really that dedicated to this whole saving lives thing.'"
"Admittedly, it was supposed to be a formality for you, as well as a lesson that not all battles can be won."
"Uh huh."
"...We'll work on refining it in the future. But in light of your explanation of events, I don't suppose there's any actual objection left to allowing you into the Shadowbolts. Congratulations, I suppose."
"Woohoo! Yeah, go Rainbow Dash! Who's awesome? I'm—"
"—But before we make this official, let me remind you that the Shadowbolts are not your friends on the Council of Friendship. You haven't been with the Wonderbolts for long, so you haven't had the chance to get any military experience with them, but in the field, we need to be able to trust each other. And that means not risking everything on the off chance that some ancient magical artifact will save the day. Are we clear?"
"...Yes, ma'am."
"Good. Now, that's all the official business done. May I ask you a personal question?"
"Uhh, sure?"
"You seem quite enamoured of Miss Rarity. Why haven't you acted on your feelings?"
"I mean, she's my friend, and I like that she's my friend, and both of us are, like, super busy with our career stuff. I'm gonna be training a lot as a Shadowbolt, and Rarity's got three stores to take care of now. It's probably better if we're just friends, y'know?"
"And it's not because you fear rejection?"
"Pfft, nah. Of course not. I mean, you saw me in the dream, right? Did I look scared of Rarity saying no to me?
"If I may, the Iudicium Somniorum selects a person that you fear — or that you associate with some deep fear — to fulfill the role of High Lady. Perhaps you should reflect on why it chose Miss Rarity for you, even if it turned out to your advantage in the end."
"...I'll think about it. So, are we done?"
"We are. Welcome to the Shadowbolts, Rainbow Dash. We're very happy to have you."
"And I'm really happy to be here. It's like a dream come true."