//------------------------------// // Fillyhood Home // Story: Little Memories // by Skijarama //------------------------------// The capital city of all of Equestria had seen better days, of that there was no question. Even just the cursory scan Twilight had given the train platform in the city as she stepped off of the Friendship Express revealed some very notable signs of damage. Small cracks haphazardly ran up and down the walls of the train station’s main building, and there were numerous places along the street where sizable craters had been blasted into the stone. Lifting her gaze up, Twilight saw that many of the towering buildings in the distance, including the castle, which dominated the skyline, had suffered similar damage. There were even a few scattered towers that had completely caved in. A very thin cloud of dust hung in the air, and shafts of late morning sunlight filtered through the spaces between the buildings and bathed the desolate scene in curtains of light. Were it not for the obvious repair and reconstruction efforts taking place all over the city and the crowds of busy ponies going about their days with energy and purpose, one would be forgiven for mistaking the city as an ancient and long-abandoned ruin. Rainbow Dash and Spike stepped off of the Friendship Express right behind Twilight, the former of which let out a long and unattractive yawn before stretching out her back. A few satisfying pops were heard, and a satisfied groan wormed its way past her lips. “Ooof. Oh, it feels good to get off the train…” she sighed in content before straightening her posture and looking around. Twilight didn’t miss the very visible cringe that marred Rainbow’s face. “Oooh… y’know, the damage looked a lot less ugly from Ponyville,” she said between her teeth while her ears drooped. Twilight looked around again, just taking it all in. “So… all of this damage is because of the Changeling invasion, right?” she questioned in a ginger voice, not wanting to reawaken the melancholy she had seen in them the last time they had spoken of it. Spike was the one who answered her question. “Yeah, I think so. There was a lot of spellfire thrown around during the invasion.” “A lot of it also came from the second battle, I think,” Rainbow chimed in, taking a few steps forward. She looked back and forth with a few sharp turns of her head, making her tied mane whip around. “There was the whole liberating battle, and there was a lot of artillery spellfire during that, from what I heard. And a big dragon.” “A big dragon?” Twilight wondered, her eyes slowly moving over to look curiously at Spike. The baby dragon saw her looking at him and barked out a short laugh. He then shook his head in denial. “Ha! I wish. Nah, I think it was Thorax, wasn’t it?” “Yeah. He turned into a giant dragon at the start of the fight and helped the ponies push through Changeling lines. He got himself hurt pretty bad doing that…” Rainbow mused before turning back to Twilight and Spike. Twilight looked back at her and tilted her head. “Thorax… you know, you’ve said the name a few times, now. Who is he?” “A rogue changeling,” Spike replied simply. “He turned against the Queen and helped us out a lot. He’s a good friend.” “That explains him turning into a dragon,” Twilight thought to herself with a short nod. Rainbow got a thoughtful look on her face and lifted a hoof to idly rub at her chin. “He is. And he lives in Canterlot, now…” she mused quietly before shaking her head and dismissing whatever her thought was. She then gave the two of them a big, healthy grin and nodded towards the road. “Anyways, come on, we’re burning daylight here.” Snapped out of her own ruminations, Twilight quickly fell into step behind Rainbow Dash with Spike taking a position next to her. “Okay, lead the way.” As they left the station and ventured out into the streets proper, more signs of battle made themselves clear. There were a few buildings that had been caved in by explosions, large swaths of the streets that had been obliterated, and piles of rubble that had been carefully stacked and piled off to the sides of the streets and cordoned off with cones and yellow tape. The deeper they went, the thicker the smell of dust became, and the louder the din of construction tools being used and ponies shouting orders. And yet, in spite of it all, the ponies on the streets, while clearly tired and displeased with the state of their city, didn’t seem the worse for wear. They held their heads high and moved with purpose through the streets. The ones who realized that Rainbow was among them would give her a respectful nod of their head as they passed, but otherwise did little to acknowledge the traveling trio. “Well, at least the population seems to be taking things pretty well,” Spike noted out while hopping up onto Rainbow’s back to get a better view. He panned his eyes around the street, a small smile appearing on his face. “Heh. For a city that recently got invaded, spirits seem pretty high.” Rainbow snorted. “Meh. I bet plenty of that is them just trying to uphold their image. Don’t let the stoicism fool you… a lot of these ponies are probably dealing with a lot of stress and trauma right now,” she said before her head lowered slightly. The pegasus’ sudden despondency did not go unnoticed by Twilight, but she chose not to press the matter for now. Rainbow would talk about it only if she wanted to, and Twilight had to respect that. After another few minutes of walking, they rounded a corner and entered a residential block. Thankfully, many of the homes here looked to have been spared much of the damage the rest of the city had suffered. The only damage of note was that some of the houses had their windows blown out, though efforts to replace them with new ones were well underway. “Okay, this is your block,” Rainbow pointed out before pausing on the sidewalk and looking back at Twilight. “Just as a heads up, my mom and aunt are gonna be there, too.” Twilight perked up in surprise at the mention of the sisters, her eyes widening a little. “Celestia and Luna? They’re going to be joining us?” Rainbow nodded with a smile and resumed her path down the street. “Yup. They both kinda wanna make up for lost time, and Mom wants to check on you to see how you’re doing. She was really worried about you back in the Empire,” she explained before looking ahead and searching the street. Twilight’s brow furrowed as she thought back on her few interactions with the other alicorns in the Crystal Empire. They had been short, fleeting affairs, especially with Celestia and Luna, and mostly consisted of them asking her questions while using magic to scan her for anything they might use to cure her amnesia. She had managed to get some extra interactions with Cadance, but that was because she ruled the Empire now, and Twilight had been stuck in a bed for days. The more she thought about it, the more she realized that she didn’t know basically anything about the alicorns, aside from what she’d read in a few books. But apparently she had known them, and Rainbow was raised by one of them. With that thought in mind, she lifted her gaze to Rainbow “What was my relationship with them like?” The pegasus paused for a second, then shot her a smug grin over her shoulder. “Why don’t you ask ‘em yourself? We’re here,” she responded before pointing up and back at the building behind her. Twilight followed her hoof and looked up at the two-story home, her eyes going wide. It was beautiful, of that there could be no question. The walls had a subtle decorational pattern running along it, subtle enough to not be intrusive or over-the-top, but sharp enough to be noticeable. The windows were all tall and tinted with a very soft shade of blue, no doubt creating a unique atmosphere inside the walls. The front door was made up of a richly colored dark wood with a few more ornamental patterns inlaid around the edges in a silver color. Twilight studied the home, mouthing uselessly like a fish for a moment before looking at Rainbow again. “This… is my house?” she asked her voice not all there. Rainbow nodded slowly and looked at the building herself. “Yup. This is where you lived for a long time… and your parents still live here. It’s a nice place…” she said, her expression growing distant. She was no doubt remembering simpler times, perhaps sleepovers or times when she had visited this home in the past. After a moment, she snapped out of it and made a sweeping ‘after you’ gesture. Getting the hint, Twilight swallowed the lump in her throat and stepped up to the door. She lifted her hoof to knock but then hesitated. She couldn’t help it, she thought back on how her friends back in Ponyville had reacted to her amnesia, how sad and disappointed they had been. They had been one thing, but she was about to meet her parents. How would they react…? “They’re going to be so happy when they see you. Even if your amnesia hurts them in the moment, they will never stop loving you. Believe me on that. They’re good parents…” All Twilight could do was trust that Rainbow would be right. With that and a deep breath to steady her nerves, Twilight knocked on the door three times. Silence hung in the air for several seconds before the door clicked and slowly swung open. On the other side was a middle-aged mare with a gray coat and cyan eyes. Her mane and tail were made up of neatly combed stripes of snow white and a shade of lavender identical to Twilight’s coat. On her flank was a cutie mark depicting three dark purple stars. “Twilight Velvet… my mother…” Twilight thought in awe as she took in the sight of the mare. Velvet’s eyes glued onto Twilight immediately, flying wide open with shock while her jaw fell limp. She just stared at Twilight for several seconds, making her feel very uncomfortable. She began to squirm under the intense look and found she couldn’t look into her eyes anymore. Eventually, though, she was able to find her voice. “Um… hello… mom?” That seemed to snap Velvet out of her trance. She pulled her head back, blinked a few times and clamped her jaw shut. Slowly, ever so slowly, she stepped forward and reached out with one of her hooves. “Twilight…? Twilight Sparkle?” she breathed out, her eyes briefly sliding down to look at the alicorn wings that decorated Twilight’s sides. Twilight nodded slowly, looking Velvet in the eyes. “Uh, yeah… that’s me…” she confirmed. Another moment of silence passed before, in a flurry of movement, Velvet reached out and pulled Twilight into the tightest hug she had ever experienced. Twilight yelped from the sudden movement before falling silent when she felt Velvet burying her face into Twilight’s shoulder. There was something damp there… “Oh, Twilight, honey… it’s really you… it’s you… you’re here…” Velvet choked out in a shaking voice before pulling back to reveal the tears in her eyes. “I’m so happy to see you. I… we… do you… do you remember me?” Twilight slowly shook her head, dreading the answer that she had to give. “No, I don’t… I’m sorry…” she said in barely even a whisper. Velvet’s ears fell flat against her head, and her face fell to accompany a stifled sob. After a few seconds, though, she sniffled, sucked in a deep breath, and offered Twilight a welcoming smile. “Well… welcome home, Twilight. Come inside, please. We have a lot to catch up on…” she said before finally releasing Twilight and stepping aside. She then looked past her and to Rainbow. “Same to you. Come in, please.” “Don’t mind if we do,” Spike accepted the offer with a happy nod. “It’s good to see you again, Velvet!” Velvet gave Spike a warm smile even as she stepped aside. “You, too, Spike.” Twilight and Rainbow stepped through the doorway and into the front room of the house, and Twilight’s eyes widened even further as she took in the sight. It was a large and spacious room lined with bookcases, all of which were stocked with books and various ornamental knick-knacks. In the very back of the room rested a staircase that split into two and gracefully curved up to the second floor. Everything was colored in soft shades of blue, purple, and gray, and when combined with the hue of the tinted windows, everything was softly lit in a way that gave off the impression of a time right after sunset or sunrise. “It’s fitting,” Twilight thought when she considered the first name that she shared with her mother. More eye-catching than the impressive room, however, was the set of four other ponies that were now approaching Twilight and Rainbow. On the left came a tall and muscular unicorn stallion with a white coat and a dark blue mane and tail. His eyes were an identical shade of blue to Velvet’s, and his eyes gazed into Twilight’s searchingly. By his side was another unicorn stallion who, judging by his appearance, could only be Twilight’s father, Night Light. How strange that the father was a few inches shorter than his own son… Then Twilight looked over to her right at the other set of ponies, and her whole body went stiff. For a moment, she couldn’t help but think back on her very first memory, of being alone in an endless void and feeling as if she were being pulled into the deepest cold imaginable, only to be saved by a majestic angel. That very angel, none other than Princess Celestia herself, now stood before her. She wore a gentle and warm expression, one that almost immediately put Twilight at ease. Next to the towering white alicorn was a shorter but still no less imposing dark blue alicorn. Twilight’s muscles tensed back up as she made eye contact with Princess Luna. She wasn’t sure what it was, but something in her eyes made a chill crawl down Twilight’s spine. She shuddered involuntarily and went back to looking at Celestia. “Twilight, Rainbow,” She greeted them gently, a tender smile on her face. “It’s good to see the both of you again. How have you been since we last met?” Rainbow didn’t say anything, instead electing to slide Spike off of her back, run over and leap into a warm and tight hug with Celestia, one which was returned without any hesitation. Luna tore her piercing gaze away from twilight to joined them in their embrace. Twilight didn’t get a chance to ponder the lunar princess’ expression, though, as she was suddenly caught up in her own group hug as Night Light and Shining Armor pulled her in. A second later, Velvet joined the embrace and hugged Twilight from behind. “We missed you, kid,” Shining whispered to her before pulling back and smiling down at her. “How are you feeling?” “Uh…” Twilight stammered, looking around at the set of three unfamiliar faces and swallowing heavily. “Too close,” she thought before squirming uncomfortably in place. “I-I… uh…” “Oh,” Night Light suddenly blurted in realization before backing out of the hug and pulling Shining with him. “I’m so sorry. That’s right… you, uh… you…” he paused and frowned, his ears drooping. Twilight knew what he was asking, though, and so she shook her head. “No… I don’t remember any of you… but I know you’re my parents. Rainbow and Spike told me all about you last night and on the train ride here.” Velvet leaned back from Twilight. “She did, did she? Did she have nice things to say?” Twilight shifted slightly to look back at Velvet. “Mostly. She kinda complained about ‘foal photos’ or something, though,” she responded, completely oblivious to Rainbow frantically moving her hoof in front of her throat. Velvet’s expression darkened with an indignant pout, and she gave Rainbow a narrow-eyed look. “Did she, now?” Taken aback by her mother’s tone, Twilight could only give her a sheepish nod. “Er, yeah?” Velvet huffed before her expression morphed into a decidedly mischievous one, making Rainbow wilt and tighten her hold on her own mother as if she were a lifeline. “Well, I guess I’ll have to pull those out later and make sure sompony appreciates them...” Velvet spelled out in a slow voice that vaguely reminded Twilight of a purr. In fact, Velvet’s whole posture vaguely reminded her of a cat on the prowl. “This must be the teasing thing Rainbow mentioned,” she pondered before looking over at Rainbow again. “Thanks, but I think I’ll pass,” Rainbow quickly declined with a firm shake of her head. Velvet’s expression turned positively predatory, and she gave Celestia and Luna a meaningful look. “Your Majesties, may I ask you to make sure Rainbow sticks around for the foal photos?” she requested in a deliberately slow and methodical voice, making rainbow squirm even more. Sadly, if Rainbow had been expecting her parent to shelter her from the teasing, she was mistaken. “Oh, it would be my pleasure,” Celestia said back with a playful twinkle in her eye. Rainbow Dash looked aghast. “Mooom!” she whined pathetically, drawing amused chortles from everypony else. Spike just sighed in amusement from Twilight’s side before leaning against her foreleg and crossing his arms over his chest. “Typical Velvet…” he muttered before glancing up at Twilight. “Trust me, this is light teasing for her.” Twilight didn’t really process his words, instead watching the scene unfolded before her. She slowly tilted her head to one side with a quizzical look on her face. Then, after a moment of processing, her face lit up, and she began to laugh. It wasn’t loud or boisterous, but it was heartfelt and genuine, and the rest of the room crawled to a halt to pay attention. Eventually, noticing that everypony was staring at her, Twilight got her incessant giggling under control and brought a hoof up to cover her muzzle. A tiny blush appeared on her cheeks to accompany her bashful smile. “Eheh, sorry…” “Wha… Oh, honey,” Velvet trotted up to Twilight’s side and threw a foreleg over her shoulders. “Don’t you dare apologize for laughing or being happy, ever, do you understand me? Right now, those are the things we want you to do the most…” Twilight stiffened for a moment from the contact, but this time was able to relax into the embrace and even return it. She gave a slow nod. “Right… okay,” she said in a quiet voice before the two of them backed out of the embrace again. They looked into each other’s eyes for a moment. Night Light chose to rejoin the discussion at this point by clearing his throat. “Ahem. Uh, Velvet had some tea prepared for when you three got here. Would you like to sit down and have some?” he offered while nodding his head towards a coffee table with three love seats arranged around it pressed up against the right side of the room. “Sounds good to me,” Spike gave his approval with a nod and a smile. He pushed away from Twilight’s leg and casually strolled over to the table in question. Rainbow reluctantly let go of Celestia before shrugging her shoulders. “Sure. We came all this way,” she said before looking over at Twilight and holding out a hoof. “Guest of honor first.” Feeling just a little on the spot again, Twilight’s head lowered a little in a shy display before she began to make her way over to the table itself. She could smell the tea already. “It smells pretty flowery…” she thought to herself. “So, in short, things are finally starting to calm down here in Canterlot,” Shining Armor finished off of recounting the events within the Royal Guard since the invasion and subsequent liberation almost an hour later. “And not a moment too soon, I think.” “Your efforts played a big role in the swiftness of our recovery,” Luna pointed out with an appreciative smile on her face. “I can see clearly why you’re the captain of the Royal guard.” Rainbow rolled her eyes and leaned back in her seat slightly before glancing around the table at the assembled ponies. She was sitting next to Twilight in one loveseat, while Night Light and Velvet sat directly across from them. Spike had elected to join the parental unicorns, while Luna and Celestia had taken up the third and final of the seats against the wall. Shining Armor had pulled up a separate chair and had secured himself a position next to his parents. Rainbow’s eyes hovered on Twilight just a little longer than the others, and her mind began to lose track of the conversation. Twilight had been listening with rapt attention as her brother explained the progress that had been made on repairing the damage, and had even probed him about a few of the logistical details. “I guess some things never change,” Rainbow thought with a small chuckle and a shake of her head. “Wow… it sounds like you’ve had your hooves full,” Twilight said slowly before taking another sip of her tea. “I’m kind of glad things weren’t that bad in Ponyville.” “The town did take some superficial damage,” Luna pointed out with a small frown on her face. “Several shops were ransacked and homes were thrown into complete disarray. I can only assume the changelings were hunting for stragglers after Rainbow ordered the evacuation.” “Which, if I may interrupt, was a very wise decision to make, Rainbow,” Celestia noted, leaning forward slightly to give Rainbow a small smile and a wink. “You did well.” Rainbow stifled a snort and shook her head dismissively at the praise. “Hey, if even one of you had gotten out of Canterlot, things would have gone, like, a million times better,” she was quick to shrug off her mother’s words before taking a swig of her own tea. “She isn’t wrong, you know,” Shining countered without missing a beat. “For being completely green at ruling the country, I think you did a pretty good job. You were able to put all the pieces in place to take Chrysalis down, after all.” “Meh. There was a lot of luck involved…” Rainbow grumbled into her cup, her mind wandering back to the conflict in question. She couldn’t help but cringe as she recalled how many times she had royally screwed up, and how many ways things could have ended in disaster because of her poor judgment. Somewhere in the back of her mind, a little voice of confidence reminded her that things had turned out alright in the end, but it was too small to ease much of her displeasure with her performance. “You’re going to have to tell us all about it sometime,” Velvet suddenly piped up while refilling her tea from the kettle. Her eyes settled on Rainbow, and then over to Twilight. “We only got a few bullet points from Shining Armor. Until we got word about your…” she paused, her expression darkening. She quickly snapped out of it, though, and carried on. “Until we got Spike’s letter about your condition, all he could tell us for sure was that you were in a coma, but had saved the Empire, Equestria…” “And you had a new girlfriend,” Night Light blurted out, seemingly without thinking about it. Rainbow had been in the process of sipping at her tea when those words fled his lips. In the same moment, the steaming hot liquid in her mouth was violently sucked down the wrong pipe by a sharp inhale. Rainbow coughed violently a few times, her hooves on her chest before things settled down and she shot a dirty glare at Shining Armor. “Not cool, dude,” she wheezed before coughing again. Shining just gave her a tiny smug smirk. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.” “Oh, hush!” Velvet bit at shining with a little grin of her own. She then returned her attention to Twilight. “When I first heard that you and Rainbow had gotten together, I was over the moon! Somehow, I always knew you two would get together!” Twilight didn’t respond, having gone completely rigid. Her ears were standing to attention and her eyes had flown wide open. She blinked once, twice, three times, and looked over at Rainbow Dash. “We… were a couple…?” she asked slowly, her voice low and timid. Rainbow finished clearing the last of the tea from her throat before looking back at Twilight. They made eye contact, and a blush began to spread across Rainbow's cheeks, despite her best efforts to contain it. She swallowed reflexively and let out a quiet, sheepish laugh. “Eh, yeah… we kinda had a thing going before you, uh…” she mumbled before tailing off, not wanting to say it. “Oh, who are you kidding?” Velvet scolded while turning her nose up somewhat. “You still have a thing going. It’s just taking a short recess until Twilight gets her memories back, that’s all.” “I do have to agree with that,” Celestia mused, a teasing glimmer in her eyes as she looked over at her adopted daughter, making her squirm. “After all, even from how very little of it I got to saw, you two were quite adorable together.” Rainbow, now beet red, covered her face with her wings and groaned. Why was she surprised that her family was teasing her over this? Of course they were! “I never should have fallen in love…” she thought before speaking out loud. “Moooom, pleeeeaaase. Not in front of everypony else…” “Oh, leave it alone, sister,” Luna chastised with a deadpan look on her face directed squarely at her solar counterpart. “I understand that you were excited at the prospect, but I hardly think now is an appropriate time to be teasing your daughter over it. Especially when her partner is incapable of remembering any of it.” Rainbow, her face still hidden by her wings, wilted slightly as that was brought right back to the front of her mind. Luna was right. No matter what she and Twilight had been before, that was over until Twilight got her memories back. She slowly folded her wings back up at her sides and leaned back in the seat with a forlorn exhale. “Nah, it’s okay, Luna. Twi needed to know sooner or later, might as well just put it all out there.” “We were a couple,” Twilight said again, this time more like a statement while gesturing between herself and Rainbow. “...What was it like?” “Oh, yes, please,” Velvet cood eagerly, setting her tea down and leaning forward with the tips of her hooves pressed together over her nose. Rainbow couldn’t help but compare the image to a Machiavellian schemer making their evil plot. “I think we’re all rather curious about that…” She was about to launch into an answer to Twilight’s question anyway when a set of words tickled her ears. “...I’m not,” Luna barely even whispered, her words going completely unnoticed by everypony else. Rainbow noticed, though, and shot her aunt a surprised, and perhaps offended, look. The alicorn did not respond to the expression, though, merely taking a sip of her tea and focusing on the discussion at hoof. Rainbow blinked a few times and shook her head. She must have been hearing things. No way Luna would say something like that. “Okay, well, uh… well,” Rainbow stammered, her mind twisting over itself as she tried, and failed, to think of a good way to describe their relationship. It had only lasted for a few days, after all, before the fighting was over and Stinger… Rainbow immediately shoved the memory of that revolting creature from her mind. She groaned quietly in frustration before looking over at Twilight again. She was taken aback when she saw the eagerness in her eyes, the desire for more information. If she stared long enough, Rainbow could just imagine a notepad and quill floating next to Twilight’s head as she prepared to take extensive notes. ...That was the first thing. With a small smile, Rainbow reached her hoof out and poked Twilight right on the nose, making her go cross-eyed. “Well, for one thing, you are such an adorably dorky nerd,” she explained with an amused chuckle. Getting her eyes under control, Twilight pouted at Rainbow but said nothing more. So Rainbow went on. She leaned back again and looked up at the ceiling, a dreamy look in her eyes as she began to recall all of her best memories of the egghead beside her. “I think it boils down to our ‘chemistry,’ as you or Cadance would call it,” she began in a wistful voice. “I could tell you stories for literal years about our verbal sparring matches. The teasing, the banter, the roughhousing. We grew up together, and I think it showed. Nopony knew us better than each other.” Spike nodded along. “I can attest to that. Even before you two made it official, the flirting you did was next level. It was really charming, to be honest,” he said before clamming up when Rainbow gave him a deadpan glare. “Anyways…” as Rainbow spoke, she was only numbly aware of one of her forelegs raising up to rest casually against the backrest of the loveseat behind Twilight. “Really, that’s just us in general. Where the, uh…” a blush colored her cheeks again, but she found a good substitute for the dreaded ‘L-bomb’ in short order. “Romance was concerned, that didn’t really go into full swing until we were in the Crystal Empire.” “What happened?” Twilight asked quietly, leaning just a little closer, enraptured by the idea. Rainbow chuckled, though her expression then darkened as she recalled the circumstances. “...I was about to head out to negotiate for time. We had that King Sombra jerk I mentioned before looming right outside, and I was gonna try and convince him to back off. Everypony else tried to talk me about of it, especially you. I had made up my mind, though, so… “When you realized you couldn’t convince me to let somepony else go instead or to just not do it at all… that was when we had our first kiss…” Rainbow’s eyes became distant, and her relaxing foreleg began to slide over a little towards Twilight. “It was… well, it was a shock, first off. I was not expecting you to do that, but hey, it did the trick. It gave me the extra boost in confidence I needed to do things right. I mean, now I couldn’t fail. I had too much to come back to…” “Uh, Rainbow?” Twilight said, her voice coming off a little uncomfortable. However, Rainbow was so lost in the memory that her words went in one ear and out the other. “And when I did talk Sombra down, and we came back to the palace to rest up and get ready for our next move… just laying down in a bed and knowing you were there, and that the feelings I’d had for you for almost a year were finally being returned… it was the best feeling in the world…” “See, I’d felt like that about you for a long time. I’d been trying to make heads or tails of it, trying to understand it, and when I did… I never said anything. I was scared that you wouldn’t feel the same way, and that it’d throw a giant monkey wrench into our friendship. I didn’t want that, so I was quiet. But, uh…” Rainbow grimaced, and the image of Starlight Glimmer, her cheek bruising, looking back at her in a train filled with ponies flashed through her mind. “...I made a few mistakes, and I thought I’d lost you as my friend forever. So… I just told you. I let you know how I felt because I figured, hey, I already lost you as my friend, what difference did it make?” she closed her eyes and sighed heavily, remembering with no small amount of shame the confession she had made in Hollow Shades. “...I was stupid to tell you like that. I should have said something sooner. But meh…” her eyes opened again. “Then we were in the Empire, and you kissed me, and I was so happy to know you felt the same way.” “...I think everypony else could see it. It was such a weight off my shoulders. Even with how sucky our situation was, we were able to make jabs and poke fun at each other, and just… be happy with each other…” Rainbow finished before looking down at Twilight again with a tender smile. She was only mildly taken aback when she realized she had draped one of her forelegs over the alicorn’s shoulders, and her smile faltered. Her smile faltered even further when she saw the uncomfortable grimace on Twilight’s face. Immediately, Rainbow’s mind lashed back at her, screaming at her that she should have been paying more attention to what she was doing. She tensed up and went to withdraw her foreleg from Twilight’s shoulders. Twilight beat her to it. Her horn lit up with magenta colored light, and that light encased Rainbow’s hoof to gently lift it off of Twilight’s shoulders. Rainbow’s vision tunneled, and a strangled gasp tore itself out of her lungs. The world flickered and flashed before being plunged into suffocating darkness. Her breath began to come in heaving, terrified gasps while her heart pummeled against her ribs, and her eyes darted in every direction. Then, she saw two eyes, green and reptilian, snap wide open in front of her. Her blood turned to ice as a fang-filled crescent of a grin appeared before the mocking face of Queen Chrysalis leaned towards her from the shadows, illuminated by green fires from below. “Hello, Princess…” the queen cooed before her long, forked tongue licked hungrily at her lips, and an ominous hiss slithered out of her. Her horn lit up, and suddenly, all four of Rainbow’s hooves were encased in that putrid green glow. Helpless, Rainbow could only watch as the darkness bled away, and suddenly, she was back in the Crystal Empire. Incredible pain began to flare across her barrel, and numerous places along her chest began to swell and darken as broken ribs made themselves known. Her pupils dilated, and she went to scream in unrestrained agony when Chrysalis’ jaw opened wide and clamped down on her hoof, piercing through her skin without effort. The pain was incredible, and Rainbow’s mind stalled. For a moment, all she could do was stare in wide-eyed shock. Chrysalis’ glowing eyes looked right back at her before the queen growled and bit down even harder. Something crunched. Rainbow began to scream. The world flickered and distorted around her alongside a deafening boom of static, and suddenly she was pinned on her back. Her hooves were spread out, stretching as far as they could and making her shoulder and hip joints burn with agony. Rainbow looked up at Chrysalis in abject terror, watching as her mouth opened wide. Then, Rainbow felt a tug in her chest, and another scream ripped out of her when a pink stream of energy was torn forcefully out of her heart to slide down the changeling queen’s throat. The pain was unbearable. She tried to fight back, to resist, but her efforts were completely useless. The queen had her pinned and was taking her sweet time in extracting what she wanted from Rainbow’s tortured body. All the while, the sound of the queen humming that harrowing song echoed around them, drilling into Rainbow’s mind and making her scream even louder… “This day is going to be perfect, the kind of day of which I’ve dreamed since I was small… Twilight Sparkle will soon lay dead, the last princess will drown in dread…” “HELP ME! SOMEPONY, ANYPONY, HELP ME!” Rainbow begged at the top of her lungs, tears falling freely down her cheeks in desperation before another rugged scream ripped its way past her lips. “Who says a girl can’t really have it all?” Suddenly, just as abruptly as the vision had started, it ended. A sound like a snapping branch echoed in Rainbow’s ears before the world flashed, and she was back in the living room of Twilight Velvet and Night Light. Letting off a breathless rasp of pain, her body went limp, and she slumped off of the couch to hit the floor in a trembling heap. She immediately curled into a fetal position, sheltering her head with her hooves and gasping frantically into the floor. Her heart was beating madly in her chest, her pupils were dilated, and she could still feel the pain in her body… “Rainbow?!” A voice called to her, and she felt a hoof gently touch her shoulder. “GET AWAY!” Rainbow shrieked in a panic before spinning around and smacking the hoof away. She only realized after the fact that it was Princess Celestia who had reached for her, looking down at her with wide, horrified eyes. Everypony else had similar looks on their faces, completely shocked by her reaction. Of course, the most confused and terrified of the bunch was Twilight, whose hooves were now covering her muzzle while her ears rested flat against her head. “What… what happened?” she choked out. Rainbow just stared at her for a few seconds, her chest still rising and falling unsteadily as she tried and failed to catch her breath. She quickly pulled herself back onto her trembling hooves and backed away from the table. Celestia went to follow her, but Rainbow quickly backed away even further when she saw the hooves reaching for her. Seeing this, Celestia’s expression fell heavily with concern and confusion. “Rainbow? Please, it’s fine. It’s alright. Everything’s okay. It’s just me,” she said in as soothing a voice as she could manage. Rainbow’s heart was starting to slow back down, but it was taking its sweet time. She shook her head and looked away from the ponies at the table, struggling to find her voice. “I… I just… I… s-sorry,” she quickly mumbled before turning and trotting away from them, her movements stiff and shaky. She felt bad walking away like this, but she needed a minute to herself to try and figure out what she’d just seen. It had been so… different from what she was used to… and somehow, it was much, much worse. With that thought putting a freezing chill in her veins, Rainbow stepped through the first door she came to and left the sights of the rest of the assembled ponies.