//------------------------------// // Rising Up // Story: Where We Belong // by BlazzingInferno //------------------------------// The hot air balloon ascended slowly, replaying one of Rarity’s worst memories in slow motion reverse. Picturesque, snow-capped treetops stretched from one end of the valley to the other, broken only by the occasional open expanse of white. The small hole near the cave where Spike had unearthed the Element of Generosity stood out like a pockmark. Would the valley retain any of its generous properties? Rarity hoped it would, if only for the sake of whatever poor soul found themselves lost in its depths next. At least that creature would find a selection of warm blankets and a few other comforts. The only items in her and Spike’s possession were the jackets they were wearing, a heart-shaped fire ruby, and all the gold. That last selection, Spike insisted, was purely to stop a greedy dragon from being able to return to their natural size, should The Pit ever find itself with another inhabitant. Heat washed over her as Spike’s fire fueled what promised to be their triumphant return to Equestria, both to save and to dwell in for the rest of their lives. Rarity gripped the basket’s wicker walls all the tighter as those grand ideas made her feel as if she was falling all over again. The artificial sky darkened as Twilight’s horn lit up. “Hang on, everypony.” Lightning crackled and thunder rumbled, but only in the distance. While a storm ravaged the far away clouds, those directly above the balloon seemed to be dissolving into the deep black of the actual sky: Nightmare Moon’s eternal night. “Ooh, this is so much harder than last time.” Twilight murmured, her magic flickering and sputtering. The basket rocked from side to side as the winds grew stronger. “Back up, ya’ll,” Applejack shouted, “give her all the space she needs.” “No! I-I mean thanks, but—” Twilight gave them all a wide-eyed look “—I don’t want you further away. You’re… my friends. I… I need you. I care about you.” Fluttershy came forward and gave Twilight the world’s most timid, gentle hug. Her necklace’s gem glowed brightly as she did so. “You’re our friend too, Twilight.” They all joined the hug, each one multiplying the glow from the elements as well as Twilight’s horn. The group embrace’s warmth bested that of any campfire or sewn garment, in Rarity’s opinion. These were her friends. She and Spike weren’t alone in the world, and never needed to be again. “It’s working!” Spike shouted over the wind. “I think… I think we’re though!” Rarity opened one eye, which didn’t make much of a difference. A black void awaited beyond the basket’s walls. Her eyes would adjust to the darkness, she knew, but even that would do little improve the view. If memory served, she’d only see the remains of the Dragon Lands: a scorched wasteland that hadn't improved under Nightmare Moon’s iron hoof. “Phew!” Twilight’s horn extinguished, ushering in the true darkness of eternal night. “Thanks, everypony. Maybe this can really work. Maybe the magic of friendship really is all we need.” Pinkie giggled. “Told ya!” Phantom shapes materialized out of the darkness as Rarity’s eyes began to adjust. Looking over the basket’s edge, she could just make out the swirling clouds that guarded The Pit receding below, wind-worn canyon walls beside them, and the stary sky above. What had seemed like a slow, leisurely ascent when they’d first left the ground felt so much faster now, as if Equestria itself was hurrying them along in their nobel quest. If only her nerves were that idealistic. “I don’t suppose you could slow our ascent ever so slightly, Spike? I’ve never considered myself afraid of heights, but—” Rainbow groaned. “We’re saving the world, not going out for brunch or something. Step on the gas, Spike!” Applejack shushed them both. “Y’all hear that?” Rainbow cocked her head. “What?” A moment later, they all could: a low moan devoured the silence, rising and falling in an otherworldly cadence that chilled more than a night breeze ever could. The open skies above the canyon were calling to them, and not in welcome. Fluttershy shook so violently that the balloon started to sway. “What if it’s N-Nightmare M—” Rainbow jammed a hoof to her mouth. “Then don’t let her hear us! Even though that’s totally just the wind. I’m eighty percent sure that’s just the wind.” Applejack held a hoof up to her ear. “Yeah… but what if it ain’t?” “Do an invisibility spell, Twilight! Or teleport us!” Pinkie whispered. “Wait,” Twilight replied. “Let’s not get ahead of ourselves. Rainbow Dash, can you scout ahead and see what’s up there?” Rainbow gave a quick salute and rocketed into the open air. Twilight paced through the basket, pointing to each remaining passenger. “We’ve got about a minute before we clear the canyon. Spike, be ready to take us up fast if I tell you to. Got it?” Spike gaves a thumbs up. “Got it!” “Fluttershy, if Rainbow Dash comes back with bad news. I need you and her to pull the balloon away from the canyon. The last thing we want to do is fall back into The Pit instead of landing on solid ground. Okay?” Despite her heavy shivering, Fluttershy nodded. “O-okay, Twilight.” “Applejack and Pinkie, if we have to land, anchoring the balloon is your job. We need to be prepared for anything, even running for it.” “Can doodly-do!” Pinkie replied. “Darn tootin’ we can.” Applejack added. Rarity held her breath as Twilight faced her. “And as for me?” “How much magic do you know?” “Magic? Not much, I’m afraid. I don’t know the first thing about invisibility spells or teleportation, if that’s what you have in mind.” Twilight grinned. “But can you act like you do? Shoot some fireworks off or something to keep everypony distracted. I’m not sure I could teleport all seven of us, but being able to concentrate would definitely help.” At last Rarity could see what had kept this band of ponies together for so long: Twilight really did have leadership qualities, buried underneath her friendship troubles. “We’re all at your service, Twilight.” Moonlight lessened the darkness as they crested the canyon. Barren ground stretched from the canyon’s maw to the horizon in every direction, uninterrupted by hills, plants, or ponies. The emptiness of it all took her breath away, partly for its distinct lack of snow-covered trees. This was the real world, in all its desolate glory. Only the wind spoke, shifting pebbles along the expansive nothingness that was the Dragon Lands and extracting a chilling moan from the canyon mouth. The moon and stars illuminated the cloudless sky, a sight that had lost its beauty and wonder years ago. Spike sighed. “I wish I could say it’s nice to be back.” Fluttershy circled the basket, scanning the skies. “Um… I guess it really was just the wind, but where’s Rainbow Dash?” A brilliant flash lit up the sky, and a thunderclap shook the world around them to pieces. Barely conscious of her own screaming, Rarity tumbled through a chaotic mess of flailing legs, severed rope, broken wicker, and torn fabric; the basket was kindling, the balloon a rag, and in moments she and the others would be no better. The ground rushed up to meet her, but not with the deadly speed it should have. A tingling, purple glow spread across her body, and her hooves touched down as gently as if she’d taken a graceful leap. Her screaming took a second longer to stop, and Fluttershy’s took longer still. Blinking away spots from what she could only guess was a lightning strike, Rarity stumbled forward through a shower of smoldering fabric, past one disoriented friend after another. Finally she fell in the midst of them, heart pounding, head spinning, and lungs empty. Groans overtook screams, Twilight’s the loudest among them. “Is everypony okay? I-I caught all of you… right?” Applejack shambled past Rarity and snatched her hat from the debris. “What in tarnation did that?” Spike sank to the ground by Rarity’s side, one of his shaking hands coming to rest on her mane. “Whoa… Did we… is that—” Deep purple clouds swirled in the previously clear skies above. Lightning crackled through the air again and again until its sizzling, booming flashes lit the sky like the midday sun. The center of the clouds parted, and a dark silhouette appeared on a backdrop of stars. “And so we meet at last, my little ponies.” Fluttershy voiced the scream that Rarity couldn’t, not with the Queen’s wicked smile fixed upon her. Nightmare Moon hovered above them, girded by cold starlight and black magic. The balloon was a flaming wreck, Rainbow Dash was missing, and the final Element of Harmony still eluded them. Every brutal fact raced through Rarity’s mind in a ceaseless loop. There was no escape, and she knew first hoof that there would be no mercy. “We’re done for.” “Where’s Rainbow Dash?” Twilight shouted. Nightmare Moon descended toward them, each flap of her enormous wings renewing the wind’s moaning cries across the canyon mouth. As her armor-shod hooves thundered against the ground, Rainbow Dash appeared next to her, wrapped from shoulders to haunches in glowing chains. “You mean this hapless palace guard that deserted her post? She’s exactly where she belongs! Thank you for gathering the six most troublesome ponies in Equestria, Twilight Sparkle. Tracking you has saved me a great deal of trouble.” Nightmare Moon sneered at Rainbow, whose chains immediately tightened. Rainbow’s tail flicked defiantly, the only appendage still she could still move freely. “I’m not scared of you, you big—” Another set of chains encircled Rainbow’s mouth, complete with an enormous padlock. Nightmare Moon stepped toward Twilight, and Rainbow crashed to the ground precious inches from the canyon’s edge. Gasping, Rarity steadied Rainbow with her magic. No friend of hers was going to experience that horrific drop if she could help it. Nightmare Moon walked among them, taking time to sneer at each pony in turn. “I don't know how you survived The Pit and its dragons, but that hardly matters. Your little plan to free Celestia is over. Give up the useless trinkets you’ve collected, and I just might let you and your friends go. Otherwise…” Rainbow’s chains tightened again, eliciting muffled groans from her and cries of protest from everyone else. “P-please!” Fluttershy begged. “Please let Rainbow go!” Nightmare Moon grinned in the horrible way Rarity knew all too well. “Abandon your quest, surrender your necklaces, and I shall.” “Don’t listen to her!” Twilight shouted. “These are the Elements of—” The swirling purple clouds flowed around Nightmare Moon, lifting her into the air and endowing her with a voice of thunder. “You will do exactly as your queen commands! You’re still missing the sixth element, and without it you’re powerless before me!” Rarity shivered anew as Nightmare Moon’s voice rang in her ears, but not with the uncontrollable panic of their last encounter. Spike was here this time, his comforting hand nestled in her mane and their all too brief lifetime together fresh in her mind: he’d rescued her ages ago, simply by being her friend. Hadn’t they begun the same process for Twilight, igniting the fires of friendship within her heart? What more of a spark could the final element ask for? “Take this,” she whispered to Spike. The sewing needle slid out of her mane and dropped into his free hand. “Go pick the lock on Rainbow’s chains. I’ll distract Nightmare Moon.” She could feel as well as hear Spike’s gasp of horror. “Distract her? But—” Rarity stood and strolled forward, every step bringing her closer to her former overlord as well as her old, impossibly haughty self. She fixed a hard, disapproving stare at Nightmare Moon and tossed her mane dismissively. “She’s lying, of course. We’re a grave threat to her rule, not to mention her sense of fashion… or lack thereof, as the case may be.” “You insolent foal! When I’m finished with you—” Nightmare Moon roared, but Rarity wasn’t finished. “Perhaps you miscounted, your majesty; we have the sixth element already! Twilight Sparkle, count the friends surrounding you! Count them, and count on them!” Twilight gasped, and as she did so Rarity noticed a glint in her eye. “I… Of course I can count on all of you. You embody all the elements of true friendship: kindness, honesty, laughter, loyalty, generosity… You’re… You’re my friends, and friendship is magic!” Rainbow swooped overhead, her necklace glowing brilliantly. She landed between Applejack and Fluttershy, whose necklaces immediately grew in intensity. Whether by subconscious design or chance, all five of them had positioned themselves around Twilight, and the combined glow of their necklaces had Nightmare Moon backing towards the canyon’s edge. “No. No! Stop!” Everything within Rarity’s sight and mind faded to white, save for Nightmare Moon’s cries of horror. --- Bright light shone through Rarity’s closed eyelids, brighter than firelight and hotter too. “Ooh, what happened?” A chorus of similar statements followed, ranging from Twilight’s “my head” to Pinkie’s “worst sugar crash ever!” In the midst of it all was the quiet scrape of dragon feet against the rocky ground. “Is everypony okay? Fluttershy? Applejack? Rarity?” Spike ran up and shook her gently. “You’ve gotta see this, Rarity!” And see it she did. Opening her eyes invited in an unbearably brilliant light, the kind that could only belong to the long-absent sun, the sun that was rising at last. She closed her eyes again as they grew wet. “The night’s over. The eternal night’s finally over!” With Spike’s assistance, Rarity returned to her hooves and dared to look at the first morning Equestria had seen in years. Sunlight alone did wonders for the view: the barren Dragon Lands looked more picturesque than The Pit’s snow-covered trees ever could, to say nothing of the brilliant shine of Spike’s scales and the other’s coats. A new day had dawned in every possible sense. “Golly, Twilight. That ain’t no necklace,” Applejack said. “Oh my, she's right!” Fluttershy added. Rarity gasped when she saw the crown sitting atop Twilight’s head and the brilliant pink gemstone glinting within. “You look like a Princess!” The sunlight dimmed, and a deep, regal voice thought lost forever filled her ears. “She certainly does.” Princess Celestia stood at the canyon’s edge, her sparkling mane flowing in a magical breeze, and her smile as warm as the sun rising behind her. “Thank you, everypony. Thank you for saving Equestria, and for rescuing my sister and I.” “Sister?” seven voices said in unison. Something on the ground stirred beside Princess Celestia: a second, smaller alicorn colored deep blue. “Sister? Is it truly you?” Princess Celestia knelt by her. “It is I, Princess Luna. Come, let’s put our differences behind us at long last, and rule together as we were meant to.” Princess Luna threw her forelegs around her older sister, nodding. “I’ve missed you so much, sister!”