"The Everfree forest..." Twilight uttered breathlessly, as she stared marvelously up into the treeline of the enigmatic forest in awe. "Wow..."
The forest loomed over her and Rainbow, casting its eerie shadow over them both.
She gulped, feeling her body go numb with fear, and legs locking rigidly in place.
"Hey, maybe we'll see an ursa," Rainbow remarked in a teasing tone of voice. She nudged her girlfriend's side. "You've always wanted to see one of those, right?"
Twilight shot her a sour look, pouting her lips.
"That's n-not f-funny, Rainbow. You know I don't."
Rainbow eased off, her smile softening as she averted her eyes away. "Heh, right... Sorry."
She scratched the back of her head meekly while her fiancée took in a calming breath, then breathed out deeply, straightening up in confidence. "Princess Celestia gave us a test—a field test, that I fully intend to pass!"
"With flying colors?"
Twilight turned back to face her with an unamused look.
Rainbow returned it with a blank stare of her own, shrugging her shoulders. "What? It's just... you know. I'm here with you, and... flying colors? It would've been perfect."
Twilight smiled, rolling her eyes as she turned to look ahead of her.
She attempted to take a step forward, only to remain in place. "Urgh..."
"Nerves?" Rainbow asked in concern.
"It's just a forest," Twilight murmured bitterly, casting her gaze down to her hooves. "It's not like it's that intimidating..."
"Your body seems to disagree," Rainbow pointed out, to which Twilight's gaze narrowed. "Come on," she insisted, "it's not like ponies who enter, never ever come back out. Princess Celestia wouldn't have sent us if that were the case."
Twilight sighed. "I know, I know," she agreed, looking away in uncertainty. "But—"
"But what? Look... we can't exactly dig our way under, but... who says we have to go through it either? I can just fly us to the crash site."
Twilight blinked, turning her attention back to Rainbow, dumbstruck. "Why didn't I think of that...?" She smiled, stepping over to her girlfriend who knelt forward, allowing her to climb aboard her back.
She grinned, pointing ahead in a playful manner, her other foreleg wrapped securely over and around Rainbow's chest.
"Take us away, Rainbow!"
Rainbow nodded—a look of determination on her face as she flapped her mighty wings, lifting both herself and Twilight into the air before taking off over the treeline.
Twilight's eyes scanned the environment below, widening as Rainbow flew them across an open ravine equipped with nothing but the goggles Moon Dancer had designed for her, all the way back on Hearth's Warming. Better safe than sorry, the two of them had figured, for the same reasons Twilight had opted to leave her feather earring behind.
They were in unknown territory now. Foggy, dark, and murky territory... and despite Princess Celestia's assuring them that the forest was safe... A forest can change a lot in one thousand years...
"There!" Twilight exclaimed, leaning forward while setting a foreleg over Rainbow's head for support, pointing her free foreleg down at a dilapidated stone castle.
Her exclamation was met with a miffed groan.
"Your foreleg's sort of making it hard for me to see," Rainbow murmured irritability.
Twilight froze, looking down to see her foreleg was weighing her girlfriend's head down, and withdrew it quickly. "S-sorry!" she squeaked out ashamedly.
She eased back, allowing Rainbow to raise her head and see just what had captured her girlfriend's attention.
Her brow slowly rose at the sight.
Whoa...
She swooped down, landing before the stairs that lead to the front doors. Her wings folded at her sides, allowing for Twilight to climb down safely from her back.
As they now stood side by side, Twilight brandished a small, quick smile in Rainbow's direction, silently thanking her.
Rainbow returned it, nodding back at her before removing her goggles from over her eyes and looking on ahead. They climbed the short staircase and pushed open the castle doors that lead to a circular room with large, triangular-shaped windows encircling them on every side. All shattered, the bars in between them busted.
Vines wrapped around several ancient columns that no longer supported anything.
"Must have been some earthquake," Twilight mused aloud, taking in the scenery.
"Or it just fell apart," Rainbow supposed, putting forth the idea. "This place looks like it's hundreds of years old..."
"Maybe a thousand—" Twilight shut herself up, both her and Rainbow's eyes finding themselves drawn to a moss-covered pedestal in the center of the room, six orbs on full display atop six perches.
She broke out of her awe-stricken gaze, her ears perking at the familiar sound of wings flapping, and snapped her attention to her girlfriend who was now hovering beside the artifacts. Rainbow raised a hoof to one of them. "Hello mysterious ancient orbs, what do you guys do—?"
Twilight held out her hoof, Rainbow's name dying on the tip of her tongue as the sound of stone cracking against pavement cut her off.
Rainbow blinked, realizing her mistake. "Oops." She glanced back at Twilight both slowly and sheepishly, only to find her gaze narrowing.
"Rainbow..." she growled out through slightly gritted teeth.
"I-it's okay, Twi!" Rainbow assured, landing back down in a panic, and motioning with her hoof, "This one didn't have a symbol on it like the others. I-I'm pretty sure it was just a placeholder."
Twilight's glare softened and she breathed out a sigh, taking into consideration what Rainbow was thinking. "A placeholder for what?" she asked, stepping over to the pile of stone.
Rainbow's spirits lifted, and she smiled in relief, taking a look around. "I mean... nothing went off, so at least it wasn't a trap or anything."
Twilight's brow furrowed in deep thought the more she stared into the rubble, before giving her head a shake. "It... probably doesn't matter. We're here to do reconnaissance, to find that shooting star, or... whatever fell from the sky. Come on," she said to Rainbow, nodding towards a set of stairs that lead deeper into the castle. "Let's keep moving."
The stairs lead them into a throne-like room, with two long tapestries hung on the wall opposite them. One of Celestia, one of, Luna...
Twilight tore her gaze away, Rainbow following close behind her as they walked on over to a room on their left. A room that just happened to contain a library.
Twilight's face lit up instantly upon laying eyes on the sight.
Rainbow rolled her eyes at the sight.
She galloped ahead—Rainbow walking a little more cautiously as the unicorn looked all around her at the shelves upon shelves of books.
Rainbow however, groaned at the different door stoppers that otherwise caused her girlfriend to squeal and prance around the room in a giddy fashion.
She rolled her eyes, turning to look ahead of her, when a looming figure made her jump back in fright. She placed a hoof over her chest, coaxing her hammering heart back into her chest as she stared up at the... statue. A broken down, and, in her eyes, funny-looking alicorn statue. She smiled up at it. "Some caricature, eh Twi?" She peered past the broken statue to see her fiancée with her back turned, standing in front of a rickety and worn, long wooden table. "Twilight?"
Twilight's ear twitched at the sound of her voice. She swallowed before stuttering in response, "I... I, I-I dunno, but... I, I think I..." She shook her head incredulously. "I think I just found a journal belonging to Princess Celestia..."
Rainbow lifted herself into the air, gliding over to her for a closer look. "And you haven't read it yet?" she asked, folding her wings at her sides.
Twilight looked over at her quizzically. "Why would I—?"
"Come on, Twi. She's the most powerful pony in the land! I mean, aren't you the least bit curious about her past? Her secrets?"
Twilight bit her lip, her gaze faltering to the table. "I... I respect her too much... and..." Her voice drifted into an inaudible murmur.
"And?" Rainbow pressed.
Twilight sighed, raising her voice to speak a little more clearly. "And I'd rather not be banished."
"Oh, get real, Twilight. You're telling me that she'd banish you—her student and friend—for snooping in some ancient journal she left behind in an abandoned castle she sent you to, knowing full well that you are kind of a bookworm and would probably be unable to help yourself anyway?"
"It made sense in my head..." Twilight murmured, then gasped as she felt Rainbow grab the book out from under her hoof, climbing a little ways away from her into the air. "Hey!" she shouted, swiping a hoof at her, only for her to swerve back, flying further out of her reach.
Twilight pouted her lips, lighting up her horn as Rainbow flipped open to a random page, grabbing her tail with her magic.
Rainbow began reading, all the while fighting Twilight's grip on her tail.
"My o-own sister has become what I feared worst: a nightmare, regrettably... of my own fruition." Twilight's heart sunk and her eyes slowly widened at those words, forgetting all about getting the journal back right then and losing control of her magic, allowing Rainbow to regain some altitude. "Nightmare Moon, as Luna now calls herself, has been banished to an environment I think will suit her. For myself, I will journey into the mountains to take a more active role in Equestria's growing community... and so that I may be closer to her, even..."
"Now..." Rainbow finished reading.
Her head raised up from the pages of the journal. "What...?"
Twilight shook her head, her jaw quickly snapping shut. She snatched the book from Rainbow's hooves with her magic, her eyes scanning the page. "Princess Luna, she... Nightmare Moon is nothing more than an old pony's tale! And now apparently this book is telling me that Princess Luna did not in fact die, but instead was banished as an old pony's tale and, just..." She slammed the book down upon the table. "What!?"
"Uh, Twi?" Rainbow hesitantly spoke up. "Mind explaining to this pegasus who or what Nightmare Moon even is?"
"Nightmare Moon is the fabled Mare in the Moon..."
"Uh, that still doesn't help any—"
"The Mare in the Moon, Rainbow!" Twilight's voice trembled. "Remember? A pony imprisoned in olden times by Princess Celestia herself!"
Rainbow's lips pursed, and her brow furrowed in thought. "Mare in the moon, mare in the moon— Wait..." Her eyes widened in realization. "Twi, are... are you talking about that Nightmare Night myth?"
Twilight nodded, still a little shaken. "No wonder Princess Celestia wanted me to study Equestria's past and The Elements of Harmony! Those must have been what she used to imprison Princess Luna!"
"So... okay, I'm smart, I can follow. Princess Luna, who we thought was dead, is actually an ancient monster who was banished to the moon itself... by Celestia, her own sister?"
"Yes, Rainbow, that's exactly what happened—according to this journal." She placed a hoof on the cover, letting her gaze fall back upon it.
"But why rewrite history?" Rainbow's voice brought her back to the present moment. "I mean, why would she trick you and all of Canterlot into thinking otherwise? That her sister had been dead this whole time?"
Twilight shrugged. "If I had to guess, I... I'd say she didn't want to besmirch her sister's name..." She turned to look directly at Rainbow. "Wouldn't you do the same for your family?"
"Well, yeah, I mean..." Rainbow smiled back at her. "Of course I would."
Twilight responded with a slight smile of her own before turning back to the journal. "This must be what she expects of me! She wants me to save her sister—!"
She froze, and the two of them practically jumped from their skin at the sound of a door at the far end of the room slowly creaking open.
They ducked behind the table, exchanging terrified glances.
"What was that?"
"H-how the hay should I know?" Twilight whispered back.
"You're the egghead! I mean... You've actually researched this place. I haven't."
"W-well...!" Twilight glanced away, thinking back. "There was something, i-in this one book I read. An old pony's tale. A 'Pony of Shadows,' so to speak. It's... sort of like Nightmare Moon's lingering will—sentient magic that wasn't sealed away with the rest of her."
"And you're only bringing this up now?" Rainbow stared at her, incredulous.
Twilight's eyes narrowed at her. "Excuse me for thinking that a legend used to scare foals wouldn't be relevant to the task at hoof, Rainbow."
"Y-yeah, well..." Rainbow's resolve faltered for a brief second before she glared back stubbornly. "We sorta just discovered that Nightmare Moon's not exactly a legend, so who's to say this 'Pony of Shadows' is either?"
If it even is the Pony of Shadows, Twilight solemnly mused, rolling her eyes as she glanced away. She held her breath, and simply listened for a few seconds before calling out.
"H... H-hello—?"
Rainbow elbowed Twilight's nearest foreleg, effectively shutting her up.
Twilight turned back to face Rainbow, finding her girlfriend staring back at her with a look of disbelief. "What are you doing?"
"Calling out, obviously," Twilight replied, matter-of-factly.
"Well, tch, yeah... but did you ever stop to think about what you might be calling out to? We're in an abandoned castle, Twi—i-in the middle of a forest!"
"That's precisely it though, Rainbow. It could just be an animal—a scavenger perhaps... or it could have been a simple draft. Judging by the state of these walls, it wouldn't be a surprise..." She flashed Rainbow a confident smile before getting to her hooves, focusing some of her magic into her horn.
An orchid light extended from the tip of her horn like a beacon, lighting up the area around them.
Twilight took note of nothing out of the ordinary, other than a damp fog presumably creeping in from the woods outside, spilling out over their hooves.
She dropped her shoulders in relief, sighing as she did before gazing back down at Rainbow. "The coast is clear, scaredy cat."
Rainbow quickly met her gaze. "M-my hooves just fell asleep is all," she hurriedly explained, hopping to her hooves, and smiling nonchalantly. "What, did you seriously think I was scared or something?"
"Think?" Twilight chuckled. "No."
Rainbow deadpanned.
"Aw, I'm only teasing, Rainbow. You just... remind me a little bit of Spike right now."
"I do?"
Twilight nodded, then smiled tenderly, stepping closer to nuzzle her cheek. "It's okay to be afraid of something though, Rainbow... So long as you also have the courage to face whatever it is you're afraid of."
"Which I do," Rainbow replied playfully, puffing out her chest and earning another chuckle from Twilight.
"I know you do." Twilight pulled away, her smile becoming one of admiration. "Because you're the bravest pony I know."
Rainbow gazed away, letting out a humorless laugh as her ears fell. "Right..."
"I mean... it's you being here with me that even gave me the courage to come here," Twilight went on to say, wrapping her forelegs around her girlfriend's shoulders lovingly as she leaned in... gently resting her forehead against hers. "I'm honestly... still a little afraid myself. I mean hay, who wouldn't be? We're in an eerie, empty castle at night, in a forest a long ways away from home, and... Princess Luna's magic may or may not be in here with us." She swallowed anxiously, contemplating the idea for a moment as she once again pulled away. "Though... knowing that it really is her magic, however corrupted it may be, gives me hope that it can be reasoned with. If she can be reasoned with."
"Her memories may be gone, but, well..." Rainbow searched for the right words, longing to give her girlfriend all the reassurance she needed. "That doesn't necessarily mean that she's gone, Twilight."
Twilight gulped, looking on ahead as she softly bit her lip. "She is if her mind's been infected by dark magic, Rainbow—"
She felt a sudden chill run down her spine, and glanced around her hooves apprehensively.
Rainbow carried on, oblivious to Twilight's distress.
"Look, Twi. Can't we just... move on?" Rainbow looked over her shoulder, then back at her, a little on edge. "Find out where that star or whatever it was landed already so we can...?" Her brow raised, taken aback. "Twi?"
She swiftly caught Twilight in her right wing, catching her as she had seemingly scrambled backwards out of the blue, tripping over some rocks and losing her balance.
"Twi!? W-what—?"
"T-there!" Her breathing elevated, her heartbeat quickening as she backed up further into Rainbow's wing, pointing a shaking hoof of hers down into the thick fog. "So-s-something j-just... s-slithered over my hoof—l-like a snake!"
Rainbow blinked, dumbfounded by her words, before choosing to stare down at her funnily.
"You're afraid of snakes?"
Twilight swallowed hard, turning her head, and revealing to Rainbow her petrified expression.
"I-I'm serious, Rainbow—" she chastised for but a moment before glancing back into the dark blue fog... and immediately regretted it, burying her gaze back into Rainbow's chest. Her eyelids shut tightly together. "There it goes again!"
So much for facing your fears, mused Rainbow with a roll of her eyes, turning to look... when she too became deathly still at the sight of... something parting a trail through the fog.
A dark serpent-like silhouette slithered beneath its surface, quickly disappearing around the corner of the door that had creaked open.
A long moment passed before Rainbow forced her awe-stricken gaze away, turning her attention back to Twilight who remained trembling as she clung to her sweatshirt.
"Twi?" she whispered, one of Twilight's ears perking up in response. "Twilight, it... it's gone."
"G-gone?"
"Out the door." Rainbow motioned with a cock of her head over to where it had fled. "Pret-ty sure it wasn't a 'snake' either. It sort of looked like it was swimming, and... I dunno, shimmering? Kind of like magic."
"Magic?" Twilight repeated aloud in thought, eyes growing wide. She pushed away from Rainbow's chest, looking frantically around the room in surprise. "Magic..." Her eyes were drawn to the withdrawing fog surrounding hers and Rainbow's hooves.
She dipped one of them into the fog curiously, swirling it around. A subtle numbness lingered as she withdrew it.
She gulped at the realization.
"This fog is magic..."
Rainbow stared at her quizzically, cocking her head.
"Twilight?"
Twilight threw her fears to the wind and ran ahead, Rainbow raising a hoof after her.
"H-Hey, wait—!"
"I can't, Rainbow!" Twilight yelled back, her eyes focused on the path ahead of her. "The slithering entity, a-and... and all of this fog—it's magic! Magic... that's manifesting itself as one of my worst fears!"
Twilight's hooves skidded past the open door, rounding the corner to find stairs leading further up. She stared up at the stairwell with a look of determination, the spacious library carrying her softening voice just enough for Rainbow to hear her say, "And I have a feeling I know who it belongs to."
Twilight galloped up the stairs without a second thought, Rainbow unable to do anything but watch, before sighing and shaking her head. "This is so not a good idea," she murmured, mustering up some courage and hoping into the air, taking off after her.
"Princess Luna, wai... wait!" Twilight called as she chased the fog up the stairs, almost tripping as one of her hooves accidentally caught up with some of the fog.
"Twilight, wait up!"
Twilight glanced over her shoulder for a second at the sound of Rainbow's voice, before looking back ahead.
"Wait! Please, Princess, I... Your sister is my teacher! S-she set me here! I'm—!"
The last of the fog slunk beneath a pair of closed doors at the end of the stairwell.
Firing up her horn, Twilight burst open the doors in front of her, coming to a sudden stop within an empty, open place. "Wai... ait..." she panted, then paused as she steadily caught her breath, looking around in wonder. "What...?"
"Twi!" Rainbow shouted once more before skidding to a midair halt as she flew in after her, only calming down once she caught a glimpse of the familiar purple hue of her girlfriend's coat.
"Twi...?" A relieved smile grew across her face. "Thank Celestia." She landed beside her, the rustling of her wings as they folded by her sides managing to bring Twilight back to reality.
"I-I'm okay, Rainbow," she assured her, keeping her baffled gaze fixated on the empty space that was laid out before them. "I just... T-the magic, it just... disappeared."
Rainbow's head tilted in confusion. "Disappeared?"
Twilight's brow crinkled as she sniffed the air, the feeling of something around them grabbing her attention. "Does the air feel thicker to you, Rainbow—?" She turned slightly, and gasped upon seeing her girlfriend struggling to stand. "Rainbow!"
Rainbow winced, her forelegs continuing to buckle for a bit before giving out, forcing her to fall onto her side. She grunted, gazing up at Twilight apologetically. "Every inch of me feels numb, Twi. Almost like there's—"
"Magic in the air," Twilight softly realized, the weight of it beginning to set in on her as well. "I'm fighting it myself, Rainbow. Hang on." She crouched and leaned closer, firing up her horn... when her head jerked to her side suddenly, something attaching itself to her horn. "Wha...?"
She lifted a hoof to it, only to feel a slick secretion dripping down her horn, blocking her magic from getting out. Her heart began beating faster and she grimaced for a brief second before her eyes flew open. The same heavy, constricting feeling now enveloped her foreleg as another of whatever leeched onto her horn slapped around her foreleg like a wet rag.
With an audible gulp, she cast her terrified gaze down to her hooves where she saw another slithery thing wrapped securely around the base of her foreleg, melding into a translucent-blue, magical coating that couldn't be shaken off, no matter how fiercely she flailed it.
"Twi...?"
Rainbow glanced up at her girlfriend, seeing her try to shake off some substance from her foreleg, making sounds in disgust as she tried desperately.
The same fog from earlier began filling the room, rising up to Twilight's hooves and submerging half of her own body.
"Rainbow!" Twilight cried out to her. "S-something's got me! H-help—!" Another one jumped out of the fog sealing off her mouth.
She tripped as she stumbled backwards, pulling and clawing at the magical blob, her heart beating a mile a minute as dozens more emerged from deep within the fog. She saw the paths they cut, and wondered if Rainbow could see—or even feel them too... or if her eyes were even still open.
Another look at her told her they were, and as they looked hopelessly at one another, her own eyes began to water, her lungs running out of air. Is this... how it—?
Something in her head snapped, and her eyes flickered bright white as the magic over her mouth melted into a dark blue blotch—melding with the other splotches on her coat until she was concealed inside of a glossy, pale blue layer of magic.
Her shoulders and back slouched forward, her head bowing and facing the floor for a long moment.
The remaining creatures all disappeared back into the fog, becoming one with it.
Rainbow's eyes grew heavy, watching from where she lay in the fog in stunned silence. "Twi..." she simply uttered, under her breath.
Twilight's gaze rose to meet hers as she uttered her name.
"I... am... sorry for doing this to you and your friend, rainbow one," spoke a new voice, muffled from the magic, and taking advantage of Twilight's own vocal cords to speak.
Rainbow's heart skipped.
She couldn't believe what she was hearing, but somehow... she was. "Lu... Luna...!?"
Twilight's body stood up, stressing as she continued, "Thy nightmare stole everything from me. It stole my body, rainbow one. It left behind everything that it did not need. Everything that made controlling me more of a challenge." She took a few steps back, stepping into place atop a circular platform. "My memories, my heart." She raised a hoof, and gently placed it over her chest... where the magic seemingly reacted, and pulsated with a beat of its own. "And I would give anything to be whole again, pegasus. Even... betray my own sister a second time."
Rainbow had heard more than enough.
"You were a princess, Luna! Doesn't the safety of your subjects worry you?" She grit her teeth and struggled forward, inching closer to the platform with her shoulder acting as an anchor. Luna merely stared as she struggled. "Twilight, she... she respected you! Are you really about to tarnish her image of you by acting so reckless—?"
"My image is already tarnished, pegasus." Luna averted her stare, opting to sit back on her haunches. "I have no sister, nor subjects to return to. All I have left is what she stole from me... and I will have it back. I have been waiting centuries for the pony who would come to bare the mark, to one day enter this castle and make it so that I may, at long last, reunite with my body... in exchange I free the monster who possessed it."
Rainbow pressed on, thinking back on Cadance, and Twilight. "You have ponies who care about you. Celestia—!"
Luna ignored her, lying down upon the platform. "For the stars will aid in her escape."
"Celestia cares... so much about you, Luna. She sits up countless nights wanting nothing more than to help you, only... she has no idea how to on her own." Rainbow's gaze softened, and it fell to the floor, defeated. Unbeknownst to her, the eyes that Luna possessed grew a little bigger as well. "So she's counting on Twi to figure something out... and that's one of the many reasons why I won't allow you to hurt her."
Rainbow forced her hooves flat onto the stone pavement, fighting back against the heavy weight of Luna's magic.
She stood up tall, cracking her neck before glaring straight at her. "Now, let. Her. Go."
Luna sensed Rainbow about to take her first step, and snapped out of it, blinking her eyes a few times before firing up her horn.
Magical cuffs formed around Twilight's hooves as Luna's lingering self slowly started draining from most of her body, slowly culminating in a single spot on her body. Twilight breathed in a much-needed breath as her eyes returned to their familiar, purple irises. She looked around in a panic, noticing her chained-up hooves, and thrashed her forelegs in an attempt to free them. "R-Rainbow?" she called out, barely able to move her gaze.
Rainbow swallowed anxiously, snapping her gaze away from Luna's magic as it continued to conjugate in one particular spot, and instead called back to her. "I, I-I'm right here, Twi."
"W-what h-happened, Rainbow? W-why, why are m-my h-hooves shackled?"
"J-just relax, Twilight. I'm... going to get you out—!"
Luna's magic dug into Twilight's chest cavity; causing Twilight to writhe, screaming as the excess magic entered her veins.
"Twi!"
Twilight's scream died in her throat as a light bubbled up from within her, widening her mouth and shooting into the sky. Her eyes glowing a brilliant white, the beam pierced the clouds, shooting toward the moon.
Rainbow squinted, wishing for nothing more than to lift a foreleg before her eyes as fierce wind expelled from around Twilight. She braced herself as best she could, narrowly avoiding being sent flying across the room.
The beam disappeared beyond the exosphere, striking the moon and for a moment, there was nothing but silence before the magic exploded in a crackling spark, expelling outwards around the moon in a wavelike form, and dissipating in the cold vacuum of space.
The winds died down, and Rainbow pensively reopened her eyes.
Is... is it over—?
A second beam struck Twilight's body, shadowy and slithering as it slunk down to earth like a dark bolt of lightning. Every part of her crackled and sparked with coursing magic.
Rainbow's ears flopped, hearing Twilight scream like that... unable to even lift a hoof to block it out.
"Twilight!" she yelled once more as black bolts of lightning and wind whizzed past her. Her eyes squeezed shut as she bit her lip. Darn it!
Ethereal forelegs, pitch dark as the night itself, rose up out from the platform under Twilight's body. The hooves set down on the edges of the platform, slowly pulling the rest of itself out.
Rainbow's eyes winced as a bright white light hit her eyelids.
She opened them hesitantly and they were quick to widen as she came face-to-face with a burgeoning unicorn's head—without a discernible mouth or nostrils, but with unblinking white eyes... She kept eye contact even as her eyes began to squint, scared stiff as whatever it was rose the remainder of its way out of Twilight—stumbling at first as it gained its footing. Its hooves phased through Twilight's body as it now stood over her girlfriend. Is... this the monster?
It looked to the right at first, then to the left—slowly, as a pair of hidden wings unfurled from its sides, shaking loose dark feathers that disintegrated into nothingness before ever even touching the ground.
The creature turned suddenly, flapping its large wings and disappearing into the night as it flew out one of the castle's many windows.
And then, for several long moments... nothing. Not a single sound was heard.
Rainbow swallowed hard, waiting with baited anticipation to see if the monster would return.
Another couple of moments passed, and she let out the breath she had been holding in, closing her eyes briefly in reprieve before looking back to where Twilight lay... the unicorn slowly catching her own breath.
Though she couldn't see it, Twilight still writhed—the last of the light draining from her eyes—with her forelegs free and wrapped over her stomach in agony... a low groan escaping her lips.
That, Rainbow could hear.
"Twilight...?" Rainbow called out to her. "Twilight, can... can you hear me?"
"I c-can h-hear you, Rainbow... B-but..."
"But?" Rainbow asked apprehensively as she cautiously took step after step up to the platform where her girlfriend lay still.
"I-it b-burns, Rainbow." Rainbow could make out the writhing pain in her voice. "What h-happened?"
At last Rainbow could see her, and the sight made her stomach churn.
Twilight's teeth were slightly clenched—her jaw quivering—and her eyes were shut tight, as if on the verge of tears.
Her body trembled, and her face appeared flushed... her breaths coming out in shallow, trembling wafts, like she was barely holding it together.
Rainbow's brow creased in concern. She tenderly lifted a hoof to Twilight's nearest cheek, hoping to comfort her.
Instead, what Rainbow discovered made her heart drop into the farthest pit of her stomach. She's burning up, she solemnly realized.
"Wha... what h-happened, Rainbow?" Twilight repeated, struggling through the pain.
If you really want to know, Babe... Rainbow sighed. "A shadowy, pony-shaped creature... climbed out of you."
Despite the pain, Twilight's eyes slowly opened, and she gazed over at her girlfriend with a skeptical look.
Rainbow shrugged back at her, smiling softly. "You asked."
Twilight sighed and turned her head, staring back up at the ceiling. "Did it drag all of my magic out with it...? Urgh, I feel so lightheaded."
Rainbow averted her eyes, biting her bottom lip. "I don't know... Must've taken the magic in the air with it though," she remarked, looking around. "My body's already warming back up."
"Did it h-hurt you?" Twilight asked suddenly.
Rainbow looked back at her, amazed by the concern Twilight had for her, even now. If it weren't for all the pain, she was sure her fiancée would've had a look of worry on her face.
"N-no... no, I... I-it sort of just looked at me funny before hoofing it right out the window. Guess I scared it off."
"You? Scaring something off?" Rainbow's eyes narrowed playfully, however Twilight's expression remained grim.
"Tell me everything you saw, Rainbow. Something... may have just stolen my magic."
"Let's get you out of here first," Rainbow insisted, giving her wings a couple flaps, waking them up.
"A-alright," Twilight stammered, dreading the idea of being moved in the state she was in. "Can... c-can you fly?"
Rainbow nodded. "Feels like it," she said, bearing a proud look as she glanced over her shoulder at her wings, watching as they flapped powerfully in response.
"And when the beam came back down, it was all shadowy-like. It was when it struck you that you began screaming like crazy. Then it crawled out of you, spreading these massive wings...! Though, something about it seemed wrong... like it was... I dunno, weak or something." Rainbow shrugged. "It stumbled a little, and didn't even seem to know where it was."
"Maybe it didn't," Twilight theorized, listening intently as her girlfriend carried her from the castle, describing everything that had happened. "Before this creature... showed up... Something else happened to me. Something... seeped into my chest, remember? I do because it's the last thing I felt before my mind went blank."
Rainbow looked off solemnly. "I do, but... what's that got to do with the alicorn-looking thing?"
"Well maybe that... magic just... used me to... I don't know, give itself form?" Twilight shrugged halfheartedly.
"Twilight," Rainbow began, shaking her head incredulously. "Magic can't just..." She stopped herself.
What? Give itself form? You don't know that, she argued with herself. And are you seriously about to tell her that Luna was the cause of all this? That she freely brought a monster down to Earth just to be one with her body? I get that she'd be desperate to be whole again, but... putting all of Equestria at risk? Twi would be devastated—
"Magic can't just what, Rainbow?" Twilight asked, snapping her from her thoughts.
"O-oh! Um..." She scrambled to come up with something fast. "I was just going to ask if magic like that could really give itself form. Like, if it really could take the form of a pony, a-and have a mind of its own."
Well, it wasn't a total lie.
"Hypothetically, I... think so," replied Twilight. "B-but the magic would have to be residual, still bearing the caster's consciousness."
"Huh. So," asked Rainbow, playing along, "you really think that you were attacked by some kind of rogue magic then?"
Twilight snorted. "Maybe I really was possessed by the Pony of Shadows."
Rainbow let out an humorless laugh. "Y-yeah," she agreed. "Now wouldn't that be something..."
"So it's possible then," Twilight mused after a moment, Rainbow's smile dying on her lips. "Maybe what I was chasing earlier... really was Luna's residual magic—"
"No, Twilight!" Rainbow raised her voice suddenly, leaving Twilight shaken. "I... I'm sorry but... no." Her voice grew quieter, and her tone softened as Twilight's heart slowly sank. "Every part of Luna was sent with her to the moon, and... geez, I... I'm really sorry, Twi—"
"No," Twilight insisted in a weak voice. "No... it's, it's okay, Rainbow." Her lips formed a saddened smile. "I guess I needed that, I mean... what are the odds that it actually was Princess Luna?"
Rainbow averted her eyes, her ears flopping ashamedly as a sickening feeling grew in her gut.
"Though, I guess that begs the question," continued Twilight, "of whose magic it was."
"Well, whosever it was... it was sinister magic, that's for sure."
Rainbow looked off into the distance, to the trees, and rolling fog just outside as she entered the chamber with the pedestal and orbs from earlier. I feel sick for lying to her like this, she lamented, but... "Maybe it really was just magic, and... it stole some of yours to give itself shape. Hay," she suggested, "maybe it even modeled itself after you."
"So I created a monster..." She smiled bitterly and nodded expectantly, her voice lacking any sort of surprise. "Great."
"No, Twilight... you didn't, alright? You were taken advantage of, you... didn't have a choice in the matter."
Twilight said nothing, remaining unconvinced.
Rainbow sighed, putting the topic on hold for the time being, and focusing instead on just making it out safely.
"Hang on, Twi." Rainbow looked around warily, coming to a halt outside the caste doors. What's with this fog all of a sudden?
Twilight glanced up curiously as well, attempting to light her horn... but try as she might, could not muster the strength.
Her gaze sadly fell. "I can't even light a way for—"
Her sentence died in her throat as Rainbow wavered a bit, her wings straining to keep them aloft from within the dense fog.
She found herself with no choice but to slowly descend, setting both herself and Twilight down on the lowest step of the castle's stairs.
Twilight herself winced, her eyelids squeezing tightly together as her body folded a bit in Rainbow's lap.
"Twi, I... I'm... going to set you beside me... okay?" she heard her ask.
She wanted to shake her head no and refuse, but reluctantly nodded her head yes.
"Okay, um... I... really hope this doesn't hurt too much," Rainbow said, her hooves still wrapped behind her back, and under her hind legs.
Twilight merely groaned in dreaded anticipation before a sudden, searing pain made her lose all sense of the world around her. She clenched her teeth, and drew in a pained breath, her eyes once again squeezing shut.
And then, after an excruciatingly long moment, it was over.
Not the pain—that still lingered—but rather the cold, hard feeling of the stone stairs beneath her... and no longer the warmth of her girlfriend's forelegs wrapped around her.
Her gaze creeped open slowly, and she looked to her right with a few tears leaking from her eyes, to see Rainbow sitting there beside her with an outreaching hoof and look of concern on her face.
"A-are you...?" she began to ask.
Twilight gave a pained nod in response, raising a slight hoof of her own, assuring her that she was okay.
She breathed out, then leaned back carefully until she was laid out on the stone steps, gazing up at the starry night sky.
As uncomfortable as these steps were, she thought, looking on the bright side... at least she was no longer sitting up.
Rainbow meanwhile, stared down at her with a sorry look.
"Celestia, that hurt," Twilight cursed in a low murmur, Rainbow's ears folding flat against her mane regretfully.
"Sorry," she apologized out of the blue, grabbing her girlfriend's attention.
"N-no no, don't apologize!" she insisted. "You... you needed to set me down."
"Y-yeah, but... I'm just sorry, you know? About everything. Your possession, the state you're in..." Rainbow gave a halfhearted shrug. "Maybe I could have stopped it."
"You were numb with magic, Rainbow. I'm... not sure if anypony could have stopped this."
"I know, it just... really makes me feel awful, is all."
Silence set in between the two as Twilight's heart swelled. Rainbow... She averted her eyes to the side, mulling over what to say next.
"Weeeell... you feeling awful is making me feel even more awful than I already do, so..." Twilight smiled up at her affectionately. "Please don't."
I can't promise you that I won't, but... Rainbow returned the loving smile. "A-alright. Anything for you, Twi."
"Thank you, Rainbow."
With that, the two slunk back into silence for a few long moments, Rainbow reminiscing on what had caused them to set down in the first place.
"Looks like your feathers got a little damp from the fog," Twilight remarked, her attention shifting to Rainbow's wings.
Rainbow herself looked back down at her with a wry face.
Apparently she wasn't the only one wondering what had happened.
"Alright, so..." She sighed, shaking her head in dismay. "We're stuck here then, is what you're saying."
"For the moment, yes," Twilight solemnly agreed.
"And I doubt you feel strong enough to walk yet."
Twilight's lips pursed, and she shook her head.
"So that's a no." Rainbow looked off into the distance in thought. "How about you lie on my back then? That won't put too much pressure on your stomach, will it?"
She glanced back at Twilight, hopeful... only to find her staring up at her, exasperated.
"Right..." Rainbow meekly scratched the back of her head, shying her gaze away. "So, uh... how about we do the practical thing?"
"Sit around and wait for this fog to clear, my pain to subside, your wings to dry, or for the princess to maybe, hopefully find us both?" finished Twilight with a sheepish grin.
Rainbow laughed softly, getting to her hooves. "I'll start gathering the firewood."
She cantered off, and after a couple minutes spent watching her girlfriend doing exactly that... a subtle thought entered Twilight's head.
"Why do you suppose it chose the appearance of an alicorn?"
"Hm?" Rainbow threw down her collection of firewood near their seat on the stairs, gifting her girlfriend her full attention.
"Oh, the monster!" she exclaimed, as it dawned on her just what her girlfriend was getting at. "Right, well, um..."
She raked her mind for something to tell her while Twilight meanwhile, continued to muse, gazing up at the stars. "I suppose it makes sense," she supposed, arriving at the solution to her own question. "I mean, If you were given the chance to become an alicorn... wouldn't you take it?"
Rainbow smiled slightly. "I guess."
"Maybe it read my mind..." Twilight continued. "After all, it saw my fears... Maybe it saw into my memories... my dreams— Or, more realistically," she mused, the more cynical part of her mind taking precedence, "it's magic; and magic," she said with a heavy sigh, "exists in almost everything—wings and horns included. So it simply formed both."
"That's... certainly a theory," Rainbow replied, sitting back down beside her.
Twilight's voice took on a tone of urgency. "We have to warn Princess Celestia about this, Rainbow."
"Alright," Rainbow agreed. "Just... Let me be the one to tell her... okay?"
Twilight creased her brow. "Why—?"
"Because you can barely stand, Twilight. You need help, and... I'll be taking you to a hospital the moment we reach Ponyville. Once there, I'll... leave you to get some rest, then head to Canterlot to warn Celestia."
Twilight's lips parted to protest when Rainbow teasingly added, "Don't worry... I'll be back before you come to."
Around a half hour or so later, Rainbow had a warm fire burning by their hooves, and a large pile of berries gathered from the woods nearby, having used her sweatshirt as a bag to hold them all.
Twilight peered over at the pile in her girlfriend's lap, taking quick note of which were which.
"The blue ones are safe to eat. The red will, uhm..." Twilight made a slicing motion across her throat with her hoof.
"Oh, um..." Rainbow gulped. "G-good to know."
She breathed out—calming her nerves—and turned back to the pile, taking a blue one in between her teeth, and chomping down. A tangy, sweet juice filled her mouth. Mm...
She licked her lips, turning to face Twilight. "Sure you don't want any of these, Twi? They're super sweet."
Twilight smiled, thankful. "Thanks but no thanks, Rainbow. I'm pretty sure food's the last thing I need."
Rainbow's expression grew a little disappointed, but she nodded nevertheless. "If you say so."
She turned her attention back to the pile of berries, making quick work of them over the next few minutes.
"Ah..." She brushed the remaining red ones from the underbelly of her sweatshirt before tossing it back on, and lying back on the steps, using her forelegs to prop her back up a bit. "That was good."
Twilight chuckled. "I'm glad. You haven't eaten since the train ride here, after all."
"Yeah, and neither have you." Rainbow sighed, taking on a more serious tone. "I'm worried about you, Twi. I think, if those stomach pains don't go away within the next few hours... you really should try eating something—regardless of how much it hurts."
Twilight rolled her eyes, letting out a huff. "Okay, oh—"
A sudden thump—like that of muffled cannon fire—rumbled in the distance, cutting her off.
The thump was proceeded by another, then another, and another.
Steps, Rainbow and Twilight both concluded as they stared into one another's worrying expressions, apparently belonging to a creature large enough to shake the earth.
They simultaneously gulped.
Something big and blue—with fur that shimmered like the stars—traversed the ravine before them, raising the wooden bridge over its back as it passed underneath it.
The ropes suspending the bridge were pulled undone from the farthest poles, causing it to collapse and drop flat against the rocky surface of the opposite wall.
"An ursa..." Twilight murmured, staring awestruck at... what she could see of it. "It's nothing like I thought it'd be, it's... breathtaking."
"Yeah, and also a ginormous bear," remarked Rainbow teasingly, reminding her.
Twilight quickly grew a little flustered.
"Well... m-maybe it is a... deadly, a-and... ferocious animal, but from here... I've never seen a more... magnificent creature—"
Rainbow sat up, staring down at her indignantly. "Uh, hel-lo?" She pointed her hooves against her chest.
Twilight looked up at her, and smiled, humored. "Besides you, Sweetie," she teased.
Rainbow deadpanned, then gave her eyes a roll.
"I'm gonna grab a closer look," she said as she hopped to her hooves, galloping the short distance over to the ravine. The ground, all the while, shook beneath her with each step that the ursa took.
She reached the edge excitedly, and her heart immediately sunk—her breath catching in the back of her throat as her body slowly went numb at the sight of the enormous creature.
The beast trudged past her, never once taking note of her as she stared down at it... floored by its sheer size.
As it continued off into the distance, Rainbow snapped herself back to reality, hightailing it back to where her girlfriend lay waiting.
"That was awesome!" she gushed as she made her way back. "Though..." Her smile slowly fell from her face, her thoughts lingering on something specific that had stood out to her. She slipped into silence, cuing Twilight to speak up.
"Rainbow?" she urged, watching her worriedly.
"It was... pregnant, I think."
"Pregnant?" Twilight repeated, stupefied. Oookay... I wasn't expecting that.
Rainbow nodded. "Probably, I mean... its stomach did seem to bulge a bit."
"Huh..." Twilight thought it over, then smiled a coy smile. "I guess that would make its cub an ursa minor, huh Rainbow?"
She snorted, letting out a soft chortle at her own joke.
Rainbow stared back at her dryly, before the sound of a thousand tiny buzzing wings caused her ears to perk up. Wha...?
She looked to the surrounding treeline, the sound growing louder by the second, quickly capturing Twilight's attention as well.
Her brow furrowed, her eyes narrowing as she struggled to get a better look. "What in the...?"
Her eyes widened suddenly as she stumbled backwards—her heart nearly leaping from her chest. "Whoa!"
A swarm of round, winged creatures—appearing within the blink of an eye, in every color imaginable—flew out over both herself and Twilight.
Rainbow ducked instinctively, some still managing to brush past her mane as they whirled by the castle ruins, stirring up quite the breeze.
Rainbow raised her brow. "What are those?" she wondered, watching as they disappeared over the distant horizon.
Twilight was none the wiser.
"Insects, I... think," she replied, uncertain. "I never read anything about an animal or insect with that sort of appearance..." Her eyes narrowed in contemplative thought. "Where are they off to though, I wonder..."
"Twi?" Rainbow questioned, looking over at her.
"The ursa as well," she continued to ponder. "Why else would these animals just... up and leave this area, unless something was affecting..."
"Twi, come on..." Rainbow chuckled nervously. "You're sort of giving me the creeps here. Sort of, I mean—"
A branch snapped.
She immediately stiffened, a cold chill running down her spine.
A low growl proceeded the snap, and Rainbow, whose heart began beating faster, reluctantly looked over her shoulder towards the source of the sound.
Her pupils instantly shrunk.
"Oh, horseapples..."
A snarling beast, partly masked by the shadows of the castle, was staring her down.
It took a step forward and more of its features came into light.
It was a lion—bearing a maw capable of gobbling ponies up whole—with a pair of bat-like wings that rose sharply from its back, and a scorpion tail posed directly at her, ready to strike at any given moment.
A manticore... dreaded Twilight in realization.
Rainbow took a couple of slow steps backwards, coming within earshot of her girlfriend.
"Twilight," she gestured in a low murmur, staring ahead.
Twilight stared at her, too scared to make a move.
"Twilight," she repeated. "Can you teleport?"
"I-I..." She swallowed hard, feeling as though she had regained some magic... but even if she hadn't, what choice did she have but to try? "Y-yeah."
"Then telelport."
The two disappeared in a flash of purple, reemerging on the other side of the fallen bridge, Rainbow catching Twilight as she almost fell over.
She glanced back at the creature once before nudging Twilight up onto her back—Twilight wincing and sucking in a sharp breath as Rainbow dashed off, bolting into the forest.
"Sorry," she apologized with every step. "Sorry, sorry, sorry..."
The manticore lowered itself into a predatory stance, growling through its teeth before leaping the chasm—its wings spread as it made the leap. Its paws kicked up dust and pressed into the grass and dirt as it ran after them.
It let out a roar, letting them know it was on their trail.
"W-why's it a-acting s-so ferocious...?" Twilight stammered out through the pain, and the fear. "Manticore's... are supposed to be d-docile around ponies!"
"Really, Twi? Docile? A lion creature with bat wings and a scorpion tail is docile?!"
"W-well..." She timidly averted her eyes. "I-it was in a book I r-read—"
"Well the book's wrong!"
The manticore swiped at Rainbow's hooves, causing her to falter and fall. Their bodies tumbled downhill, Twilight getting knocked into a river ahead of them, submerging before she could scream.
She flailed her hooves, gasping for breath as her head emerged above the surface. Her head twisted all around her as her body remained afloat, droplets of water dripping from her mane and brow and stinging her eyes. "Rainbow!" she called out desperately, with no idea where she was or where she was headed.
Not knowing she was already being carried downstream.
"Twilight!" Rainbow yelled before being pounced upon by the manticore itself, the beast letting out a snarl in her face.
"Rainbow...?" Twilight turned toward the sound of her voice. "Rainbow, h-help!"
"Ngh... H-hang on!" Rainbow kicked off the manticore's chest, throwing herself out from underneath it. She stumbled before leaping into the air and diving headfirst into the river, one of the manticore's paws swiping loose a few hairs from her tail.
She came up for air a moment later, shaking her mane somewhat dry.
She kicked forward, pulling herself closer until she reached Twilight, pulling her close with her forelegs.
Twilight grew tense, letting out a little gasp at the embrace. "Rainbow?"
"I got you, Twi."
Twilight breathed out a sigh of relief, letting out a weak, terrified laugh. "I'm pretty certain pegasi aren't naturally-gifted swimmers."
Rainbow grinned warily. "Then I should count myself lucky."
A moment of silence passed between them before Twilight felt Rainbow's heart skip a beat.
Her smile fell.
"What's ahead of us, Rainbow? Rainbow—?"
Rainbow swam in front of her, and embraced her within both her wings and forelegs. She closed her eyes tightly as the two suddenly felt weightless, the wind building and whipping around them fiercely.
The two fell into a pool of murky-brown water, like a raindrop into a puddle of water.
The smell caused the two to desperately swim to the water's surface, taking a deep breath before pinching their muzzles shut—their free forelegs keeping them afloat.
"Where... where are we?" Rainbow asked, then groaned. "What is that smell?"
"I—I think we're in some kind of bog," Twilight replied. She shook some of the water from her face and mane at the same time as bubbles began surfacing in front of them. She gazed down at them, bemused. "Bubbles—?"
Twi!" Rainbow pushed her out of the way just as a saucer-like head shot up from underneath her, as brown as the water itself. Its neck towered over them as they were swept aside from the oncoming waves.
Twilight gulped, her pupils shrinking. "Oh Celestia..."
"Twi...?" Rainbow stared up at the enormous creature, frozen with fear.
"Celestia, no no no—!"
"Twilight!" Rainbow raised her own quivering voice, snapping her our of her current state. "What is that?"
"It's a... a-a—!"
The wind was knocked out of them, both mares falling onto their stomachs and holding onto whatever they could as something else rose up beneath them, accompanied with a low growl.
The object beneath them stopped moving, Rainbow and Twilight reluctantly opening their eyes to a sight that made their hearts drop and faces pale.
"—H-hyd-d-dra," Twilight uttered with a nervous swallow, her and Rainbow staring as its head stared straight at them intently... its green eyes piercing through the darkness.
Rainbow grew stiff, instinctively shutting her eyes as the hydra reared its head closer, its warm breath sending chills throughout her body. Twilight watched, deathly frozen and with bated breath, her heartbeat quickening to the point of nausea.
The tip of its tongue only just nudged Rainbow's side when the head they laid on rose up to stare at the other questioningly.
The other head cocked and motioned with its eyes to the top of the other's head where Twilight and Rainbow lay perfectly still.
The head housing the two ponies looked up before looking back in confusion.
Seizing the opportunity, Rainbow whispered cautiously to Twilight.
"Twilight?"
Twilight snapped back to reality, staring terrified into the eyes of her girlfriend.
"H-Hey. Twilight."
"R-Rainbow, a-are you—? I-I mean... okay?"
Rainbow huffed, nodding once. "I'm fine—"
"B-but the h-hydra almost—!"
Rainbow cut her off, shaking the fact from her thoughts. "Do you have enough in you for another teleport?"
"N-no..." Twilight sniffled, bowing her head in dismay. "I'm so scared, Rainbow," she uttered, her voice teary and strained.
"H-hey," Rainbow reassured her, "don't worry about that. I'm here with you, alright?" She softly smiled, bringing a hoof to Twilight's cheek, Twilight's gaze shifting to meet hers. "Now come on... we can figure a way out of this. We always do." She glanced over her shoulder, back at her wings, and frowned at the sight of them. "My wings are pretty soaked, but I might be able to keep us afloat for a few s—"
Their eyes widened as they were both thrown from the hydra's head—its other head butting into it in annoyed anger.
Rainbow grabbed Twilight's hoof in her own before she was completely flung off, grabbing with her other at one of the hydra's eyebrows, hanging right before one of its eyes.
And that's when it finally saw them.
Rainbow and Twilight simultaneously gulped as the hydra narrowed its eyes, letting out a low, guttural growl.
It threw its head back toward the sky, flinging the two of them high into the air as it did.
The hydra smirked, opening its mouth and waiting.
Rainbow grunted as the wind sped up around them—their hooves still interlinked as she pulled Twilight up against her, wrapping her free foreleg around her lower back before feverishly flapping her wings.
Twilight stared at her, completely taken aback. "Rainbow!?"
Rainbow scowled, her voice and face strained. "I'm not about to let either of us become food for some hydra!"
She flapped her wings, gaining a little distance until they gave out, and they fell... the wind around them picking back up.
Their hearts sunk, and they huddled together, shutting their eyes... until they were greeted by a scaly, slimy landing that knocked the wind out of them both. The hydra's nose scrunched up as the two landed on it directly before beginning their slippery descent downwards... Rainbow managing to grab hold of one of the spikes behind its head.
Twilight trembled and sniffled, burying her face in Rainbow's shoulder. "This isn't happening, this isn't happening, this isn't—!" She squeaked in terror as the hydra rocked its head back and forth, loosening Rainbow's grip on the spike.
"Twi, just... ngh... hold on!"
"What do you t-think I'm doing?!"
Rainbow looked all around her, catching the other head in her peripheral, giving its lips a lick as it loomed over them.
Rainbow took in a shaken breath, seeing only two ways out of this... and she didn't care for either of them.
She gulped and closed her eyes as she let go, slipping down the back of the hydra's neck. Keeping her wings outstretched at her sides for balance, she pulled back into the air at the last second, narrowly escaping the jaws of the hydra as it snapped at them so fiercely that it bit its other neck clean off.
It blinked, and sheepishly drew away as Rainbow and Twilight landed on its back with a heavy thud—coming to rest on either side of the spikes that traveled down its back.
Twilight nudged her head to her left, gazing over at Rainbow as they both caught their breaths... and extended her foreleg out to her, coming to rest between one of the gaps in the hydra's spikes.
Rainbow looked down at it, then back up into her girlfriend's quivering, sickly appearance. Her watery eyes, pale face, flushed cheeks, and profuse sweat... With a knot forming in her throat, she reached out her own hoof, meeting Twilight halfway and taking her hoof in hers, smiling gingerly.
Twilight returned an exhausted one of her own, silently applauding Rainbow's ingenuity. Though her eyes had been shut and buried in her shoulder the whole time... she could never have blocked out the crunching sound of that neck bite.
A hiss broke through their concentration, and they stared up in silent dread as three heads with peeved expressions all now stared down at them.
"Three heads," Rainbow murmured bitterly as her shoulders slumped, defeated. "Why are there three...?"
"B-because," Twilight explained, feeling like such a scatterbrain, "when a hydra loses its neck a-and head, it... grows back two more—!"
The hydra bucked its back, forcing the two to separate from the sudden jolt, and slip into the murky water below. "Well terrific!" Rainbow angrily yelled once she reemerged from under the water's surface.
Its tail splashed around in the water, collecting the two in its grip.
They squirmed and struggled before being flung back into the air—only at an angle this time around—directly into its widening mouth as if they were nothing more than a couple pieces of popcorn.
Rainbow glared and wound her hoof back. "When will you get it through your thick heads...?" she growled out, and clobbered the hydra right across its nose, causing it to wince and snap its jaw shut. Its head bowed a bit, allowing the two to land safety upon its head—stumbling for a second before collapsing in exhaustion. "We... aren't food..."
Rainbow... Twilight thought, at a loss for words as she simply stared in amazement.
Not wasting another second, the two breathed out a collective sigh, and climbed to their hooves... Twilight's insides burning and aching far worse than Rainbow. Still, she managed to move and dodge the second head as it snapped at them, jumping in time with Rainbow and setting hoof onto its head. They steadied themselves as their hooves struggled to find their footing.
All the while Twilight pushed past the pain, continuing to admire Rainbow's bravery and fortitude. Always charging headfirst into danger... and all just to protect me. She smiled, saddened, remembering what she had told Rainbow's father. Here I'm supposed to be the one to charge into danger headfirst, and yet... She, alongside Rainbow, leaped onto the nose of the third head, dodging it as well as it smacked into the other two. I've never felt so vulnerable... like a burden.
The hydra's eyes rolled around in their sockets, buying the two some time as the creature found itself dizzy from its heads knocking into one another.
Rainbow glanced all around her before spinning around, turning to face Twilight directly. "We're going to have to jump."
Twilight stared back at her, incredulous. "W-what do y-you mean jump?"
"We'll each jump backwards, and grab hold of one another around the hydra's neck. That should slow our trajectory before we let go and hit the water." Their hooves slipped and slid as she explained her plan, the head they were standing on continuing to wobble back and forth. "After that, we swim for the shore, and hopefully lose this thing in the trees."
Twilight's gaze sunk.
She bit her lip as her face bore a look of uncertainty. "I... I-I don't know, Rainbow."
Rainbow meanwhile, noticed that the other two heads had regained their senses, as she stared past Twilight... and once more had their sights fixated on them both.
Rainbow gulped, and Twilight didn't have to look behind her to know what her girlfriend was seeing.
Her face said it all.
Okay, so maybe her plan wasn't foolproof... but right now, she had but two options: to sink or to swim.
"Celestia, Rainbow," she begged. "Please catch me—"
"I will!"
Rainbow met her worried expression with a reassuring one as they each took a couple steps back, teetering on the edge of its head.
She nodded at Twilight as she began counting. "Three... t-two... one!"
They jumped backwards... watching as the head passed quickly before their eyes. Their stomachs upturned at the feeling of weightlessness, the rush of wind deafening their hearing, but still they were able catch a glimpse of one another, and that gave them all the confidence they needed.
They reached out, grabbing onto each other's forelegs, pulling the other closer. Tightening their combined hold, they slowed their descent down its neck, all the while the two remaining heads snaked around them, eyeing them intently.
"Nngh... Ready, Twi?"
Twilight gulped. "Ready as I-I'll ever be!"
Rainbow nodded and turned away, glancing up at where the heads were positioned as they closed in, preparing to strike... then down at the water. "Now!"
The two pushed away from one another, launching each other back into the water below... A couple chilling crunch sounds proceeding their rocky descent.
Sucking in deep breaths, they submerged deep below the surface of the bog, and their eyes soon widened as something heavy splashed down above them. They gasped before sealed lips, looking up before swimming frantically out of the way of the sinking hydra's head, and neck.
They swam up to the water's surface, breathing in deeply once they emerged.
Flicking her mane from her eyes, and wiping a quick foreleg across her face, Rainbow looked over to where Twilight sat floating... and wasted no time in swimming over to her.
She tentatively lifted a hoof as she asked, "Twi... are you alright?"
Twilight gulped, and nodded shakily... "Y-yeah, just... just get us to land, Rainbow." She coughed softly, her breathing strained and throat burning on the inside. "It... just lost its third head."
Gingerly, Rainbow placed her forelegs around her girlfriend's shoulders, and swam them to the nearest shoreline with her powerful hind legs. Twilight reached it first, practically hugging the spongy dirt as she fell forward into it, catching her breath.
Rainbow swam up beside her, gazing into the dirt and grass... when four lean, mean shadows cast themselves over both herself and Twilight... blotting out the pale moonlight. Rainbow glanced swiftly up behind her at what was now four silhouetted hydra heads that lit up visibly within a flash of lightning... and roared in time with a crack of thunder.
Rainbow gulped, her ears flopping and pupils shrinking as she scrambled onto the miry land. Turning back towards Twilight, she lowered her hoof. "Come on, Twi," she beckoned, urgently.
Twilight peered up at her, then at her hoof, swallowing hard before reaching out and taking it.
Rainbow pulled her to her hooves, and mustering what little strength they both still had, took off running down the wide dirt pathway stretched out before them. Behind them, the hydra's steps shook the earth beneath them, toppling the small trees in its path as it gave chase.
Darn it! Rainbow glanced around warily, seeing no immediate way out, no caves, or anywhere to hide... Just... gotta keep moving... but... She gazed back at Twilight who was lagging behind, and slowed her steps until she was right by her side.
"R-Rainbow?" Twilight looked at her, taken aback. "W-whut're you—?"
"Hop on my back, Twilight," Rainbow urged her, kneeling forward. "I can carry you."
"B-but I...!" Twilight attempted to argue, folding her ears and averting her gaze away in guilt. I'll only weigh you down...
The hydra's steps grew louder, worsening her already growing anxiety, and, as she looked behind her, gasped, desperately shouting out her girlfriend's name in fear.
Rainbow looked back herself just in time to see one of the hydra's heads closing in on her.
Twilight bit her lip, shutting her eyes tightly. This is all my fault, she lamented. If it weren't for me...
The hydra opened its crooked jaw, mere feet away from Rainbow who paled at the fearsome sight.
Is this really it—?
The wind was knocked from her lungs as Twilight threw herself into Rainbow's path... knocking her out of the hydra's.
Rainbow looked back to where she had been just in time to see the hydra's jaw snap shut around the pony she loved.
Her eyes slowly widened, watching as the hydra smirked, and rose back up into the air... about to gulp down her girlfriend. She didn't even notice as another one of its heads craned downwards, readying to snack on her too as she stood there, too shocked to move.
Her eyes only just began to grow teary when... her brow lifted in surprise, watching as the hydra winced.
Its eyes seemingly began to grow sleepy as several moments ticked by, the other three heads appearing the same as they too began to wobble.
Rainbow glanced between them with a growing, hopeful smile tugging at the corner of her lips.
The one that was about to lunge at her was the first to shut its eyes, the others following suit as its legs gave out... and it started to fall.
Rainbow's smile fell from her face, her eyes widening in panic before squeezing shut.
She threw her wings over her head as the heads and necks hit the space around her with a thunderous crash, brewing up dust and raking up her mane and hoodie as wind from the crash whipped past her.
The wind soon subsided after a couple long moments, and Rainbow cautiously lowered her wings back to her sides, hesitantly opening her eyes back up... only to be greeted with the sight of a downed hydra's head as more of the dust cleared to reveal its presence.
She stifled a shriek and took a few steps back in startlement... only for her body to go completely stiff as she backed up into up a second fallen head. The feeling of its slimy scales against her rump sent a shiver down her spine and she jumped away once more, taking a few calming breaths.
Rainbow walked out from between the two heads, setting hoof in front of the downed hydra.
"Twi...?" she called out tentatively, facing the head that had scooped her up.
She leaned in a little closer, taking another step. "Twilight—?"
Rainbow shielded her eyes as a bright flash of purple went off in front of her, Twilight stumbling towards her.
Her own heart skipped a beat as Twilight fell against her chest, shuddering at the cool, slimy feeling of the hydra's saliva on Twilight's shoulders, and on her forelegs... some of it dripping from her horn.
Twilight gazed up to meet Rainbow's surprised stare, her own eyes flickering between her normal, violet irises, and an intense white light.
Eventually, the last of it drained from her eyes.
"H-hey," she greeted her, sniffling before smiling sheepishly up at her. "S-sorry for the scare..."
"It..." Rainbow blinked before coming to her senses, shaking her head. "I-it's alright, t-though... you didn't have to... you know, do that."
"Yes, I did," she insisted lovingly. "I'd do anything for you, Rainbow. You should know that."
"Yeah," Rainbow snorted bitterly, gazing away. "Even if it means putting your life at risk, apparently," she murmured under her breath.
Twilight's smile fell. "You put your life at risk for me tonight too, you know," she noted, her tone becoming a little indignant.
Rainbow's ears raised, and her eyes slowly widened... realizing she was right.
She bit her lip, turning back to face her fiancée with a now heavy heart, her ears flopping as she looked her in her eyes ashamedly.
"Twi, I... I'm sorry I snapped for a second there, I—"
Twilight put a hoof to Rainbow's cheek as she kissed her lips, effectively shutting her up.
"It's okay, Rainbow," she whispered, pulling back. Her lips formed a smug smile. "I had the magic to escape anyway."
"Y-yeah, well... Speaking of that..." Rainbow's brow furrowed a little, and she brought a hoof to the back of her neck. "I thought your magic had been exhausted?"
"It had been. I guess I... was so overcome with fear right then, that my magic glands must have kicked into overdrive and produced whatever amount of magic was necessary to survive. Magic I didn't even know I had." She scuffed a hoof against the ground before looking up at her apprehensively. "I'll probably be feeling the results of that real soon, but um... w-what exactly did I um... do, while my eyes were like... you know."
Rainbow pointed past her with a nod of her head, getting her girlfriend to turn around and nearly scream, leaping out of her skin at the sight of the sleeping hydra.
"I... knocked it out...?" Twilight uttered, brow raised and hoof placed over her hammering heart. She shook her head in denial. "Sure this explains why we're here having this conversation and not currently running for our lives, but... I never imagined myself capable of something like this..."
"Guess you're more magical than you think you are."
Twilight chuckled humorlessly at that, turning back around to face her. "Magical enough to put a full-grown hydra to sleep and allow myself to become a conduit for some... thing. Yeah, I'm magical alright."
"Twi... Come on, that's not what I—"
"I... I know. Sorry, Rainbow. I... It's just..." Twilight breathed in deeply, then out before asking, "Doesn't it terrify you, what my magic can do?"
Rainbow pursed her lips, then shrugged. "Not really."
Twilight stared back at her for a single, long moment, her lips slowly parting in disbelief. "I'm a danger, Rainbow. I've hurt you before because I can't manage it. You were only safe because I was trapped in that thing's mouth, and had my magic not ran out so quickly... I cant bear to think what I would have done to you."
"I don't," Rainbow replied without a moment's hesitation, "because you didn't hurt it, Twilight. You could have, sure... but you knocked it unconscious instead." Twilight jumped to refute, Rainbow raising her voice before she could. "Haven't I told you to stop beating yourself up, Twilight? To try and forgive yourself?"
"I..." Twilight averted her eyes, running a hoof along her foreleg anxiously.
Rainbow's voice softened, and she smiled warmly at her. "I think you can control it, Twi... if you simply keep those closest to you always on your mind."
Twilight blinked, stupefied. Always on my mind, huh? She smiled at the thought. I suppose keeping her safe was the last thought on my mind...
"Alright," she agreed simply, much to her girlfriend's relief. "I'll keep my friends in mind... and count on all of you to help me keep it in check."
Rainbow chuckled. "Will do, Twi."
The two shared a smile, a calming moment of reprieve passing between them.
"Well," Twilight began with a sigh, "back to being exhausted. Only even more so now..." She blanched as she gave her coat a quick shake, ending with both her fur and mane becoming a little frizzled. "Blech..."
Meanwhile Rainbow watched from where she stood, utterly speechless.
How could she could be so okay after that, she wondered.
"Hm?" Twilight quit fussing over her coat and mane for a second, instead taking notice of Rainbow's puzzled stare. "Rainbow?"
"I almost lost you, Twi," she explained, stressing the seriousness of it.
Twilight smiled back at her reassuringly. "You didn't though."
"Well, yeah... yeah, I... I know, I— I-I mean, I... I guess I'm just, I don't know... shaken up?" She shrugged, staring at her bemused. "How are you so calm right now?"
"Oh, trust me, Rainbow, I won't be sleeping soundly for weeks."
"Not if I can help it." Rainbow replied with a soft grin.
Twilight stared back at her coyly, returning the smile.
A series of raindrops captured their attention as a gentle downpour began, thunder continuing to rumble throughout the growing storm clouds.
"Ah... Just what I needed." Twilight sat back, holding her forelegs out at her sides, closing her eyes and allowing the rainwater to work its magic.
The light drizzle soon turned into a torrential rainstorm, drenching her and Rainbow in water, chilling them both to the bone.
Twilight silently fumed, her eyes blinking open.
"Okaaaay..." She folded her forelegs, tucking them in at her sides. "Now it's too much."
She wasted no time in galloping over to some large, overhanging leaves by the side of the path to take shelter.
Rainbow, with a single thought still on her mind, hesitated calling after her, opting instead to take shelter beside her. No sense in catching a cold while we're stuck here, she figured.
She plopped down beside Twilight, and for a couple moments, they sat in silence, staring ahead... watching the rain water drizzle from the tips of the leaves, and listening to the calming plip-plops of the individual rain drops.
She soon broke the silence with a sigh.
"This is crazy, Twi," she said, piquing Twilight's curiosity as the unicorn turned to face her. "I mean... everything you've worked towards... a-and all the time you've spent achieving those things... building friendships—b-building our friendship, it... was all almost lost."
Twilight shook her head as she began to understand, and leaned over to nuzzle her own cheek against hers. "I didn't die, Rainbow—"
Rainbow pulled away suddenly, stressing, "But you could have!" Twilight stared back at her, stunned for a little bit, her ears folding against her mane.
Rainbow huffed, grabbing a quick look at Twilight from out of the corner of her eye, and all the anger instantly drained from her face.
"Twi, I... I'm sorry..." Rainbow looked back ahead. "It... It's just dumb, you know? What's the point of us working towards stuff, and spending years of our lives studying, when... I don't know... some creature comes along and sees them as nothing more than a potential snack, or..." She let out a shaky breath. "Some dumb apple-for-brains ends their life, and... all that pony ever worked for is gone, just like that." She turned to Twilight, distressed. "All that time they could have spent with loved ones becomes lost... just like that."
Twilight tentatively lifted one of her hooves, and brought it to rest over hers. "It's a risk some ponies are willing to take, Rainbow."
"But are you willing to?" Rainbow asked her, shrugging her hoof away. "Are you willing to risk leaving behind your parents, or your friends, or Spike, o-or me?"
"Of course not, Rainbow! I just, well..." Twilight looked away in thought, her voice softening. "I owe so much to Princess Celestia that I could never possibly turn down what she asks of me. Even if what she's asking of me is to save her long-lost sister—"
Rainbow scoffed. "Sister, right..." Like that backstabber deserves to be saved...
"Rainbow..." Twilight turned back to her with a look of concern. "What... happened back there? At the castle? Because..." She bit her lip, and let her gaze sink, murmuring in uncertainty, "I don't think I got the full story..."
Rainbow's heart skipped.
"N-nothing happened, Twi! I just... Luna willingly became a monster, so... maybe she doesn't even want to be saved—"
"Well... to be fair, Rainbow, we don't know for sure whether she willingly became one... And besides, Princess Celestia wants her to be saved—"
"Then she should be the one to do it!" Rainbow snapped suddenly, shutting Twilight up.
A moment later and her outburst sunk in.
Rainbow froze, swallowing hard and feeling like such like a featherbrain.
"Aw geez, Twi, I..." She turned to look at her girlfriend.
The look on her face was disheartened, but Twilight understood. "You've lost... a lot, Rainbow," she said. "Friendships, your memories—your old life! Your mom..."
Rainbow's heartbroken gaze lowered as Twilight listed off each and every loss. "It's more than anypony should lose... and now you almost lost me! Your fiancée, and, more importantly... your best friend. I know how devastating that must've felt, because I almost lost you too... and I know you don't share the sentiment, but I would gladly give my life so that you could live yours."
"But... " Rainbow sniffled. "What would I do without you?" she asked, glancing over at her girlfriend for the answer.
"Carry on," she said, "for our friends... and for me, because I'll always be there in your heart—like how your mom is... and how you'll always be with me in mine. So, if either of us did die..." She made a second attempt to assure her girlfriend of this, resting one of her hooves over hers. She formed a lukewarm smile, as Rainbow took her hoof in hers... this time not shrugging it away. "We would be in one another's hearts. We wouldn't be able to kiss, or sleep together, sure... but we'd have the memories of each other. We'd be thankful we were given the time together that we were."
"I don't want to look back on it though, Twilight," Rainbow uttered, her voice cracking under the weight of her tearful confession. "I just want it to, to last forever... you, you know? I, I mean... y-you should be the one who's allowed to live... n-not me. I-I'm just... some pony who showed up in your life, completely by accident! I was... a real loser then, and I've been... so fortunate to have been given a second chance because of you."
"Yeah, me—a pony who never had a social life until you. Also, Rainbow... you were never a loser." Rainbow snorted and glanced away. "I chose the life that I did, but you, Rainbow, you had it ripped from you... like life was just out to get you. A sweet pony like yourself..."
"And i-isn't life supposed to favor the bold?" she asked, cracking a soft grin.
"Which is why it's so puzzling that life would be anything but kind to you."
The two shared a laugh.
"Hey, look at that," Twilight remarked. "We're laughing."
"Y-yeah, it's... it's official," Rainbow replied while giggling, "we've lost our minds."
"W-well, hay. After tonight, it's... not so surprising."
A few weak chuckles passed their lips, lingering in the air before eventually, things grew quiet between the two of them.
"You know," Twilight spoke up. "Princess Celestia can't save Princess Luna, Rainbow, she... more than likely can't control the Elements anymore."
"And we can?" Rainbow turned skeptically towards her. "I don't want you risking your life for somepony who may not even appreciate it, Twi."
"We'll never know unless we try... And besides, we might be a little safer with those artifacts on our side, so, you know..."
Rainbow nodded begrudgingly. "Yeah, I know..."
"To try," continued Twilight. "I owe her that much..."
'Yeah, about that..." Rainbow's brow furrowed. "What exactly do you owe her?"
Twilight stared back at her, going through a mental checklist in her head. "Well, teaching me, for one, and... burgeoning my interest in magic."
"But why take an interest in magic in the first place?" Rainbow asked. "And, aren't your studies basically over at this point?"
"Some are," she replied, "some aren't. My studies in basic and intermediate magics, mathematics, literature, languages, astronomical sciences, physics, history..." Her rattling dwindled once she noticed her girlfriend begin to deadpan. "Are ah, done—b-but that's not what you're asking."
Twilight took a deep breath, beginning over. "She's giving me tasks to mold me into something special—somepony special. I've always wanted to feel like one..." She sighed, gazing down at her hooves. "To feel like somepony important. A princess, for example," she added with a shrug.
Rainbow nodded softly, looking back on ahead. "Cadance figured the same thing..."
Twilight looked up and over at her, her brow lifting in slight surprise. Cadance?
Rainbow shook her head, exhaling a little snort. "Twi... Have you ever thought that... you're already important? To me, and Spike, and so many others in Canterlot?" She smiled back at her. "You don't need some... powerful magic, or... fulfill some sort of task to be special."
"Princess Celestia is expecting so much of me though—!"
"And that's what she wants of you, Twilight... but what do you want?"
"What do I want...?" Twilight blinked, taken aback. "I've... never really thought about that..." She stared ahead in deep thought. "It's almost like... Princess Celestia, she... wants me to be a hero of some sort, but... all I really want is to protect you, a-and Spike, and... my friends, my... my family. The ones I care most about, you know?"
She turned worriedly towards Rainbow. "I'm sorry, does that make me selfish?"
"It makes you no worse than anypony else, looking out for their own," noted Rainbow, the rain coming to a slow trickle around them. She paused, debating what to say next. "You know, Twi... I'm loyal to Celestia because she means so much to you, and... I'm sorry if that makes me selfish because I care more about you than her, but... I'm not about to say yes to saving her family when I've got one of my own with you to think about." Twilight bit her lip, remaining steadfast.
"Twilight," Rainbow pressed. "It's alright to be loyal to the ones you love and respect, but... being sent on assignments to places like this that put our lives at stake just so the princess can see if you have what it takes to handle... whatever it is that she has in store for you? If you said no to that," she scoffed, "it's not like she'd banish you—that is if you both really are friends—"
"O-of course we are!" Twilight exclaimed, insistently. "It's just... I'm worried if I'm not the student she wants me to be, that she'll cut us off. No more income... no more shelter—"
Rainbow shook her head, leaning over and grabbing her by the shoulders. "Twi. She is your friend." Twilight nodded reluctantly, averting her eyes. "And even if she did do that, I earn enough bits from pushing clouds around, and... I'm sure we could find you something as well."
"Right—" Twilight rolled her eyes, letting out a snort as she turned her head away. "—like I could manage anything else. And like there's even a point to working if you're not working towards anything."
"How about a life with me?" Rainbow put forth.
Twilight froze, instantly regretting her words.
"Life's too short, Twi. Is this really what you want your life to be? Risking it every day for a princess, and a kingdom you think you owe, all so that you can continue getting new assignments for the purpose of proving you're somepony special... when you already are?"
Twilight unwittingly sniffled. "N-no," she stammered out, ears falling flat. "I just... want to be with you and the others, and... to live each day like it were its last. T-though... that still doesn't mean that I wouldn't fight to protect Equestria... if it depended on us."
Rainbow looked at her funnily.
Twilight blinked away a few tears, sniffling. "W-what point is there in living each day like it were its last if... there's no life to live? If I can save Equestria, then, well... that just gives us more time together, right? I mean, what about that... Pony of Shadows—?"
"The Pony of Shadows is Celestia's responsibility, not yours—"
"It has some of my magic, Rainbow!" Twilight exclaimed, taking Rainbow aback. "And... a-and what if it's too much for the princess? What if... what if she senses my magic in that, that thing, a-and holds me responsible?"
"She won't hold this against you—" Rainbow tried to say, only for Twilight to fret even more.
"But what if she does?"
"Twi. She trusts you completely... Alright?"
Twilight sniffled again, barely nodding. "I'm just... Why are you so against this though, Rainbow? I... I know you don't want me risking my life, but... it's my magic, and with the Elements of Harmony backing us up, I just think that... we'd stand a pretty good chance."
Rainbow's gaze slowly sunk. "I... I don't know, Twi. I guess I... just don't like the idea of you risking your life for a kingdom that's... never been all that kind to us to begin with."
"It's our home, Rainbow," Twilight reminded her, to which Rainbow nodded irritably.
Twilight's voice softened. "You know, I... sometimes think to myself what a brave pony like Rainbow Dash would do." She looked off, smiling at the thought. "It's... what crossed my mind right before I pushed you out of the hydra's path."
"A brave pony, huh?" Rainbow scoffed at the notion. "Rainbow Dash was a jerk to everypony and paid the price. She wasn't brave..."
"But you are now." Twilight elbowed her in the foreleg once, insistent. "I wish you'd stop pretending that isn't your name."
"It leaves a bitter taste on my tongue when I say it, and when I hear it. It... reminds me of how I behaved before I met you... before you gave me my new name—"
"Which was just half of your old name," Twilight remarked.
"Still," Rainbow remained adamant, "you gave it to me."
"Yeah, and your parents gave you the name Dash. Can't you appreciate both?"
"I don't know, Twi..."
"It really is dashing," Twilight murmured, sweet-talking her.
Rainbow groaned however, averting her eyes as Twilight's head came to rest beneath hers.
"I guess I... could give it a shot," she supposed, her face reddening.
Twilight smiled.
"Twi?"
"Hm?"
"The saliva in your mane's kinda rubbing off on me."
"Oh!" Twilight pulled away sheepishly. "S-sorry," she said, then cocked her head as her girlfriend rose to her hooves. "Rainbow?"
"We should keep moving," Rainbow said, glancing nervously in the direction of the toppled hydra. "I'd rather not be around when that thing wakes back up."
The rainstorm had gone back to being a slight drizzle as she took several steps out onto the road, before getting the feeling that she wasn't being followed.
She turned around questioningly, seeing Twilight staring back at her with a deadpan expression.
"What?"
"I can barely walk, Rainbow."
"Ah, right..." She walked closer, an embarrassed smile on her lips. "Sorry. Here," she said, lying flat beside her. "Climb on."
Twilight did as instructed, crawling over with slight groans until collapsing over her back, her head coming to rest over her shoulder.
"And up we go," Rainbow said, standing up. She grimaced as she got to her hooves however, hearing Twilight writhe as her back pressed up into the unicorn's stomach.
"Er, um... H-how're the stomach pains?" she tentatively asked, feeling deep down that she already knew the answer.
"B-better," Twilight replied, much to Rainbow's own surprise. "It, it's just... t-those ma-magical reserves I d-dug into, that I, I didn't even know I h-had? I told you I'd be feeling the effects of that, a-and..."
"You are," Rainbow finished for her, saving however much of the unicorn's strength that she could. "Got it. Just... try and rest now... alright?'
"And here I thought t-talking would actually be pref-f-ferable, what with k-keeping me conscious, a-and keeping you company."
"Well..." Rainbow stopped to consider the thought. "If it's not too much for you, I... would appreciate the company."
Twilight grinned warily, victorious.
A few moments went by as Rainbow trudged down the winding path, moving slowly for Twilight's sake.
She had almost forgotten what she had told Twilight moments prior when her girlfriend's weak voice broke her concentration with a question.
"Do you think we'll make it out of here?" she asked.
Rainbow gulped, not sure what to tell her for a long moment.
"Do... do you think we'll ever see Spike, o-or our friends again?"
"I..." Rainbow bit her bottom lip anxiously. What's with the macabre questions all of a sudden? I mean, of course we will, we... "We have to," she replied. "They're waiting for us. We just... have to think positive, alright? We're going to make it through this."
Twilight hesitated, then nodded her head.
"I just... Where do you think Princess Celestia is? I-I mean, I'm sure she's busy, o-or sleeping, but... you would think she would have seen my magic shoot into space like you described, a-and that she would have found us by now..."
Rainbow huffed. "Well she clearly hasn't," she remarked. "We're alone on this one, Twi. Sorry."
Twilight smiled saddened. "That's okay... I trust you'll find us a way out of this. You really are the bravest pony I know... Rainbow Dash."
Rainbow looked over her shoulder, back at her with a wry smile.
The two entered deeper into the forest, Rainbow looking around apprehensively at all of the fauna and thorn-covered vines surrounding them, seemingly closing in on them.
Rainbow winced and bit back her grunts as the thorns prodded and scraped against her sweatshirt. Daring wouldn't be having this problem, she mused bitterly, pushing ahead, past whatever plant life lay before her. She'd have a really sweet-looking machete and wouldn't have to force her way through any of this—
A hummingbird flew before Rainbow's muzzle suddenly, the pegasus jumping back in surprise. "Whoa!"
The bird buzzed around wildly before her eyes, Twilight remarking, "Maybe it knows a way out."
"Or maybe it's trying to get out," Rainbow supposed, the hummingbird flying on ahead. "We won't know until we follow it."
Rainbow navigated through the vines and leaves with a quickening spring in her step, until at last she emerged... stepping into an empty, circular clearing. Thick trees encircled the open clearing, patches of moonlight breaking through the treetops.
Their faces both lit up in relief.
"A clearing, finally!" Rainbow cheered.
Twilight looked around her, and her excitement started to dwindle.
"With no clear exit in sight," she groaned in dismay, eyes sullen.
The hummingbird flew in front of them once more, buzzing around before their eyes.
Rainbow, as well as Twilight, simply stared back at it dumbfounded.
It turned, and flew higher into the brush, looking back once before escaping into the night.
"I don't get it," Rainbow murmured, staring after it. "Does it want me to fly?" She frowned, glancing back at her side, at her wing. "'Cause I don't think I can ye—"
Twilight cut her off with a gasp, the unicorn shutting her eyelids tightly and burying her face in the back of her mane.
Her forelegs that laid wrapped over her shoulders and rested over her chest began to tremble.
Rainbow glanced back at her worriedly. "Twi?"
One of Twilight's hooves pointed shakily towards the bramble, drawing her attention.
She glanced back ahead and around the area, looking around for what had scared the living daylights out of her, when... she saw it. Barely at first, but its movements were unmistakable.
A monstrous fly trap, creeping through the thicket, some several feet away.
Rainbow slowly, without a sound, lifted a hoof, then another as she attempted to slowly back out of whatever they had just stumbled into.
A vine meanwhile, dangled silently from above, wrapping itself under and around Rainbow's body.
Before either could react, it yanked them both off the ground... into the thicket above where several more plant mouths emerged.
Rainbow and Twilight deadpanned. Oh ponyfeathers, they both thought.
The two struggled to no avail, Rainbow finding herself with only one option. She craned her neck around and bit through the vine, getting doused with a face full of strong, bitter gas.
The wind was knocked out of them as they hit the ground hard, her vision dizzying... and through her eyes, it seemed as if there were now several monstrous fly traps emerging from the trees.
"Heh... Tay... take that, Audrey Two," she said with a wary smile, blinking her eyes several times.
"Three... four... five, six..." She gulped, her eyes slowly widening as they cleared. My eyes weren't playing tricks on me...
Twilight coughed, having received a douse of that horrible gas as well. "We... we've w-wandered i-into their nest. That m-must've been what that bird was trying us to warn us about—"
"That's real great, Twi." Rainbow struggled to her hooves. "Come on!"
With Twilight on her back, she dashed through the one opening that revealed itself to her right then, never looking back, knowing that those monsters weren't far behind.
Her body rose in temperature and she couldn't sweat it out, like she was burning up from the inside.
She cleared her throat, feeling a scratchy feel beginning to form, and her whole body growing heavy.
What... was that stuff—? She lost her footing for a second as her legs grew numb.
She burst through the trees and bramble, Twilight loosening her grip on her.
Rainbow herself trembled, and struggled to grab her breath, feeling her consciousness slowly beginning to slip, but still felt Twilight's hold on her lessen.
"T... Twi—?"
Twilight slipped from her back, unconscious, into a bed of blue flowers that stretched on beneath them for as far as her eyes could see.
Rainbow breathed in and out, staring down at her girlfriend, too weak to even lift a hoof... her mind growing so hazy...
Her ear flicked at the sound of grass rustling, and... something creeping up behind her, parting the flowers as it moved.
She had a feeling she knew exactly what it was, and tried to move... when her forelegs and hind legs folded, giving out beneath her.
C-crud...
She collapsed on her side, unwillingly allowing her eyelids to close... falling unconscious beside Twilight.
"Nngh..." Rainbow stirred, slowly coming to.
Her eyes opened, wincing at first from the soft light coming from beside her.
She was in a bed—her bed?
A dream? she asked herself. Was this all just a bad—?
"You ponies gave me quite the fright, being out so late at night," came an accented voice from her bedside.
Rainbow blinked. What? she wondered, turning her gaze in the direction of the voice, to the figure standing beside her.
She stifled a gasp and jumped back against the wall beside her, her heart almost escaping her chest as she stared up at the ghostly, cloaked equine. Its yellow eyes shone brightly from underneath its hood.
"Little pony, do not jump in alarm." The pony figure removed its hood, revealing grey fur and black stripes, a thin, striped, elevated column of her mane extending to the back of her head... and a face that was most definitely feminine. Golden jewelry hung around her neck, earrings piercing both her ears.
She smiled softly down at Rainbow. "I mean you no harm."
Rainbow's breathing evened out, and she swallowed nervously. Where even was she?
She peered past her mysterious host, then up around at her surroundings. It was a hut of some sort, with a cauldron, bubbling concoctions... and weirdo masks lining some of the shelves.
"Where, w-where are we?" she stuttered out. "And... what a-are you? I mean, no offense, but..." She relaxed a bit. "You don't look like other mares I've seen. Like, I mean... your muzzle's... boxier, a-and I've never seen markings like those before."
Rainbow pointed a hoof slightly to the patterns visible on her face and neck.
The equine however, chuckled wholeheartedly.
"Pegasus, you were quick to make that observation. It's true, I've traveled here from another population. I am a zebra, little pony with amnesia."
Rainbow's brow lifted in surprise. "How'd you know about that?"
"I can see it in your eyes," she replied. "Empty and full of—"
"Despise? A pitiful demise?" Rainbow surmised, dryly. "See, I can do that too."
"I was going to say, now as I sigh... red eyes and unrequited goodbyes, a heavy heart always questioning why. Even if it weren't so apparent, a zebra's ability to sense an ailment is quite inherent."
Rainbow's look turned sour. "Can you not look inside my heart please? Thanks. Oh, and for your information... I used to have amnesia. I got my memories back just the other day, and I'm still not entirely used to them, so... that's probably what you're sensing." She sighed, deciding to change the topic. "What's your name, anyway?"
Being bitter over being shown up wasn't about to help anything, she supposed.
"Zecora is what they call me," her host replied.
Za... korra? Rainbow repeated, sounding it out within her head.
"What do they call you, my mysterious attendee?"
"A number of things," mused Rainbow, returning to reality. "You can call me Rainbow."
"A name that fits," Zecora remarked, then went on to explain; "I found you and your friend outside in the poison joke, warily submitting to it."
"Poison...?" Is that what that plant was— "Oh yeah!" she exclaimed as the thought came to her. "Where's Twi? She's the unicorn I was with!"
Zecora looked over her shoulder. "The unicorn is in the next room, suffering from a magical ailment, I assume."
"An ailment?" Rainbow questioned. "Was it this... plant?"
Zecora shook her head. "It was not something of this world, I'm sure. Whatever possessed her was not pure."
Not of this world...? Rainbow pondered. Maybe she means the moon? Either way... She sighed, and gave her a less-than-thrilled look. "Tell me about it," she grumbled
"If only that were the least of her trouble, it would seem the poison joke has made it double. Her horn has gone floppy, causing her use of magic to become quite sloppy."
Floppy? Rainbow dreaded, leaning forward. "S-she'll be alright though, right?" she asked. "I, I mean... She hasn't lost the ability to use her magic for good, has she—?"
Zecora held up a hoof, asking her to relax.
"It's lucky that you two you came this path," she said, then smiled assuredly. "You'll both be alright if you take a bubble bath."
Rainbow blinked, stupefied. "You're... you're kidding, right?"
The zebra shook her head.
"Well..." Rainbow breathed a sigh of relief, sitting back. "That's good news, and... Wait." Her eyes widened in realization. "W-what's wrong with me?"
Zecora opened her mouth to speak when a loud shriek—sounding all too familiar to Rainbow—cried out from deeper inside the hut.
"Your friend finally seems to be awake," Zecora remarked, glancing over her shoulder. "It would seem she has an irrational fear of a particular snake."
"Irrational—? You left her alone with snakes?"
"They wouldn't harm a fly," Zecora insisted, "as they usually only crawl up high. Though I did not know about her fear—it is one which I will be sure to rectify."
Before Rainbow could reply, Twilight ran from her room, darting right past them, and galloping to the exit of the hut in a mad dash.
Rainbow and Zecora exchanged looks with one another, Rainbow's being sheepish, while Zecora's was one of utter bewilderment.
"I'll, uh... go get her," Rainbow said, stripping the sheets from her body, and stepping down from the bed.
"Cautiousness is key, so please, tread carefully!" Zecora called out to her as she approached the front door. "The path ahead will lead you to safety, but be wary—" Rainbow stopped at the open door, looking back at her as she explained, "You're near timberwolf territory."
Rainbow gulped, looking back calmly on the outside and nodding her head, before continuing out the doorway.
In no time at all, Rainbow spotted Twilight not too far from the entrance of the hut, on the path leading out and with one of her forelegs propped up against the trunk of a tree.
"Twi!" she called out in relief, running up to the unicorn and successfully grabbing her attention. "Twilight, it's... it's okay! Listen, the snakes are gone, alright?" She set a hoof on Twilight's shoulder. "They're gone."
Twilight looked back at her in uncertainty, her eyes on the verge of tears.
"Relax, okay?" Rainbow continued, reassuring her softly. "They're not going to bite you, or slither all over you, or whatever... alright?"
Twilight sniffled, tearing her gaze away.
A moment passed before she finally agreed, softly nodding her head.
Still, she looked no less shook up than when she had first come across her moments ago.
Rainbow rubbed a hoof along the back of her neck, averting her eyes to the ground as she murmured under her breath, "Sunshine, sunshine, er... ladybugs awake." She looked back up to face Twilight with a nervous smile, Twilight now staring back at her with a dumbfounded look on her face. "Uhm, clap your hooves, and, uh..." She spun around, crouching over and raising her rump into the air, sheepishly grinning back at Twilight as she did. "Do a little shake?"
A long, awkward silence filled the air between them, Twilight sniffling once more as she stared back at Rainbow, both a little speechless and taken aback. "What...?" she eventually managed to get out.
Rainbow sighed, straightening back up.
"Come on," she cursed, turning around in frustration. "Cadance told me that always cheered you up."
"Yeah, as a filly." A sudden giggle escaped her as an uncontrollable smile spread across her face. She wiped her eyes free of any lingering tears before smiling gratefully at her girlfriend.
"Well," Rainbow said, returning the smile, "it made you laugh, so I'm still considering it a success. And hey, if it makes you feel better..." She leaned in close, holding a hoof near her lips as she whispered, "I'm kind of, sorta afraid of snakes too. Just don't tell Spike or anypony."
Twilight giggled, nodding sincerely. "Sure thing."
Rainbow grinned back at her softly. Her gaze drifted, finding itself drawn to the top of Twilight's head, where her lips instantly began trembling, holding back the sudden urge to burst out laughing right then and there.
Twilight cocked her head slightly, staring back at her puzzled.
"So that's what she meant when she talked about a joke," Rainbow thought aloud to herself.
"What do you mean, Rainbow?"
"The shaman, or... whoever, that lives inside that tree hut," Rainbow explained, pointing back over her shoulder. "You were still asleep when she talked to me. Mentioned some kinda plant that we must have passed out in that I guess messed with your magic, and... something of mine."
"My magic?"
Rainbow raised her hooves, silently asking her not to overreact. "Now, don't freak out or anything, but..." She pointed one of her hooves up at her horn. "You have blue spots on your horn."
Twilight's eyes grew big.
"And it's kind of gone all saggy."
Twilight let out a panicked gasp.
Rainbow's eyelids lowered. "You're freaking out... I told you not to freak out."
"Ew..." Twilight pressed the base of her hoof against the sagging tip of her horn, feeling a cold shiver run through her as she did. "It is all saggy..."
"Twilight, listen—listen to me. She told me what the cure is, alright? We just have to take a bath, alright? So until then, just... chill."
Chill... Twilight breathed in, then exhaled deeply. "Right, okay... Wait." She cocked her head. "A Bath?"
Rainbow smiled, shrugging her shoulders.
"Huh." She nodded slowly before all of a sudden letting out another gasp and screaming, "Snake!"
"What?" Rainbow's eyes widened. "Where—?"
"There!"
She pointed a trembling hoof to the spot where its tail slithered into the bushes behind her girlfriend.
Rainbow spun around, ready to teach this snake a lesson despite her own nerves... when she eased up in relief.
"Chicken," she said.
Twilight grew a little indignant. "T-that's n-not very n-nice, Rainbow," she stammered out. "Not a-after what we just t-talked about!"
"No, I mean... there's a chicken in the bushes. See?" She pointed one of her hooves into the thicket. "You can see its eyes and beak through the leaves."
Its head poked out, staring at the two girls with curious eyes, and making little chicken noises.
"Well what do you know..." Twilight's brow crinkled in confusion. "I swear I saw a snake's tail... What's a chicken doing here anyway?"
"Maybe it escaped from one of Ponyville's farms," Rainbow suggested. "Hm?"
She looked down at her hooves, at the feeling of something wrapping itself around, and constricting her right foreleg. Something from the bushes, scaly and alive. "Eurgh!"
She jumped back, shaking her foreleg about frantically to free herself, but the creature held on, not letting up. "T-twi!" she shouted. "Some, s-something's got me! H-help! I... I can't shake it!"
Twilight stood completely still, immobilized with fear.
Her forelegs buckled, her stomach dropped... She felt sick, lightheaded. Why was all of this happening to them?
She chewed her bottom lip. Snakes... Why did it have to be snakes? Their sickening, unnatural movements... They were her Achilles Hoof.
Her whole body trembled, her eyes darted left to right.
Why didn't Rainbow just fly away?
Rainbow's hoof was pulled out from under her, throwing her onto her back as a result. "Twilight!" Rainbow yelled once more. "Remember what you told me? Sometimes it's okay to be afraid... so long as you have what it takes to face what you're afraid of!"
I, I remember... b-but... Her mouth went dry.
"And right now, I really need you to be courageous!"
I... I...! "I don't even have my magic!" she blurted out, finding her voice.
She stared down at Rainbow, desperate for an answer.
"It doesn't matter because you have something better! Your brain! A-and right now, I'm really counting on it to find us a way out of this!"
I... Twilight shut her eyes tight. She's... s-she's right. Just mare up and find a way out of this... She breathed in, clearing her mind of every thought, and every doubt plaguing it. I just need to—is that bawking?
Her eyes flew open in realization. The chicken! I would've realized it sooner if it hadn't seemed so implausible...
It bawked angrily, staring down at Rainbow, as if it were attempting to cast a spell on her.
Rainbow's attention however, was too focused on breaking free. She didn't even realize...
That whatever this was, was trying to drag her into the bushes.
Her fiancée.
A sudden fire ignited inside her.
Twilight breathed in sharply, gritting her teeth.
Everything has been trying to tear us apart tonight, and frankly...
She felt like Rainbow when she had punched the hydra right across its nose... I've had just about enough of this flyin' forest.
Mustering the strength, and fighting every cramp and ache that came with every step, grabbed the nearest stone, and flung it into the side of the monster's head.
Its head whipped to the side from the weight of the throw, and it instinctively turned and glared at Twilight, furrowing its beady red eyes.
She glared right back, feeling as cold as stone in that very moment.
Then the feeling passed, and her expression eased as Rainbow's hoof connected with its face, sending it sprawling to the ground, out cold.
"Hmph. Serves you right," Rainbow murmured, before turning to Twilight. "Nice going, Twi."
"N-no, I..." Twilight took in a calming breath, taking everything in. The monster's unconscious, she told herself. It... can't hurt us...
"Twi?"
Rainbow cocked her head.
Twilight walked over to her, keeping her gaze low. "I just did what I had to... to keep you safe, Rainbow."
"Yeah, and you did a pret-ty awesome job," Rainbow replied with a humored smile.
Twilight shook her head, startling her girlfriend by pulling her swiftly into her hooves.
"I should have acted sooner though. I should have realized that it wasn't a snake... and even if it had been, it shouldn't have mattered, b-because the fear of losing you i-is worse than any snake..."
Rainbow relaxed, and placed a foreleg around her girlfriend's withers.
"I'm just glad you overcame one of your fears, Twi," she remarked softly, giving Twilight's cheek a lengthy nuzzle before pulling away enough to see her eyes. "I seem to have a knack for helping with that," she added, allowing her eyelids to lower.
She steered in closer to Twilight's mouth, Twilight mirroring the notion as her own eyelids lowered... when they flew open in full alert, her ear twitching at the sound of a stick as it snapped.
"Did you hear that?" she whispered.
"What, that stick breaking?" Rainbow's brow furrowed, smiling as she looked back at her funnily. "Twi, it was probably just a squirrel or some—"
"Squirrels aren't heavy enough to snap sticks, branches, or even twigs, Rainbow," Twilight chided her.
Rainbow just scoffed, rolling her eyes.
"Twi... We've been stalked by practically everything tonight. What more could possibly be after... after..."
A sudden thought entered her mind.
"You're near timberwolf territory."
"Us..." Rainbow uttered as the words replayed in her head.
Twilight blinked, tilting her head. "Rainbow?"
Rainbow brought a hoof to her lips, asking her to be quiet.
A series of cracks proceeded the first, like sticks were being bent and contorted out of shape in a way that wasn't natural.
Leaves rustled, and the air grew thick.
Twilight swallowed hard as she glanced up all around her, into the darkness, and into the swaying leaves above.
Whatever this was, it wasn't the result of branches being stepped on, but rather, it was like... the forest itself was stepping towards them.
"Get behind me, Twilight," warned Rainbow.
Twilight gazed over at her indignantly.
"I've proven I can hold my own tonight, Rainbow—"
"You're without your magic, Twi, and you're still worn out. I can tell."
"Hmph." Twilight pursed her lips, watching as Rainbow removed her goggles from around her neck, placing them over her eyes.
She immediately heard Rainbow's breathing change.
"What... do you see?" she tentatively asked.
Rainbow ducked her head and neck beneath her girlfriend's hind legs and belly, scooping her up onto her back before breaking into a mad dash down the path.
Twilight wrapped her forelegs over Rainbow's shoulders, and held on for dear life as she was whisked down the road, wind whipping past her, and whistling as it brushed by her ears.
"R-Rainbow—!?"
"I saw eyes, Twilight. Glowing like some kind of magic."
"Eyes like magic?" Twilight repeated in disbelief. "Was it the Pony of Shadows—?"
A chilling howl cut her off.
Rainbow felt her girlfriend's heart skip against her back.
"Wolves..." Twilight murmured, her voice falling flat.
"I can outrun 'em, Twi," Rainbow assured her, Twilight however, remaining unconvinced.
"How many did you see?"
"I only saw one pair of eyes, Twilight. Don't—whoa!"
A muzzle shot out at her from the forest, to which Rainbow dove to her left, narrowly avoiding its teeth as it made a move for her throat.
The sound of paws kicking along the dirt path told her there wasn't just one.
Their snarling, and growling becoming more noticeable to them now, Rainbow pressed onward, when, to the left of the path, an animal too dark to see in its entirety, appeared out of the corner of her eye. It was covered in the silhouettes of leaves and sticks—like the forest itself had spontaneously sprung to life—and snapped its jaws at Rainbow who ducked and dodged, swerving just barely out of the way. Twilight stifled the urge to shriek, and glanced away to the right side, shutting her eyes... when the sound of something panting made her heart drop. Something... canine.
Twilight cautiously peeked out at the noise, and immediately wished she hadn't.
She was met with the leering gaze of a creature, running on all fours, and running alongside them. Whatever it was, seemed to be made up of bits of the forest. Its shimmering green eyes stood out to her the most, paralyzing her in a way she never felt before.
Its teeth dove forward, and she snapped out of it in time to draw her foreleg away... her heart sinking and a gasp passing her lips as its teeth instead, sunk into Rainbow's shoulder.
Her ears flopped at the sharp cry of pain her girlfriend let out.
Rainbow winced and grit her teeth as the creature's wooden teeth dug into her, little by little.
It sent a pang of guilt across Twilight's heart to know that it was her fault.
She lifted the same, trembling foreleg, and punched the creature across its muzzle.
"L-let... go of her!" she cried, retracting her hoof, and bringing it back full force to strike it over and over again until it relinquished.
"Let go, let go, let go!" Twilight shut her eyes tight, growing more and more frustrated by the second.
A feeling of hopelessness began to swell. Are... a-are my hooves e... even d-doing anything?
She sniffled, her jaw trembling as her teeth clenched together.
She prayed to Celestia before bringing her hoof down one final time with whatever energy she could muster... and as if Celestia herself had answered her prayers, the wolf responded with a yelp, stumbling as it veered back into the bramble.
Her eyes flew open at the cry, and at first she blinked in astonishment, before a wary smile spread across her face.
Then it immediately fell, and she began to panic, remembering the teeth marks on her girlfriend's shoulder, and scrambled to cover them.
She clenched the wound, feeling the underside of her hoof already growing somewhat slick.
Rainbow winced for a second time, letting out a small grunt as the bite caused her to stagger down the road, Twilight's hoof doing little to ease the sharp pain... other than adding some pressure, and keeping it warm.
"T-thanks, Twi."
Twilight cocked her head back, staring down at her funnily.
"I was the reason you were bit, Rainbow. If I hadn't moved my foreleg out of the way..."
"Hay, better me than you," Rainbow replied.
Twilight bit her lip, and choose not argue—not here... not while fighting for their lives. She instead averted her eyes, and settled her cheek on the back of Rainbow's neck, staring down saddened at her own hoof.
At the same time, Rainbow let out a breathless gasp.
More wolves jumped out from both sides of the path some yards ahead of her.
She gulped, seeing them now clearly for the first time as they stood beneath the moonlight.
Gonna have to... fly over them, she solemnly realized, and grit her teeth as she sucked in a sharp breath.
Her wings unfurled and began flapping, lifting her hooves narrowly above their snapping jaws, skipping over a few of them.
She breathed in and out faster, growing more ragged as her wings continued to carry her before giving out. She hit the ground, stumbling forward and almost falling on her side.
Twilight's eyelids slowly lowered. She sniffled, her free foreleg gripping her tighter. "Rainbow..."
Rainbow glanced over her shoulder at the sound of Twilight's voice... and the sound of paws once more hitting the road. She swallowed, biting her lip and scrunching her eyes up tight. She picked up the pace, running straight down the forest strip, the brisk night air cool against the moist sweat on her face.
Rainbow let out a ragged breath, and gazed up at the sky exhausted. Gotta... try again.
She stifled a grunt as she lifted into the air, her body burning just to keep altitude.
The snarls rang louder and louder in her ears, Rainbow scrunching her eyes tighter. Come on...! If I could just leap into...
"P-please... R-Rainbow..."
Twilight's desperate plea played in her ears, pushing her to want nothing more than to take off into the sky, Twi in her hooves... and strike it with so much power that she could pierce it.
Just gotta... Nngh... reach for it...!
"There's so much... I still want to experience with you, Rainbow... Please... don't give up!"
A warmth filled Rainbow's wound as sudden, shimmering, purple magic spread through her body: throughout every nerve, every vein... Her eyes widened at the new sensation... taking in the visible, patterned glow, before turning back toward the sky.
Twilight's hoof fell from her chest, completely spent, her body almost slipping from her own... when she grabbed Twilight's forelegs, securing them with her own.
She grinned, feeling so full of life, so renewed, so... warm.
The timberwolves had but a split second before a rainbow shot upwards, blowing past the surrounding trees, bowing them at the sheer ferocity.
The clatter of branches and logs littered the ground moments after the last of the rainbow colors dissipated in the air.
Rainbow looked back over her shoulder at the passed out mare she held onto dearly, before letting her eyes close.
She smiled as her wings slowed, their bodies slowing to a stop midair, silhouetted against the moon.
Rainbow looked back ahead as her eyes softly closed. Her content smile remained.
"We're... so awesome..."
The two fell back to earth, landing straight into a pile of hay—Rainbow landing on her stomach... Twilight coming to lie over her.