//------------------------------// // Rainbow's Decision // Story: Little Memories // by Skijarama //------------------------------// Rainbow Dash had to admit: she was having fun. Despite all of the chaos whirling around inside of her mind, fittingly because of Discord’s offer, she had been able to give herself over entirely to just being with her friends and adoptive mother. Although Spike made sure to let absolutely all of them know that she had been napping in Twilight’s lap earlier, much to the pegasus’ complete humiliation. She had received more than a few coy smirks upon the retelling of that story, leaving her flustered and red-faced for the better part of far-longer-than-was-an-acceptable-number-of-minutes. Luckily, the laughter that was had at her expense eventually ebbed away, and the group spent the majority of the day lazily meandering through town, talking to each other in happy voices and putting their concerns aside. They made a few stops on the way to partake in some activities around town, the most notable of which was at the local bowling alley. Turns out Celestia’s long legs made her really bad at rolling them accurately. Who knew? But as time went on and on, it became harder and harder for Rainbow to completely hide that there was something bugging her. Thankfully, while her friends clearly took notice, none of them immediately pressed her about it. They knew her well enough to know that there was always something on her mind, so they had probably hoped to wait until the day was done and they were ready to go their separate ways to bring it up. It was getting on towards evening, and Rainbow found herself starting to lag behind the rest of the group. They had just departed Sugarcube corner, so most of them were presently chowing down on some of Pinkie’s signature sweets as they went. Rainbow gave them all a small smile and internally was thankful for the moment of relative privacy. She briefly glanced over her shoulder, her eyes pointed in the vague direction of Discord’s hilltop. He was still out there, and his offer still stood… “You are still troubled by my request, aren’t you?” Celestia’s voice whispered from beside her, drawing a startled squeak from Rainbow. She whirled around to see the solar princess by her side, trotting to match her slowed pace with an understanding smile. Rainbow was quiet for a second before looking directly ahead, her expression souring somewhat. “I thought hitting the town like this was just for us to spend time together as a family,” she protested in a hushed voice. “Can this conversation wait?” “If you think it must,” Celestia aknowledged with a slow nod. “But I fully intend to make good on my promise. If there is something wrong and there is anything I can do, I want to know… I am simply being proactive.” Rainbow had no retort for that and heaved a quiet sigh. “Meh… okay, fair enough,” she grumbled before lowering her head and staring at the passing dirt beneath her hooves. “...To answer your question… Kinda. I’m still thinking about it. Luna helped me cope with it while I was dreaming last night, though, so it’s not as bad as yesterday.” Celestia did not look convinced, her eyes narrowing slightly in scrutiny. “Are you sure? I do not want to pry, my daughter, but if there is anything else…” Rainbow was quiet, her eyes slowly lifting up and staring into the back of Twilight’s head. The alicorn was watching with great scholarly interest as Pinkie Pie talked about… something weird, no doubt. She was making weird noodly motions with her hooves, her eyes were poking out of her head, among other such things. Twilight was occupied, then. “...Okay, yeah, there is something else,” Rainbow finally admitted, her ears drooping low. She looked up at Celestia, meeting her gaze. “Discord… he can hear us. And he talked to me last night.” Celestia visibly stiffened on hearing those words, her wings unfurling just slightly in alarm. “What?!” she hissed, craning her neck down. “How?” “I dunno, some weird magic junk that let him think in my head or something,” Rainbow dismissed with a wave of her hoof. “He can do it because of what happened to Twilight in the Empire, but that’s not the point. He… he knows you want us to try and rehabilitate him, and he knows about Twilight’s amnesia. But more than that…” Rainbow looked away, her eyes lowering with shame. “...He made me an offer.” “What kind of offer?” Celestia pressed carefully. Rainbow hesitated for a moment, the words catching on her tongue. After a moment, though, she steeled herself and spoke. “...He said that, if we let him out, he’ll restore Twilight’s memories… but then disappear from Equestria until my friends and I are gone…” Celestia was quiet for several seconds, her expression one of careful consideration. “I see… a double-edged sword of an offer, to be sure,” she mused before focusing on her daughter again. “Have you spoken of this to Twilight?” “No, and I’m not going to,” Rainbow responded without missing a beat. She then affixed Celestia with a pleading gaze. “And I don’t want you to tell her, either. Please, keep it secret.” Celestia recoiled at the question, her eyes wide. “Why? Don’t you think she would want to know this?” Rainbow nodded and focused on Twilight again. “Yes… she’d want to know too much,” she stated slowly, her pace slowing and her posture sagging. “What do you mean?” Rainbow was quiet for a few seconds as she tried to find the words. Eventually, she licked her lips and looked up at Celestia again. “Twilight may be a lot better now then she was a year ago… but ever since she lost her memories, she has gone out of her way, a lot, to try and emulate what she would have done before. I mean, did you know that when we visited her parents in Canterlot and she learned we used to be a thing, she tried to climb into bed with me?” Celestia’s eyes widened in surprise. “I… did not know that, no.” “She’s eased off about it, but she still does it in a lot of small ways,” Rainbow went on before looking down again. “...She doesn’t want to be who she is now. She wants to be who she was… But she’s slowly getting better, and she’s in a much better place then she when she first lost them. But... I’m scared that if she learns about Discord’s offer, all of that progress will go right out the window. She’ll see a chance to get her memories back, and she might be so dead set on it that she would fail to realize how dangerous it would be to let Discord out…” Rainbow closed her eyes and took a deep breath. “And then, if we don’t let him out, then… how will she take that? She’ll know that a way of restoring her memories is right there, and I, her first friend and closest confidant, stopped her…” she looked up at Celestia again, her eyes pleading. “I don’t wanna hurt her like that. She has too much to deal with already and she doesn’t need that kind of strain. So please, mom, I’m begging you… keep this between us, kay?” Celestia hummed quietly before slowly nodding her head in understanding. “I see… I have not been around Twilight as much as you have since the Empire, so I cannot claim to truly know how far along she is… If you are right, and she did take it hard, then the risk it could pose to her psyche would be grave, indeed.” Rainbow paused for a moment, her face twisting with confusion. But then, a memory flickered in the back of her mind, and her eyes widened. “Oh, right. She could become a fallen alicorn if things get too bad, right?” she asked, her eyes drifting back to the alicorn in question. “If she cannot control her impulses and instincts, then yes,” Celestia confirmed with a grim frown. After a second, she turned back to Rainbow, her eyes searching. “But that leaves the question… what do you intend to do?” Rainbow shrugged her shoulders helplessly. “I’unno… I’m really tempted by his offer, mom, I really am. But… he’ll leave. We won’t be able to reform him if we let him out for this. If he doesn’t want us to find him, I don’t think we can,” she lamented quietly. “...But I know Twilight would love to have her memories back, and I’d love that, too…” “We would all love that, Rainbow,” Celestia agreed. “But the decision ultimately lies with you… do you believe the risk is worth the reward?” Rainbow fell silent, her mind erupting once more into chaos as she weighed her options, all the while with Celestia staring expectantly at her from the side.  If they left Discord in his stone prison, then he would be contained and unable to cause any trouble until the spell was broken, which would happen when the Elements either chose new wielders or Rainbow and her friends passed away; whichever came first. Twilight would go without her old memories and would have to completely move on from them under her own power, or search for some other way of bringing them back. But if they let Discord out, he would vanish in a puff of smoke, Twilight would have her memories back, and the draconequus wouldn’t cause Equestria any trouble for as long as Rainbow and her friends lived. The time frame was more or less the same until Discord came back to wreak havoc on her home… so what was really the difference? Her eyes eventually glued themselves onto Twilight, who was now questioning Pinkie extensively about her ‘pinkie sense.’ She was smiling, despite the intensity in her eyes. She was enjoying the questions and the answers, and no doubt was learning about the experience she had shared with Pinkie in her first weeks in Ponyville that involved a hungry hydra. But then, in her mind’s eye, the image of Twilight’s smile was replaced with that of a broken mare, drained of all of her colors, wandering slowly across checkerboard hills for the Everfree forest, her head hung in shame and guilt and her hooves dragging trenches in the soaked soil. In that moment, it came to Rainbow. The difference between letting Discord out and leaving him entrapped was in two parts. First, he would be free to terrorize some other part of the world for decades, meaning innocents would still suffer under him. But more than that… it would mean he would get to lay a single claw on Twilight, that he would have to use his magic on her head. An echo of a phrase sounded in the back of Rainbow’s mind, a phantom pain over a year old. “Make her pay…” The fog lifted. Her mind calmed down as, at last, her decision settled into place. Rainbow relaxed, a small smile coming over her face. “...I think I’ve made my choice,” she whispered to her mother before suddenly spreading her wings and moving forward towards everypony else. They all turned to face her as she approached, each one appearing curious as to why she had been in the back. “Y’all kinda fell behind a bit there, RD,” Applejack noted with a nod towards Celestia. “Private talk with yer ma, Ah take it?” “Kinda sorta,” Rainbow dismissed before settling down amidst her friends. “It’s starting to get kinda late, you guys. Mom’s gotta set the sun, soon, but there’s one more thing I think we should do, first.” Rarity raised an eyebrow, curiosity shining in her eyes. “Oh? Like what, pray tell?” Rainbow hesitated for a second, realizing that all eyes were on her. She opened her mouth to speak, and for a second, the words got caught in her throat. She glanced back at Celestia, who merely smiled and gave her an encouraging nod. With that bit of support, Rainbow’s smile returned and she turned back to her friends.  “Okay, so, I’ve been thinking about it pretty much all day, a-and I think I’ve finally made up my mind about where I stand on Discord,” she said, her voice hitching for a moment.  “You have?” Fluttershy asked, perking up somewhat. “Are we letting him out?” “We did before,” Twilight pointed out with a simple gesture of her hoof. “In the old timeline, I mean.” That gave Rainbow pause. She gave the alicorn a confused look. “Say what, now?” “I had a flash about it,” Twilight explained before smiling thankfully towards the others. “Our friends explained what flashes are, by the way. I saw us letting Discord out of his prison and cowing him into submission with the elements.” “And he could hear us in there, too!” Pinkie added with a spring in her step. “So he definitely knows we’re planning on making him a nice guy if we let him out.” “Huh… that’s… neat to know,” Rainbow mumbled, absently rubbing the back of her head. After a second she dismissed that tidbit from her mind and focused. “B-but anyways, I say we all head on over to his hill. I can tell everyone my decision at once there - including him.” The group exchanged glanced, a quiet muttering of agreement going between them. Applejack adjusted her hat towards her and nodded. “Alright, Dash, we’re right behind ya. Lead on.” Rainbow nodded in turn before turning and starting to lead the way back to the hill, and to Discord’s statue. The perimeter of guards parted when Rainbow and her friends arrived, the sun now starting to set on the horizon. She gave them all a respectful nod before focusing on Discord. Somehow she could feel his anticipation, his eagerness to hear her decision. “Oh-ho, you brought all of your friends along. I take it that means you’ve made up your mind, and are going to let me out?” Came the predicted question into her mind. Rainbow scowled but did not answer out loud. “Just be quiet and listen.” She heard Discord give a quiet ‘humph’ of indignation, but he did not otherwise retort. “So, uh, are we letting him out?” Spike asked anxiously from Twilight’s back, his body curling up into a ball. “‘Cause I really don’t want him out.” Rainbow took a deep breath, her eyes locking onto the statue. Somewhere deep in her heart, she felt one last vestige of uncertainty, one last whispering voice sowing seeds of doubt and anxiety into her mind. She hesitated, her ears drooping. What if she was wrong? What if she was making the wrong decision? She wouldn’t get another chance to do it right if she messed this one up… She slowly swept her gaze behind her and over her friends, taking each one in and studying them, one at a time. They all seemed to be eagerly waiting on her decision with varying degrees of caution and trepidation, most of them focusing on Discord himself. The exceptions to this were Celestia, Spike, and Twilight. Celestia’s expression was, as ever, hard to read. Spike, however, was looking about ready to turn and run for a hill on the other side of the world. But Twilight, more than anything, was watching her with a small, encouraging smile. A smile that told Rainbow the alicorn would be there for her no matter what. “...I’m not letting him lay a hoof on that smile,” Rainbow finally decided before facing her friends fully. “Not again. Not after what he did to me.” “Alright, listen up!” she began, raising her voice slightly to make sure everypony was paying close attention. “Mom brought Discord here to Ponyville with the hope that we would release him and make him a good guy. Make him our friend. If we could pull something like that off, then yeah, he’d be the most powerful ally Equestria has ever had. Just about any other threat that came rolling our way could be swat aside like a fly by him, and we wouldn’t have to worry about it.” She then turned to face Discord directly, her eyes narrowing. “But there are a lot of risks involved… and we have no way of being sure that he would keep his word and stay on our side, even if we succeeded in befriending him. And in the end…” she raised her head up high and slowly unfurled her wings as if making a royal decree. In a way, she was. She was passing her final judgment on the creature before her. “I can’t, in good faith, agree to let him out of there. The benefits are great, yeah, I get that, but if we failed, then far too many ponies could have their lives flipped upside down. And if he messed with any more minds like he did with mine, who knows what kind of damage he could cause? “So my final decision is no; Discord is not going to be released. Like I said before, he dug his grave, and now he can lay in it…” Rainbow decided before turning back to Celestia with an apology on her face. “I know you were hoping we could make him an ally, mom… I’m sorry, but it’s just not worth it. I don’t want to give him the chance to hurt us again.” Celestia was quiet for several seconds as a silence fell over the hilltop. Then, with a small smile, she nodded her head. “Do not be sorry, Rainbow. I understand… thank you for at least considering it,” she replied before turning back to her guards. “Get Discord back into a chariot and return him to Canterlot. Have a special vault set aside for containing him. I will personally seal him in upon my return to the city.” The guards all bowed their heads in the affirmative. “At once, your highness.” As the soldiers began to gather around the statue and start to move it back for the chariot he had been brought in, Rainbow felt a tingling in the back of her skull, followed by a low, furious growl echoing in her mind. She dismissed it for now, though, instead focusing on her friends as they all made their approach. Applejack spoke first. “Huh… y’know, Ah’m honestly kinda surprised, sugarcube. Ah thought that y’all woulda changed yer mind after ya had a chance to cool off a wee bit,” she said sheepishly. Rainbow shook her head slowly. “I was tempted, I was. But I’ve made up my mind, and I’m not changing it.” “How very disappointing…” “So…” Pinkie began, glancing up at Discord as he started to get hauled away. “...What are we gonna do now?” Rainbow shrugged. “I dunno. Could eat out for dinner, treat ourselves a bit to take the edge off. What do you guys think?” “A fine meal with a royal guest?” Rarity asked while glancing at Celestia and tossing her mane. “However in the world could I refuse?” “I think that sounds lovely,” Fluttershy agreed with a nod of her head. Applejack shrugged. “So long as where we go ain’t too fancy. Ah love a good meal, but Ah like to keep it down to earth, if ya catch my drift.” “I, for one, am happy to eat with all of you wherever you deem fitting,” Celestia agreed as well, briefly smiling over at Rainbow. “So please, feel no need to pick something high-class on my account.” “Ooh! Ooh!’ Pinkie raised a hoof. ‘There’s this fantastic place over in town that does all kinds of really good fried food! Hayburgers, quesadillas, chimichangas, cherrychangas! It’s great!” Twilight focused on Pinkie at the mention of hayburgers. “That sounds fine by me,” she stated enthusiastically. She then turned back to Rainbow, her expression softening somewhat with concern. “...But are you sure, Rainbow? I mean… we let him go the first time. Shouldn’t we be trying to keep things as close to the old timeline as we can?” “She raises a good point, Dashie,” Discord agreed emphatically. “If you don’t release me, the changes to your timeline will only grow!” Rainbow was quiet for a moment, her ears drooping. Then, with her smile returning, she nodded. “I’m sure,” she said to both of them at once. “Our world is already real different from the first time through. At this point, we shouldn’t stick so close to what was.” Her eyes settled on Twilight’s, the two falling quiet for a moment. After a few seconds of quiet, Rainbow continued. “...Instead, we should go wherever our new futures take us.” Twilight blinked at her, her eyes widening somewhat. But then she smiled softly and nodded in agreement. Celestia craned her neck down so that she was closer to eye-level with the rest of the group. “So, I take it we are all in agreement then? Pinkie’s suggestion is where we are going?” she asked hopefully, a small spark in her eyes. “Because something dreadfully unhealthy sounds like a nice treat, to me.” Rainbow snorted as she tried to hold in a laugh, images of absurdly rich slices of cake flying through her mind. She quickly composed herself and merely gave her mother a knowing grin. “Oh, I bet it does.” Were it anypony else, they would have missed the very faint red tint that came to Celestia’s cheeks at that remark. But Rainbow’s keen eyes caught it, and it pleased her greatly. “Then what are we waiting for?!” Pinkie demanded, bounding in place. “Let’s go! THE CHEESE AWAITS!” And so the group turned and began to depart the hillside, heading back for Ponyville and eagerly discussing what they were going to eat. Rainbow watched them go for a minute and made to follow them when she heard Discord growling in her mind. She paused and glanced back at him, an uncertain look on her face. Twilight and Spike noticed her hesitation, the former pausing and turning back to her. “Rainbow? Are you coming?” she called carefully. Rainbow looked back at her, smiling in reassurance. “Yeah, yeah. I’ll catch up. If Discord can hear me in there, there’s something I wanna say to him first.” Twilight and Spike stared at her for a few moments before the drake offered up his timid response. “Just be careful, alright?” he asked, tapping the tips of his clawed fingers together. Rainbow trotted over to him and ruffled the spines on his head with a hoof. “Will do. Now get going, and don’t let Twilight have any quesadillas,” she directed with a cheeky grin. Twilight frowned. “Huh? How come?” she asked, clearly bewildered. “Oh-ho, do I have a story for you,” Spike proclaimed, sitting upright. “I’ll tell you all about it on the way.” Twilight raised an eyebrow and glanced at Rainbow with a look on her face that said something along the lines of ‘is this a bad thing?’ Rainbow just gave her an encouraging pat before turning back to Discord, leaving the alicorn and her dragon to leave the hillside. Once her hoof-falls fell into silence, Rainbow’s smile fell away and she looked to the guards. “Hey. All of you clear out for a minute,” she ordered simply. The guards looked uneasily amongst themselves, but after that morning none of them were willing to question it. They nodded back at her after a moment and slowly scattered away, leaving the princess alone with Discord one more time. “I am very disappointed in you, Rainbow Dash,” Discord sneered bitterly, causing the back of Rainbow’s neck to tingle and the hairs to stand on end. “If it’s any consolation, I was being completely and utterly honest with my offer. I had no intention of breaking my word to you.” “I figured,” Rainbow replied, slowly trotting up to him. “Doesn’t matter, though. As much as I want Twilight to remember everything we had, there is not a chance I’m gonna let you touch her to make it happen. We don’t need you, Discord.” “You aren’t left with any other way, you know,” Discord pointed out. “Without me, Twilight will probably never remember who she is. She will never be the mare you fell in love with again.” “That’s fine,” Rainbow countered. “Because as long as she can be happy the way she is now, then she doesn’t need to be the mare I fell in love with.” “Bah. I will never understand you little ponies and your weird emotional attachments,” Discord groused, no doubt crossing his metaphorical arms and pouting in dismay. ‘Fine, fine, send me away to be sealed up forever in some crummy old vault. I’m sure the spiders and dust bunnies can make for excellent company.” Rainbow stared at him for a while, her expression going through a few different looks. First offense, then consideration. And finally, pity. The creature before her had just spelled it out to her, and she found it hard to feel anything but sad for the being in front of her. “...You’re right. You don’t understand,” she muttered to him, her wings unfurling and lifting her gently into the air. “And as long as you don’t, then we’ll beat you every single time you try to cause trouble.” “What are you saying to me?” Discord asked impatiently, the sound of his foot tapping on the ground ringing in Rainbow’s ears. She just smiled at him, her entire body relaxing. “Discord… honestly, I feel kinda sorry for you. You’ve got all of that power, but nopony can really appreciate it because of how you choose to use it. And because of that, we had to lock you up in stone. Twice,” she started slowly. “It doesn’t have to be like that next time, though… whenever you get outta there, do me a favor: try and make a friend or two.” “Oh, I don’t think so,” Discord yawned, seemingly ready to dismiss the discussion outright. “I’ll be far too busy making my own entertainment for that. Besides, you ponies are way too simple-minded to even comprehend some of what I can do.” “Then I guess you’ll never understand why we’ve always won,” Rainbow settled with a shrug of her shoulders. “But hey… just think about it. You never know what you might find if you give it a shot. And besides…” she winked at him before drifting back down to the ground. “You can’t exactly prove me wrong unless you find out for yourself.” For that, Discord had no reply. Rainbow stared up at him for a minute before turning around so her back at facing him. “Goodbye, Discord,” she said simply before trotting away back towards town and the setting sun, leaving the draconequus that had caused her and her friends so much pain and suffering well and truly behind her.