//------------------------------//
// One Last Journey 
// Story: The World Beneath Her Wings 
// by Void Chicken 
//------------------------------//

Rainbow jerked awake. She took deep breaths to steady herself and think. After rolling out of bed, she took slow steps downstairs to find Rarity.

"Good morning, dearie. Oh no, did it happen again?" Rarity moved to met her on the bottom step.

"Rarity." Rainbow thought for a moment. "When are we going to the Roundhill?"

"This afternoon. Why, is something wrong?"

Rainbow walked off the staircase and put her hoof to her face. "This is bad."

Walking next to her, Rarity asked, "What's going on?"

Not stopping on her way to the front door, Rainbow only said, "I gotta find Twilight. She's gotta know what to do. Rarity, you should..." She blinked a few times trying to think. "Something."

Outside, Rainbow walked through Canterlot's morning in a daze. She passed several ponies on the way to the library, ponies who had lived that day twice already and died just as many times.

She looked up at the clouds and could only see an orange wave sweeping them away. She looked down and could only see bodies.

Rainbow shook her head. Twilight would know what to do.

She reached the library sooner than she'd expected, its doors still closed for the morning. The weariness in Rainbow's legs finally caught up to her. She settled down on a bench in front, letting out a deep breath.

Laying on her side and setting her head down, she wished something could take her mind off of things.

Her foal kicked inside her.

She settled on watching ponies go by in their blissful ignorance.

"Rainbow? What are you doing here already?"

Looking to her side, Rainbow saw Twilight and Starlight standing a few feet away. She got to her feet. "Twilight, this is really bad. It happened again. It woke up."

Starlight gave a quick smile. "I'll be inside," she said, walking up the steps towards the opening doors.

Twilight came closer. "Oh! Did you see who did it?"

"It's—" She shook her head. "Nopony did it. It woke itself up, Twilight. That's what happened and, oh geez that must have been it the second time, too. We can't stop it because there's nopony to stop. And it's going to happen again today!"

Twilight grabbed Rainbow's shoulders. "Calm down, okay? Panicking isn't going to help."

Rainbow brushed Twilight's hooves off. "Yeah. Okay, yeah. So what's the plan?"

Looking down, Twilight started, "Well, the creature spontaneously awakening now after thousands of years does strain credibility a bit." Twilight looked up at the scowl that Rainbow barely noticed she was making. "All right, all right. If it's inevitable, then we'll need a way to prevent it from hurting us, but without understanding what it is or how it works... all we can do to it is the best thing we have. We'll use the Elements of Harmony."

"Will they work?"

Twilight smiled. "Of course they will. The Elements, and the friendship that they represent, is the most powerful magic in the world. If they don't work, nothing will." She thought for a moment. "I'll have to ask the girls to come to the Roundhill. Spike should still be in Ponyville, so I'll send him a letter."

"That sounds good. Thanks, Twilight." Rainbow wiped her forehead.

Turning towards the library, Twilight said, "Things will work out. It'll take more than a big bug to take us down."

Rainbow began the walk back home.

About a block away from the library, a fancy-looking cart pulled by two white stallions stopped next to her. Rainbow looked up to see her wife in it.

"Get in."

"Um, Rarity, you really didn't need to—"

Rarity leaned over the edge. "It is very difficult to charter a carriage on short notice in this city, and this is important. Please, get in."

Rainbow got in.

She sat down under the wide white umbrella next to Rarity.

"Onwards, gentlecolts," Rarity called. "Through the park, please."

She turned to Rainbow. "Now, where was I?" She looked into Rainbow's eyes and hesitated. "Right. I've... I've seen you worried, and I've seen you anxious and nervous and all those things. But, Rainbow, for as long as I've known you, I've never seen you afraid. I've spent so much time this last week wrestling with whether I should believe you that I'd completely forgotten how you must feel. Whatever is happening has been scaring you and I haven't helped at all."

"Hey." Rainbow raised a hoof for a second. "It's not your fault that there's nothing you can really do about this. And it's okay if you don't believe me."

Rarity stomped the floor. "It's not okay! You're scared and I've been so confused that I haven't been thinking like I should about—about you, or—" She motioned at Rainbow's belly. "—or about her and instead I'm sitting in a cart raving like a madmare!"

Rainbow wrapped her hooves around Rarity. "It's all right."

"No, it's not."

"Sure it is."

"You're the one dealing with everything. What have I done for you or the foal?"

Pulling back and smiling, Rainbow looked into Rarity's eyes. "Been the amazing mare I still want to spend the rest of my life with?"

Rarity cracked a smile herself. "Even if that's just today?"

"Don't talk like that. Twilight's getting the Elements of Harmony and we're going to do the friendship thing at the Roundhill. Works every time." Rainbow snuggled up next to Rarity and wrapped her wing around her. Rarity leaned into her like she always did. "Then I'll have the kid and the three of us will be a family happily ever after."

Rarity chuckled. "Until the next time the world ends."

"Until the next time. Maybe the kid will be old enough to help."

"Maybe."

---

Rainbow climbed the familiar ridge, the Element of Loyalty hanging from her neck. To her right, Rarity climbed next to her for the first time again. On the left, Twilight wore her little tiara. Her friends walked behind them, with Starlight taking up the rear.

"All right," Applejack's voice said, "so we use the Elements on this Roundhill thing and go home?"

"Yup!" Pinkie Pie answered.

Over the ridge, Rainbow saw the sight she wished she didn't have to. One more time, the Roundhill sat inert under the dirt and grass and the lone tree. Rainbow passed the tree on top of the ridge and made her way down.

"And that'll stop the world from ending?" Applejack went on.

Pinkie said, "Or we'll all die."

Rainbow sighed.

"Pinkie, that ain't funny," Applejack added.

"Let's just focus on this," Twilight said, looking back.

Before long, they had crossed the short distance to the base of the Roundhill. Rainbow adjusted her Element. She glanced towards the sun. There wasn't much time.

"Are we clear on what we're going to do?" Twilight asked. "We hit it with whatever we've got, and play it by ear from there."

"I'll just stand back here and watch," Starlight said, backing up a few steps.

"Um." It was Fluttershy. "What exactly are we expecting?"

"Well," Twilight said, looking at Rainbow. "For the world not to end, I suppose."

Fluttershy walked up to the Roundhill's black side. "Then, is this really okay? Aren't we attacking a creature in its sleep?"

Rainbow's hoof met her face. "Fluttershy, this isn't the time for—"

"What Rainbow means to say," Twilight interrupted, "is that the Elements of Harmony are a force of friendship, of good. They don't hurt creatures. The worst they've ever done is contain evil, but they've never outright harmed anything."

Fluttershy paused. "At least let me try something." She rubbed up against the side of the Roundhill. "Mister Roundhill, you don't really want to hurt anypony or the world, do you? I'm sure you're just misunderstood. Are you cranky? Can I get you anything to eat? What do you eat?"

She waited in silence. "Okay, if you don't want to talk, that's fine, too." Fluttershy slowly walked away.

Rarity spoke up, "You said that the Elements don't harm creatures. Does that include our foal?"

Rainbow and Twilight both looked at her.

"Back before we conceived, you said that any magic could harm the foal. And I can speak from experience when I say that using the Elements of Harmony has quite the effect on a mare's body. There is a foal inside Rainbow's body right now. Will she be okay?"

Twilight paused. "No pony's ever used the Elements while pregnant." She paused. "But that's right, the foal is overdue. She's completely physically developed and is ready for the world's magic. And like I just said, the Elements don't do harm. She'll be just fine!"

Rainbow took a breath, then let it out. She turned to the Roundhill. "We doing this, then?"

"No time like the present," Twilight said. "Everypony ready?"

Rainbow got into position, next to Rarity. She concentrated on how she wouldn't let any weird time stuff or a big black shelled thing ruin the future of ponykind. How her friends were always there to help. How the love of her life was there for her.

She floated into the air, feeling the power swell.

Ponykind would survive this, just as they'd survived everything else. Nothing could stop the power of friendship. Everything was going to be all right.

The brilliant rainbow arced through the air and struck the Roundhill.

Rainbow floated back to the ground.

For a few seconds, nothing happened.

Then the ground shook. Rainbow was the first to back up, quickly followed by the others when the dirt and grass slid off.

"No no no!" Rainbow shouted.

The sky turned orange.

"D-do it again!" Twilight yelled.

Rainbow thought very hard about how friendship was supposed to solve these kinds of problems, about how things had to work out, and about how this couldn't be how ponykind ended.

Once again, the rainbow hit the Roundhill, striking the energy field that had materialized around it.

In response, the field made a crackling noise and several white spots appeared on it, aimed at the ponies.

It only took a second for Rainbow to recognize them. "RUN!"

She turned and ran. She didn't know where and she didn't know how it would help.

Several loud cracks accompanied the flashes of heat behind her. There were distant booms.

Rainbow lost her footing and fell to the ground, ending up on her back. The Roundhill aimed another crackling spot of light at her. All she could do was wonder whether it would hurt.

Then the light faded.

"W... what?" Rainbow stood on shaking legs. "Why didn't you... Why are you sparing me? Do you know what's going on? Do you know me? How can you even know who I am? This is the first time you've seen me. Unless..."

Orange sparkles drifted down from above.

"Unless..."

Her strength began to fade. She collapsed once again.

She gasped her last breath.

"...you're going back, too."

---

"Or we'll all die."

"Pinkie, that ain't funny."

Rainbow stumbled a few steps at the top of the ridge. She sat down, letting the others walk by.

"Rainbow?" Rarity had stopped, too.

"Rarity..." She searched for words. "Can you stay here?"

With the slightest head tilt, she asked, "Don't we all need to be there?"

"No. No, we don't." She took her Element off, looked at it in her hoof for a second, and set it down in the grass. "Just stay here for a bit. It's... I just think you should."

Rarity looked at Rainbow's face. "All right."

Standing up, Rainbow continued down the ridge towards the Roundhill and the others. By the time she caught up, they were at its base.

Twilight turned around. "Where's your Element? Why isn't Rarity here?"

"It doesn't matter, Twilight. The Elements didn't work." Rainbow looked down.

Applejack raised her voice. "Are you kidding me? We get a letter telling us we have to be here in a jiffy or the world ends, and only now you tell us we didn't have to come?"

"How can the Elements not work?" Twilight asked. "How can friendship not work?"

"I don't know!" Rainbow yelled. "Why do you think I know anything about what's going on? This, all of this! The Elements didn't do anything, okay?" She quietly added, "You said that if the Elements don't work, nothing will."

Twilight paced back and forth. "This can't be right. Things aren't supposed to be this way."

Rainbow walked to stand next to the Roundhill's shell. "Supposed to? I'm not supposed to be going back in time. I'm not supposed to die like this. I'm supposed...

"I'm supposed to be a mother right now. I should be holding my daughter in my hooves, or letting her ride on my back. I should be worrying about whether she has enough diapers, instead of thinking about how she'll never be born."

"But that's all been taken away from me. Away from all of us. Because... because...."

She turned to the Roundhill.

"Because of this thing!"

She closed her eyes and punched the Roundhill as hard as she could before setting her forehead against it.

The others gasped.

Rainbow opened her eyes. "What?"

Fluttershy spoke up. "Rainbow, look."

Raising her head, Rainbow looked at the shell. On it was a glow a few feet across, with the dark imprint of her forehead. She pulled her hoof back, again leaving a dark hoofprint on a patch of light. As she watched, both glows quickly faded away.

Starlight said, "If it reacts to her, then it can't be completely dead. And if she's right about that, then..." She looked up at the mass of the hill, then backed away. "Then..."

Twilight finished the sentence: "Then we're in trouble. Why didn't you tell us it did that?" She set her own hoof against the Roundhill to no effect.

"I never touched it before!" Rainbow paused. "I never touched it before. A month ago, I could have touched it and showed you. You would have believed me from the start. Did you know that it knows about me somehow? I found that out. And I'm pretty sure it goes back in time, too. Maybe if you knew that a month ago you could have figured something out. But now it's too late. It's going to wake up at any moment now. And we're all going to die. We're all going to die because I didn't touch it."

"Rainbow, I'm sure there's something—"

She turned to Twilight. "No. There's nothing. We're out of time. I don't like it either, but I know when I've lost. When we've lost. It's over."

Rainbow went on, "Do you know, out of all the times I've died, what I haven't done? I haven't been there with my wife. That's something that I can change. If you want to try whatever magic you can think of, go right ahead. It can't make things worse. Goodbye."

She turned and walked back towards the ridge. Behind her, Twilight and Starlight started talking. They sounded upset, but Rainbow didn't care anymore. Fluttershy made a sound like she wanted to follow, but Applejack said something to stop her.

Rainbow arrived at the ridge and lay down next to Rarity.

"I saw the glowing," Rarity said.

"Yeah."

"So it's all true?"

"Yeah."

Rarity looked up. "It's such a nice day. It's hard to believe it's all about to end."

"I know. I'm sorry."

Rarity's hoof set itself on Rainbow's. "You have nothing to apologize for. You did everything you could."

They lay in silence, side by side.

"I could have gotten a C-section," Rainbow said. "We'd at least know what race she was going to be. Or I could have asked a doctor to feel around her and tell."

"I... suppose that can't be helped now."

Rainbow lay her wing across Rarity's back. "If I'd agreed to have the foal a month earlier, she'd have been born by now."

"You didn't know."

Another minute of silence.

"You know, Rarity, this all was nice while it lasted. I'm glad that we at least had this."

"Me too. Will it hurt?"

"No." Rainbow chuckled. "You get used to it after the first few times."

Before long, the ground shook, the sky turned orange, and Rainbow Dash and Rarity spent their final moments side by side.

---

Rainbow's eyes opened. She was laying next to Rarity.

"Did it?" Rarity asked.

"Yeah. And actually, I got a very big, very dumb idea."

Rainbow stood up.

Rarity propped herself up on her forehooves. "Rainbow?"

"The one thing that's done anything." She stood in front of Rarity. "Rarity, all this, all my time with you, I want you to know I haven't regretted a second. And I'm glad I got to spend some of that time more than once."

Rarity started to look worried. "Rainbow..."

Raising a hoof to quiet her, Rainbow continued, "I'm sure I haven't been the greatest wife, but I don't care. I don't care what we've gone through, because it was with the only thing that has ever truly mattered to me. Because it was with you."

She took a breath. "And I wouldn't change any of it. Not a single thing." She smiled. "Not for the world."

With a hoof under Rarity's chin, she said, "I want, no, I need one thing from you. Please. Don't do anything stupid. No matter what. Leave that part to me."

Rainbow kissed her, then smiled.

"I love you."

"Rainbow?"

Before she could think about what she was doing, Rainbow Dash turned and took off straight up.

"Rainbow!"

Her wings protested with every flap of the weight they had to bear. Rainbow kept looking up. "Sorry I have to take you with me, kid. Believe me, if there was another way I'd be doing it. But I've seen what happens when I do nothing."

She pushed through the cloud layer. "Last lesson from your mom: Sometimes you have to do things for the good of everypony else. For the good of your friends, for the good of those you love. Equestria's a really great place. I wish you could have seen it."

Rainbow heard a distant rumbling and the grass below shifted.

"Looks like it's now or never. Nice knowing you, kid."

She turned and dove. Flapping as hard as she could, she streaked downwards. She punched down through the clouds towards the now-exposed black shell.

Holding both forehooves ahead of her, she felt the pressure wave ahead build. The Roundhill rushed up towards her.

Everything was color.

Everything was black.