//------------------------------// // Chapter 17. Princess // Story: Final Corruption // by Epsilon-Delta //------------------------------// Twilight felt a sharp pain in her chest. It hurt too much for her to fall back asleep, but at the same time, she was too sore to get up. She knew in her sleepy mind that this pain would force her to get up eventually, but right now she was too exhausted to open her eyes. It was warm, wherever she was, and she was lying on something soft. Another pony was lying next to her, their wing draped over Twilight. And Twilight felt safe for a moment. Imagined herself back in Rarity’s bed. “Nah, see?” Dash’s voice was right next to Twilight. Somewhere Twilight’s mind had already known it was Dash. “All that and not even a little scratch! That’s how sweet vampire armor is!” “Bat pony armor,” Fluttershy softly corrected her. There was a short pause like Dash was waiting for somepony to talk, but they never did. “Hey, I’ll give you credit for getting out of there unscratched!” Dash assured the mystery pony. “I thought you’d suck completely, but you only sucked a little. You know, relative to me.” But still, they didn’t respond. “Oh, what?” Dash sounded slightly annoyed. “Even after a near-death experience, you’re still upset cause I said the L-word or something? You gotta get your priorities straight, daywalker.” Twilight was curious who Dash was talking to now and opened her eyes ever so slightly and ever so briefly. She could see a pony lying on a couch not far from the bed, a pony that looked a lot like Applejack. “I ain’t complaining about you.” It sure sounded like Applejack. “But Fluttershy, Sunset almost had that thing! And you let it get away!” “I’m sorry, but I can’t kill it,” said Fluttershy. “If it dies, I won’t be able to study it. Think of how much knowledge would be lost if the poor thing got hurt!” “Study it?” Applejack sounded disgusted at the idea. “Poor little thing? That monster already killed loads of ponies and more ponies are likely dying right now. I got nothing against studying animals, but this ain’t no time for that!” “There likely isn’t going to be just one of these,” Fluttershy warned. “I’ve seen the forest create new creatures before and there’s never just one. It might not be for a hundred years or so, but soon enough we’re going to have a whole lot of mist kitties on our hooves. I need to understand them as much as possible by then, or else there could be a serious catastrophe next time. Millions could die if we’re not prepared.” “I feel like we got a serious catastrophe already,” said Applejack. “Ponies are dying right now! I sure ain’t willing to sacrifice anypony because maybe you’ll learn something and maybe you’ll do something good with it in a hundred years.” “Ponies your age are always so short-sighted.” Fluttershy sighed. “I don’t think many more ponies are going to die. I’m going to catch it and bring it to the center of the forest as soon as I can. I’m not risking a lot of lives.” As Twilight began to wake up more, she started mulling this little moral dilemma over. She honestly wasn’t sure what the right choice here was. But then it wasn’t her decision to make. Twilight finally managed to open her eyes entirely and take a look around. She was in Fluttershy’s house, lying on Fluttershy’s bed with Rainbow Dash. Fluttershy was sitting on a chair right next to the bed and across from them, on a couch, was Applejack and a pile of stuffed animals. Dash was in her vampire form and still had that armor on, though now it was covered in huge gashes. None of the cuts seemed to have pierced all the way through, though. Fluttershy was in her daywalker disguise and Applejack didn’t look well at all. She wasn’t visibly injured, but she looked exhausted like she was having trouble keeping her head up. She was pale, her eyes glazed over and with heavy bags around them. Twilight quickly remembered the reason why. She’d donated Twilight a great deal of blood. “Twilight, I’m so sorry!” Dash grabbed Twilight in a hug immediately. “I messed everything up!” She quickly noticed Twilight was in pain from the hug and pulled back. “I should have taken this more seriously from the start! I should have set up a rendezvous point last night! I shouldn’t have let Sunset take you! I should have beaten her up right then and taken you back by force! I shouldn’t have left you alone and-!” Dash hit her own head. “Gah! So stupid! I’m getting way too soft!” “It’s okay,” Twilight said without really thinking about if it was. “I don’t think any of this was your fault.” She was certain it wasn’t Dash’s fault, after thinking about it, but she still felt uneasy, nervous. Maybe she had to wait a bit before she could calm down. Twilight tried to think of something else to talk about, to take her mind off this. She turned to Applejack and remembered there was something she needed to do. “Oh! Applejack!” Twilight reached out toward her. “Thanks for uh, helping me. And the blood transfusion. I take back all the horrible things I said about you. Or most of them, anyway.” “Huh?” Applejack looked surprised. “You sure figured that out fast. Is it really that obvious I’m missing a lot of blood?” “Um!” Twilight glanced at Fluttershy, then back at Applejack. A twinge of fear when up Twilight’s spine. Even after all this, she didn’t want to do anything to upset her vampire friends. “Yeah! You look pretty drained is all.” She wasn’t going to buy that! Twilight’s heart was racing! She was shaking in fear but wasn’t sure what she was scared of. She tried reminding herself that Applejack wasn’t going to kill her or anything! Even if she found out about dreamwalking what was the big deal?! But none of that seemed to help. It was only when a familiar feeling came back that she understood what was going on. That longing for the forest, that feeling of disgust for not being inside it, they were both coming back. This was all her instincts going wild again. It didn’t feel quite as bad as before. Already Twilight suspected that was because Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash were here. That helped last night, or whenever. Her ability to sense dark magic had grown even more in her sleep, now she could feel it radiating off Dash and an even greater amount pooling around Fluttershy. And she could feel it coming off herself as well. Yet even still, that mist monster was a greater source of dark magic. Ever so gently, the dark magic of the three vampires was blown off to the east by the winds the monster created. Twilight could feel its presence and longing towards it. “I can still feel that thing pulling me!” Twilight put her hooves over her head. “How long is this going to last?!” “Here.” Fluttershy took out a chunk of a brown, gummy substance. “Try chewing on this. I think it will help.” Twilight desperately grabbed the mystery gum and started chewing. And it worked! She could already feel her heartbeat slowing down, feel that little nervous tick in the back of her mind quieting down. She felt a little too calm too fast. “This uh.” Twilight chewed the gum a moment longer. She could feel a bit of a tingling sensation going through her nostrils. Applejack was giving her a weird look that made Twilight wonder if she was blowing purple vapors, the kind only a daywalker could see, out of her nostrils. “This isn’t going to make me high, is it?” “Oh, by the forest, no.” Fluttershy smiled gently. “You’re nervous because you’re not in the forest, but I made this gum with the bark of trees from near the center. It just tricks your brain into thinking you’re in the forest. You end up breathing it in, you see?” That kind of made sense. "I made a whole lot of this for now.” Fluttershy pointed to a big, misshapen ball of the stuff sitting on her table. “Just in case. I have some painkillers for you too.” Fluttershy gave Twilight a small bottle of pills. And that was good. Now that the panic was dying down, the pain in her chest was becoming less bearable. Twilight took the gum out for a second to swallow one, then put it back in. “Are you sure there’s nothing else wrong with her?” Dash asked. “I’ve never seen somepony go this crazy before.” “You had a lot of time to get used to your new instincts, Twilight hasn’t.” Fluttershy gave Twilight a reassuring little pat. “But I promise you will get used to this. It might take a year, but once we get you deeper into the forest it won’t be nearly as bad.” "Well now that we're all awake." Applejack cracked her neck. "I still got a lot of questions for you vampires." “Actually,” said Fluttershy, “we’re called bat ponies. Calling us vampires is like using the m-word for earth ponies.” “Right. Cause y'all never use the m-word.” Applejack gave Fluttershy a deadpan stare. “Well I don’t.” Fluttershy frowned at Rainbow Dash. “This is why you shouldn’t use slurs.” “I like being called a vampire.” Dash shrugged it off. “What I don’t get is your problem with mud pony. Mud’s probably important for all kinds of stuff, you know? You should be proud to get compared to mud!” Applejack just gave Dash a stern look. "Oh, come on! This is why you gotta teach yourself to not let words like that hurt you." Dash rolled her eyes. "But the boss said to give you a chance if you came crawling over, so I won't call you a mud pony for 48 hours. How's that?" Applejack clearly didn't trust her to do that just yet and instead turned back to Fluttershy. “I feel like I got the right to know what you do,” said Applejack. “You still know lots of things that’ll probably save lives if y'all just tell us about it! Like why does the mist hurt the royal guard so bad but ponies like me are just fin in it?” “That question's fair.” Fluttershy nodded. “I suppose I should tell you that. You see-” “It’s 'cause you’re already one of us, dork,” said Dash. Applejack looked offended by the idea while Fluttershy sighed at Dash’s less than graceful way of answering. “What do you mean?” Applejack asked. “I ain’t never touched any fruit from the forest! I ain’t no vampire!” “Magic seeps in from the forest all around Ponyville and you’ve been absorbing it probably since before you were born,” said Fluttershy. “You’ve been part bat pony your whole life. That’s why you do so well in the mist and can live so close to the forest. You can drink the water and eat plants from near the edge just fine. You’re good at fighting monsters because they don’t go into a rage against you. It’s why the mist is making you rapidly transform instead of killing you.” “You’re saying I’m changing?!” Applejack looked herself over. She didn’t look physically changed at all. “I don’t look like a vampire!” “Bat pony. Maybe you didn’t notice because the fog appears very thick to you, but-“ Fluttershy thought of the best way to phrase it. “Well can you guess how bright it is in here, Applejack?” “Well I’d say it’s a little dim but-“ Applejack scratched her head, knowing this was going somewhere but not sure where. It quickly dawned on her where this was leading and fear came back to her eyes. “Oh wait, is it pitch black in here or something?” “Very close.” Fluttershy nodded. “Your eyes are already getting closer to normal. If they change much more, they’ll start glowing and you won’t be able to handle daylight anymore.” “But-!” Applejack looked like she just realized something horrible. “Then you’re saying all of us are going to turn into vampires if we don’t get out of this mist?! Like the entire town is gonna turn vampire?!” “Bat ponies,” Fluttershy corrected her calmly. “And I’m not sure yet. Normally you don’t change much more than you already have unless, well-“ “The fruit of eternal youth,” Applejack finished for her. “Something like that. But I can’t say exactly what will happen since I’ve never seen this monster before. It’s possible everypony in town will turn into bat ponies, but it’d still take a while. And I won’t know if you’re still transforming until maybe tomorrow night.” “Well then we gotta get everypony out of town even more now!” Applejack tried to get up off the couch but stumbled on her way off. Maybe she gave more blood than Twilight realized. “I have to tell Sunset Shimmer about this. She’ll stop this quarantine thing once she hears. I'll come back later.” “Now I just feel bad for you.” Dash shook her head. “Look, I made the same kind of mistake myself. Sunset doesn’t give a buck about you or this town. None of them do.” ”First of all, Sunset does care about this town. She's the one out there protecting this town right now." Applejack trudged over to the door and put her hoof on the handle. "Sides, I ain't doing it cause she cares about me, I'm doing it cause it's the right thing." “Listen to me!” Dash shouted over her. “You helped one of us, so I’m going to give you some advice here. The fact that you know about vampires is a bad thing right now. Maybe you feel like you’re in Sunset’s club cause she gave you that spear, but she’s never gonna see you as her equal. You and your family are in serious danger and not cause of the monsters. If you’re smart, you’ll get your brother and sister and go hide somewhere till Sunset leaves.” “I agree with Rainbow Dash,” said Fluttershy. “I think Sunset Shimmer is keeping you all here is to experiment on you. She wants to know how this fog works too.” “Experiment on us?” Applejack turned around to look at the others but kept her hoof on the door. “Sunset wouldn’t do something like that! She’s a hero!” “I’ve known Sunset for a while and she’s a little um-“ Fluttershy tried to think of a polite way to say it. “Neurotic because of everything Celestia puts her through. She might be doing that.” “What do you think she’s forcing you all to stay here for, dork?” Dash asked. “I don’t know, but.” Applejack hung her head quietly for a moment, thinking about it deeply. "She has to have a good reason, right?" "You already helped a lot, Applejack,” said Fluttershy. “You saved Twilight and a lot of other ponies. But you’re injured and should think of yourself and your family now. You should rest here. I'll go get your family and bring them back here. Sunset won't touch them if they're with me." Twilight made a mental note to complain that she'd gotten roughed up despite being under Fluttershy's protection, but decided now wasn't the time. Applejack stood, deep in thought for a long while. “Well it is true Canterlot only ever gave us trouble for knowing what we know. Sunset already confiscated all my books," said Applejack. "I gotta think of Applebloom first. And I suppose I'm likely to be working for y'all soon." Applejack let go of the door and trotted back into the room. “Hey! See?” Dash opened her forelegs, welcoming Applejack back. “You’re not that stupid after all! Come sit over here. I’ll tell you about all the awesome fights I used to get into.” Dash gestured to the chair right next to the bed where she and Twilight were lying. Applejack kept her eyes on Dash as she went over to the couch instead. “Ah, come on!” Dash opened her forelegs wide. “Don’t be like that. We'll be friends soon! Hey, I could tell you about that one time I almost defeated Rarity. Smashed her right in the face, gave her the worst black eye I’ve ever seen. That sounds like your kind of story.” "That does sound nice." Applejack leaned against the pile of stuffed animals and closed her eyes. Already it looked like she was having trouble opening them back up. "But I'm mighty tired right now. Woo. Maybe it is good you stopped me from going back out there." “Bleh.” Dash leaned over, using Twilight as her pillow. “Rarity would probably give me so much crap for telling that story to her anyway.” “Hey! Where is Rarity, anyway?” Twilight asked. “How long has it been? Shouldn’t she be here by now?” “She should.” Fluttershy peeked out the window. “It’s about noon. None of us have seen Rarity or Pinkie since last night.” “But it’s not like we went out looking for them, either,” Dash muttered, her eyes closed. “She’s fine. Probably went looking through every basement for you till she got stuck somewhere. Those guards are all too weak to fight her. Only that stupid bonehead is tough enough to take Rarity and she was with Fluttershy all night.” “I am a little worried,” said Fluttershy. “Rarity's always been the rebellious one. She gets herself into trouble sometimes." "You're always worried sick about Rarity." Dash shook her head. "But I trust the boss. Hundred percent chance she's fine." Twilight lowered her head. She wished she could be a hundred percent certain too, but it wasn’t that easy. In her heart, Twilight felt like the moment Rarity came back everything would be fine again, she’d be able to relax. But that moment seemed so far away. “Rarity is bucking tough. You have no idea how hard I tried to kill that mare, but it never worked.” Dash gave Applejack a critical glance to make sure she was asleep before leaning in to whisper to Twilight. “Don’t let anypony know I said this, but Rarity’s tougher than me. We fought like a hundred times and I never won once. If I’m fine, she’s fine.” Twilight nodded weakly. “Let’s all just try to get some rest for now,” Fluttershy said. “I'll go out looking for her in just a little bit, then go after the monster." It was true that even Rainbow Dash looked like she needed a nap. Twilight lied down and tried resting some more. Despite how tired and aching she was, she already knew she wasn't going to get to sleep right now. Finding Rarity felt like the only way she'd sleep ever again. Twilight’s ears perked up when a sudden knock sounded from the door. Her first thought was that this might be Rarity, but then she remembered that Rarity wouldn’t be able to get here during the day and her excitement died down. The pony didn’t wait for Fluttershy to open before barging in herself. It was Sunset Shimmer again! Memories of last time and fear gripped Twilight. But Dash moved forward, defensively spreading her wings. At least this time Twilight wasn’t alone. “Do you where Rarity is?” Fluttershy was the first to speak up, asking the question a bit more sternly than Twilight was used to hearing from her. “I haven’t seen her since she came over to yell at me last night,” Sunset promised. Fluttershy watch her closely as Sunset gave that explanation and in the end decided she bought it. “You better be telling the truth,” Dash warned. “Cause I already owe you two black eyes and you’re not gonna like what comes after that.” “I’m not here to talk to you.” Sunset only spared Dash a brief glance. “Fluttershy’s the one I need to speak with.” “You’re right, I do need to talk to you.” Fluttershy stood up. “I hope you realized how much trouble you’re in!” Sunset let out a frustrated sigh. “I already told Rarity I’d pay for everything I broke.” Sunset looked off to the side. “I don’t think there’s anything left to discuss. We’ve already talked about this for hours.” “No, that’s not it! Poor Twilight almost died because of how irresponsible you were. You broke into my daughter’s house, you held a bat pony under my protection hostage, you let your guards hit her in jail and you didn’t escort her back even after you knew who Rarity was.” “How was I supposed to know one of your daughters was there?!” Sunset snapped suddenly but then went back to her stoic look immediately, rubbing her eyebrows. “I had to figure out there were any vampires here at all by myself and you’re getting on my case for not also deducing they were with you? Nopony ever tells me anything. Celestia says ‘you’re going to Ponyville’, I say ‘why’, she says ‘well if you’re not retarted you’ll figure that out’ and that’s the story of my life. I have to go into everything full force. I need results or Celestia-“ “You didn’t get results,” Fluttershy lectured her. “You’re very strong, but that’s what’s wrong. You think that means you have to use your strength to solve every problem. If you’d been kinder you would have figured everything out in a few minutes, but instead, you wasted hours standing down with Rarity and now you’re wasting even more time. I hope this is a lesson for you.” As Fluttershy lectured her, that stoic look Sunset always had begun to falter. It was just a little at first, but then it shattered into anger the second Fluttershy was done. “Okay, Fine! I’m a completely worthless failure!” Sunset shouted back. “Believe me, I get that! Do you think I don’t constantly hear that from Celestia every single day?! I know I can’t possibly live up to you divine bucking beings, so I’m just slime to ponies like you and Celestia, right?!” A small hush fell over the room after her little outburst. Twilight certainly never expected anything but endless confidence from Sunset Shimmer. Curious, she looked over to at Applejack to see the earth pony looking like she was watching a horror movie for the first time. “I didn’t say that either.” Fluttershy sighed. “I wish I could praise you for how talented you are, but you’re never going to get the kind of acknowledgment you want if you always resort to force. But I can’t let this slide either. You know I don’t like doing this sort of thing, but I have to do something you’ll feel. So Next time I see her, I’m telling Celestia that you’re the one who stepped on her bag of special potato chips.” Now that would seem like a silly ‘punishment’ to the vast majority of ponies. But to see Sunset grow silent, clenching her teeth, and glance downward at the threat made Twilight realize it was more than that. Sunset was afraid of Celestia. And for a moment, Twilight felt like she had gotten justice. “And I want you to say you’re sorry to Twilight,” Fluttershy added. “I’m sorry, Twilight.” Sunset didn’t even look at Twilight when she said it. “I didn’t know you were with Fluttershy’s daughter. I thought you were just a bunch of rogue vampires. I only intended to hold you for a little while to keep your gang honest. I’ll reprimand the guard that hit you. Can we drop this already?” “No,” said Fluttershy. “Yeah!” Twilight sat up. Knowing Fluttershy really did have her back gave her the courage to finally speak up. “Are you going to say you’re sorry to all the other ponies you roughed up?” “Don’t act like you’re the good guy.” Sunset finally turned her eyes on Twilight. “Your gang’s been spreading subversive ideas and harboring banned books. Like Starlight says, ideas are just another form of violence. The ponies of Equestria have chosen to keep these dangerous ideas away and you’ve been forcing them on us. You spreading rebelliousness and trying to undermine our society isn’t any different than what I do to maintain order. Nepotism is the only reason you get an apology.” Her statement wasn’t entirely inaccurate. The Blue Diamonds certainly got Twilight to rebel. “Please.” Dash shook her head. “If your perfect society can be destroyed by asking questions then it deserves to collapse.” “Yeah!” Twilight quickly agreed with Dash. “The only pony who ‘chose’ to keep knowledge out of Equestria is you! I sure as buck never agreed to live in a nation where I’m not allowed to think!” “As if I’m the one who gets to pick what’s on the banned book list.” Sunset sighed, shrugged, and shook her head, not realizing she just proved Twilight’s point. “Look, I’m not interested in having a debate with you delinquents. We have a mutual enemy right now, so if nopony else has any complaints-“ “Actually.” Applejack got up off the couch. “There was something I really need to ask you about.” Sunset was already groaning in anticipation of another lecture. "Why are you keeping everypony locked in town?" Applejack asked. "We need to evacuate! It ain’t safe to stay here! This mist might be changing ponies.” “I don’t have to tell you anything!” Sunset snapped at her. Applejack kept her ears turned back, silently digging into her anger at that response. Twilight got the sense that Sunset was about to lose her confidence forever right then. Maybe Sunset could tell too and backed off a little. “Look, I’m under a lot of stress right now!” Sunset rubbed her forehead. “I know the mist is changing ponies and that's why we're staying here. This is like a quarantine. If I let you out of this town, you might bring this magic with you. You already know vampirism is contagious. We don't know what anypony exposed to the fog will bring with them. None of us can go north of here yet. That includes me if that makes you feel better. I’m staying in the fog just as long as you are.” Twilight could tell it did help. Applejack lowered her guard just a little. “Everypony will be fine,” said Sunset. “I can protect them all. No one in the center of town’s gotten hurt yet, have they?” “Well no.” Applejack sat back down. “Come on! You’re not seriously falling for this, are you?” Dash asked. “Sunset and her stooges beat the crap out of Twilight for no reason! They’ve been roughing up innocent ponies all over town. They don’t care about the ponies in this town.” “Nearly everypony in this town belongs in jail and you’re partly to blame for that," said Sunset. "Frankly, I feel like the four of you belong in jail, too. The only reason you’re not is because of our truce. Are you really going to trust them, Applejack? A bunch of delinquent vampire monsters from the forest?” Sunset pointed over at Twilight. She didn’t have time to style her mane for what was two days now, but it was still spikey. “They have zero respect for us or our way of life,” said Sunset. “I’m willing to bet that they’ve never done anything but mock you for being an upstanding citizen, for valuing wholesome ideals. All vampires are the same. They do nothing but run around cursing, eating candy, spreading their corruption, trying to undermine the society we all want! Tell me I’m wrong!” Twilight wished she could object, but Sunset was totally right. They constantly mocked Applejack and her worldview. Dash couldn’t disagree with that, either. She too remained silent as Applejack mulled that over. “I understand all that.” Applejack looked down at the ground, ashamed. “But they’re the only ones who can help me. They’re the only ones willing. So…” “Oh?” The wheels turned in Sunset’s head as she quickly deduced what was going on. “You mean your farm? I could help you with that.” Applejack lifted her head, looking at Sunset eyes wide with amazement. “What?” Sunset nodded, back to her stoic, in-control look, obviously pleased with whatever scheme she just came up with. “Obviously I could save your land. I have enough money and magic” Sunset held her hoof out to Applejack. “I don’t know what horrible things these ponies will ask in return, but all I want is for you to help me stop that monster. Most of my ponies can’t get close to it, but you can.” “Applejack, don’t-“ Dash started, but Sunset spoke over here. “I have a plan, but I need another pony to help me.” Sunset held her hoof out to Applejack. “You said you wanted to help me save this town, right? This is your chance to be a hero. Your family fought against the Everfree for generations, right? Do you really want to be the pony who had to surrender to it? Or do you want to fight?” Applejack was tempted by the offer and this was one thing Twilight didn’t blame her for. It wasn’t long ago that Twilight looked up to Sunset Shimmer too, would have been in awe at such an offer from the unicorn. “Look,” said Dash, “if you go out there, I guarantee you’re going to ‘accidentally’ die. I used to work for these guys. I know how this goes! Anypony who asks you to fight in your condition isn't your friend." "It's true," Fluttershy agreed. "I can take care of the monster myself. You don't have to risk your life. You have type O blood and Twilight has most of it. There's a blood shortage so if you get cut it could be really dangerous." "I won't ask you to do much fighting," Sunset promised. "I can keep you safe. I am the strongest unicorn." After a painful bit of thinking, Applejack finally made her decision. “I- I agree.” Applejack nodded and stepped over to Sunset’s side once again. “Sunset ain’t trying to consume the world with the forest or nothing. Of course, I trust her more.” Sunset gave her an approving nod as Dash gritted her teeth, seething with hatred at the unicorn. “You’re not going to stop us?” Applejack asked Fluttershy. “No. Fighting each other is a bad idea right now,” said Fluttershy. “But I don’t think you should go, Applejack." “I need somepony to help me save this stupid town,” said Sunset. "And you're in better shape than most of them in this town. Applejack nodded and trotted after Sunset as Sunset turned to leave. “Don't trust her!” Dash called after her. “She’s gonna stab you in the back! They did the same bucking thing to me! These ponies always-!” But by then, the two of them were already out the door. “Feh!” Dash brooded. “That bucking idiot. Don’t forget I tried to warn her.” “Well it’s not like you haven’t made any bad decisions lately,” said Fluttershy. “Huh?” “I treat the four of you like responsible adults and let you come up here and then you get into big trouble like this,” Fluttershy scolded her. “Twilight nearly died! As far as I’m aware, Pinkie might have too. Who knows how much trouble Rarity’s in. Really, she’s three hundred years old and I still have to take care of her fledglings for her.” “Ah, come on. We’re fine now!” Dash assured her. “We just gotta find Rarity and then-“ “No.” Fluttershy gave Dash a swat on the nose. “You’re waiting here with Twilight. I’m going to go find Rarity and Pinkie, then I’m going to go get the mist kitty while you all wait for me here. Then all four of you are coming back home with me and you’re all grounded for fifty years.” “What?” Twilight blinked. “You can’t ground me, Fluttershy.” “Actually I kind of can. I’m the head, head vampire, remember?” Fluttershy pointed at herself. “I’m your ruler now, Twilight. Though we can call it being reverse banished if that makes you feel better.” “But you said I had a choice if I went with you or not!” Twilight protested. “You get to choose if you help me save the world or not.” Fluttershy shook her head. “But you’re one of my children now and I take responsibility for that. I can’t leave you here in such a dangerous place. I’m bringing you back to my house and that’s final. We’ll talk about what happens next once we get back home.” “Yo, Fluttershy!” Dash let out an exasperated sigh. “Sparks is a rebel like the rest of us now. Twilight probably already wants to go into the forest with us, but you trying to force her to do something is gonna make her want to do it less.” “Yeah!” Twilight nodded in agreement. “Sides, do we really even have to go back yet?” Dash asked. “Unless Rarity did something to really peeve those lameos off, we can just wait for Sunset to hit the road. Twilight might even be able to change back a little if we get her out of the fog. Then she can have more time to decide and stuff.” "That's too dangerous," said Fluttershy. "We need to get Twilight back immediately. What if Sunset finds out about Twilight's high dark affinity? Twilight's too important. I want you to keep her here and safe until I get back." "Too important?" Twilight remembered something from her dream. "So this is about my dark affinity! You're trying to strong hoof me to be on your side! I was never told I was being recruited into some kind of army or whatever! Is that what this was really about?" Twilight turned to Dash. The two of them stared each other down for a moment. For a second, Twilight wasn’t sure if Dash was going to stand up for her or not. “Fine.” Dash crossed her forelegs. “You’re the queen, Fluttershy. I’ll make sure Twilight doesn’t leave. I’ll drag her down to the cavern grove if I gotta.” “What?!” Twilight looked at Dash with disbelief. “Good.” Fluttershy nodded but kept frowning. “I know it sounds harsh, but I just want to keep you all safe and apparently that means I have to treat you all like children. I’ll be back with Rarity soon and then we can talk about this. Stay." Fluttershy said that last part like the two of them were dogs. Twilight glared at Dash and Dash looked Twilight over with a serious look. Was she seriously going to force Twilight to stay here? Not that Twilight had anywhere else to go. Who was Twilight kidding? She'd immediately go crawling back to Rarity even if this was all some recruitment thing. But she still wouldn't be happy about it! “Yeah, I can tell you wanna bail on those try-hards, right?” Dash jabbed her claw blades towards the door. “I say screw all of them. You wanna leave, you can go. But I’m gonna follow.” “Wait!” Twilight got stunned a second time. “Oh, so you were just playing along.” “Duh. Hey, if you still want to turn back this is your last chance. Once your fur changes color you’re one of us for good and you’re already starting.” Dash combed her blades through Twilight’s mane. Remembering she hadn’t checked in a while, Twilight looked down to see her fur had a very slight lavender tinge to it now. “I dunno if it’ll work, but I’ll take you north of Ponyville. I figure if you get out of this invisible fog and get some sun you’ll start going back. I understand what happened to you sucks. I won’t be mad.” “But isn’t going north of Ponyville against your truce?” Twilight knew that much about it, at least. “Won’t Equestria come after you if they find out?” “Compared to sneaking into the cavern grove as a daywalker that sounds like a relaxing vacation.” Dash blew her mane out of her eyes. “But you’d be disobeying Fluttershy too!” “Pfft! Yeah, I’ll get in trouble. With Fluttershy.” Dash laughed. “She’s the biggest softy in the world! I’ll be fine. I bucking hate authority in case you haven’t noticed the whole punk thing I got going on. So you going back or forward?” Twilight calmed back down. Dash did have her back. “I’m still nervous about all this stuff with, you know, Luna and the forest and everything,” said Twilight. “It’s not that I don’t trust you, I just thought I’d have more time to figure all of this out, to see everything before I had to decide what side I’m on." “You’re thinking of this like a dork.” Dash gave Twilight a playful whack on the ear. “You don’t gotta be on Celestia or Fluttershy’s side. Me? I’m on Rarity’s side and that’s it." “That sure sounds like what I want.” Twilight stared off into the distance. One thing Twilight knew for sure, in her heart, was that she wanted to be with Rarity and the rest of her friends. “But I still don’t know what being on Rarity’s side means. I still don't know what to believe in. You know I'm no good at making decisions this fast.” Dash stared off quietly with Twilight. “You know, I was one of just five daywalkers to get to the center of the forest without changing," said Dash. "I was the best, but even I got all kinds of messed up getting there. I got poisoned, emaciated, anemic, basically everything bad you can think of. I can’t think of a single bone I never broke. I ran into Fluttershy and her old crew a few times and had to fight them. Rarity was the one I hated the most. I like her attitude now that we’re on the same side, but back then that smug little smile she made my blood boil!” “Heh. That’s kind of what happened with me too,” said Twilight. “I nearly died, but I did what they wanted and came back barely alive. I thought I was a hero. They told me I was." Dash looked up at the ceiling. "I thought I’d get to go home; they’d give me a medal and a parade and everypony would love me. But nah, nearly killing myself wasn’t enough. My reward for going through hell was getting sent on a suicide mission. They wanted me to get something from the center, from past the wall of mist. Going past that means certain death for if you’re a daywalker. They knew that. I knew that.” “And you know what, I was actually gonna do it. Daywalker Rainbow Dash was so bucking stupid that I actually went back down there. I was seriously, seriously going to kill myself. Then Rarity showed up and when she heard what happened, she offered to go there for me and bring back what I was supposed to get... cause she didn’t want me to die. I realized that my worst enemy was the only pony in the world that cared if I lived. And-“ Dash got choked up for a moment. She closed her eyes to keep a tear from coming out. “And that was the first time I thought about what the buck I was doing with my life.” Dash needed another moment, but opened her eyes and was back to her confident self soon enough. “So as far as I’m concerned, Rarity is my princess! People who don’t give a buck about you don’t deserve your loyalty. If this other wannabe princess wants my respect, she can earn it like Rarity did. It’s my friends I’m loyal to now. If you ask you go looking for stuff to believe in, you're gonna end up like me every time. I say instead you should ask what you care about." Dash held her hoof out for Twilight. There was only one thing Twilight was certain of in all this. She did love Rarity and all of her friends. Maybe that was all that mattered. “I think you’re right.” Twilight bumped hooves with Rainbow Dash. “I don’t know how I feel about the forest, but Fluttershy is right when she says we’re family now. You three are what matter. Buck everything else, right?” “See now you got it!” Dash ruffled her hair then turned away. “Man, I kinda hate all this sappy stuff. But the feeling’s mutual, Sparks.” "Thanks, Rainbow Dash." "Hey, you can call me Dashie." Dash looked away. "Just don't tell the others you got my permission for that, kay?" “Then we’re going to go find Rarity and Pinkie?” Twilight asked. “Yeah, well- not yet, no.” Dash looked over at the window. “Rarity's probably going to come straight back here looking for us. But if she's not back by midnight we can say buck it and go start a fight." Twilight nodded. She felt confident in herself again. This was the right path.