Rainbow Dash
“You wish to follow the shadow? It wanders where you cannot go.”
Fluttershy's new friend did not rub Rainbow Dash the right way. On the other hoof, if somepony was friends with Fluttershy, they couldn't be that bad. So she gave a pass on the zebra in spite of the cramped hut, the creepy décor, and the weird smells coming from the cook pots.
She still hissed in pain and tossed open her wings when Zecora dabbed mud on her scratches and bruises. To make things worse, it reminded her of something Rarity would have put on herself.
“If Nightmare Moon can go there, then so can we,” said Rainbow Dash, casting an irritated glance at her mud-coated cutie mark. “She took the girls. We follow. End of story.”
Zecora wound a bandage around her hindleg, extra tight. “And if you get into another scrape? You might not come back this good a shape. You might not come back again. And who will you be helping then? The ruler of night will know her way, but that land will lead you astray.”
“I get your concern and all,” said Applejack, tugging at one of her own bandages, “but we can't just let her run off with our little ponies. It ain't right.”
Being patched up was unfortunately not unfamiliar to Dash. She knew that all the little burning sensations meant she wouldn't get sick. That the uncomfortable pressure around the roots of her wings would keep her from tearing her muscles. It just made the urge to complain about it even worse.
“Perhaps you can think of another way,” said Zecora, applying a little salve to Fluttershy, though she may have just suffered the treatment to make her friends feel better about it. “to save your kin. It may not come today, but that does not mean she will win.”
“You can't stop us from going, Zecora,” grunted Rainbow Dash, tugging a wing out of the zebra's grasp. “We have to try.”
The zebra answered with a sigh and stirred another pot. “It does not matter what I say. Even if I was willing to send you there, I do not know the way. Of that land I've heard many tales, but beyond that my knowledge fails.”
“What do we do, then?” Fluttershy spoke up. “We have to save them. We just have to.”
Applejack pried herself up. “If ya'll don't have any idea where to go to find them, suppose we ought to find someone who does.”
“And who do you figure that's going to be?” Rainbow's wings gave an annoyed flit, making a jolt of pain wander up her spine. “It's not like any of us know. And if the local mystic hasn't got a clue...”
The whole mess got Rainbow wound up inside. If you couldn't do something, you did it until you could. And if you couldn't, because it was actually impossible, then you did something else. But if you couldn't and you had to...
What am I doing? At least I know I can do something for Cloudsdale... but...giving up? No.
“Twilight,” said Applejack, suddenly. “Seems like she was always the expert on all things Nightmare Moon. I bet if there's a way to get to her, she'll know it.”
For all the good she's been. Dash's ears hung down with guilt. No. It's not her fault. She tried to warn us and we didn't listen. We weren't enough. Will it be that night all over again? We have to do it, though. We just have to.
Similar thoughts must have raced through her friends. They all contemplated their hooves and the floor. The sound of three hooftaps on the door cut the silence. Everypony looked at one another.
Applejack frowned. “Who comes knockin' in the middle of the Everfree anyway?”
“Someone who is polite,” said Zecora, rolling her eyes, though she moved in a friendly enough manner to the door and pushed it open. “Who is it that visits tonight?”
The firemaned mare on the other side of the door tilted back in surprise. “Uh?”
“Spitfire?” Rainbow Dash called out. She pushed her way to the door. It was the Wonderbolt. A quick glance to the trees and she found a few out of place shadows—no doubt a few more keeping guard on her. “What are you doing here?”
Spitfire pursed her lips into a smile and glanced at Zecora. “This is somewhat of a strange circumstance. I need to speak to Rainbow.”
Rainbow's ears flattened as the Zebra admitted Spitfire into her house. Great. what's she here to do. Yell at me again? Give me another lecture?
“We've been following you,” said Spitfire, wings completely folded down. “And watching you.”
“Why?” Rainbow Dash raised an eyebrow. “I thought you were too busy.”
Spitfire shook her head. “The flock is in good hooves. I figured you needed to blow off some steam, but we didn't want to lose track of you.”
“So you can spare the time to spy on me,” said Rainbow Dash, dragging a hoof over the floor, “but you can't go to help some kids?”
Spitfire lowered her gaze on Rainbow Dash. “That's different and you know it. I'm not here to argue with you about my decision.”
“Then what are you here for?”
Everypony was watching them, Dash realized. I can't believe what I'm saying, she thought. But I can't take it anymore.
Spitfire sighed and slackened her stance. “I've thought about what you've said and what you've been doing. The way you handle yourself, while reckless, is impeccable. You work well with other ponies. What's more important is that you fight well with other ponies.” She scanned across Rainbow Dash's friends, briefly, and nodded. “What we need is scouts. Eyes in the sky and on the ground. And I want you to help me, Rainbow Dash.”
“I...” Rainbow Dash stared. That was not what she expected at all.
“You have good instincts,” Spitfire continued. “You can't train that into a pony. I'll give you free reign. All I ask is that you keep your head low and report back to me.”
Rainbow Dash's world was spinning and the noxious sensation from her healing woulds tilted it harder. I got through to her? She listened? This... this could work. But...
“We've started something here,” she sighed. “I can't just leave this alone.”
“Rainbow,” cut in Fluttershy, much to everyone's surprise, “you should go. It's always been your dream to be with the Wonderbolts, right?”
Used to be, thought Rainbow Dash, but she put on her best half-grin and tilted her head at Fluttershy. “There are more important things to worry about, right? Like getting back the kids.”
“I know,” said Fluttershy, “but it feels like there's nothing we can do, except ask Twilight. And I really don't want to leave my animals alone out here...”
The hut creaked as Applejack shifted her weight back onto her hooves. “I don't like what you're saying,” she said, “but you're probably right. The both of you have lots of your own to take care of. My family can handle themselves... 'ceptin' little Apple Bloom.” She tugged her hat down over here eyes. “What you're saying is that it only takes one pony to ask for help, right?”
Rainbow Dash pushed to Applejack and put a hoof on her shoulder. “Applejack, we can't be like that.”
“It's the way it is, partner. You two just make sure nopony else slips through the cracks, alright?”
Even in their state, Applejack proved able to push Dash aside and trot towards the door. The pegasus whipped around and stared at her friend's back for a while, but froze when her gaze caught Spitfire's.
What do I do... what's right? She needed to make a decision before Applejack slipped away. But her thoughts were grinding to a halt. The pegasi, or her friends. Her duty, or the kidnapped foals. It was too much to sort out at once.
“Don't go,” she said, lifting a hoof. “If you walk out that door, we may never see each other again. It's been too long since we were together like this.”
Applejack smiled back over her shoulder and tipped her hat up. “It sure has, but we don't have time to goof off the way we used to.”
“I know that!” Rainbow Dash grit her teeth. “But if you walk out that door, you're just going to disappear again. We can't let that happen. Not like this.”
It was enough to give Applejack pause. And as the silence seeped in, Zecora gently tapped the side of a pot.
“If it would be better for you, there is something you could do. Though you are be going separate ways, you can promise to return... in three days.”
The ponies trailed off in silence. Three days could mean little in terms of Discord's Equestria. A matter of hours, or minutes, or longer than a week. But they still felt the twist of time.
“Three nights of dreaming,” said Rainbow Dash. “Then we come back here.”
“Is that alright?” murmured Fluttershy. “I mean, I hate to impose. We've been using your house more and more...”
Zecora shook her head and doused the fire. “For friendly faces and companionship I cannot complain. I will look forward to seeing you all again...” She put bottles of herbs and pots away and took out more and placed them in a satchel. She put her cloak over her neck and nodded to Applejack. “It is easy to leave this place on wing, but going by hoof is another thing. Less danger with another pony at your side, so tonight I will be your guide.”
“I reckon I appreciate that, Zecora,” said Applejack. She paused long enough to turn back and look at her friends again. “Three days,” she repeated. The three of them cross their chests with a hoof, and dabbed it against their eye. A silly gesture, but they all knew what it meant. An unbreakable oath.
Applejack departed first, then Fluttershy disappeared into the wood as well. Rainbow Dash tested her wing against the bandage. It was sore, but it couldn't keep her from the air. She came up on Spitfire's tail and watched the hut vanish beneath them as they flew above the trees, and once high enough, the forest became one darkened blur of green.
Twilight Sparkle
In Twilight's dreams, Princess Celestia kept slipping away from her. Her touch once shielded her mind and spirit, but now left her with only wisps of warmth as if from the fading sun. In waking she felt finding the princess an impossible task, and now at rest she was losing her too.
Her melancholy drove her to sleep more often than she tended the castle. Discord, for some reason, left her alone while she rested. What little time she had to herself she spent pouring over the princess' books, hoping to make some sense of her disappearance. More than anything, though, she could not resist the lure of the golden dreams.
Many ponies gathered about her in the dream. Little flickers of white flame drifted with her in the golden fields, forming luminous outlines of colts and fillies. Every night, more gathered about her as she wandered towards the arc of the sun. No matter how long she traveled, though, she could not quite reach it.
The first stripes of blackness crossed the dream sky when she slept that day, a star or two sending chill into their sanctuary. The cold also brought lucidity to her dreamy haze. Her hooves stopped.
Across the motionless stalks of wheat she caught sight of a pony, almost invisible against the blue of the sky. The stranger turned and spoke, as if they were at once a million miles apart and yet close enough to feel each other's breath.
“Twilight Sparkle?”
A familiar voice. The blue pony's mouth moved, and then a bright light blinded Twilight to everything and the dream faded.
Twilight's eyes opened slowly. She stirred against Celestia's bedding and pushed herself up, scanning the room. The curtains had been opened though the doors remained closed. Rarity stood near the balcony, a small silver tray beside her. Twilight could smell tea and cakes.
“I know you've been requesting your privacy,” said Rarity. “I had to bend over backwards just to get the guard shift changed. So I could visit you.” She stared at Twilight a little too long and then averted her eyes. “If you need a moment?”
“It's alright,” said Twilight. She slipped out of bed and ran an old brush through her hair. “If I'd known you wanted to see me...”
“Well, I don't know how you could,” said Rarity. “I've looked everywhere for you. Sent messages. Sometimes you're in the tower and sometimes nopony knows where you've been off to. I suppose I can't blame you.”
Twilight turned about, mouth half-open to retort. So ready to drive her friend away. Yet hearing her voice brought her back weeks and months to the time they'd met. She wanted Rarity to stay.
“Nightmare Moon wouldn't let us within eyesight of one another,” said Twilight, her head hung low, “but I should have found you after she was gone. I should have...”
“We've both been up to our ears in staying afloat, these troubled times.” Rarity feigned a sigh. “If you even knew...”
The unicorn went quiet with a delicate 'oof' when Twilight threw her hooves around her shoulders and hugged on tight. The two ponies embraced in the sunbeam, nearly blind from the light on their faces. They stayed within it anyway.
Rarity lifted a cloth from the tray and dabbed tears from her eyes. “Twilight, darling, I should have thought more of you. I can't imagine what it must be like, having to answer to the whims of that tyrant, and now this brute! Always under his nose. Why I can't think of a more unfashionable creature.”
Twilight gave a nervous glance around. Discord could be anywhere. Any size, any dimension, any surface. She'd been holding her tongue for far too long, though. “At least he's not hurting anypony. Not really, anyway.”
“Not yet.” Rarity took her tea and pushed the other curtain open. “Not directly. But I fear it's only a matter of time before he takes it too far.”
Castle Canterlot was in shambles. Twilight knew that. But even as she'd slept the castle twisted and turned like a snake. The library tower looked nigh impassible, bending upwards in a spiral that could not have stood without a vast amount of magic.
The gardens had swollen to a patch of jungle. Desert sands streaked across the once polished stone. Portions of the ramparts interrupted the blue-orange sky, bits of debris dangling as they floated. A single pegasus guard stood on one, his stoic expression failing on occasion to wide, perplexed eyes.
Even the stair up to the tower was a mess, and only traversable with the help of some minor enchantments and hastily placed stones.
“You'll forgive me for being skeptical of new rulers, these days,” said Rarity, tossing her mane back.
A sentiment I hear more often than I'd like, thought Twilight. But at least I can get through to this one.
She glanced towards the door again. If Rarity had changed the shift, then she had no idea who was watching them then, or if they were listening, but she would have to trust her friend's judgment. “What about the others? Do you keep in touch?”
“I'm afraid not. I was confined to the castle almost as much as you were. Pinkie Pie was the only one I ever got to speak to. She is...” Rarity hesitated and stuffed a small cake into her mouth. “... mmp. She is traveling. But she seemed to think everyone is safe at least.”
Twilight tilted her head. Another feeling on top of the many that something was bothering Rarity. “We should all see each other again, sometime,” said Twilight, though she knew that day may be long in coming, if it ever came at all. “I'm sorry, I have to ask. Is something wrong? You've been fidgeting since you got in here. I hope I don't make you nervous.”
Rarity paused and then swallowed. She glanced out the window, and then started to pace. “You're right, and I'm sorry. To think I would only see you to ask you something...”
“It must be important if you went through all this trouble,” admitted Twilight. “Just tell me. I'm not mad.”
And she wasn't. She felt like she could maybe, just maybe do something.
“Well, alright,” said Rarity. “I'm up to my ears trying to keep this place from going to shambles. Not that you could help that, dear, keeping that one in line is a full time job. . . I'm worried for my sister Sweetie Belle and I don't know who else I can trust. She's stopped writing me and I'd like to know why. I can't go looking for her and I can't ask anypony else.”
Another disappearing pony. Twilight bit her tongue. She couldn't go sauntering off either, but how was she supposed to dismiss a request like that? “I understand, but how can I help? I figured you wouldn't want to involve Discord... knowing our luck he's already taken a special interest in your sister.”
Rarity blinked twice and raised an eyebrow. “You hadn't heard?”
Twilight stopped, the words falling heavy from her mouth. “Heard what?”
“Oh, dear...” Rarity tapped her horn. “I'd have thought you'd have known. Discord decided to throw a surprise banquet in Ponyville this afternoon... he made it sound like it was your idea.”
Oh, no, thought Twilight, immediately feeling sick. I told him all about Celestia's public events... I didn't think he'd actually do any of it. The castle can handle him. They're used to it! What if he gets out of control? What if he hurts someone? No, this isn't good... one snap of his claws and Ponyville is uninhabitable. I have to get there now.
“Twilight?” Rarity tilted her head. “Are you alright? Should I fetch a doctor?”
“No, it's alright. It's fine!” Twilight laughed and trotted back across the room. She had to keep a smile and a hop in her hooves to keep Rarity from worrying. “My things. Where are...? Oh, I don't even need them. I need to get to Ponyville before Discord turns the place upside down.” She sighed deeply. “He may actually do it if he gets it in his head, you know.”
Rarity backed up a bit to make way for Twilight's frantic pacing. “I'm familiar with his work,” she admitted. “But are you really going to be okay? Perhaps I should go with you after all.”
It tempted Twilight to take Rarity along, in spite of the risks. It'd been so long since she felt like there was anyone on her side. But she could tell just from looking at her that it troubled her to do so. She wouldn't have asked, after all, if she could have gone herself.
“I appreciate it, but you should stay and tend to your own affairs,” she said. “Besides, if Discord thinks something is too important, he has this habit of messing it up. I can distract him. And while he's distracted I can find out what happened to your sister. Piece of cake.”
“Thank you, Twilight,” said Rarity, hugging her again. “You're the only one I can trust right now.”
She wished she could stay longer. Catch up with Rarity, and start to return her life to a sense of normalcy. It was there in her grasp. Rarity lived in the castle. They had power there, and together they could bring their friends closer. Their family. Discord could be a problem, but she knew just how to point him where he wouldn't be any trouble to her.
Little more than a dream. Twilight smiled to herself. Oh, Celestia. What would you say if you knew what was going through my head? It's like I can still feel your disapproving gaze... I wish I could pretend things were alright. But your Equestria needs somepony to keep her safe.
Twilight shook the contentment of the moment off of herself and drew in a deep breath. She had to face the world that was: Celestia missing, Nightmare Moon on the loose, and chaos across Equestria.