II

by adcoon

II.4 - Dire Fates

Rainbow rubbed her leg. She wasn't sure why it had suddenly hurt like that, but it didn't seem to matter much now. She was still digesting what Eden had told her. Her soul—her breath—was out there living a life of its own, thinking it was her. What if it didn't want to come back or decided to steal her life and try to outdo her? Rainbow didn't like the idea of competing against herself. It wasn't a fair fight. A fair fight was one where she had the advantage.

Eden stretched lazily and dropped off the cloud. She landed elegantly at the entrance of the well and looked back at Rainbow. “Let's not sit around idly all day. There is something I wish to show you, if I may?”

Rainbow dropped down next to her, hovering above the floor to not risk using her broken leg. She didn't need an excuse to stretch her wings, even if she couldn't really let loose in here.

Eden turned to face her. “It is of some importance that you say yes or no. What I wish to show you may be disturbing and may upset you, but I believe it is something you ought to see. I would not show you otherwise.”

Rainbow hesitated before asking, “What will I see?”

“Things are stirring below the surface, both here in Equestria and elsewhere. On the surface things are calm, but much is about to be set in motion. Soon it may not be possible to turn back,” Eden said enigmatically. “The future is full of shadows, but what you see may help you to understand your part in it all, at least given time. It just might save your life and that of your friends, too.”

Rainbow glared slightly at her. “Talk plain, will you? I hate riddles.”

“I could do that—” Eden smirked at her “—but I would rather show you. Seeing is believing, my little pony.”

“And what if I say no?”

“It is your choice, but information is power, and there is only so much I can tell you.” She gestured at the hall beyond the door. “Will you walk with me? Will you let me show you?” Her voice was earnest, as if the question was actually important to her and not just a matter of being polite.

Rainbow looked at the hall. It looked just like it had when she arrived. What did she have to lose? And she hated not knowing. “Alright. Show me,” she said and followed Eden as she turned to walk.

Eden placed an arm around Rainbow's withers and made a snap with her paw. The sound echoed sharply in the hall, and the whole room vanished like smoke around them. Rainbow gazed in bewilderment at the rolling hills appearing around her. The sky was gray and the grass still wet from a recent downpour. In the distance she could make out the familiar outline of Ponyville. Seen from afar and in the early darkness of night it looked like a sad, lifeless husk at the edge of the forest. All the windows were dark.

Rainbow let her gaze wander as Eden let go of her. “What are we doing here? What's up with Ponyville?” Eden said nothing. “It's so …” Rainbow trailed off. She would have said lifeless, and it would have been an apt description.

They crested a low hill and slowed down. Rainbow stopped, feeling an unease creep over her at the strange atmosphere and the silence of Eden. Something else was looming over her on the hill, casting her mood in shadows. She craned her neck and looked up at a large three-legged circle of standing stones. It rose above the top of the hill, overlooking the landscape around it. “That wasn't here this morning,” Rainbow said and approached the massive stones.

“It was raised about a week ago,” Eden said solemnly as she followed behind Rainbow. Her voice was lacking its earlier warmth, as if the atmosphere weighed upon her mind as well. “With some haste too.”

“Huh? What—” Rainbow paused. A large golden plate had been set in the stone she was looking at. Something had been inscribed upon it. She was aware that standing stones such as these were sometimes raised where many ponies had died together, as in a war or some other calamity. The three stones represented the three pony races, or something, and the names of the dead were inscribed on each. She approached with a sinking feeling, as if her heart already knew, and began to read from the top of the plate.

Rainbow stared at the plate. “W-what is this?” she stammered. Eden remained silent. Rainbow glanced down the list. There were several other names of pegasi, many of them she recognized. Her eyes drifted back up the list and lingered on the dates. All of them had died in the same year, according to this. “But … but that's now!” she cried and stepped back in horror. She looked at Eden in bewilderment. “Is … is this real?”

“The future is not quite set in stone—” Eden gestured at the three looming rocks “—but this is, at the moment of our little talk back at the well, a vision of the most likely outcome of events to come and of your most likely fate.” She paused before moving on. “This monument was raised perhaps less than two months after the day when you ran away from Ponyville. I am afraid to say that in the eyes of the world you were already dead when we found you. You are living on borrowed time, Rainbow Dash.”

“I-I'm going to die?”

Eden placed a paw on Rainbow's shoulder. “There is yet some hope. For now, the one simple fact you must keep in mind is this: as long as you and your double are apart, you remain alive, but only as long as you remain apart. The moment you and your double reunite—and this will happen soon, because even the strongest of souls can not outrun their fates for long—then death will catch up with you too.”

Rainbow looked down. “I … I don't understand.”

Eden gestured at the other two stones. Rainbow looked back up at the monument and hesitated before circling around to the second stone. It too had a golden plate, engraved with names.

Rainbow felt a knot in her heart. “W-what happened? Why?” she stammered, unable to tear herself away from the stone. There were other names on this plate, all of them unicorns. She didn't recognize many of them.

Eden followed her and looked at the plate solemnly. “The youngest sister, she was always very fierce. An absolutely brilliant mind too. She always had grand plans and hopes for her country, but she was also very … very unbending and prideful.” It sounded like a fairytale as Eden spoke of Luna, like something long ago and nearly forgotten. She turned to look at the sky and the faint light of the moon breaking through a few cracks in the gloomy clouds. Rainbow followed her gaze.

“These stones speak of war,” Eden continued. “The young princess fell in battle while defending her subjects. Twilight Sparkle fought bravely by her side, and fell while trying to save her princess. Meanwhile … I believe you tried to outrace yourself, an endeavor sadly doomed to failure and in your unique case also to death.”

Eden shook her head. She seemed pained to Rainbow. “It shouldn't end like that,” she said quietly to the world around them.

“But why is all that happening?” Rainbow couldn't make sense of it. “Why is there a war?”

“Let me ask you a question, hypothetically,” Eden said and considered the far horizon. “Let us say princess Celestia entrusted you with something very valuable, very important, and very dear to her, to help you in your quest, but made you swear to return it after your quest was done so that she could keep it safe and out of the wrong hooves. Would you honor your promise to her, even if it meant giving back something that you might also treasure and be tempted to keep?”

It was a slightly odd question, but Rainbow didn't hesitate. “Of course! I'd never betray the princess' trust in me!”

“Well, some ponies might not feel the same kind of loyalty to their word—” Eden looked back down “—and that is the sort of thing that can lead to war, and regret.”

Rainbow's brow furrowed as she tried to make sense of the vague answer. “I … I don't understand.”

Eden smiled softly. “Don't dwell on it yet.” And that seemed to be all she wanted to say about it. Rainbow watched her for a moment, before turning back to the stone. Hesitating, she circled around it to the last stone. The golden plate gleamed in the pale light of the moon.

Rainbow looked down the list, unable to quite feel anything anymore. There were several Apple family names, as well as some other earth ponies she recognized. She looked around at the other two stones. “What about my other friends? Are they … are they safe?”

“They have retreated back to Canterlot, which is under siege as we speak. I can show you, but you will not like what you see there.”

Rainbow glanced up at the sky in the direction of the grand capital of Equestria, but it was too dark and cloudy to see anything. She knew she had to know, she couldn't leave not knowing. “Show me,” she said.

Eden snapped her paw, and once again the world dissolved in smoke. “Just remember, what I show you is only the most likely outcome at the moment of our talk back in the present. There are many uncertainties in all of this. Hold on to that thought, it may be a comfort.”

A different world seemed to coalesce beyond the swiftly fading smoke. Rainbow looked around at the halls of the royal castle. She had been here before a few times, but it looked gray and depressing now. Outside she could hear the rumble of thunder, and through a window she saw shapes in the sky as they attacked the billowing sheet of magic encircling the grand capital. It felt like a darker déjà vu.

Hurried hoofsteps drew her attention. She turned to see Princess Celestia coming down the hall, flanked by the royal guard. The sound of their trot had a grim determination about it, and the princess' face was locked in a frown that spoke of carefully concealed pain.

“They can not see or hear us,” Eden said by her side as the princess passed right by without showing any awareness of them. “And we can not touch things here either.”

Rainbow watched as the last guard walked past her, then followed. The guard next to the princess stopped at a door at which two other guards had been standing at attention. He turned to Celestia. “Nopony has touched anything or been allowed in. Her friends found her this morning.”

“Thank you, lieutenant,” the princess said. Her voice was firm yet tired. Worry and pain seemed to weigh her down. “How are they? Are they safe?”

“Yes, your majesty. The captain is with them at all times.”

“Good.” Celestia turned to the door and steeled herself before pushing it open. Rainbow moved up behind her to look inside. She immediately wished she hadn't.

The room beyond was one of the castle's smaller suites, like the one she recalled Rarity once staying in. Some of the bed sheets had been rolled into a rope and tied around the big chandelier in the center of the room. Pinkie was hanging at the end of the improvised noose, rotating slowly back and forth in the silent room. Her mane was hanging straight down over her lifeless, joyless face.

Eden placed a gentle paw on Rainbow's shoulder and pulled her away from the door. Rainbow didn't resist. She collapsed against the wall next to the door, holding a hoof to her mouth as she cried. Eden said nothing.

After a while Celestia came back out of the room and turned to the lieutenant. “Cut her down, respectfully, and have her brought to the hospital. I want the other two smuggled out of the city with no delay. It is our only hope.”

“Yes, your majesty.” The guard saluted. Celestia walked back the way she had come, followed by the rest of her guard.

Eden sat down next to Rainbow on the floor of the hall. “Rarity and Fluttershy found her like that earlier. It was a terrible shock for them both. I believe Fluttershy took it very poorly, and she has been ill since. They are now going to be smuggled out of the city through the secret caves and passages below the castle.”

“I-I don't want to know any more,” Rainbow said feebly and wiped her eyes.

Eden snapped her paw, and the strange well of the present returned, erasing the vision. “This is the future you could face, and it is already about to begin. The first signs will soon appear to those who know what to look for, but it shouldn't end like that.”

“You're damn right it shouldn't!” Rainbow shouted. “Poor Pinkie,” she added, crying. She could still see her friend's joyless face. No pony should ever look so broken. “I have to do something!”

“I can help you, but I need your aid in return.” Eden's tone was serious. “I am the only one who can help you, the only one who can restore your soul and prevent your fate.”

Rainbow looked up at her. “How can you help me? How do you know all this stuff anyway?”

“My first and chosen name was Eden Aspect, it is the one I prefer, but long ago the ponies also knew me as Destiny. And you were correct in your suspicion. I do have an unfortunate relation to a certain chaos-loving fellow. I assure you, however, that I share none of his passions. Discord and I have been at each others' throats for a long, long time.”

“Then you can fix this!” Rainbow almost yelled. “You can just … change the future or something, can't you?”

“Alas, my influence is limited here. I am tied. There was a reason I asked for your consent in showing you your fate. The fact is, you are no ordinary pony. You and your friends wield the Elements, and they are bound to you. I can not touch you or even see your fates very clearly. I can not help you, or your friends, unless you help me. That is why you are so important, because only you can prevent all this, and only then am I able to help you.”

Rainbow stared at her. She felt more lost than ever. “How? What must I do? Just tell me what I must do,” she pleaded.

“It will all come down to a choice,” Eden said. “Soon you will see.”