//------------------------------// // Wishful thinking/Killing time // Story: My Little Pony: Friendship is Eternal // by AlphaToothless95 //------------------------------// As everyone screams after having just witnessed one of their friends disappearing, one of them remained silent and frozen in shock, and that just happened to be Twilight. She was still so distraught and shocked that she had gone completely silent and still. So many gears were turning in her head, so many emotions overwhelming her… so many dark thoughts. In the back of her mind, she could feel Twivine start to resurface. That. Must. Not. Happen. She breathes in and out to try and keep control of her emotions but her breathing is shaky, her heart rate dramatically increased, and there were so many terrible thoughts and feelings going through her mind right now. She keeps trying and eventually feels a wave of calmness surround her, calming and quieting her mind. She looks at herself then looks at Celestia and Luna who are giving reassuring smiles. She looks down and grabs the feather and Rainbow's element with her magic before standing up. Celestia walks to her and puts a hand on her shoulder. “Don’t worry Twilight… we’ll get her back. I promise.” She says and Twilight looks up at her and nods. “But…where do we start… and what even happened to her?” Starlight asks, and everyone is just as lost as she is. Twilight looks at Rainbow's element and the feather, wondering if they’re of any use. She looks over them until she gets an idea and looks at everyone else with newfound determination. “I think I have some idea where to start.” She says and everyone nods and follows her as she explains what she’s thinking along the way. One way or another, they were going to get Dash back… hopefully before it was too late… because they have no idea what Lightning Dust has truly done… As Lightning Dust comes to, she suddenly feels a large amount of pain in her body, causing her to groan as she tries to get up. She looks around, seeing that she’s back in the hideout where she and Ragnar had managed to hole up for a while. “I have to admit…I didn’t think you had the stomach to do something like that… I’m impressed.” Ragnar says as he steps out of the shadows and helps Lightning Dust stand up. After he does, the memory of what she had done comes rushing back to her and she can’t help but slump her shoulders a bit, looking down. “Yeah.. thanks, I guess.” She says, her voice low and lacking any emotion. He is a little confused by this but decides not to waste any time questioning her behavior. “Well.. any moment now, Midnight should be returning and all this.. will be undone. Everything will be as it should’ve been from the very beginning…with her as the ruler of all of Equestria.” He says and Lightning Dust feels even worse. She had killed her greatest rival just so evil could come back into the world and come back to stay. This…none of this is right. She has to fix this. “Yeah…but in the meantime, do me a favor and go…see if you can find anyone that’s left of Midnight's army and tell them the good news… I’m gonna pay a little visit to the other villains.” She says and Ragnar is about to protest before Lightning Dust interrupts him. “Don’t. Worry. I’ll be in and out before anyone can see me. Now go.” She says and he growls a bit before he becomes engulfed in magic, teleporting a few seconds after. She’ll never get used to him using magic like that. She walks outside and looks towards Canterlot, frowning. “What have I done…?” Almost an hour later/Canterlot Twilight slams her hands on the table she was currently sitting at, frustrated with the results of yet another failed attempt to bring back Dash from… whatever had happened to her. “Damnit! I thought it would work… I… I was so sure it would…” She says as her determination takes yet another dive. She wouldn’t give up though. She couldn’t. Not on this. She feels someone touch her shoulder and she tenses up a bit before relaxing and turning to look at Starswirl who has a sad, concerned look on his face. “Twilight…we’ve been trying for hours and haven’t even gotten close to bringing her back… We need a new plan.” Starlight says and Twilight holds her head, shaking it slightly. She feels Twivine in the back of her mind…watching…waiting for her to crack, but she wouldn’t. Not now, not ever. “We can still do it! There has to be something we’re missing…some reason that she disappeared.” Twilight says and she looks around frantically before her sights are set onto the feather. She gets an idea and reaches for it, starting to use her magic. She doesn’t know why she didn’t try this before, but it was the best chance they had now. She touches the feather, using magic and alicorn empathy, and all of a sudden, memories come flashing in her mind. She sees a race.. the race that Rainbow Dash had been in when she was a filly…when she had first done the Sonic Rainboom. She sees something else…a lightning bolt. It was made of…gold? She then sees Lightning Dust…screaming…before throwing it. It hits Rainbow just as she does the sonic rainboom and she sees that since the rainboom still happened, she and most of her friends still met and got their cutie marks…but Rainbow had been killed. So if that was the case…then without her, the elements of harmony wouldn’t work. As the realization hits Twilight like a bullet train, she snaps out of the memory and slowly looks around at everyone. “Twilight..? What did you see?” Celestia asks, slowly stepping a bit closer to her. Twilight takes a bit of time to recover before answering. “Lightning Dust, she…she traveled back in time to kill Rainbow. Without Rainbow, the elements won’t work. If the elements don’t work, we can’t stop the countless threats we’ve faced in the past, meaning all of this won’t have happened, and Midnight will win-“ Twilight says, starting to enter a panicked ramble but Celestia gently gets her to calm down. “Why…why would Lightning Dust do something like this?” Celestia asks and everyone agrees. They’re all so set on trying to figure that out that they’re all startled when they hear her voice from the entrance to the room. “Because I had a choice… and just when I thought I made it,” She starts before holding up one hand that’s radiating electricity. “These…did it for me.” She says and she’s about to continue until she finds herself suddenly pinned to the wall by her throat so fast that the impact nearly shakes the whole castle. She looks to see that it was Twilight who had taken the initiative to do so.. but she was different. Her eyes contained a primal rage that Lightning Dust had only seen from herself…a rage caused by never ending hatred. She tries getting the alicorn to relent when she feels her oxygen being cut off from the vice-like grip she had on her throat but Twilight, even if she wasn’t in such a state as this, was unstoppable compared to her. “You have a lot of nerve Lightning Dust, ya know that?” Twilight says, the hatred evident in her voice. Lightning Dust tries to speak but she can’t. “I should just kill you… You know what? I think I will.” Twilight says before she makes a magical blade and Lightning Dust squirms even more, fearing for her life now more than ever. Twilight smiles a bit at this as she hears Twivine repeating the same words in her head over and over again. “Kill her. Kill her! Kill her!” “Hold on now Sugarcube, how 'bout we don’t do anything we’ll regret? She might be our only way to help Dash.” Applejack says and Twilight thinks about it…but the hatred won’t let her just…let this go. She aims the blade at Lightning Dusts heart and is about to jab it in but Applejack grabs her arm before she can. “Twilight, NO! As much as I wanna see her get what’s comin' to her, I think we should at least hear her out.” Applejack says and Twilight looks at her like she has three heads. “Hear her out? Did she hear Dash out?! Or Light Hope?!” Twilight yells, prompting Ever to look at each other then back at her. “After everything she’s done, we’re supposed to just trust her?” She asks and Applejack can’t find the perfect words to end this but luckily she doesn’t have to as Fluttershy steps up to the other side of her and looks up at her with a firm look but speaks with a soft tone. “This isn’t what Rainbow would want…not for you.” She says and Twilight goes wide eyed and doesn’t say anything for a bit. She looks at Lightning Dust who’s starting to go a little limp and sighs before releasing her, allowing her to fall to the ground while clutching her throat softly, coughing and gasping for air. Pinkie steps up beside Fluttershy and smiles at her, nodding and Fluttershy smiles and nods back. Lightning Dust slowly stands up, still clutching her throat and looks up at Twilight who glares down at her. “Why did you come here Lightning Dust…?” Twilight asks, her voice still carrying a lot of venom and if Lightning Dust wasn’t afraid of the princess before, she definitely was now after seeing how she just acted and how easily she took her down…how easily she could end her life. “Because…because I want to help fix my mistake…and because if we don’t fix it…it won’t just be Midnight coming back. Every villain you’ve ever fought will come right along with her. It’ll be like none of this ever happened…but something much worse did.” Lightning Dust says and that just confirms Twilight’s theory…and greatest fear. “Ok, well where do we start? We need to move fast if we wanna bring back…bring back… Ummmm…” Sunset says but is cut off and everyone can clearly tell something’s wrong. “W-Who are we talking about again?” She asks and everyone looks either shocked or horrified. “What do you mean, darling…? Rainbow Dash? Cyan pegasus with a rainbow mane and a rather brash sense of humor? You’ve met her.” Rarity says and Sunset rubs her temples to try and remember but to her confusion and slight horror…she can’t. “I only remember a Rainbow Dash from the other world…not this one.” She says and soon some of the others say they can’t remember her either, including Trixie, Tempest, The Pillars of Old, Discord, the Princesses, Shining Armor, and Flurry Heart. All of the Mane 6 still remember her though, so can Starlight, Solaris, Sky, and Spike. Lightning Dust still remembers too but her memory is slowly starting to fade. “Oh no…we have to hurry!” Twilight says and she goes to Starlight and Starswirl. “Starswirl, you’ve made a time travel spell before and Starlight, you modified it, improved it even. Do you two think you could recreate the spell in time?!” She asks and they both look at each other and hesitantly nod. She nods back and they both immediately get to work. Twilight helps them where she can to get it done faster but by the time they’re done, she realizes Starlight can’t remember Dash either and she feels her own memories starting to fade. She and the others start running to a better room for this until Solaris screams and falls. Sky goes back for her but then looks at her own hands and sees she’s starting to fade. “No no no…wha-“ She tries to say, scared more than anything. She looks at Solaris, then at Twilight and the others. “T-Twilight…?” She stutters and Twilight runs to them to try and help but Sky disappears just as she gets there and she’s distraught by this. She looks at Solaris and tries to carry her but Solaris screams again, in a lot of pain. Twilight quickly backs away as dark magic starts coming off Solaris. “Twilight… run…” Solaris says, her voice hushed from the pain. “W-What…?” Twilight asks, Solaris’s words having gone unheard the first time so she looks up at Twilight who’s shocked and startled to see both her eyes are purple. “RUN!!!” Solaris yells, hers and Midnights voices being heard at the same time. Twilight backs up and starts continuing towards their destination. “We’ll fix this… I promise!” Twilight says and Solaris slowly looks up at her with a soft smile, trusting Twilight with her life. “Go get her…” Solaris says before screaming loudly and finally passing out as her whole body becomes engulfed in dark magic. Twilight and the others keep running and when they get to the room, Twilight looks over the spell and starts casting it. They all hear a loud, rage-filled, monstrous scream and immediately recognize who it belongs to. “Uh oh…! She sounds angry.” Pinkie says and Twilight tries to speed up the process and just as the time portal opens, Midnight bursts through the doors, using her magic and glares at all of them. “Twilight!!!” She screams as she runs towards them all and jumps at Twilight, only to receive a blast from Lightning Dust and then a power kick from Pinkie Pie. Twilight tries to help but Lightning Dust grabs her. “No, there’s no time! We have to go!” She says and Twilight hesitates until Fluttershy turns to her with a soft tone and a reassuring smile. “Twilight, go…we’ll be ok. Go save Rainbow… She needs you.” She says and Twilight nods and steps back under the portal. Midnight screams and blasts dark magic at all of them, knocking them all over and she jumps at Twilight again and Applejack jumps up and power punches her, the shockwave causing her and Lightning Dust to go into the portal. “NO!!” Twilight yells before she and Lightning Dust are suddenly blasting through timelines and certain events in the timeline. It’s all happening so fast that they can’t get time to process what they’re seeing. It just gets faster and faster as they both scream the whole way. Soon they find the event they’re looking for and try to fly towards it, worried they might miss it. “This is gonna be close!” Twilight yells and Lightning Dust follows her lead as they both get closer and closer to it. They keep going until they finally reach it and are suddenly outside of the portal, falling out of the sky and straight onto a cloud. They both look around, not knowing when or where they were…just that they were outside instead of inside…and they were really really high up. “Did…did it work?” Twilight asks before she hears Lightning Dust gasp and looks in her direction to see her looking down at something. She walks up next to her and sees…the course that the race took place out…and seeing a young Rainbow Dash at the starting line. “Yep…it worked. So we’re not late.” Twilight says and Lightning Dust corrects her. “Quite the opposite actually…we’re early. I haven’t showed up yet…so now what?” She asks and Twilight suggests the only thing they can do. “We wait until you do…then we save Rainbow…no matter the cost.”