Nightmare Moon basked in the glow of her victory. And then she asked her next question. “Would you perform a Sonic Rainboom for me?”
Rainbow was blindsided by the question, although she shouldn't have been. Of course Nightmare Moon still wanted her to perform a Sonic Rainboom. She was the only one alive who could. And since it had the power to create an easy passage from one world to the other, that made her powerful. And Nightmare Moon would do everything possible to squeeze that power from her.
Loyalty is a finicky thing, Rainbow Dash. It asks us to make tough decisions. It's not enough to just be loyal. You have to be loyal to something. Some cause.
Which was more important? Her friends or Equestria?
“If I may make a suggestion,” offered Nightmare Moon. “I know you're all torn up inside, so I'd like to propose a third option. If you like, I can take the choice away from you. If you don't resist my touch, I could make you like them. And then you'd be working together again. To build an Equestria I can make you fall in love with.”
“There is nothing I would hate more than that,” insisted Rainbow Dash. “Failing Equestria? Failing my friends? That's not happening.”
“But you'd be with them. Isn't that worth something?”
“I've been there before. Even when I was under your spell, I knew what was really going on. I hated that powerlessness. I hated feeling like I had no control over my thoughts and feelings.”
It was the one thing Rainbow was completely sure of, that she hated what Nightmare Moon was doing so much that nothing would ever let them see eye-to-eye. So she wasn't prepared for the alicorn to challenge that.
“It wasn’t the lack of freedom you hated, Rainbow Dash. What you hated was the truth. The knowledge that I'm already in control; you simply deny my influence. Everything that's happened tonight, I've foreseen and prepared for. The self-inflicted suffering of someone who is more content to live in denial, in ignorance? That’s what really consumed you, Rainbow Dash, and it was not my doing. And it’s sad. There has never been a sadder state of affairs than that of a pony that was graced with the truth and managed to shrug it off, to dive once again beyond the dark veil of ignorance. Once you accept that you cannot escape me, once you cease fighting me and learn to live with the truth, once you cease yearning for obliviousness, your suffering will end.”
“You didn't predict everything. You didn't know I would resist your spell.”
“I adapted. A real mastermind is adequately prepared for shortcomings. Losing the battle and winning the war, I believe they call it? I always win the war.”
Was this true, Rainbow wondered. Was it actually possible that her determination to stop Nightmare Moon had prevented her from looking at the situation from the outside? Of course not, said a voice from inside of her that she liked to think was her most reasonable one. Nightmare Moon is messing with your head. She’s trying to trick her, and you can’t fall for her games.
Of course, on the other hoof, what if those assurances were the exact thing Nightmare Moon was accusing her of? What if by assuming she was being manipulated, she dismissed any evidence that the alicorn might actually be right?
Nightmare Moon had invaded her mind without the use of magic, just like she said she would. Rainbow couldn’t recover, couldn’t examine her life to figure out which ideas were hers and which were planted, because the ideas themselves could be influencing her. Her thoughts and feelings were slipping away from her, becoming alien, and Rainbow Dash knew that she had to make a stand or she would lose everything.
“No. I'm not going to help you because you even if I don't, you won't let either of them die.”
Maybe, if she said it with enough certainty, she could convince Nightmare Moon to believe it. But she'd already revealed her true colors and begged.
For once, Nightmare Moon was giving her full attention, without any nagging humdrums or boredoms. She wasn't just going through preplanned motions now. The claim was interesting. Ridiculous, boastful, but interesting. It was a gambit, and one that wouldn’t fix the problems that were eating at Rainbow’s thoughts. It was a delaying tactic, at best. But if it worked, if she could save Rarity and Orange, then maybe they could look at this together. As a team.
“Why?” she asked, trying to goad Rainbow into slipping up but also curious for the answer. “I don't make threats I'm not willing to carry out. I'm an honest mare if anything.”
“Because,” said Rainbow, slowly, a word at a time. She couldn't afford to mess this up. “Because Orange isn't replaceable. Her contacts, her trustedness, you can't just put a different pony in her place. You need her to keep an eye on the world.” She tensed, waiting for Nightmare Moon to prove her wrong. “Right? You wouldn't kill her to make a point to me. She's worth more to you alive.”
Nightmare Moon grinned, and she almost chuckled. “Maybe you're right,” she said in a tone that made the admission still sound belittling. “But what about your friend? Rarity, right? She doesn't know any pony from this world. She's less than worthless.”
“But she's still better alive than dead. You could turn her into one of your puppets.”
“I can always find more puppets. Try again.”
“Then...” Rainbow froze, trying desperately to think of a reason that Nightmare Moon would have to keep Rarity alive. The encouragement she was receiving felt unreasonable, like she was being walked through an exercise.
Nightmare Moon was still toying with her, she realized. Even now, when her friends were on the line, the alicorn was playing games, proving that she could control her even without magic. She never fought them physically, directly, because this was just as effective. She had given Rainbow permission to go free because she knew that the stubborn pegasus wouldn't. Who wouldn't give up against an opponent that could predict your every move and then laugh at you for it? Whatever answer Nightmare Moon was guiding her toward, she had already planned for. What if the alicorn wasn't bluffing when she said she had already anticipated everything Rainbow could do?
There had to be an escape. A loophole. And Rainbow knew that before she could face Nightmare Moon in a fair fight, she had to find a way to break out of her psychological grip. To prove she wasn't just a puppet. And then Rainbow Dash realized why Nightmare Moon couldn't kill Rarity.
“Because you need me to perform a Rainboom for you. And I need her. So if you harm her,” said Rainbow Dash, trying her best to act like she was consumed by hatred and malice instead of quaking where she lay, “If you let anything happen to her, I will never help you.”
She paused to cough up blood, but Nightmare Moon didn't even wait for her to finish before delivering her response. “If the threat of her harm won't sway you, then there's no point in keeping her alive. And in order for a threat to have any value, I need to be willing to carry it out. But for the sake of a thought experiment, let's say we reach that undesirable conclusion. I kill her, and so you refuse to help me. Neither of us got what we want. In that outcome, what's the difference between us?”
“Um...”
“The difference is that I still have not lost anything. But you have lost a friend. And then I can threaten you with the life of another friend of yours. However many it takes. And their deaths will be at your hooves, since my mind is made up. So, really. The choice is yours. Will you pledge yourself to me, or does your Rarity become the new throw rug in my bedroom?”
Rainbow Dash was silent. “Take your time,” offered the alicorn. “They aren't going anywhere. Although I will be itching for them to fight again if you take too long. It's just so entertaining.” She leaned in close, as if she was sharing a secret. “Out of curiosity, which one do you think would win?”
Rainbow somehow found the energy to spit in her face. “You're sick.”
“Me? Doubtful. Because unlike you, I understand what's going on around me. This is the pattern I’ve been trying to show you this whole time. The interconnectedness of it all. You believe in the illusion of free will because you are unable to see the bigger picture. And you find this illusion more comforting than the truth. When the pieces fall into place, when the inevitable finally becomes the obvious, you are surprised. You put too much faith in your friends, Rainbow Dash. You depend on them for your own success, and through them you reveal your undoing. There is no faith but blind faith, and it is a vice. Refusal to play the odds is a weakness. The idea that your friends will allow you to overcome the inevitable is ludicrous, and I have no room for fanciful imaginings in my future.”
Rainbow watched Rarity and Orange attempting to comfort each other, neither having the will to defy the Nightmare and run away. Rainbow had never felt more powerless. She had tried to stop them. She had failed. Everything was playing out exactly as Nightmare Moon wanted it to, putting the alicorn in complete control. Even her Rainbooms were steadily becoming no longer hers.
“This was your plan the whole time, was it?” asked Rainbow Dash, the fight completely gone from her.
Nightmare Moon raised a hoof to her breast, pretending to be insulted. “You say that like I'm not capable of more than one tactic at a time. Like stealing your friends, and getting you to perform a Rainboom, and showing you the light can't all be my goals. Or maybe you're still wrong, and these are just the steps toward even loftier goals, even greater designs.”
“The takeover of Equestria?”
“Once again, Rainbow Dash. You're thinking too concretely, too short term. Sure, I already control one Equestria, and with your help I can claim a second. But then what? What does that get me? Being the Queen is a means, not an end.”
“A means to what?”
“It's about proving a point, Rainbow Dash. About showing to you all that my word is law. That there is no destiny other than what I allow to happen. Not just that resistance will not be tolerated, but that the very concept of resistance will one day die. When I can control you, when even the world's great heroes are no more than an extension of my will, no force can ever oppose me. No force will ever even desire to oppose me. Nothing is beyond my reach. This is my demonstration to you. That I am Fate. And you are fated to serve me. Do you understand now?”
And Rainbow saw her opening. “Why are you showing off, then? Why do you need to demonstrate if you already control everything?”
Nightmare Moon balked, making it clear that she didn't understand what her prey was getting at. “I'm sorry?” she asked, betraying her confusion. Her lack of understanding only fueled Rainbow's resolve.
“If we were already completely under your control, you wouldn't need to fight us. This whole show wouldn't be needed.”
“You continue to deny my authority?” Nightmare Moon seethed. “My control is absolute! None can stand in my way.”
And for the first time in the encounter, Rainbow Dash understood, and she felt a resurgence of hope. A familiar spark lit up in her mind, bringing with her a warmth she'd all but forgotten about. “Wow. You are really bitter about being trapped on the moon for a thousand years, aren't you? You're going to take over the world just to prove to your sister that she's not the boss of you. That is really pathetic, you know that? All this effort for a grudge. You are the saddest excuse for a pony I've ever met.”
Something in Nightmare Moon broke. Her cold, reserved demeanor split open, revealing a angry howling viciousness. And Rainbow knew that if the alicorn was ever going to slip up, it would be now. She waited for her chance.
“What?” screamed Nightmare Moon, raging. “Where did you get that idea? This isn't about Celestia! It's about my destiny! My inevitable release from this world and my ascension to Godhood. My freedom to shape this world to my whims.”
She watched Nightmare Moon sputter her response and dared to hope this was her opportunity. Just for this moment, the alicorn was no longer the methodological planner, now a bundle of fury. It no longer mattered if her plans were perfect, because she was no longer following any plan. Only instinct. She was on a course her calculating mind could no longer predict or attempt to avert, and Rainbow loved the irony.
“Freedom, huh? I guess you're a fan of freedom, Luna. So am I,” she announced boldly. “And you're going to free my friends right now.”
“Why in the great mounting heavens would I do that?”
“Because if you don't, one of them might end up hurting me.” Running now on a mix of inspiration and adrenaline, Rainbow Dash somehow found the strength to stand, ignoring the groaning protests coming from every bone in her body and the burning in her chest. “Go ahead,” she announced, the rasping of her voice now barely noticeable. “Get them to fight again. I dare you. And when I get between them again, who knows what'll happen?”
Nightmare Moon wasn't sure what to make of the situation. “You're an idiot,” she told the pegasus. “A persistent, obstinate fool.” Rainbow felt the gravity disappear around her as she was lifted into the air, trapped in a field of blue magic.
Just as expected.
“Yes, take me out of the fight,” she deadpanned. “Even though the whole reason you cursed them in the first place was to prove I couldn't do anything about it. There's no reason left for them to fight now, is there? What's left to prove?”
Nightmare Moon bore her gaze into Rainbow. This was not in the script. This was not how the evening was supposed to go.
Rainbow repeated the question. “What are you trying to prove, Luna?” she asked. “That you can control us? You have to pin me down to stop me from ruining everything.”
“I am showing you that you cannot break my enchantments. You cannot.”
“But I will. I'll make you do it for me.”
The fight had become a staring contest as Rainbow tried her best to avoid shying away from Nightmare's intimidating stare.
“An amazing deduction, Rainbow Dash,” said Nightmare Moon, the false praise only thinly disguising a torrent of bitterness. “With one very minor miscalculation. Maybe I don't need you after all. You cause so much trouble for me, I could just snap your neck and be done with you.”
Rainbow panicked, wondering if she'd really not seen this coming. But then she saw they way through. “And then you'd have to live with the fact that your sister is alive and kicking, just out of your reach. You said ruling Equestria was a means to an end, right? To prove that no one can ever control you, and that you can control everyone. You want revenge. You want a win over Celestia that's total. And if I'm dead, you can't do that. You need me. You need my help to make a Rainboom.”
“You'll never give it to me.”
“But that won't stop you from wondering whether or not you could have dragged it out of me. And if you kill me now you'll never know.”
Nightmare moon glanced back over at Orange and Rarity, weighing her options, the one remaining calm part of her reminding her not to do anything too irrevocably drastic. Ponies were such soft, defenseless creatures. It would be a simple matter to wring her magic around Rainbow's neck and squeeze all the life out of her. It would probably be very satisfying, too.
But it wouldn't last. If she wanted to learn more about these invaders' homeworld, she needed them alive.
Rainbow tensed, waiting for whatever punishment Nightmare Moon was about to dish out. She felt a pair of invisible magic tendrils wrap around her throat. It squeezed once, twice, testing the waters, seeing how far it could go.
“Fine.”
The magic imploded, dropping Rainbow, who managed to land on her hooves, albeit unsteadily. The rush fading, she didn't have much strength to do anything. Fortunately, Nightmare Moon seemed to have more pressing issues, as she had already left her for the cowering Orange.
When Nightmare Moon spoke, her voice was demanding, chiding. “Rainbow could not save you. She tried, and she failed. Your continued existence is the result of my generosity, and my actions alone. Now that you've had a chance to witness the failures of their little entourage firsthoof, tell me. Who are you loyal to?”
Orange whimpered an inaudible response. She pulled her back legs in, trying to make herself as small as possible.
Nightmare Moon grunted in frustration. A single telekinetic yank pulled Orange's head out of its shelter, nearly lifting the mare off the ground. The dark magical aura that surrounded her face and clouded her vision made her feel nauseous. From behind the shifting veil, Nightmare Moon's face distorted itself, filling her entire view.
And then Nightmare Moon screamed. “Look at me in the eyes when I'm talking!” she ordered, with an intensity that made Rarity take a few steps back.
There was no visible response from Orange, only heavy, uneven breathing.
“Let's try this again, before I lose all my patience,” said Nightmare Moon. “And this time, speak clearly. Who are you loyal to?”
The answer wasn't immediate, but when it was given, it hung in the air, carried by the utter sense of defeat that accompanied it.
“You, your highness.”
Nightmare Moon continued to stare at Orange, as if she was trying to decide whether or not the answer was sufficient. Orange repeatedly shifted her eyes away instinctively and returning them once she realized what she was doing.
“That's correct,” said the Queen slowly. “And do you know why that is?”
The look of fear and confusion she received told her enough. If Orange knew, there was no way that she'd be able to articulate the thought.
“Forget it, fool. I'll tell you why. The reason I'm so much better for you than those failures is because I free you of your burdens. Face it, Applejack. You've made a lot of mistakes in your past. Abandoning your family? Betraying your friends? You're a pathetic excuse for a pony. Nopony deserves to give you another chance. But I will, because I'm generous. Nothing in your past life matters to me. I only care about the future you, the you who might play a major role in leading this country someday. Madame Orange can be a hero. But if you leave now, you're Applejack again. And then you'll have to face all the horrible things you've done to the ponies who once trusted you. And you can't handle that, can you?”
This time, Orange was rapid with her response, wanting to avoid another screaming match. “No.”
“Exactly,” concluded Nightmare Moon, releasing her magic grip and letting Orange fall unceremoniously to the floor. “I'll see you tomorrow morning. Don't be late. Of course, I know you won't be. Rainbow Dash? Rarity? Go back to your friends and give them a message: This world is not their concern.”
A bitter and cold wind swept through the trees as Nightmare Moon's body filled with light. Then with a flash, a bang, and a sudden implosion, the alicorn was gone. The gravity spells disintigrated.
Rarity stood, transfixed. The threat was gone, at least for now. So why was she frozen, she admonished herself. Help her. She took a tentative step forward, and the cold tightened its grip on her.
She was afraid, she realized. More afraid now than she had been in Nightmare Moon's presence. Because somehow, being around the alicorn seemed like a fairytale gone horrribly wrong, like... well, like a nightmare. But Orange wasn't magic or make-believe. She was a real pony, with real feelings and real needs.
And right now she needed help more than any pony Rarity had ever met in her life.
The cold released her and she stumbled to her friend, still short of breath and stretched sore by the gravity magic. Reaching Orange, she hugged her tightly, wrapping the two of them in a heat charm.
Orange wanted to tense at the touch. She wanted Rarity to think the touch reviled her. That would be the sensible option. She had been forced to choose a life, forced to choose between Apples and Oranges, and she had made up her mind. There wasn't room for Rarity in the fragments of a life she had left.
And yet the unicorn's touch continued to feel like the most wonderful thing in the world. All she wanted was to collapse into it, and she hated herself for it.
The shame and loathing of an addict, that was the burden of a mare who wanted two incompatible things. And no magic spells or mind-control was required. This was all her.
“You better go,” she forced herself to say. “The next time we meet, we'll be enemies again.”
“I'm not leaving you,” said Rarity evenly.
Orange felt her blood boil at this. What a insensitive stupid mare. Couldn't Rarity see how this was hurting her? “Well too bad!” she screamed. “You don't have a choice here!”
"I am not letting go of you. Not now and not ever."
“Why are you doing this to me?” hissed Orange between her jerks and spasms, attempts to escape from Rarity's grasp. “Why can't you just let me go, forget I ever existed? Go on with your own life, find your own Applejack to care about and fuss over and criticize?”
Rarity continued with her level tone. How simple everything must seem to her, pondered Orange. How idealistic. How black and white. “You know why,” she said.
“No. You're wrong.”
Rarity raised an eyebrow at this. “Am I? Wrong about why I do things? I know what I'm getting into, Orange. I want this.”
“You shouldn't.”
“I do.”
“Look at you. You give and you give and you never ask for anything in return. You make it look so easy. I get it now. I finally get it.”
Rarity brushed aside the delirious, nonsensical words. Words weren't what was important now. Her words couldn't rebuild what Nightmare Moon's had torn down. Now was the time for something purer. But Orange persisted.
"I thought she was crazy when she talked about it, but I finally understand what Trixie meant when she said she wanted to keep things level. There's always an easy way out, but that doesn't mean it stays easy. You have to fight to keep it easy. Fight against the things that matter. Rarity. I told you to let go."
"Never."
A look of suppressed bitterness crept into Orange, discouraged but not resigned. "You're beautiful," she said to Rarity. "Has anypony ever told you that?"
"Not anypony who really knew what they were talking about," answered the unicorn.
"Well, I mean it," insisted Orange. "You're perfect, in every way, even if you don't believe it. Which is why I'm really, truly sorry."
"Huh?" Rarity didn't notice Orange's drawn-back hoof until it punched her in the face. Even if it weren't for the surprise, Rarity doubted she would have been able to lift a hoof to retaliate, or even protect herself. This wasn't about her.
Her grip slackening involuntarily, Orange pushed her away. Rarity lifted herself onto her haunches, sharing one last moment of eye contact. An unspoken apology which Rarity accepted immediately.
Orange turned and ran.
Rarity, hurting more from her failure than from the attack, continued to sit and watch her go.
“What are you waiting for?” cried Rainbow Dash. “Don't just let her get away like that.”
Rarity stood silently, turning to take in her until-now silent friend. Rainbow Dash was not in a good state. Her chest was bleeding from the wound where...
Where Rarity had...
In a flash of clarity, Rarity understood why Orange had so much trouble dealing with her past. True, this was different. It wasn't a mistake that she made, and it wasn't technically her fault, but still...
She swallowed the bile rising in her throat.
It's never your fault, is it, she asked herself, even when you're not under some curse. It's past you's fault, and she's never the same mare as you. That's not how it works. But even though you've changed, you regret not changing sooner. If she'd just been a little bit stronger willed...
“Are you even listening to me?” asked Rainbow. “Go after her!”
The very notion was insulting. “And leave you alone in your state? What if Nightmare Moon comes back when you can't fly? She could kill you. She won't kill Applejack. She needs her.”
“And that's not a good thing,” grunted Rainbow Dash, surprised at the sympathy for she was feeling for a pony she had offered to kill earlier that day. “I can't think of a worse fate for a pony. You have to go after her. Because you love her.”
Rainbow didn't know if Rarity wasn't expecting her not to beat around the bush, but she wasn't prepared to have her laundry laid bare like this. Rainbow groaned. “Don't tell me you're going to try and deny it. It's been kind of obvious for a while now.”
“Really?”
“Yeah. You see, neither of you have wings.”
Rarity repeated Rainbow's revelation silently in her head. And then she did it again. “I don't get it,” she said at last.
“You will. Probably sometime in the middle of the night, while you're thinking everything over, it will hit you. And then you'll hate me so much.”
Rarity, perplexed by the bizarre assertion, turned it over in her head a couple of times before setting it aside for later. “Besides,” she said, attempting to push onward and get back to the topic at hand, “she's an earth pony and I'm a unicorn. I don't have her endurance. I wouldn't be able to catch up if I wanted to.”
“And with that excuse you don't even have to try. I just spent the last nightmare of what seems like an hour trying to convince you to listen to yourself. Please tell me that now you'll actually try.”
“I am thinking straight, Rainbow. I wasn't before; I admit that. There was this voice in my head, and it sounded so sweet. You heard it too, and how you resisted it I don't know. I... I fell in love with that voice, and it terrifies me now. But I'm out of the dark forest. And I want to help her get out too. But right now, as horrible as this sounds, I don't think we can do anything to keep her safe. I want to help her, Rainbow, believe me, I do. But I'm not going to let you bleed out on the grass so I can go searching for a pony who doesn't want to be found.”
“That's the big question, isn't it, Rarity? What can you do for a pony who doesn't want to be saved?”
Rarity sat down on the grass beside her friend, both so they could be closer and to get a better look at the wound. “I don't know. I want to say you try anyway, but I don't know if that's worked for us. What if we make things worse?”
Rainbow was skeptical. “Are you seriously implying that she's better off in Nightmare Moon's hooves than ours?”
“I just think that maybe she doesn't need us making things more difficult to her.”
“Which, come to think of it, is exactly what Nightmare Moon wants too. Are you sure she's not still bouncing around in your head?”
Rainbow almost regretted her words as soon as they left her mouth. The question lingered, floating around them.
“I don't know,” muttered Rarity, fear creeping in. “Would we know?”
Rainbow quickly sought to change the subject. “It's not just her, is it?”
Rarity saw the bait and took it. “I'm not sure what you mean.”
“I mean, she's not the only Applejack. This predates the whole two worlds thing, doesn't it? I'm not blind, and looking back on things... well, stuff starts to add up.”
“That is not true. That is not true at all.” The speed with which Rarity denied the claims caused Rainbow to crack up (which, given the intermittent struggles to breathe, did not sound at all comforting.)
“Oh my Godesses,” laughed Rainbow, ignoring her pain. “This is perfect.”
“They're two different ponies,” denied Rarity.
“Earlier you said they weren't.”
“When?” Asked Rarity, trying to think back and remember when she had said that.
“To Orange. You told her yourself that she hadn't changed one bit.”
“That was different. That was...” Trying to figure out exactly what that was, Rarity was silent.
Rainbow laughed, a throaty laugh that was cut short by a fit of wheezing that lasted far longer than comfortable for either of them.
“We need to get you some medical attention.”
“Agreed.”
“And enough talk about Applejack. This isn't about her.” She paused, and then decided to get in the last word. “It's ridiculous, anyway. She's so uncultured. Too rough around the edges and too insensitive to the importance of it all. I'd have to guide her hoof the whole way.”
“Yeah, and I noticed you don't do that with Orange, either. Come on, Rars. Be honest.”
“It's irrelevant. We'll have plenty of time to have this discussion after we save the world.”
“You really think we stand a chance?” asked Rainbow.
Rarity hesitated. “We have to,” she finally said. “We have to assume we can win this, because if we can't then not much matters. Hope is all we have left.”
Rainbow let that stew for a moment. “She's wrong, you know. All that talk about fate and destiny, but she's wrong. I almost believed her. And if I had, then it would have made her right. I would have handed my life over to her. But the truth is, there's only one pony who controls my fate, and that's Rainbow Dash. I think she was trying to keep me from seeing that. I hope she was trying to keep me from seeing that. Because otherwise, if she really believes she's in control, then I feel sorry for her. And when we meet Orange again, that's what we need to prove to her. And not just for your love life. We need her for the Element of Honesty. You have to show her that we can make our own destiny. Because we're fighting against fate now. And guess what? Fate's going to lose.”
“You let them go?” Lieutenant Winter Frost shouted at Madame Orange the next day. The formerly refined earth pony didn't respond, lacking the energy to deal with the short-tempered soldier.
Winter Frost. The only pegasus at the Buraq academy who was not only willing to join Nightmare Moon's army, but eager. Her nearly insatiable bloodlust made her, on occasion, even more frightening than Nightmare. At least the alicorn knew the meaning of self-restraint.
But Frost wasn't finished. “I can't believe it. What does Her Majesty even see in you? You're completely useless. A month of floundering around and now the only thing you've accomplished was trying to bone the enemy. Pathetic.”
Orange had not been looking forward to coming to the castle and facing Nightmare Moon's anger. But she had not been expecting to get a lecture from her most loyal lackey while she was waiting. The two of them were sitting in a long hallway lined with tapestries that Orange was sure looked much better in the light of day. And since their new ruler hadn't put cleanliness among her top priorities, the banners were also obscured by a layer of dust.
The hall ended in a spiral staircase leading up to the east wing astronomy tower, which Nightmare Moon had converted to her personal quarters. (Or reverted, as Orange suspected, given the alicorn's attachment to the tower.)
Fortunately, whatever abuse Orange felt doomed to suffer at Frost's hooves was postponed as the magic barrier in front of the stairs unraveled, granting them entry. When the blue pegasus noticed, she gave a harrumph, just to make sure Orange knew what she thought of her, and then the two climbed the stairs in silence.
More force fields guided their journey at every branch, blocking off every possible path but one. Eventually, the two ponies emerged into a small round room that had every window boarded up with thick metal sheets. From what ambient light was available, Orange could make out the bedframe on the far wall.
This was Nightmare's bedroom, Orange realized. She had never been in here; no one would have been permitted entry under normal circumstances. It was oddly personal. Seeing such a plain utilitarian room almost made the alicorn seem... normal. A pony, like everyone else. It certainly wasn't an image that Nightmare wanted to put on display.
But as Orange and Frost saw their ruler sitting on the floor, stewing in her own frustration, they realized that in her current state, Nightmare Moon couldn't possibly maintain her image anyway.
Both the earth pony and the pegasus were smart enough to keep their mouths shut. They could tell that Nightmare Moon was bothered by her encounter. She had been humiliated, and in attempting to prove her dominance had instead made a fool of herself. Orange began to worry that they had been summoned so that the alicorn could vent her frustration on them.
Seeing that her guests had arrived, Nightmare Moon closed her eyes, took a deep breath, and attempted to compose herself. Some inscrutable, irrational part of Orange felt a sliver of something possibly resembling pity.
“May I speak?” asked Orange, attempting to get the conversation moving, and pointedly ignoring her leader's state of distress.
“That depends on what you have to say.”
Orange did not like those odds. But even without explicit permission to speak freely, she pushed on. “Why did you let them go?” she asked, fearing retribution but speaking anyway. “They were weak. You could have captured them again.”
“I didn't do it for you, if that's what you're wondering. I did it because holding onto them has proven to be a costly and difficult affair that does little to advance our position. They don't have any valuable intelligence to share that the pink one hasn't already given their friends, so we're don't risk any information leaks. Just because we need them alive doesn't mean they need to be contained. Sometimes the best way to raise cattle is free-range.”
Frost interjected. “Why do we need them alive?” she asked. “I'd love to get my hooves on them. Especially the unicorn.” She grinned in a manner that would have made Orange incredibly uncomfortable even if she didn't know Rarity.
“You can have the unicorn, when the time comes,” said Nightmare Moon. “But not the Loyalty-bearer. Rainbow Dash is the only one we know who can create a door between our world and theirs. And that makes her very valuable. Back when I could control her mind, our victory was secured. But my mind magic doesn't work on her anymore; I tried when I demonstrated it on you. Her Element appears to make her uniquely immune to it now. But she's still more valuable alive than dead.
“You could have killed her,” offered Frost. “Stranded her friends on this side.”
“And what good would that accomplish? It would only give them further incentive to fight me, by cutting off their means of retreat and giving a cause for vengeance. The one thing that is certain is that Rainbow Dash must live long enough for us to make use of her. Of course, should we fail to preserve her, there is one other alternative.”
This caught even Orange off guard. So far it seemed as if the purpose of the meeting was to fill Frost in on what she had missed. “Which alternative?” asked Orange this time.
Nightmare Moon cheekily smiled, enjoying the feeling of still having one card up her sleeve. “If all else fails, there is still the other Rainbow Dash.”
Orange didn't know what to think. “The other Rainbow Dash is dead,” she explained. “I confirmed it. We found the records from the Battle of Buraq.”
“Tell me exactly what you found,” ordered Nightmare Moon, even though she already knew. Not understanding the purpose of the exercise, Orange obliged.
“We followed the trail to the Buraq flight academy, where the Rainbow Dash of this world was enrolled. According to the student records, she vanished from school immediately after the rebellion. Talking to the teachers and other students confirmed what we already knew was likely: that Rainbow Dash fought in the rebellion and perished. There were no survivors. You made sure of that.”
Nightmare Moon sighed and checked to make sure that the door to the room was closed. “Madame Orange. Lieutenant Frost. What I am about to tell you does not leave this room. Do you understand?”
Both mares nodded, confused.
“When I visited my school,” explained Nightmare Moon, “I was disappointed that I was not regarded with open embraces. Ponies had learned to fear me in my absence, it seemed. A few of them tried to fight back. Their leader fell immediately. The others followed. Those I could get close to, I converted. The others, I had to clip their wings with lightning. It was foals play. But there was one pony there who put up an unexpected fight. My mind magic has only ever failed twice. Today, with Rainbow Dash, and then, two years ago, on that one tenacious young mare.”
“The other Rainbow Dash?” asked Frost, making the connections.
“In the dark, there wasn't time to notice anything distinctive about her. But we must regard it is a possibility.”
Something about the theory didn't add up to Orange. “But I thought you said that reason you couldn't take control of Rainbow Dash was because of the Element of Loyalty. The other Rainbow Dash had never even come into contact with the Element.”
“There is more to this story,” continued Nightmare Moon. “Details I've done my best to remove from any record of the event. When I could not bend this mare's will, I had to resort to more... brute force methods of removing her from the equation. And in the end, she fell, just like the rest of them. And when she did, something happened. Something I could not explain at the time, although I am beginning to now. For a brief period, beginning when she fell, neither myself nor the unicorns I had already recruited at the Canterlot school were capable of inflicting any harm against the rebels. Our strikes bounced off of them, our magic fell apart. While we eventually captured them, we could not harm them. They should have died that night, but some unforseen influence forced us to spare their lives and take them as prisoners instead. Perhaps Rainbow Dash of this world had discovered the Element of Loyalty. And in defending her school from me, she activated its powers. Her loyalty to her allies protected them. Remember, Orange, that there is no act of loyalty greater than self-sacrifice. If Rainbow Dash died to protect the school that had raised her, than in her final moments, she would have been granted access to the complete potential of the Element's power.”
“And did what with it?” Orange didn't like where this conversation was going.
“I don't know. And that perhaps frightens me the most.” Nightmare Moon paused and watched the shocked expressions of her pawns. “You heard me correctly, Madame, Lieutenant. I am frightened.”
“How is that possible?” questioned Orange. “How could she have found an Element when we, with every scrying spell available, could not locate them?”
“The physical elements have to be somewhere,” reasoned the alicorn. “My sister must have anticipated my return and had them moved from their original resting place in our old home. I've had my guards searching for them since my return, but Equestria is a big country.”
Orange was uncertain. “If I may,” she offered, and she waited for the signal from Nightmare Moon before proceeding. “This... proposal, would require that Rainbow Dash be extremely fortunate. That she would stumble upon not only an element, but her element, by happenstance. It seems rather unlikely.”
“Then it was not happenstance. She had help. And I believe I know where she received it. You told me that your allies had been receiving... visitations from an unknown source?”
Orange nodded. “A unicorn mare. Tracking the solar winds was, for the most part, her idea.”
“Find out who she is. I don't care how. Find out where she came from and what she's planning. I did not understand the source of the mare's power at the time. I thought she was merely a special case. But if the evidence points to her being our world's version of the Loyalty-bearer, we can make use of this information. And it may turn out that we don't need the other world's Rainbow Dash after all.”
Orange nodded in understanding, and Frost followed so as not to appear slow. “So what do we do now?” Frost asked.
“We prepare,” said Nightmare Moon, some of the force of her personality returning to her. “Destiny is waiting for me to become it, and I don’t intend to disappoint.”
Twilight crawled out from beneath the stone wreckage, praising to Celestia that she hadn't been crushed. Her awareness of her surroundings came to her only slowly. How had she gotten here, she wondered. She couldn't remember. Her thoughts were too busy planning what to do next, focusing on the future. And try as she might, she couldn't get them to focus on the past.
Another dream, she realized. She was reliving a memory, and her consciousness was just along for the ride.
She let herself be led through the ruins, walking with a purpose she didn't quite understand. Something about her surroundings struck her as familiar, and she tried to remember if she had ever been here before. A mostly intact wall of mostly intact white stone towered up into her peripheral vision, but she continued to look straight ahead. She had to get to it before they did, even though she had no idea what “it” or “they” were. Whose memory was this, anyway? Hers? Her counterpart's? (And was there really much of a difference anymore?) Or something else?
Her counterpart told her once that she had dreamed about events that, at least of the time of the dream, had not yet happened. What she had described was impossible. Dreaming about the future wasn't something that could happen. It went against so many laws of magic.
And yet so many things had happened that now Twilight didn't know what to think.
In the past month, some of the others had stopped calling her Moonlight. After all, there was no longer another Twilight to confuse her with. But others, particularly the other Twilight's friends, had made sure that the nickname stuck. But Twilight wasn't sure if the distinction mattered anymore.
With each dream, Twilight was gaining more of her counterpart's memories. Sometimes, she even caught herself referencing something that had happened to the other her, or looking at her counterpart's friends as if she had known them for so much more than a month plus a week. And perhaps that was why she was now much more willing to embrace the possibility that yes, she was having dreams of the future. It wasn't that much different from the Pinkie Sense that she had now been able to witness first-hoof. (Or maybe second-hoof? Her situation was rather unique.)
And wasn't the body she was occupying the one from the sun-lit world? Didn't that make her the foreign personality?
But the future. How could she be seeing the future? It wasn't something that made any sense. But if she wasn't looking into the future, what was she looking at?
She crested a hill of refuse, a small circle free of rubble coming into view beyond. A marble fountain in the center had burst, spilling water onto the surrounding cobblestone. Beyond, a regal castle loomed, the architecture intimately familiar to her. Her eyes drifted to the tower where she (or half of her) had lived as the princess's protégé.
The tower was gone, a broken stump sticking out of the palace and coming to a jagged stop less than a story up.
Somewhere, somewhen, Canterlot was in ruins.
A mare standing by the founding, who Twilight had somehow missed until now, turned to look at her sadly. It was the same unicorn that had invaded her dreams before, the tall violet mare with the soft and flowing hair that obscured her shoulders. For the first time, Twilight got a look at the mare's cutie mark, which was partially obscured by a plain red cloak, but what she saw surprised her.
That wasn't possible. Which made it just another item on the increasingly lost list of impossible things to happen recently.
“I'm sorry you have to see this,” the mare told Twilight, and even though they were still a good distance apart, it sounded to Twilight as if the mare was right next to her. “I wish I could forget seeing it too. But some memories make stronger impressions than others, and when you go subconscious-diving... well, some things refuse to leave well enough alone.”
Twilight descended from the rubble onto the Canterlot town square, where the mare was waiting. “You know this is a dream,” she concluded.
“I'm sure you have a lot of questions, Twilight,” said the mare, feeling the fountain with her hoof, surprised by how real the rough texture felt to her. “I'm not keeping you in the dark out of malice.”
“I think I understand, to an extent.” Twilight took a shot in the dark. “This is the future.”
“It's a possible future,” corrected the mare, who Twilight realized (somehow) was called Stargazer. “One I've sacrificed everything to prevent. But that doesn't stop me from seeing it every time I close my eyes.”
Twilight looked out at the decaying and abandoned city. It occurred to her only now that she hadn't seen anypony else in this wasteland. The stillness of the environment filled her with a sense of loneliness. The day seemed impossibly bleak, and she felt irrevocably detached from the rest of the world.
“Was Canterlot important to you?” Twilight asked Stargazer.
The older, taller mare nodded. “I grew up here. My entire childhood was within the city's walls. And that's why I'm not going to let anything happen to it.”
“Which world is this?” Twilight asked. She looked up in the sky and was surprised to see the sun shining. “This is my world. How could this happen?” A possible explanation occurred to her, and she dreaded it. “Is Nightmare Moon going to attack our world?” But, to her surprise, Stargazer shook her head.
“This is not the Nightmare's doing,” answered the mysterious mare. “There are other dark forces at play here.”
“How do you know? How do you see these things? How am I seeing this?” As Stargazer thought for the best way to address the questions, Twilight tried to put the pieces together on her own, speaking her train of thought out loud. “You see futures. We're connected somehow, so I see them too. And because we're connected, we can talk to each other from... wherever we are. And when I shared minds with the other me, I extended the connection to her. Or perhaps she shared it with me.”
“That spell,” said Stargazer, and she frowned, as if something were gnawing at her from within.
“I'm sorry?”
“The spell you used to share you mind with your other self. How did you come up with the idea to invent it?”
The question was unexpected, but not difficult. “Well, that's easy,” began Twilight, and then she stalled. “I... well...” she stammered, trying to remember. “I guess it just came to me. Yeah, that's it.”
Stargazer wasn't satisfied. “Explain the theory behind it. What past research did you use when constructing the spell?”
Twilight tried her hardest to remember. What had she been doing when she had invented the memory spell? What spellcrafters had she been reading? What model spell-matrix had she used as the jumping-off point?
“I did it all on my own,” she concluded. “It wasn't based on any past research.”
Stargazer gave Twilight a questioning look, and Twilight realized how ridiculous it sounded. “I thought innovation was made by standing on the shoulders of giants?”
Twilight laughed nervously. “Not me. I do all my science from scratch.” The disapproving glare from Stargazer was making her uncomfortable. “How is this relevant?” she asked. “What does that have to do with this?” she gestured out to the ruins of Canterlot.
“Such magic should not be used by someone who does not even understand how it works. That spell has such potential for misuse. Such consequences. It is magic that, unchecked and harnessed by a mare that does not know what she is doing, could trigger unimaginable suffering.”
Twilight was indignant. “Not understand what I'm doing? I invented that spell!”
“Without doing any past research, no known templates, and seemingly without any inspiration?”
“What else could have happened? Are you saying I stole the spell from somepony else?” Twilight's pride in her work required that she take offense.
Stargazer, on the other hoof, remained calm. “I'm just asking if you've ever sat back and thought about what that spell could do in the wrong hands. And if it's really such a good idea to use it so recklessly.”
Twilight dismissed the concerns, instead thinking back to earlier in their conversation. “Is that our connection?” she asked, the clues finally beginning to fit together. “You can see the future. And you shared your visions with me using the memory spell. That's how you're appearing in my dreams. You put a piece of yourself inside me. I'm talking to a voice inside my head.”
“Close,” confessed Stargazer. “I am not a voice in your head, or a separate personality locked away in your subconscious. My influence on you was more refined. I shared my memories, including my half of these conversations. You're not talking to a pony. You're talking to a memory from long ago.”
“If you're a memory, how do you know what I'm going to say?” As she spoke, she realized the answer. “You can see the future. You're predicting my half of the conversation with clairvoyance.” The implications of the explanation struck Twilight. “You're saying you're in the past,” she summarized. She had to forcibly silence the voice in her head reminding her that none of this was possible.
“I didn't intend for us to communicate like this,” explained Stargazer. “The idea was for you to have access to my memories, my visions. I hoped they might help you. This splintered offshoot of myself was an unintended side-effect.”
Twilight couldn't escape the niggling feeling that something about the explanation was very off. “But why me?” she asked. And this let to the bigger questions: “How do you know me? Who are you?”
But it seemed that the older mare was done answering questions. Instead, she was staring out across the square, toward the entrance to the palace. Twilight followed her gaze, and she felt the dreamspace get darker and colder, to reflect Stargazer's changing mood.
Above them, the sun went out.
Another mare had wandered into view, on the opposite city of the square. She carried herself well, examining the wreckage and looking rather pleased with herself. She had a white coat delimited by a multi-toned blue mane and tail that swung lightly with her movements but retained its shape. Her short-cut hair parted on either side of her horn, stopping well before her bold gold eyes. Twilight followed the curvature of the newcomer's body down to... her wings?
The mare was an alicorn? And she had no cutie mark, to boot. “Who is she?” Twilight asked. When Stargazer didn't respond, Twilight noticed that the other unicorn was focused entirely on the strange blank-flank alicorn, shaking with heated and unabated rage.
“That is the only creature in all of Equestria that I wouldn't mind tearing limb from limb,” said Stargazer, her explanation deliberately slow, rehearsed. “An evil, valueless monster that deserves the worst fates Tartarus can dish out, who is responsible for more needless suffering than anyone I have ever met.”
Twilight wasn't sure if she had ever seen a pony this bitter. “What did she do?” she asked.
Stargazer's answer was drowned out by a gust of wind that rose up and tore at the air around them. The wind sheared away the surrounding stone, clawing streaks into the ground and walls. What remained seemed to bleed into the new holes, the entire ensemble losing its shape as the world fell apart.
“What?” she cried, trying to make herself heard over the rising wind. Unfortunately, she realized her volume too late, and to her horror the alicorn perked up as she heard the call and turned to find its source. As the pair of bright golden eyes fixed onto her, Twilight felt frozen in place by a frigid intelligence. Twilight wondered what could possibly be behind that unearthly face. Something about the mare also struck her as vaguely familiar, as if they'd met before, once long ago.
And then the world fell apart beneath her and she wasn't able to think about it anymore.
When Twilight awoke, the memories of the dreamscape were still lingering in the back corners of her mind. As they slowly melted away, she began to take notice of her surroundings. She was in a bed in a dirty and cluttered room with wooden walls, and it took her too long to remember that she was in Appleloosa.
The stallion standing over the foot of the bed did not nearly have the patience to wait for her to gather her wits. “Hello again,” he told her. “How did I know you'd be here?”
Twilight did her best to size him up. He was a pale violet earth pony. Large, tough, about the size of Big Macintosh. Also like Big Macintosh, he was very calm. Frighteningly calm. Like the skies before a hurricane.
“I'm sorry,” Twilight offered. “Have we met?”
“You really are such a self-centered little maggot, aren't you?” he asked, the calm breaking down in malice. “Doesn't remember any of the terrible things she's done. Typical.”
Even though Twilight still didn't recognize him, she was able to take a guess. “Silver Shield?”
“I found you,” said Silver Shield, almost giddily. “I found you, and you can't run anymore. Karmic, isn't it? This is your judgment day, Twilight Sparkle. I lost my wife because of you. You took my daughter from me. And now is the time for retribution.”