A month had passed since Pinkie Pie had last seen Ulysses, or the strange brown unicorn. Things had mostly been quiet in Ponyville, save for the statue and plaque made for Rainbow Dash. Twilight had insisted it be made after Rainbow Dash had been buried. The plaque simply read;
‘In memory of Rainbow Dash, a great friend, ambitious dreamer and the only Pegasus to ever perform a Sonic Rainboom twice in her life.’
Pinkie stood near it and watched as snow fell off it and to the ground below. Around her, the rest of Ponyville was wrapping up winter under Twilight’s organization, but there was one problem, which Twilight was currently yelling at.
“Oh, come on! Pegasus ponies are supposed to clear the roofs of snow and the sky of clouds! What do you mean you all refuse to do it?”
A Pegasus walked up to her, looking none too happy.
“We always followed Rainbow Dash’s lead, even last year when you organized it so we’d be on time. But with her gone, we all feel it would be disrespectful to her to just fill her place as if she was never alive!”
Twilight gritted her teeth.
“You are all being UNREASONABLE! Rainbow Dash wouldn’t see it as disrespectful! She’d want this to be done as it was last year!”
Twilight could do nothing as all the Pegasus ponies responded by leaving. She groaned in anger and looked at Spike.
“Send the letter?”
“Yes, Spike. Using magic to do their job would be disrespectful. Thankfully I had the foresight of ensuring out of town Pegasus ponies to come help.”
Spike held up the letter and sent it off to the Princess. Smiling, Twilight walked over to Pinkie.
“I know you weren’t up for helping on the lake this year, did you at least organize the rest?” Twilight asked.
“Yeah Twilight, they should be getting to the last lake now. Are you sure the princess will send the help you prepared just in case?”
Twilight nodded. She smiled as Applejack and Fluttershy arrived.
“The ground’s all ready, just need the clouds to be cleared up.” Applejack stated.
“Yes, and all the animals are awake.” Fluttershy added.
“Good,” Twilight looked up, “ah, and here comes the backup plan.”
High in the sky, a line of Pegasus ponies had flown from Cloudsdale and were now moving the clouds away with their combined wind pressure.
Pinkie smiled a little as the sun’s warmth filled the air. Looking around, she saw Rarity and other ponies taking the bird nests they had made around and climbing ladders to place them in the trees. Once again, she looked up, and felt sadness once again. Rainbow Dash was still gone, and while Twilight had refused to use magic, it still didn’t feel the same.
--
“Y’know, things won’t be the same when I need rain out on the fields.” Applejack stated. The friends had since gathered near the statue Twilight had commissioned of Rainbow Dash, which they sat in front of.
“Yeah,” Twilight agreed, “and she won’t suddenly crash into the library anymore after a stunt goes wrong. Spike at first didn’t miss it, but he does now.”
They all looked at Rarity, who strangely was crying hard.
“I… I found one of her feathers in my shop just yesterday… it must have fallen off her wings some time ago and blown under the desk… it really hit me hard as I walked over to sew something and it blew out into view…”
Applejack put a hoof on Rarity’s back, but said nothing as she tried to comfort her. Twilight turned to face Fluttershy who had said nothing.
“What’s being done about her house?” Twilight asked.
Fluttershy looked at the ground.
“Fluttershy,” Twilight moved closer to the yellow Pegasus, “what is being done about Rainbow Dash’s house?”
“I was thinking of just leaving it where it was. It… it might be more painful if it wasn’t still in the sky… maybe…” Fluttershy finally answered.
Twilight turned away as Fluttershy curled into herself. She looked at Pinkie Pie.
“I’m hoping Ulysses will turn up, and he can correct all this.” She answered before Twilight even had to ask. Twilight sighed and looked at the sun. It was getting lower in the sky now, and she too remembered that Ulysses had promised to turn up by Winter Wrap Up with the way to save Rainbow Dash from dying.
A sudden gentle voice startled everyone.
“Why the crying, fair white filly?”
Rarity looked directly into the eyes of Ulysses, who was floating upside down in front of her.
“I found a feather from Rainbow Dash, and her not being around hit me hard…”
Ulysses grinned much wider than Pinkie had ever seen. Without a word or prior warning, he grabbed the feather off Rarity.
“Fantastic! I was just about to come and see if anyone had one of her feathers,” he turned back to his hooves and trotted over to Pinkie Pie, “now, as I promised Pinkie Pie, I found the way to save her, but it won’t be easy.”
Ulysses narrowed his eyes a little as Twilight stood in between him and Pinkie Pie.
“Why don’t you tell us this entire plan to all of us rather than just Pinkie Pie?” Twilight quizzed.
“Very well, Twilight Sparkle.” Ulysses replied. Using his horn, a bottle filled with liquid appeared. With this, he magically scrapped bits off the feather of Rainbow Dash into the bottle and swirled it.
“I released, as long as I focused on any of your sadness, the physical form of the corruption would always ensure Rainbow Dash’s death. It proved to be impossible, even getting you, Twilight Sparkle, to trick her into going to Cloudsdale a few days before couldn’t stop her death,” he floated the bottle to Pinkie Pie, “but then it came to me. I was trying so hard to prevent her death using each of your sadness, that I’d overlooked one pony I could try to find the solution to the problem through.”
All but Twilight seemed confused by what Ulysses was saying. Twilight herself passed the thought process through her mind a few times to ensure she had understood correctly, finally realising, Ulysses intended to focus his efforts on Rainbow Dash rather than anypony else.
“So you attempted to find out if you could save Rainbow Dash by using Rainbow herself as the return point?” she asked.
“Precisely! Using magic to test how returning to her a few minutes before would work, I finally found it. The physical corruption assumed nopony would think of using the victim as a return point to prevent the death in the first place. In theory, it will work, but it required pieces of Rainbow Dash herself to make the potion, and this is where it gets hard.” Ulysses added, almost hopping around.
“What do you mean?” Twilight glared at Ulysses.
“The physical corruption was present at her death. Returning Pinkie Pie a few minutes before will be a one shot attempt. If she fails to convince Rainbow Dash to be more careful of the storm, it will know Rainbow herself was used, and then ensure she can’t be for any further attempts,” Ulysses looked at Pinkie Pie, “do you understand Pinkie Pie? You can drink this potion whenever you are ready, but do not waste the attempt! If you fail to save your friend, then that is it for the time being, it could take many more months to find another way back and try again.”
Pinkie Pie stared at the bottle, and bit her lower lip, every emotion possible raced through her mind. Utter joy that there was a way to save Rainbow Dash dying, worry soon took over, as she begun to think of what would happen if she failed to save her friend. This led to doubt in her ability to be able to do as Ulysses hoped and had seemingly worked hard to help her with.
Several minutes of silence passed by, as Pinkie Pie stared nervously at the bottle. It would be the only chance at the best for many more months. At the worst, it was the only chance, and if she failed, Rainbow Dash would be gone forever.
Normally, she would have lightened the mood, but it was very serious and there was no time for joking around. She looked past Ulysses and to her friends. Twilight wasn’t smiling; she seemed to be studying Ulysses. Fluttershy looked hopefully at Pinkie Pie, while Applejack and Rarity simply stared.
“Hang on a minute,” Twilight spoke up, “why does Pinkie have to drink the potion and save Rainbow Dash?”
“Because,” Ulysses didn’t break his gaze at Pinkie Pie, “I did check if giving it to another would ensure her survival. It did not. For reasons even I don’t understand, it only worked when it was Pinkie Pie.”
Pinkie Pie took a step forward.
“Do I have to drink it now?” she questioned.
“Not if you don’t want to. You can leave it and take it at a later point if you don’t feel confident enough to return to the past just yet.” Ulysses smiled. Pinkie again felt uneasy about his smile. Its appearance on Ulysses’ face suggested his genuine pleasure at being able to help the pink pony, but she couldn’t explain why it felt there were more… sinister, intentions behind it. She looked at Twilight who had since walked around to face Ulysses from the front, and from what Pinkie could tell, the same thoughts were going through Twilight’s mind about Ulysses’ smile.
Pinkie Pie looked down at the floor.
“It’s so great! I can save Dashie now!” Pinkie bounced on the spot. Slowly, this came to a stop, as her thoughts continued.
“But... what if I fail?” She gasped.
“I’m... I’m not ready!” she cried out, looking desperately at the others.
“I think if she isn’t ready yet, then it would be best to wait until she is.” Twilight stated.
Ulysses nodded, the sinister intentions behind his smile, regardless of if they had been real or not, vanished, replaced by a genuine, and friendly smile.
“Twilight Sparkle, do you mind taking the potion for safe keeping? It must be kept cool and dry, otherwise the liquid will evaporate, if even a drop is gone, it will not work. Remember, Pinkie Pie must be the one to drink it when she is ready to save Rainbow Dash, and I will come back to help her when she is ready to save your friend.”
Twilight took the potion from Ulysses, who simply bowed and vanished into the air. Twilight looked at the bottle and liquid. The bottle itself was pretty ordinary and seemed like Ulysses had grabbed it in a hurry during a moment of success in making the liquid contained within. The liquid, since Ulysses had first shown the bottle, had changed from a sparkling green, to a pleasant sky blue, as if the parts of the feather of Rainbow Dash had changed its colour.
“I’m sorry everypony…” Pinkie said, looking up sadly at the others.
“Ah don’t worry about it sugarcube. We have the potion now, that Ulysses did what was required. We just gotta hope all goes well when yer ready.” Applejack replied with a smile.
“Yes, and now we need to plan exactly how to save her. Rushing into it won’t do much good, she’s stubborn.” Twilight added.
Rarity coughed to get attention. As all eyes fell on her, she smiled to try and hide the fact she had still been crying.
“It’s obvious really. If she can go back carrying anything, then we need to send her with three things that will prove to Rainbow Dash she will die unless she listens.”
They all stared at her, Twilight was clearly trying to work out if this was possible, while the rest just seemed to fail to understand what Rarity had just said.
“That is to say, she should take the feather back, and maybe a photo or two of the memorial to her. There is no way Rainbow Dash can deny it then, there is even a date on the memorial of when she died.”
Twilight grinned, remembering a theory of time travel. The potion, from Ulysses’ description, was going to take the pony that drank it back in time.
“Of course, now I understand what you mean. In theory, it’s possible. Here’s what we’ll do, we’ll burn the feather a little; make it look more like she was in an accident that killed her. I’ll get Spike to get the photos of the memorial. That way then,” she looked at Pinkie, “all you have to do is show her the feather and photos; she can’t deny it then, as the memorial didn’t exist before she died.”
Pinkie Pie smiled and begun hopping around.
“Let’s go have a party to celebrate finding the way to save Rainbow Dash!”
--
On a hill just outside Ponyville, the brown unicorn was watching. It stomped a hoof against a rock.
“So, they really think this will work and no one will know? I’ll see to that. Celebrate while you can ponies… for you are all doomed to fail.”