Spike was sick.
Not badly sick, but ill enough to not be sending or receiving letters. Even stranger was his firebreath. Instead of being its usual bright green, it was a pale yellow, tinged with red. Twilight found the combination familiar, and not exactly in a pleasant way. She leaned over the prone Spike as he stared balefully at the ceiling, muttering dully, “C’mon, Twi, it’s probably just a cold. All it is is a headache and a sore throat.”
Twilight fussed a little with a wet towel draped over Spike’s forehead. “But, Spike, you’ve never gotten a cold before; dragons are very resistant to illness. And your fire...its enchanted, it shouldn't just change colour like this.”
Twilight fussed a little more, before returning to the Library’s main floor, where she had all the tomes she could think of that applied to Spikes situation. That being, two. And one of them was about large lizard care.
Twilight had hardly had a good night’s sleep today, or the day before, and neither morning had brought her any more peace. With Spike sick, she hadn't noticed Ditzy missing from her bed yesterday. Not until the tearful Pegasus had returned at mid-morning. Her story did little to inspire confidence, either.
Marc had run. Just like that, he had decided to take his chances in the Everfree rather than trust the determination of his friends. Could she even still call him that? Friend? After what she and her friends had done, it was unlikely. The only pony to stick by Marc’s side through all this was probably curled up on a bunk at Rosewood Cottage, crying herself into a stupor. Twilight sighed as she looked out the window at the afternoon sun. At least Rainbow Dash was out there. If anypony could look after Marc, it was that crazy mare. Maybe she would even manage to convince him to come back, in time.
A loud knock sounded from the door, followed by a shout in a very distinctive voice “Hey, Twilight! Open up before we get seen, will ya!”
Well, that sure was fast. Twilight frowned and trotted over to open the door as requested. She had already worked out what she should see beyond the door: Rainbow Dash and Marc. Not Rainbow Dash pulling a cart filled with straw. Though actually, the latter made more sense. “Hey, Rainbow. Turn the cart around and tip him out through here.” Twilight gestured through the front door, stepping back as Rainbow Dash spun the cart around and tipped it up, unceremoniously dumping all the straw, and of course Marc, onto the library floor. She then flew in herself, kicking the door shut hastily.
Twilight helped Marc as he rolled himself free of the mass of dried grass stalks by levitating most of it upwards. Rainbow Dash, hovering just above Marc, tried to rapidly explain what had happened, only to find herself engulfed in a storm of straw. Twilight, oblivious, bent down and nudged Marc, asking, “Marc, why are you back here? You should have just gone to the Everfree Cottage and sent Rainbow with a message!”
Marc dizzily pushed himself up, twitching to get the remaining stalks off of him before answering, “That was the plan, Twilight, but when we got there, this weird pink earth pony was sitting on the roof. She wore a spinner-cap, for some reason...either way, we couldn’t go there, so Rainbow flew me around to Sweet Apple Acres. We grabbed the cart and...well, here I am.”
Twilight helped Marc stand as she tried to phrase her next question carefully. “Well...Marc, Ditzy came back here yesterday morning. She was...rather upset. I understand that you don’t want to be here anymore, I do. We cannot ever really apologize for what we did, and nopony can blame you for wanting to be alone. I actually think it rather noble. But...why come back?”
Marc looked up at the ceiling and rubbed the back of his neck uncertainly before replying. “I’m not really sure. I slept in the forest last night, and I had a nightmare. I know Luna was there. We were above and ocean and there was a storm...and then someone else appeared, there was a fight, and they disappeared. I felt like I was being crushed. I just have a bad feeling, Twi, about Luna. It was a scary dream.”
“Yeah, right,” Rainbow snorted, “Scary enough to stop you breathing. I dunno about you, Twilight, but this does sound serious.”
Twilight stared at Marc in confusion. Normal dreams didn't affect the dreamer in ways that could hurt them. But in Equestria, there were many forms of dreams. Especially if Luna had involved. “I should research this. Rainbow is right, that isn’t normal. If Luna is tracking you through sleep, we may have to find a safer place to hide you in case the Princesses...well, if they decide to find you themselves.”
Marc shook his head immediately. “No, Twi, Luna didn't mean me harm, that I know. I... don’t think Luna is in on it, whatever Celestia was trying. Or maybe something else is going on entirely...” Marc looked out the window to where the distant mountain city of Canterlot was visible. “I just have a feeling that we’re missing something, but I can’t remember what.”
Twilight nodded and began ripping books from the shelves, each one emblazoned with a title related to dreaming. “Well, at least we have time to study this fully before anything major happens –“
Marc, Rainbow Dash and Twilight were all thrown to the floor as a large bang sounded through the town and beyond. It sounded so like a gunshot that Marc dived for a corner. He spun and tried to gesture the others down as well, an illogical image of Celestia with a rifle somewhere outside, trying to assassinate him. Marc futilely attempted to wave Twilight down, but she was staring quite intently out of the window.
“Looks like everypony just has to prove me wrong today...” She mumbled, before pointing at the mountain in the distance and calling out over the remaining reverberations of the explosion, “That was an emergency flare: we need to get to Canterlot as quickly as possible! Rainbow, call the girls, I’ll get the Elements!”
Rainbow instantly responded, disappearing through the broken window, leaving Marc and Twilight alone on the ground floor. Marc was flabbergasted by the flare and Twilight’s reaction. “That was a flare?! It sounded like a bomb, or a cannon! And you’re just gonna walk right up to Canterlot, where Celestia is, after all this?”
Twilight held a stern expression over her doubts. It was time for action, not moping. “We are the Elements of Harmony; we must help defend Equestria. It is our duty. And you’re coming with us!”
She began pacing, cutting off Marc’s startled cry. “Listen! Your dream, Spike’s cold, the letter, that violet filly we saw; they’re all connected. And I think I know who it is! There’s only one creature powerful enough to rival Luna in a dreamscape, and Discord has been too quiet of late as it is!”
Marc’s eyes dilated as her words reached him. “Dreamscape? Discord...?” Twilight continued talking through her theory, prattling on and marching on circles. Marc sat, odd mental images flashing in his mind as he tried to piece together the memory.
In what felt like no time at all, ponies began trickling into the library. First came Pinkie, then Rarity and Applejack a while later. Both looked somewhat uncomfortable to see Marc again, though whether that was from fear or shame, he never asked. Finally, Rainbow Dash returned, towing Fluttershy by the tail. “I think Ditzy saw us when we passed Rosewood, but we lost her! I was worried she would try and follow us.”
Twilight began spouting her theory again, as Rainbow Dash hooked herself and Fluttershy up the carriage, dumping out most of the straw and making room for its future occupants. Six pieces of jewelry, the Elements themselves, levitated out form their display and wrapped themselves around their owners.
Twilights explanation, rapid and unstructured, left her friends still confused. Marc, now standing to the side of their conversation, was surprised to hear Fluttershy question Twilight first; “But...we reformed him...I helped Discord to be good, how could he go bad again? Isn't this just some big...mistake...” She wavered under the glare of Rainbow Dash, who then turned and called out, “Hay, c’mon, ponies, we need to get moving! That warning went off ages ago!”
Twilight nodded and hustled everypony towards the carriage. “Yes, we need to get moving! Come along, Marc.” When the human didn’t respond, Twilight trotted back and nudged him forward, saying, “what? We can’t leave you here, the town still might react if they see you! And also, you might be able to help us! Celestia didn't send that letter, it was all a lie!” Now get in the carriage.”
Marc found himself wedged between Rarity and Applejack. Not a good place to be. But he had no choice as the carriage took off into the evening sky. The ponies were so busy trying to talk through this rapid development that they failed to notice a grey blur taking off from the other side of town.
It took them about three hours to make the flight to the city of Canterlot, even at Rainbow Dash’s full speed. Much was discussed, but it was mostly useless conjecture, with Marc remaining silent. All comments died, though, when they got closer to the mountain city.
The entire castle was darker than it should have been in the dying sun, as if the light had been sucked from the air. It looked quite unnerving. The guards posted on every battlement and the complete silence of the entire sky made it seem threatening as they flew in between the minarets that pierced the sky. As they landed, a Pegasus guard flew over and reported in a relieved voice, “Elements! Sounds of struggle have been heard from the throne room! We have surrounded the keep with our strongest mages, but they need to know what they are facing...?" Marc realized that the Princess had not even warned the castle guard about the situation: This was serious indeed if Celestia’s full attention was so fully occupied.
Twilight nodded the guard away and gathered her friends.
Marc hung back, unsure what to do. “Okay, girls! This will be just like the first time we beat Discord: Charge in, zap the one with antlers, and get out. Everypony ready? Okay, let’s go!”
Without even waiting for a reply, she marched all of them through the castle to the grand throne room doors.
After little but a cursory countdown, Twilight threw open the doors and charged her spell. It quickly faded, though when she saw the odd scene before her. She should have expected yet another surprise, in hindsight…
Hovering above in the vast hall were the two most powerful creatures in Equestria, locking in epic, and rather amusing combat. Celestia floated on broad wings, loosing beams of pure light energy at the draconequus fluttering over the throne end of the room. Discord was deflecting the shots by swinging a sofa at each one like a baseball bat. It seemed that he was aiming to hit the bolts of energy downwards into the enormous roiling magenta surface beneath him: A dome. A massive force field that occupied a huge piece of floorspace. Amid the flashes of light and stricken cries of the Princess above, the dome grew bigger and darker with each impact to its surface.
“Luna…Twilight, Luna’s in the dome!” Marc cried, spying the vague outline of the tall alicorn within.
Celestia heard Marc’s cry and glanced back at the group in the doorway. “GO back, my little ponies!’ She shouted, “This is no place for you now!”
Marc was more than happy to follow Celestia’s orders, but Twilight stood firm. “Come on girls, we can do this! We just have to break the force field and free Luna. Then Discord will be finished.” Twilight’s friends aligned themselves. Twilight began charging her spell up even as Marc finally put the pieces together. Oh no…
“Twilight, wait!” Marc’s calls fell on deaf ears as the magical construct raised the six ponies, and built its charge.
Just then, an uneven fluttering could be heard, along with a cry of surprise as a certain grey pegasus tumbled through the doorway and bowled into the airborne Elements of Harmony mid-spell. The entire formation was knocked to the ground as the rainbow beam collapsed into itself before exploding outwards in a blast to rival the Sonic Rainboom, blowing out the enormous stained glass windows along the entire length of the room.
The dome that contained Luna suddenly grew to double its size, absorbing the energy of the shockwave, pressing up against the walls of the room and contouring to the columns. Its colour went from its previous hazy pink to a deep opaque purple before darkening into black.
Celestia gasped in shock as Discord suppressed an impatient chuckle. Twilight turned and gaped at the grey-and-straw-coloured huddled against the wall. "Ditzy… You just killed the Princess…"
All parties were silent as the vast black swirling mass continued to grow, blotting out the noise in its darkness, all save for the sobs of Ditzy, as she saw what she had done.