Chapter 12: Recovery
Twilight Sparkle's teleportation spell dropped them at the entrance of the hospital. Dawn felt a bit woozy, but none the worse for wear. Fortunately, the magical constructs that held his injuries were unaffected by the spell. All told, he was feeling surprisingly comfortable on Fluttershy's back as she carried him in through the doors.
It had been decided that Twilight and Fluttershy would take Dawn to the hospital by way of teleportation. Rarity and Pinkie Pie would remain to keep an eye on Applejack until her brother arrived to collect her. Scootaloo had insisted on coming with them, which she did, with permission from her mother, who decided she would follow on hoof.
The check-in was handled promptly and it was only moments before Dawn was on a bed awaiting treatment. He had been rather calm initially, but had been growing anxious. The hospital room was relatively small, giving it a claustrophobic feel. While Dawn was no stranger to closed spaces, the cold, white walls and sterile smell, accompanied by the sight of numerous instruments of unknown purpose made the room's feel a far cry from the comfortable closeness of Fluttershy's cottage. The fact that, any minute now, there would be unfamiliar ponies coming through that door to carefully examine every inch of him only served to make his nervousness worse.
Fluttershy was quick to pick up on this and gently ran her hoof through Dawn's mane, murmuring soothing words to him as she did. Due to space concerns, Twilight and Scootaloo were waiting in the lobby, with only Fluttershy to comfort the jittery colt as his eyes swiftly traversed the room, on the look-out for any threats. It was a little disconcerting. Fluttershy was used to Dawn's general bland acceptance of strange circumstances and events. Sure, he could be startled or surprised, but he was always quick to accept it and move on. But she had never seen him so anxious, afraid even. She understood though. Dawn was, for all intents and purposes, helpless. One of his wings had been broken and his ribs had been damaged as well. Any physical exertion on his part was bound to be painful. If he were attacked in this state, he could only defend himself halfheartedly at best. It was a terrifying proposition for a colt who had been so used to being constantly under the threat of attack.
Dawn's body went rigid as the door opened and a brown unicorn stallion with a dark brown mane stepped through. A white coat hung over his shoulders and back while a pair of spectacles perched on his snout. For the moment, he paid little actual attention to the other occupants of the room. Instead, his attention was focused on the clipboard suspended in the light blue aura of his magic.
"Hmm, Dawn Lightwing. Is that you?" he asked, peering around the clipboard to look at the colt, who nodded wordlessly. With a grunt of acknowledgement, the doctor turned his attention back to the clipboard.
"Let's see...a broken wing...and it looks like three cracked ribs. You managed to get yourself pretty banged up young man." The doctor set the clipboard down and examined Dawn in detail for the first time. His eyes widened slightly as he appeared to finally notice the unique condition of the colt's eyes, but that was the only sign he gave.
A beam of magic pierced out from his horn and swept over Dawn's wing, then his barrel. Opening a drawer, the doctor pulled out a rectangular black plate rimmed with metal and projected the same beam onto the plate. He then held the plate up to the light. An image of Dawn's wing bones and ribs appeared on the plate.
"Hmm, it's a simple fracture in the wing. The ribs are cracked, but not broken. Also, the wing was set and immobilized properly. That magical construct is clearly Miss Sparkle's work. I'll have to compliment her. That was very competently done. I couldn't expect better from an actual professional."
"Will it heal alright?" asked Fluttershy softly.
The doctor regarded her with a severe gaze for a moment, but then smiled. "There won't be any problems whatsoever. This colt will have a full recovery. Because he received such excellent initial treatment, I project that he should make a full recovery in about a week with further treatments."
"That's wonderful," said the yellow mare as she rested a gentle hoof on top of Dawn's own.
The doctor smiled encouragingly at them. "I just need to replace the magical constructs with an actual cast and bandages. Then we'll give him his first healing spell." He transferred his attention to Dawn directly. "You'll be staying here overnight for observation, just to be sure that no complications arise."
Dawn tensed and swallowed. The doctor was quick to pick up on this and turned to Futtershy. "Does he have a problem with hospitals?"
She shook her head. "No. It's not hospitals. He's just anxious around ponies he doesn't know. Um...it's a bit of a long story."
The doctor frowned in confusion, but asked no further questions. "He has absolutely nothing to worry about. He is perfectly safe here. Nurse!"
A white earth pony with a red mane came trotting into the room, pushing a wheeled tray holding plaster and rolls of bandages. Looking up, Nurse Redheart gave Dawn and Fluttershy an encouraging smile as she got everything ready.
"Now then, we'll start by removing Miss Sparkle's constructs..."
Melon Cream lay on a cushion, gently brushing her daughter's mane as the little filly rested against her side. In spite of the fact that it was only early afternoon, the strain of the morning's excitement had already worn the orange filly out. So she decided to take a nap while they waited to hear from the doctor or Fluttershy. Looking up, Melon saw Twilight perusing a book she had seemingly pulled out of thin air as she sprawled out across a bench.
It was an hour before Nurse Redheart came trotting into the lobby. "We're all done," she declared cheerfully.
"How did it go?" asked Twilight, closing her book, which then vanished in a flash of magic.
"Perfectly fine," declared Redheart, "The doctor asked me to relay his compliments to you on your fine spellwork by the way. You made his job much easier."
Twilight blushed slightly at the praise. "Can we go visit him then?"
"Of course," answered Redheart as Melon roused her daughter. "We decided to wait until later today to give him his first healing spell. Since we're keeping him overnight, he'll be able to sleep so the spell can take effect. He's been a bit anxious about the whole affair."
"I can imagine," said Twilight ruefully as she recalled the colt's reluctance.
"He seems like such a nice boy," said Redheart softly, "It's hard to imagine he could have so much difficulty just because of the way his eyes look."
Twilight's body went rigid. Both Scootaloo and Melon looked at her with alarm, wondering if she was alright or if Redheart's offhoof remark had frightened her in some obscure fashion.
"You're right," muttered Twilight, her voice barely audible, "It is hard to imagine..."
"Um, what's wrong?" asked Scootaloo, looking up at the lavender unicorn in concern.
"Oh...uh...nothing big," said Twilight quickly, shutting her contemplative expression behind a suspicious-looking grin. Scootaloo and her mother shared a dubious look before turning to look back at Twilight, who was trotting off down the hall like she hadn't said anything odd.
"Are you feeling any better?" asked Scootaloo, rearing up and resting her forehooves on the edge of the bed so she could peer at its occupant.
"Much," answered Dawn calmly.
"I'm really sorry," said the orange filly softly, bowing her head in shame, "It's all my fault."
Dawn stared at her, nonplussed. "Then perhaps I hit my head fairly hard too, because I don't remember you being the one who bucked me."
Scootaloo jolted upwards. "That's not what I meant! I mean, if I hadn't jumped between you and Applejack like that, you wouldn't have gotten hurt like that."
"No, perhaps not," the colt conceded, "But looking back, I realize that I am lacking as well. I could have moved you out of the way and still evaded that strike. It was well within my skills to have saved you and avoided injury. I was careless and got too fixated on what was going on immediately in front of me to remember the larger situation." He chuckled bitterly. "Still a novice after all."
Scootaloo slowly lifted a hoof off the bed and pressed it to Dawn's. "Hey. Don't be like that. You're an amazing pony. You've even taught me how to fly. You don't need to scold yourself like that."
"You're not flying yet," said Dawn, returning his gaze to the orange filly, "And on that subject..."
"Oh no," sputtered Scootaloo, "Please don't tell me..."
"I'm afraid so," replied Dawn, "Our lessons are suspended until my recovery. In the meantime, you can continue to practice the first exercise every day until I am ready to resume."
Scootaloo groaned and lowered her head between her hooves. The three mares standing behind her giggled at her frustration. "And I was just getting the hang of the second exercise," she muttered petulantly.
"It may seem like a waste of time, but the more comfortable you are with drawing out your magic and using it to generate lift, the more easily all the other aspects of flight will come to you. This sort of thing just can't be rushed."
Scootaloo sighed. But then a smile broke up on her face. "Okay then, but you can't rush either."
"Huh?"
"You can't be so hard on yourself for getting hurt like this. You've already taught me so much, so there's no need to be down about yourself just because you made a mistake." Scootaloo flashed her friend a cheerful grin.
The colt stared pensively at the ceiling for a moment. "I suppose you're right." Lowering his gaze, he looked back at Scootaloo and smiled. It was understated and small. But it was certainly genuine. The sight of it made Fluttershy shudder as she fought back the urge to squeal in joy.
The tender moment was interrupted by a polite knock on the door. Twilight opened it with her magic to reveal a wrinkled, green mare standing on the other side of the threshold.
"Granny Smith?" Twilight and Fluttershy tensed as the Apple Family matriarch sauntered into the room at her usual glacial pace. Twilight found herself wondering just how long it had taken her to get to the hospital from all the way out in Sweet Apple Acres.
"Howdy there young'uns," greeted the elderly mare with a little chortle. Having finally made it far enough into the room, she fixed to look upon Dawn, who was watching her from his bed, his neutral expression fixed back into place. "Ah've been wantin' to meet the colt who's got everypony in such a tizzy lately."
"Um, hello," greeted Dawn in a lame tone, not quite sure where he stood with this unfamiliar pony.
"Uh Dawn," said Fluttershy, "This is Granny Smith. She's Applejack's grandmother."
The colt's eyes narrowed a fraction as he analyzed his new visitor more carefully. He didn't sense any kind of hostility from her, but regarded her warily nonetheless.
Granny Smith sighed sadly. "Ya mind if Ah sit fer a moment and take a load off these here old bones?" She settled onto the floor before anypony could answer her query.
"Now then," she said, looking up, "Ah understand mah granddaughter has gotten herself into a heap of trouble over ya."
"Yes," answered Dawn simply.
"Ah'd like to apologize fer that," she said, her reassurance making everypony in the room relax now that they knew she wasn't here to start any trouble. "Ah'd also like to do some explainin'. Applejack ain't been herself lately and Ah know why."
"It was her father, wasn't it?" asked Dawn.
"So ya figured that out."
The colt shrugged. "The topic came up...frequently during our recent conflict."
"She takes after him fer sure she does," mused Granny Smith, "When he was fired up, there weren't nopony around that could get through to Valencia."
"Valencia?" asked Twilight.
"Eeyup. Valencia Orange. That was his name. He's how we're related to them high-falutin' ponies over in Manehatten. He was somethin' of a wild one when he was a young'un. That's how he ended up out here in Ponyville. His folks sent him out, figurin' a little hard work on the farm would help settle 'im some. Our families had always been close, in spite 'o our differences. Ah guess it went better than they thought it would 'cause he took to the farm like a duck to water.
"'Course, that's when he met mah little Ambrosia. She was just about the sweetest little thing ya ever did see. Still had a pair 'o legs that could snap a tree in two if she weren't careful though. They hit it off from the very beginnin'. They were just about inseparable them two." Granny smiled wistfully at the fond memories of her of the two young lovers. "There ain't nopony that was surprised when they decided to marry, though Ah reckon Valencia's folks were a bit sore that he decided to stay on the farm rather than move back to the city."
Twilight, Fluttershy and Melon listened raptly as the old mare went on. Both Fluttershy and Twilight were enthralled by the prospect of learning more about the hidden history of one of their closest friends. And all three mares loved a good romance. Meanwhile, Scootaloo was on the verge of falling asleep, finding the story as boring as hay. It didn't help that the entire thing revolved around "mushy stuff." Dawn was attentive, but unmoved, still wondering if there was a point that the old mare was getting to.
"It didn't take long before mah Ambrosia had a little one on the way. Mac was born first. Then, a couple 'o years later, Applejack was born too. It was a longer spell before Apple Bloom came to us, but that's neither here nor there.
"Big Macintosh took after his mother. He was quiet and thoughtful. He's also a sweet stallion once ya get 'im to open up. Applejack took after her pa. Ya shoulda seen 'em; just like peas in a pod they were. Those two absolutely adored one another. Valencia was a good stallion, but still..."
"What happened?" asked Twilight, leaning forward eagerly.
"He fell in with them. During one 'o our family reunions, cousin Blenheim got 'im involved in the Order of Celestial Light."
"The Cult Solar," whispered Twilight in shocked realization.
"At the time, it weren't a big deal," continued Granny Smith as though the lavender unicorn hadn't said a word, "Every couple 'o weeks, Valencia would take a train out to some place or another fer a meetin' 'o some kind and would come back like nothin' happened.
"The things he started to say didn't seem all that bad at first either. He kept talkin' 'bout how we had to respect the Princess and love the day and all that. But then he started with all them weird rituals and other superstitious nonsense. Then he started talkin' 'bout demons and how they were hidin' everywhere and that even our friends couldn't be trusted.
"By then, little Apple Bloom was on the way and Valencia was goin' on about them demons, like the one yer supposed to be." Dawn leaned back in surprise as Granny pointed a shaky hoof in his direction. There was no accusation of tone, merely the laconic recall of events long past.
"We were gettin' a little worried. What if Valencia got it into his head that our little Bloom was one 'o those demons he was talkin' about? Nothin' he'd ever warned us about came to pass and none 'o our friends ever gave us reason to doubt them. We came to the conclusion that all this Celestial Light stuff was just a bunch 'o hooey. Ah certainly don't remember the Princess ever agreein' with what they said. So we tried to talk 'im outta followin' 'em. But he was mighty stubborn and didn't listen to a thing me, Ambrosia or Mac ever said.
"To make matters worse, Applejack was hangin' onto every word that came outta his mouth. To this day, she still does that 'Ward 'o Protection' thing Valencia taught her when she goes out at night.
"In any case, after Apple Bloom was born, Ambrosia and Valencia went on a trip to see Valencia's family in the city and...they didn't come back." Granny Smith let the ominous pronouncement hang in the air for a moment. "We moved on. We didn't really talk about all the stuff Valencia used to bring up. If Applejack ever talked about it, we tried to discourage her. Ah guess that just made her clam up and keep it to herself.
"Ah guess that's what set her off when ya came to town," said Granny Smith, looking pointedly at Dawn, "She spent all those years waitin', hopin' fer somethin' to come along and vindicate everything her pa was talkin' about. She looked up to 'im so much...Ah guess she just wanted 'im to be right so she didn't have to think anythin' bad about 'im."
The mare let out a creaky sigh, sagging slightly as her story came to a close. "Anyway, Ah ain't tryin' to make excuses here. This don't excuse anythin' Applejack's done. Ah just wanted ya to know where she's comin' from. Now, if y'all'll excuse me, Ah'll be on mah way." Granny Smith got shakily up onto her hooves and slowly made her way out of the room.
For a moment, silence reigned. Finally, it was Dawn who spoke. "Well...that was perfectly useless."
"Dawn!" admonished Fluttershy and Twilight.
"I don't see the point of it," he said simply shrugging. "It doesn't change the fact that your friend is completely happy to ignore anything that proves her beliefs wrong and would rather cling to a delusion than face reality. We simply know why now. Not a piece of this will stop her from hounding me day and night."
"Yes, but still..." pressed Fluttershy, "It's a very long trip to get here from Sweet Apple Acres, especially for somepony as old as Granny Smith. You should at least show some gratitude that she was willing to come all the way out here to talk."
Dawn pursed his lips and let out a long breath, but held his tongue.
"That was actually a good bit more useful than you think," added Twilight, "I need to go home and check on some things. I also need to let the Princess know what happened and figure out what to do about Applejack. I'll talk to you later."
Twilight headed out the door, leaving only Melon, Scootaloo and Fluttershy in the room.
"We should be going too," added Melon, pulling her daughter away from the bed, "I need to get to work on making new living arrangements for the two of us. I don't want to impose on the Doo family any more than we have to."
"But mom," protested Scootaloo as she was being led out the door, "Can't I stay for a little longer."
"Now now dear, I'm sure Dawn could use some peace and quiet." Shooing her daughter out the door, Melon turned to regard the colt one last time before heading out herself. "Thank you for everything you've done for her...and us. Once we get a new one, you will always be welcome in our home."
Now Fluttershy and Dawn were left alone in the room. "You see," said Fluttershy, tenderly stroking Dawn's mane, "You've made such a good friend already. Don't give up."
Looking at the clock, Fluttershy saw that the day was still a long ways from over. "Um, your healing spell isn't for another few hours yet," she commented, "What would you like to do while we wait?"
"I'm not certain," admitted Dawn, "I've never been in this situation before."
"Would you like to read?" asked Fluttershy, remembering the last time Rainbow Dash had been here. She paused, briefly remembering that she Had never seen her charge with a book during their time together. "Um...do you know how?"
"Yes, my Master taught me."
"If you like, I could try and pick out a book for you," suggested Fluttershy, "I know that the hospital keeps some here for the patients."
"I suppose so," said Dawn.
"Uh...well...what kind of books do you like?"
Dawn scratched his head. "I have no idea. I can read, but I never got to read very much. Books take up a lot of space when you're traveling light."
"Hmm," mused Fluttershy, tapping her chin thoughtfully, "Let me go see what there is and try to find something that you might enjoy...if that's okay with you."
Dawn seemed hesitant to accept her proposal. It didn't take long for the yellow pegasus to figure out why. "It'll be alright," she whispered, patting his hoof with hers, "You're safe here and nothing bad is going to happen to you."
The colt looked down at the sheets over his body. "Alright then."
With a smile, Fluttershy trotted to the door. "I'll be back soon."
The yellow mare trotted down the hall, heading towards the hospital library. As she made her way, a thought pressed it's way into her head. Caramel is still here. I should stop by and say hello.
"And then Big Mac showed up to take Applejack home, but she was all like 'Grr!' and then Macky had to tie her up so she didn't hurt herself and then he was all like 'Eeyup,' and then..."
"Yes thank you Pinkie, I get the idea," said Twilight, cutting her vibrant friend off before her ramblings could get any more disjointed. Originally, it had been Rarity telling the story in an appreciably concise manner before Pinkie Pie, apparently having decided that the telling needed more oomph, butted in with her overexcited recount of events.
"Anyway," picked up Rarity, suppressing the urge to let out a very unladylike harrumph at the rude behavior of her conversation partners, "Big Macintosh took Applejack home and promised not to let her off the farm until we found a way to talk her out of her rage or until that colt can stand up for himself again."
"That's good to hear," said Twilight, turning her attention to Spike' "Do you have all the particulars down?"
"Yep," replied the purple dragon, reviewing his writing, "Everything about what happened at Fluttershy's house and Granny Smith's story. Should I send it."
Twilight smiled and nodded. "Yes, thank you Spike."
Rolling up the scroll, the dragon in inhaled and immolated it in a burst of flame.
Twilight let out a a relaxed breath. "Thank goodness that's over for now. We just need to figure out how to make Applejack understand that her father was wrong about ponies like Dawn."
"That's a rather tall order dear," said Rarity, "I know quite well how much she looks up to her father. It sounds as though she's already convinced herself that he was right and that nothing we can say or do can change her mind."
"I know," muttered Twilight, sinking to the library floor, "I just can't believe that Applejack's family had connections to the Cult Solar."
"Um, darling, just what is this Cult Solar you're talking about? I've heard you mention it before when you were telling us about Dawn yesterday."
Twilight looked up at her two friends, staring at her with curiosity stamped all over their faces. Looking around, she tried to locate the book that held the information she needed to share. Her first impulse was to reach out with and magic and yank every tome that looked vaguely familiar off the shelves until she found it. However, flashing back to her conversation with Spike the previous day made her change her mind. She instead looked carefully, examining the titles until she came across the one she was looking for.
Grabbing it, Twilight brought the thick tome drifting down to the library table. Her next spell opened the tome to a specific page decorated by a stylized symbol of the sun, similar to Princess Celestia's cutie mark.
"It was sometime around eleven-hundred years ago that the Order of Celestial Light was founded," Twilight began.
"Wait, what does this have to do with the Cult Solar?" asked Rarity, staring at the image blankly.
"The Cult Solar is the name Princess Celestia started calling them. When they were first founded, they called themselves the Order of Celestial Light. And if Granny Smith is to be believed, they still call themselves that to this day. Anyway, their order was founded around the worship of Princess Celestia. They wanted to elevate her above the level of a Princess to the point of an actual deity."
"Wait? You mean the Princess isn't actually a goddess?" asked Pinkie, tilting her head sideways.
Twilight sighed and shook her head. "No Pinkie. Neither Celestia nor Luna are goddesses. As Alicorns, they have immense longevity. They can still be injured or killed, like what happened when Princess Celestia fought Queen Chrysalis at the royal wedding. They can raise the sun and the moon, but they aren't omniscient or omnipotent. All told, they aren't all that different from regular ponies, just ones that have the attributes of all three types."
"They certainly seem quite above the norm in terms of power to me," said Rarity dubiously.
Twilight gave her friend a cheeky grin. "You would too if you had thousands of years to develop your magical potential and could fuel it with an earth pony's stamina. The main advantages the Princesses have over regular ponies is time. Princess Celestia once confessed to me that when she first started learning magic, she was no better than an average unicorn. A few millennia of practice really goes a long way.
"Anyways, the point is, while Princess Celestia wasn't a goddess, the ponies of the Cult Solar wanted to make her one. They ordered that their followers revere the day and respect the Princess above all else. Apparently, they stopped just shy of ordering sacrifices to her."
"But what about Princess Luna?" asked Pinkie Pie, "Doesn't she get any neat worshipers too?"
Twilight let out a long sigh and turned a page in the tome. The illustration, setting across from the wall of text on the other page, was a picture of a pair of alicorns, their horns crossed with sparks flying away from the point of contact. It was clear that they were in conflict. Above them hovered the images of the sun and the moon. While the alicorn beneath the symbol of the sun could be said to be a reasonably accurate (though stylized) depiction of Celestia, the alicorn with the moon hovering over her image was portrayed differently from her counterpart. Fangs protruded from her lips and the lines making up her form were more angled, sharper, as though she were closer to a weapon than a pony.
"That was the real problem," said Twilight, "It wasn't so bad at first. Initially the Cult simply ordained the reverence of Celestia. Princess Luna was left out completely. I think that may have been when she started feeling alienated from her ponies. But after the first few decades, the leadership of the cult began changing its tune and Luna was added to their lexicon...but not in a good way.
"For some reason, they decided that Princess Celestia needed an adversary, some kind of evil opposite to oppose her. They decided that Luna was that adversary. In their dogma, they started playing the sun against the moon, day against night. They declared that Princess Luna represented everything evil in this world and that she was a demon seeking to undermine her sister's rule. They also began predicting that one day, Princess Luna would reveal her true nature and wage war against her sister, only to be defeated, leading to a perfect world of eternal day."
"That sounds awful!" gasped Rarity.
"Yeah! Why would they be so mean to Princess Luna?" demanded Pinkie, glaring at the book as though it were on of the cultists they were talking about.
"It's a little difficult to explain," said Twilight, "When bad things happen to good ponies, ponies want to have a reason why. Sometimes they can't accept that that there is no reason and that bad things just do happen. These ponies would rather have a scapegoat, something or someone they can pin the blame for all their problems on. For some, that just makes coping with their lives easier. For others, it's simply an excuse for why things don't go their way all the time.
"For the Cult Solar, Princess Luna was that scapegoat. As for Luna herself, well...all that alienation that had been building just because she had been left out was compounded by the dogma of hatred that the Cult was spewing her way."
"Didn't Princess Celestia do something about that? I'm certain that she wouldn't stand for anypony to slander her sister like that."
"Princess Celestia issued proclamations that the Cult Solar was wrong in their accusations. They simply said the demon was trying to fool her by pretending to be her sister. Had she known what was going to happen, Princess Celestia might have taken more overt actions, but she didn't. Instead, she simply tried to refute the Cult Solar's dogma, but it was spreading throughout Equestria and her words just couldn't be heard over the voices of all the ponies denouncing Luna. And then..."
"And then...?" prodded Rarity as she and Pinkie leaned forward, the pink party pony over-balancing and planting her head straight into the pages of Twilight's book.
Twilight telekinetically pushed Pinkie away from the book and turned the page to an illustration the girls knew all too well.
"And then, Nightmare Moon happened. I don't know what happened exactly. Scholars still debate the exact cause. Our best guess is that the strain of dealing with the slander against her caused Luna to snap. It's not hard to believe."
"What do you mean by snap?" asked Pinkie.
"Something similar happened to Dawn yesterday," explained Twilight, "The first time Applejack confronted him, he got really frustrated at all her accusations and took it out on her hat. He was venting to avoid hurting her directly. But I can imagine it was a near thing.
"Imagine ponies shouting hateful things at you for no real reason. Imagine them blaming you for things that couldn't possibly be your fault, and sometimes were actually their fault. You know that getting angry and lashing out would only vindicate their accusations as far as they were concerned, so you try to take the high road and be better than the pony they make you out to be. But they don't change their tune. If anything, they get worse."
Rarity trembled, biting her hooves while Pinkie's mane and tail began to lose some of their usual curliness.
"Eventually, it gets to the point where you get fed up with ponies hating and fearing you for no reason and, if you can't get them to stop, you at least want to give them a reason. Most scholars think that's what happened to Luna when she became Nightmare Moon."
"How could Princess Celestia allow such a thing to happen?" demanded Rarity, scandalized.
Twilight let out a low sigh. "Because she isn't a goddess. She's a pony. She may be a pony with immense power and millennia of wisdom and experience, but she isn't infallible. She made a mistake. She failed to see how much Luna was suffering and didn't go far enough to stop the source of her pain. The Princess herself admitted that much to me when we talked about it after the royal wedding. If you remember, she was just as completely fooled by Chrysalis's disguise as everyone else."
"Poor Luna," whimpered Pinkie, tears streaming from her eyes.
"If this Cult Solar was responsible for Princess Luna's transformation, then why haven't we ever heard of them before?"
"Because, once Princess Celestia realized what had caused Luna to snap, she decided to put an end to it. She never took any official action, but she loudly and clearly condemned the Cult Solar, inventing that name in the process. She declared their leaders and adamant followers to be the worst kind of ponies imaginable and denounced them. Following her example, the nobility completely shunned anypony with ties to the Cult Solar. Ponies refused to do business with anyone connected to the group. Princess Celestia's condemnation basically strangled any support the Cult had managed to garner and they faded into obscurity. The written works they produced were either confined or destroyed and it eventually came to the point where both the Cult Solar and the true origins of Nightmare Moon were forgotten by all but the most dedicated scholars and the Princess herself."
"Wow," gasped Pinkie, her eyes wide.
"As far as I or anyone else knows, the Cult Solar was all but wiped out. When I was researching them not too long ago, I came across some rumors that there were still pockets of holdouts in certain rural communities and possibly some of the more 'unrefined' cities like Manehatten and Las Pegasus. But I thought they were just rumors, and even if they were true, the Cult didn't hold enough sway to be a meaningful threat."
Rarity tapped her chin thoughtfully. "You don't seem all that convinced of that conclusion anymore," she pointed out.
Twilight nodded solemnly. "I just realized it earlier today when Nurse Redheart made a comment about Dawn. She mentioned how hard it was to imagine ponies having such hostility towards him just because of his eyes."
"She's quite right," said Rarity.
"She is," agreed Twilight, "And that's what bothers me. Dawn was persecuted so severely that he considered the Everfree Forest a preferable home to any civilized communities. And when he meets Fluttershy, it takes several days for her to convince him to come out of the forest...I mean, it's Fluttershy, I can't imagine a pony more gentle and encouraging than her and even she had a hard time."
The other two mares' eyes widened at the realization. Twilight continued. "And then there's the way we (barring Applejack) reacted. There might have been some surprise and suspicion, and I did inform you about the situation beforehoof, but even with that, our reactions were exactly the kind I would expect from any rational pony...and Pinkie. Sure there might have been the odd one who considered Dawn's eyes to be freakish or unnatural, but, in any place but the most backwards of communities, those ponies would be sure to be among the minority."
"I wouldn't be so sure dear," admitted Rarity, a disappointed tone in her voice, "Ponyville is certainly a welcoming community, but we've had our lapses. Remember Zecora?" She shuddered at the memory. "We treated her absolutely horridly before you came along and even then, when you outlined such perfectly logical reasons for us not to be afraid of her we persisted until she definitively proved her innocence of anything malicious. I'm not so certain that other communities would be so welcoming unless they have had an experience like ours did."
"Which is the major hole in my theory," admitted Twilight, "And the only explanation I can think of is that the Eyes are considerably less drastic than a creature of an entirely different species wandering into your town. Setting that aside for a moment, there are only two other explanations I can think of.
"The first possibility is that Dawn is lying or exaggerating the persecution he's suffered, which seems very unlikely to me. The volumes of psychology I've read indicate that many of his behaviors are the kind that result from such severe treatment. So either he's an obscenely good actor, or he's genuine. Barring that and the possibility you've mentioned Rarity, the only other source of such persecution I can think of would come from the only group we know for certain is actively hostile towards ponies with Dawn's condition."
"The Cult Solar," whispered Rarity.
"Which should be unlikely given how little influence they should be able to exert," continued Twilight, "Which leads me to believe that they might be more numerous and influential than I thought."
"But what about Applejack? How does she fit into all this?" asked Rarity, her eyes wide with horror at the prospect.
"It actually makes sense in a way," answered Twilight, "The Apple family is huge, with members spread all across Equestria. Even if the Cult Solar doesn't have as wide a sphere of influence as I fear, it's still within the realm of possibility that a family with that many ponies spread throughout so many places to have gotten involved with them."
"Okay," said Pinkie, "But what do we do about these meanie cultist guys? I mean, even though Dawn is here in Ponyville and we're all friends, how do we stop them from coming in and hurting him again?"
"I have a couple of ideas," remarked Twilight, "The first one would be for me to continue to gather information on the Eyes of Nightmare so that we can definitively refute the Cult Solar's insinuations. But, as we've seen with Applejack, that isn't guaranteed to work. The only other one, and the one that seems most likely to work probably wouldn't go over very well."
"Why not?" asked Rarity, "If it's something that would help ensure that charming colt's safety, then it certainly doesn't seem like the sort of thing we'd object to."
"Well, it's not feasible with Dawn in his current state," replied Twilight, "And I'd like to think about it as more of a last resort."
"Why?" wondered Pinkie.
"Because I'd be using Dawn as bait..."