//------------------------------// // Falling // Story: Stars Relit // by Rocinante //------------------------------// ‘Just tell them you can’t go,’ Twilight thought. “Something came up, you’ll have to go without me.” “Hi, Princess,” Morning said. “You okay?” “Ugh, yea, I just-” “Ready to go?” Evening asked, nodding her head. “Sure,” Twilight said, sympathetically mimicking Evening's nod. “Awesome!” Evening cheered. ‘Well so much for that,’ Twilight sighed to herself. - - - Cloudsdale stadium grew steadily larger as the three approached in the chariot. Twilight consciously suppressed the memory of her last visit. The cloud structure looked different than it had back then, that helped. Her students also helped, buzzing with anticipation as they approached; it was hard to not get caught in their excitement. The all-night party leading to Celestia’s rising of the sun would be starting soon. Landing near the stadium, Spike's voice surprised her. “Hay, Twilight,” he called from just behind them, his daughter on his back and a bat-winged filly flying close by. “Lavender!” Twilight called, cantering over to her as she slid off her father’s back. The two pressed necks before exchanging a quick hug. “So, this must be the filly that Spike keeps telling me about,” she said, looking down at Surprise: an energetic filly a bit younger than the twins. “Say hello to your aunt, Twilight,” Lavender said to her daughter. Bouncing up to Twilight, she stopped a foreleg’s reach away. Looking up at the alicorn, she gave a toothy smile before making a slight bow. “Hello, it’s nice to meet you. You knew Mom when she was little?” Twilight nodded. “I was there the day she was born.” Surprise fluttered into the air with a, “WOW.” Ruffling the filly’s mane, Twilight turned to the group. “We better get going. The show starts at midnight.” “What’s our seat number?” Spike asked Lavender as they all started towards the entrance.” “Box three,” Lavender replied. “Ours too!” Evening said. Twilight rolled her eyes. “No, that wasn’t planned at all.” - - - Twilight settled into her place in the private platform. She was glad to see the twins had gotten over their fear of Spike's natural form. He was currently regaling them and Surprise with the story of Rarity’s misadventure with wings, and Rainbow Dash’s rainboom rescue. She tried to tune it out, but Spike’s animated gestures and baritone voice made him hard to ignore. Just as the story ended, the moon’s light suddenly redoubled. “Our loyal ponies and distinguished guests,” Luna’s voice echoed. “Tonight we pay homage to the day. In five hours and twenty minutes, my sister will raise the sun for the longest day of the year. Until then, we celebrate!” The stadium erupted in cheers as Luna flew down to the seat of honor, giving way to a sky full of fireworks. Moments later, the Wonderbolts took the stage for the first of their many acts for the night. Twilight had been to a hundred of these events—they all went about the same—it was the company that made the evening interesting. And she had to admit, looking over at her students and Spike’s family as they cheered the acrobatic show, they were good company for tonight. The Wonderbolts topped each hour with a show, and other various spectacles filled the rest of each hour. Food and drink vendors roamed the stands, but in their platform they only had to ask for something and it was brought to them. “I’m going to be sick tomorrow,” Evening moaned. “You were the one that got into a hot-mushroom eating contest with a dragon,” Lavender said, taking a sip from a wine glass. “What’s the next act?” Evening asked. Spike covered his mouth, muffling a flicker of green fire that accompanied a belch. “Geez, you can eat a lot for a pony.” Picking up an event guide, Spike glanced over the schedule. “After this act, lets see... The Wonderbolts perform the famous death-sphere routine. Then the Best-of Cloudsdale's best young fliers. Freestyle acrobatics from this year’s top five young fliers,” Spike mechanically recited the program. Sitting next to Twilight, Morning half listened to the conversation. The show being put on by two very talented unicorns apparently interested her more than the others. One’s magic filled the stadium with illusions of fanciful figures acting out equestrian mythology while the other unicorn supplied music. The duet wrapped up with a tribute to the Elements of Harmony. Morning thought to ask Twilight if that was how really they looked as six larger than life ponies ran across the stadium. “Did they-” Looking up to ask her question she fell silent. Twilight sat rigid and red eyed, tears streaming down her cheeks. Morning forgot everything that separated her and the princess, she was a friend and she was hurting. She had been doing so well tonight too, and now she had cracked in front of her students, over a silly light show. With a nuzzle and a hoof, Evening offered her a shoulder to cry on. She resisted the temptation at first, but as a phantom Applejack galloped into the sky and disappeared, she buried her face in Morning's neck. Morning cooed something soft and ran a hoof down her side, encouraging her to lay down. Twilight laugh at herself as she tucked her legs under her. Three hundred and fifteen, the element of Magic, princess of the stars, and she was crying like a filly on her poor student. “I’m sorry.” Twilight said, not lifting her head. “It’s okay,” Morning whispered. A roar of applause woke Twilight. The Wonderbolts were flying off the field as she lifted her head from Morning’s withers. Somehow she had nodded off. “How long was I out?” she asked Morning. “Maybe twenty minutes. You missed the death-sphere. Feel better?” “Yea, lots actually. Thanks... and sorry again,” Twilight said, rubbing the sleep from her eyes. As she sat back up, the others all gave her warm smiles. “You going to be okay, dear?” Lavender asked. “Just too much at once. I’ll be fine now. Got it out of my system,” Twilight said as she rejoined the others in watching the show. Once the stage crew had the obstacle course of pylons and hoops in place, the first of the young fliers took to the air. Twilight watched politely as the young pegasus showed off their best routines. They were all good, but Twilight knew the difference between good and great. This one was fast, that one was graceful, the next acrobatic, and the forth could look reckless while maintaining control: he was heading to the wonderbolts if he kept his game up. The fifth flyer started her show with a slow lap of the field. An unimpressive start compared the the first four, but Twilight saw what she was doing; she was courting the audience. The pegasus was beautiful by any standard: her coat, mane and feathers all various shades of iridescent indigo, with lean muscle over an elegant frame. Her cutie mark looked to be flower petals blown in the wind. Evening contemplated the mare as she passed just a few meters from their platform. Something about this pegasus had grabbed the attention of both Twilight and Spike, who grumbled something she was sure wasn’t in Equestrian. Twilight and Lavender simultaneously hitting him was all the translation she needed. “Oww,” Spike whined. “Too young for you doesn't even start to cover it,” Twilight said, trying to look angry, but laughing despite herself. Spike started to protest, but their attention returned to the pegasus when she made a snap turn towards the center of the arena. Into the obstacle course, she gained speed as she approached the pylons. When she made her first maneuver between the columns, she had Evening’s full attention. The mare’s slow grace became snap precision; the others had maneuvered faster through the course, but none with such control. Her every movement was a blur that stopped on its mark like the movement of a watch. Evening could almost hear a metronome's beat as she made a half roll between each pylon. This mare wasn’t flying out there, she was performing surgery. Twilight studied every movement of the performer. Here was another flyer destined for the Wonderbolts; precision like that was rare. She would need to get faster, but the control was already better than most. She also understood how to work an audience. Her first lap showed off her control in slow flight, as well as letting her flirt with the crowd. Now she was slowly adding elements to her act, getting them in a state of anticipation. Twilight knew this pacing; it was an effective formula. If the mare knew what she was doing, there would be a grand-finale soon. Twilight’s thoughts seemed prophetic as the pegasus began a spiral up out of the stadium.   ‘A speed trick,’ Twilight thought. The act had been all control and agility so far, she needed something fast to round out her set, and gravity would give her the speed her wings didn’t.  Up she spiraled into the night sky. The stadium lighting following her ascent until she allowed herself to stall, and slip into a dive. Once nose down, her whole posture changed and a sudden burst of speed surprised Twilight. “Clever,” Twilight muttered with a grin. Leaning forward, she waited to see what the flyer would do now that she had poured all her strength into speed. The answer came as the pegasus darted back towards the stadium. It had been a long time, but she knew what the mare was trying; the glowing envelope of air was the hallmark of a rainboom attempt. Twilight readied herself to save the foolish mare from the inevitable backlash; her horn glowing, she prepared to grab her in a telekinetic grip. The pegasus shot through the stadium in a purple blur, the air crackling in front of her. Everypony in the stadium leaned over their perch to watch her descent to the ground. Twilight cursed quietly to herself, even she only had so much reach; if she got too far away, there would be nothing she could do in time. Twilight reached out with her magic and began to wrap it around the pegasus. Just as the spell took hold, a blow of energy shattered it like glass. Twilight reeled, falling over from the jolt. “She just-” Thunder drowned Twilight’s words as rainbow light turned the night to day. The roar of the crowd echoed the boom, one cacophony blending into another. Righting herself, Twilight joined the others in looking over the cloud; down the pegasus streaked, straight as an arrow, she rushed to the ground. Something was off, she had seen Dash do this enough times; there was something wrong. Twilight closed her eyes and summoned her divine gift. She could not see the young mare form this distance, but her stars could. Evening watched in awe as the chromatic shock wave rippled into the distance, then looked to the rainbow contrail that hid the pegasus she had just been watching. “Why isn’t she pulling up?” she asked. A few voices answered, “I don’t know,” but Twilight was silent. Turning to princess Twilight, she found her with her eyes closed, her horn lit in a aura she had never seen. “Princess?” Evening asked. Twilight spoke, though her mouth didn’t move. “She’s not strong enough to control it, she’s stuck in the dive.” Twilight’s horn extinguished, she slumped and looked towards Evening and Morning. “You can’t just stop a rainboom. She’s going to crash.” The words echoed through Evening’s mind. That sort of impact was not survivable. She looked to her sister, their eyes met and with a mutual nod, so did their magic. The cloud walking spell they both wore was cast aside, and they plummeted through the clouds. “It’s okay,” Twilight answered the gasps of Spike and his family, resting a hoof on Spike and Surprise to stop them  from chasing after the two falling unicorns. “I have faith in them,” she continued. Surprise giggled as the shock faded from her face. “Good one!” she said with a smile before pulling back from Twilight’s hoof and rolling over the side of the cloud in a cannonball dive. Lavender watched her daughter disappear into the night with a slight frown. “Father, dear. Would you see to it she does not get lost.” With a nod, Spike's leathery wings launched him into the air. Surprise fell through the night air. It was a good night for flying; the moon gave enough light to see the ground, but it was still dark enough to let your imagination fill in the shadows. Below her, a rainbow made its trek to the earth followed by the two unicorns with their horns glowing: one pink, the other blue. In a flash of light, one vanished, a second flash at the head of the charging rainbow told her she had teleported to the plummeting pegasus. With a flap of her wings, Surprise hurried her fall to catch up with the remaining unicorn. Landing on the unicorn’s back, she got a satisfactory yelp as she wrapped Morning in her legs. “Where to, lady?” Surprise asked. Morning blinked in disbelief, craning her neck to look Spike’s granddaughter. “Slow us down all you can. Stopped is good, too,” she answered. Surprise nodded and squeezed her pasagener tight before flapping with all her might. Morning’s horn lit a dim blue, then bright purple. The glow of magic blinded her, but she concentrated on getting them into the slowest glide her strength would allow. / / / Iris clenched her teeth, straining every fiber of her being to move her wings. She had done the math, she knew her flight performances, breaking the critical speed had been just a matter of skill and conviction. The first pony to rainboom since the legendary Rainbow Dash, but exhilaration had turned to confusion after the initial shock wave rolled over her. Flight was flight, the same motions had the same effect at any speed. The only change being the faster you went, the less actual movement was required, or so she thought. The slipstream of magic she had punched her way into was like nothing she had experienced. Forces she had no name for plastered her wings to her side, rendering them useless. Iris panicked at her loss of control, but with her wings no longer adding thrust, she assumed wind resistance would bring her back to normal flight. Again, she was wrong. Her plummet showed no sign of slowing, whatever propelled her did not need her wings for power. Looking down at the oncoming ground, her mortality became very real. Throwing her all into breaking free, she was on the verge of tears when a flash of light delivered a unicorn directly in her path. The unicorn reached up to her as she barrelled down. Reflexively, Iris held out her forelegs to meet the falling filly. She winced as they met, expecting the collision to knock the wind out of her, but it came off as more of a scoop than a hit. They clung to each other for a moment, recovering from the impact. Iris felt like she had slowed a bit. She opened her mouth to ask where the unicorn had come from, but a flash of light around them stunned her silent. / / / Spike casually followed after the group of fillies. If Twilight had faith in them, he knew better than to get in the way. That didn’t mean he let his guard down; he had survived too many crazy adventures with Twilight to make that mistake. One of them teleported away, while Suprise helped the other. Suddenly, the purple string of the new teleport spell, that Twilight had been a twitter over, linked the head of the rainbow to the filly his granddaughter held. “Converts inertia into raw energy...”  The memory of Twilight’s voice echoed through his mind. “Horseapples,” Spike whimpered. / / / Evening clung to the pegasus, and reached out to her sister with magic. Finding her was simple, her sister already had her half of the spell prepared. The magic built its pattern, and together they let it go to do its work. A crystal sphere of magic formed in the air, its chromatic surface shimmered with its own internal light; four young ponies hung suspended in the matrix of solidified magic.  It held in the sky for a long moment, neither time or gravity willing to impose on it. With a shrill sound, the orb’s surface cracked into a spider-web pattern. The solidified magic burst from its seams, becoming light and energy that spread with typhoon force. The entombed ponies, falling free of their prison, again began to fall. Surprise came to as Morning slipped from her grip. With a frantic motion, she reclaimed her passenger, the unicorn limp as a ragdoll in her hooves. The other unicorn and the pegasus tumbled in freefall beside her as she attempted to correct her flight; they too looked unconscious. Lashing out with her tail, she swatted the pegasus’ nose. Iris reeled from the eye-watering sting to her nose. The dream she had been having became reality as her eyes found their focus. “Catch her!” cried a voice next to her. The voice came from a bat-winged pony holding a limp unicorn. Turning her head, she saw the unicorn from earlier, eyes closed, and tumbling in the air. Pain shot through her as she flapped to move towards the filly. Groaning, she forced her body to obey her efforts to reach the unicorn. With the filly in hooves, Iris gritted her teeth, and forced her wings to work. “I don’t know if I can make it to the ground,” Iris said. “I got it,” Spike said from above them, catching Iris off guard. Looking up, she saw the dragon that had been sitting with the Princess swoop past them. Spike slowed to a hover a little ways in front of the four. Sucking in a deep breath, he willed the magic in his throat and exhaled. Thick green smoke rolled out of him, forming a cloud that grew till it was large enough for the five of them. Landing on his green cloud, Spike motioned for them to land. “Don’t worry, they can’t fall through this.” The two landed on the smoke cloud with their unconscious passengers. Surprise released her ward and bounded over to her grandfather, hugging his neck. “Grandpa! Neat cloud!” “Ooo, careful there. Grandpa went for a wild ride,” Spike said, resting a hand on Surprise’s shoulder, half embracing her, half easing her off his bruised neck. “Grandpa?” Iris looked up at the dragon. Blood trickled from his nose, and black scorches littered his green scales. “My goodness, are you alright?” she asked, forgetting her own aches for a moment. Spike looked at the young mare; she was exhausted, her vibrant purple wings hung limp at her side, muscles tremored with fatigue. Proud eyes burned through weariness, not allowing her physical state to diminish her pride. “I’ll be fine,” the dragon answered, looking away from her. Digging his claws into the cloud, he flapped his wings, moving the whole construct with his strength. “Lets get back to Cloudsdale,” Spike mumbled.