Megan backed up as Wind Whistler approached her. Wind Whistler had her head down and her ears pinned back. Rage burned in her eyes.
Megan knew enough about horses to know the options Wind Whistler had to attack. She had her mouth, hooves, and just all around bulk to literally throw at her. She also had her wings which were more powerful than a swan's and could easily shatter Megan's arms and legs with a swipe.
Megan could not believe it had come to this. Wind Whistler's descent into what could only be described as insanity had led to her to turn against the human that had not only aided them, but became one of her closest friends.
Megan backed into the wall. She felt the slim, cold handle of something. She slowly closed her hand around it.
Wind Whistler lunged for her. Megan took the tool from its hooks and squeezed her eyes closed. She swung and the tool hit something with an almost cartoonish clang.
Megan opened one eye and looked at the spade in her hand. She opened her other eye as she turned to Wind Whistler sprawled out on the floor. Megan gasped and threw down the spade.
She ran to Wind Whistler and immediately put her ear to her nostril. Slow but steady breathing came in and out of them. She then listened to the chest where the heart was beating slowly and steadily. The bone where Megan had truck the side of her head was intact with no signs of breaks or fracturing from the outside. Megan pulled back Wind Whistler's eyelid to see her eyes roll up with it. She was out cold.
Megan saw her chance. She ran back into the house. She went to the closet and pulled out the old Winchester rifle and a single round. Wind Whistler was going to be madder than a hornet when she woke up. She had to finish the job now.
Megan loaded the gun and cocked the rifle as she ran back to the barn. Wind Whistler was still sprawled out on the floor and apparently unconscious. Megan held the rifle to her shoulder. She imagined the "X" between the eyes and ears. She slowly moved her hand towards the trigger. Wind Whistler was just like Blackie just that it was her mind that was beyond repair. If she was nothing but a horse, she was going to die like one.
"Megan!" Molly's voice shouted.
Megan took her hand away from the rifle in shock. She dropped it from her shoulders and turned to the barn door. Molly and Heart Throb stood in the doorway with shocked expressions.
"What are you doing here, Heart Throb?" Megan snapped.
Heart Throb darted her eyes from side to side. "I was just coming to see how you were doing." She motioned to Wind Whistler. "It doesn't look like things are going that well."
"Wind Whistler has completely lost it," Megan said. "She wanted the Rainbow of Light and to declare martial law. She attacked me."
"Then we should deal with her fairly," Heart Throb retorted. "She should stand trial, not be shot on sight without a chance to defend herself."
Megan heard grumbling to the side. She turned to Wind Whistler opening her eyes and rubbing her head.
Megan drew in a breath. Heart Throb galloped into the barn and put herself between them. Megan did not know if it was protect her or Wind Whistler, but Heart Throb faced Wind Whistler as she picked up her head.
Wind Whistler grimaced as she rubbed the side of her head. She adjusted her jaw. "You have one nasty swing, Megan," Wind Whistler said. "You could teach Slugger a thing or two."
Megan and Heart Throb stood there in silence. Their jaws both hung open. Megan expected Wind Whistler to scream about how she was being insubordinate and striking a superior officer.
Wind Whistler looked at the two. "That was a joke, you know, a story with a humorous climax. I was hoping to undo a portion of the tension of the situation."
Megan felt tears well up. It was like an old friend had returned. She leaned the rifle against the wall and ran around Heart Throb to practically tackle Wind Whistler.
"That's the Wind Whistler we know and love," Megan practically sobbed in joy.
Wind Whistler drew in a breath. "Could you please refrain for rigorous contact, I am in pain."
Megan let go of Wind Whistler and backed up on her knees. She got her legs out from under her and sat next to her.
"What happened to you?" Heart Throb asked as she came around Megan. "Megan said you attacked her."
"That is exactly what has happened," Wind Whistler said. "I attacked a good friend for a silly locket to become a silly dictator of a silly empire ruled by silly logic and silly reason. I, for lack of a better term, have been a silly pony these last few months." Wind Whistler dropped her head with a frown of remorse. A couple tears streamed from her eyes. "However, nothing humorous has come of it. I have said and done terrible things."
"All can be forgiven," Heart Throb said tenderly. "Can you fly?"
Wind Whistler tried to get to her feet. She wobbled and then toppled over. She shook her head. "I am still a little woozy from the blow."
"Then I'll get some of the others to bring you back," Heart Throb said.
"It might be best if Wind Whistler stays here for the night," Megan said.
"That would be best," Wind Whistler said. "I should have the wherewithal to fly by tomorrow morning. I also have many things to discuss with Megan first."
"Then I should be returning," Heart Throb said. "Is there anything you want me to tell the others?"
"Tell them I am fine," Wind Whistler said. "I am in fact more fine than I have been in a long while."
Heart Throb nodded with a smile and walked out of the barn. She spread her wings and flew off into the night.
Megan glared at Molly who was hiding behind the door frame. "You should be in bed!"
"I'm going, I'm going." Molly ran towards the house and seemed unusually unsteady as she practically fell onto the door before opening it and disappeared inside.
Megan turned back to Wind Whistler. "What do you want to discuss?"
"I want to first apologize for everything I have done since we started to organize," Wind Whistler said. "I have made a terrible error."
"That just makes you mortal like the rest of us," Megan said with a grin.
"My error has caused so much damage," Wind Whistler said. "I had misjudged the importance of logic and reason. While they are important to a prosperous society, they are only one part of the greater equation of harmony."
"Harmony?" Megan asked.
Wind Whistler nodded. "Think of a large orchestra. All those different instruments sound so different, but when they play together in harmony, they make such a rich and beautiful sound. The same is true with ponies. I basically wanted just the same instrument over and over, and that makes for a very bleak orchestra and world."
"That is true," Megan said.
"I have been mistaken about many things," Wind Whistler said. "I was mistaken to believe we were nothing but talking animals. We are much more, and we need to live up to that. I must completely redraw my plans for our society."
"In what way?"
"First of all, we need to remove the absolute power from authority figures. We have been deferring our judgment to authority figures since we were created. We were ruled by Majesty, and then we tried to make you our queen, and then we picked leaders from amongst ourselves. That is wrong. Why should only my voice be heard and not Heart Throb's or Surprises when their points can be just as valid.
"The best option is democracy. We can start with a direct democracy since there are so few of us now. As the population grows, we will need to create a congress to represent the populace. Having a head of state to look for guidance and leadership is important too, but they should not be an absolute dictator."
Let a giggle escape.
Wind Whistler scowled. "What is so funny?"
Megan got control of herself again. "It's just you were talking about dictatorship, martial law, and a philosopher queen not too long ago."
"To me it might as well have been a mental epoch ago," Wind Whistler said.
After a pause Wind Whistler spoke again in a very quiet tone. "Heart Throb will also get her way sooner than she thinks."
It was Megan's turn to scowl in confusion. "What do you mean?"
"If the trend of ponies having a filly and colt continue," Wind Whistler said, "mares and stallions and will be roughly equal in number in the next generation. That means ponies can be monogamous which is probably better for genetic diversity."
"It's interesting how you ponies have twins," Megan said, deciding not bring her hatred of the male gender into the conversation. "I've only heard of a few cases where a horse gives birth to twins and all three survive."
"We are not horses," Wind Whistler said. "We are equines, but we are our own species, perhaps even our own genus. I realize that now. We are new life."
Wind Whistler suddenly frowned very deeply. Megan glanced back at her rifle in case Wind Whistler was just leading her on.
"There are many things I now realize," Wind Whistler said in a low tone. "I especially now understand what Twilight was. How could I have been so blind?"
"What about Twilight?" Megan asked, returning her attention to Wind Whistler.
"Twilight was lying when she said we are incomplete," Wind Whistler said. "We are specialized. My specialty is intelligence and logical deduction. However, I can be just as spontaneous as Surprise, as gluttonous as Applejack, as motherly as Cupcake, as interested in horticulture as Posey, and as passionate as Heart Throb. I was in fact just like Heart Throb when Four-Speed and I made love, and I mean truly make love. I was swept up in the ecstasy of the moment and wished to have him all to myself. I was in love, Megan, true love. That was what scared me into my madness. I thought I was no longer myself and desperately grasping for anything to regain it. However, I was myself the whole time. I act as I act because I want to either for direct desire and indirect reward. I do not want to be spontaneous or gluttonous or motherly or interested in horticulture most of the time. However, that does not erase the fact I have those capacities if the desire or need arise and so does every other little pony."
"Why would Twilight lie about something like that?"
"Because of her specialty," Wind Whistler said in an even more dour tone. "Majesty made us from her own image. Twilight represents her subconscious. That means she represents Majesty's darkest thoughts and desires. Majesty was in fact a very vain and cruel pony. She loved us as her children, but she was absolutely brutal to her enemies. She did not simply kill them. She tortured and humiliated them as examples to any who would oppose her. There were even a couple times when she was the aggressor, but that did not stop her being cruel to the vanquished. One time, she turned a goblin pleading for his life to stone simply because he intended to hold a princess for ransom."
"That makes her sound almost evil," Megan said.
"Or at least sociopathic," Wind Whistler said. "I now realize Twilight represented her cruelty and vanity. If Majesty was in fact evil, Twilight is a skin of evil."
"You keep mixing past and present when talking about Twilight," Megan said. "Why?"
Wind Whistler sighed. "Twilight made a Faustian bargain with Mister Moon to make him let the stars shine on the night of Walpurgis. She agreed to be transformed into a literal skin of evil to be stretched over the innocent creatures that live on the moon because he was irritated with their existence. The bargain came due tonight. She is now spreading across the moon turning those creatures, whose only crime was living, into vile wraiths biding their time until they can attack Ponyland. And it was all because Twilight wanted to the stars to shine."
Megan placed her hands over her mouth to stifle a gasp.
"I should have seen this all sooner," Wind Whistler scolded herself. "Twilight was indeed cruel and vain. She would let us know she knew something and then kept it from us. She always toyed with us like a cat toying with mice. I also played right into her hooves."
"How?"
"She got me to play her game. I was not acting out of logic or reason all these months. I was acting out of my own capacity for cruelty and vanity. She had convinced me I was nothing but logic and reason, and I figured that was all that was important. She was doing it to everypony, making us believe we are just pieces. However, I was the prime target. I now realize we had always been at war."
Megan sat back. "Isn't that a little harsh."
"I now know what I really represent," Wind Whistler said. "Look at my symbol."
Megan looked at the symbol of three pink whistles and two blue whistles decorating Wind Whistler's flank. "They're whistles, so what?"
"Who frequently uses whistles?" Wind Whistler asked.
Megan stopped to think. "Referees use whistles in games, and police use to them a lot too."
"Exactly," Wind Whistler said. "I represent not just Majesty's intellect, but her desire to do the right thing as well. All the times I put myself in danger to help a friend, I did it because it was the right thing to do. Like the referees and policeman, my job is to enforce the rules fairly and protect those around me. Twilight had manipulated me into believing I should make the rules."
Wind Whistler lay her head down. "If Twilight represents Majesty's cruelty and vanity then I represent her compassion and rationality. We are kind like the tiny angel and devil human cartoons will have on a character's shoulders when they face dilemma. Twilight knew she was not long for this world, so she intended to, one way or another, smite my influence on the ponies before hers left. She needs a pony so consumed by jealousy they would call on her powers to return, and a world where compassion and rationality are dominant would have a hard time creating such a pony. She decided the best way was to get me to turn in my halo for horns."
Megan tried to picture Wind Whistler wearing white robes with a halo over her head and Twilight holding a pitchfork and red horns coming out of her mane. Oddly, the image made sense given their natures. Twilight did have a devilish quality to her the more Megan thought about it.
She then remembered all the times she saw Twilight with Ember. "Twilight was compassionate to Ember. She was practically her mother."
"As I said," Wind Whistler said, "we are more than our specialties. Twilight had just as much capacity for compassion and rationality as I do for being cruel and vain. Perhaps, if I had been thinking, I could have tried to appeal to her better nature before that fateful night. However, what is done is done. We cannot change the past. We can only learn from it to make a better future."
Megan stood up. "We need to tell the others all of this."
Wind Whistler stretched out on the floor. "We can tell them in the morning. I need to recover, and you need your rest for school tomorrow."
Megan walked to the door.
"Megan?" Wind Whistler asked.
Megan turned back to Wind Whistler. "Yes?"
Wind Whistler picked up her head. "I know this might sound silly coming from a full-grown mare, but could you sing me to sleep. My mind is troubled and a gentle song might calm it."
Megan walked back to Wind Whistler.
"And can we keep this a secret?" Wind Whistler asked.
Megan grinned. "Sure I even know just the song to sing."
Megan knelt down and began to sing.
My little pony, my little pony,
I comb and brush her hair.
My little pony, my little pony,
Tie a ribbon to show I care.
Megan ran hand gently through Wind Whistler's mane as she relaxed.
My little pony, my little pony,
I take her wherever I go.
My little pony, my little pony,
Oh…I love her so.
Megan extended the last word as Wind Whistler's eye slowly closed. Megan could hear the faint snoring coming from her.
Megan stood up and looked to the wall. Next to the bare hooks of the spade had been the pickaxes and its point pointed in the direction that it would have gone through Wind Whistler's skull if she had picked it up instead of the spade.
Megan replaced the spade and picked up her rifle. She opened it and took out the round. She closed the rifle and pulled the trigger so the hammer released harmlessly. She rested the muzzle of the rifle on her shoulder and walked towards the house.
Finally, things looked like they could back to normal, at least what passed for normal when it came to the ponies.
Megan had a troubled night's sleep as everything she and Wind Whistler had discussed swam through her head. Morning finally came and Megan quickly got dressed and headed out.
She stepped outside to see Wind Whistler standing outside the barn and looking up. Her face was badly bruised and swollen. Megan was still shocked and glad she had not broken Wind Whistler's jaw with the spade…or worse with the pickaxe. Wind Whistler scowled as she stared up.
Megan looked up. The skies were completely clear. There were no clouds and no rainbow either.
Megan ran to Wind Whistler. "Where's the rainbow?"
Wind Whistler turned to her. "Gone. I fear this is Twilight and Mister Moon's doing. They are the only ones with the capability since Mister Sun was down. They probably intended to strand us here all along so we could not tell the others."
Megan stopped. "I should have let Heart Throb get the others to bring you back."
Wind Whistler shook her head. "The rainbow probably disappeared as soon as Heart Throb was on the other side. There was nothing we could do."
"But-" Megan choked on the words that had to come out "-you're…"
"…trapped here. I know," Wind Whistler said solemnly. "There is also something I didn't tell you last night. I am pregnant."
Megan gasped. "Really?"
Wind Whistler nodded. "Next spring I will give birth."
Megan thought about the prospect of Wind Whistler being trapped in her world and with foal. No one could learn the truth. The government would come and take her to a lab to be experimented on, and that was the best case scenario. She would live in constant fear of the world around her and away from everyone she held dear. It would be a life of constant mental and emotional pain. However, Megan had been trained on how to take the pain away.
"What will you do?" Megan asked. "You're technically an alien here. If you're caught..." Megan trailed off as she did not want to think about it. "There's nothing here for you."
"There is hope," Wind Whistler said. "The rainbow bridge could be fixed later this afternoon for all we know, or Maybe you or I will never live to see it open again. However, as long as we hold out hope we will be reunited with the others, Twilight hasn't won."
"And your foal or foals?" Megan asked.
"I will bring them to term and teach them everything I can," Wind Whistler said. "I will especially teach them what we discussed last night."
Wind Whistler nuzzled Megan's side. "Everything will be okay, Megan. We must have faith things will work out when logic and reason fail us. I realize that now."
"What happened to her?" Twilight Sparkle asked.
"She hid on our ranch through her pregnancy," Megan replied. "She had two foals the following spring. She named the filly Weathervane and the colt Turbine believing it was a name Four-Speed would have appreciated."
"Are they still here?" Twilight Sparkle asked. "I haven't seen them."
"Once the foals were strong enough to fly, hiding them became too problematic," Megan said. "The problem with ponies is their bodies develop faster than their minds."
"That's still the case today," Twilight Sparkle replied, remembering the issues the Cake's twins gave Pinkie Pie when she first foalsat for them.
"Wind Whistler found a small, uncharted island in Lake Huron," Megan said. "It has a cave for shelter and plenty of grass to eat. I gave her some gear to help her, and she can craft the weather. She is also one of the ponies that tended to grow a particularly thick winter coat, so she was well prepared for cold weather."
"Do you think they're still alive?" Twilight Sparkle asked.
"Every once and a while I pick up a tabloid with a story about the winged horses of Lake Huron," Megan said with a grin. "Wind Whistler makes her presence known just enough so I know she's still out there."
Megan sighed and tears welled up in her eyes. "However, Twilight and Mister Moon won. Not only did they destroy the rainbow bridge, they're probably the ones who sped up time. Everyone we knew died of old age within a couple weeks our time. Now her home is completely gone, and she's probably sitting there waiting to see me signal her with the Rainbow of Light with her grown foals like the Swiss Family Robinson on their deserted island."
"The who?" Twilight Sparkle asked.
Megan rolled her eyes. "Nevermind. The point is there's no home for them on either side of the rainbow now. I condemned them to never having a place anywhere."
"It's not your fault," Twilight Sparkle said. "You said it yourself Twilight and Mister Moon cut Ponyland off from you and sped up time. It was probably the Nightmare Forces defeat that allowed time to return to normal and the rainbow to reconnect our worlds. There was nothing you could have done."
"I could have," Megan snapped. "I could have stopped Wind Whistler before it came to this. I could have stopped Twilight. I could have just ended their pain like I did for Blackie, like my father trained me to do. If I had grabbed the next tool over, I would have had the pickaxe and I would have sent it right through Wind Whistler's head. I wouldn't have known these terrible things about Twilight and Majesty or Wind Whistler's real hopes and dreams that will never come to pass. I would have just killed another monster and kept them from threatening the little ponies."
Megan fell to the ground and sobbed. "I wanted to kill her too, cut down my dear friend just like I did Tirac. Even when I discovered she was just out cold I was still ready to kill her. And I wanted to do it just because I wanted her gone. I didn't want her out of her misery. I wanted her out of mine. My friend who had put her own life in danger so many times to save mine, and all I could think about was killing her.
"I was glad to see her leave because I couldn't look at her without the imaginary "X" appearing between her ears and eyes like on that night. I couldn't even bring myself to groom her after a while, Molly usually did. It took all my strength to help her deliver her foals, and even then I couldn't look her in the eye. She said she had forgiven me so many times and even thanked me for clocking her on more than one occasion, but I just can't get that moment where I was ready to kill her out of my mind. Sometimes, in my nightmares, Molly and Heart Throb aren't there and I pull that trigger, or I do pick up the pickaxe instead. I bury her in the same grave where Blackie is buried. I then return to Ponyland with my head held high after my latest victory and absorb the praise for slaughtering a pregnant and confused pony. I was the one who became the monster yet still paraded around like a hero. That's Magog the Mighty, a girl who would shoot an unconscious pony and close friend in cold blood simply because it would have made her life easier."
Megan broke down sobbing. She fell to the ground and buried her head in her hands.
Twilight Sparkle frowned. "I think we're getting to the root of the problem. It's not us, not the ponies of the Valley of Dreams, not the fact five thousand years passed for us and only five you, and not even the fact Wind Whistler is trapped on this side."
Megan held up her hands with her wrists together. "Arrest me," she sobbed.
Twilight Sparkle scowled in confusion. "What?"
"I confess to the attempted murder of a pony, one Wind Whistler," Megan said. "I make no defense or justifications for my actions, and I ask for no reprieve in my sentence. Take me back to Equestria in chains and do with me what you will."
"But…"
"Do it!" Megan snapped. "Wind Whistler told me the day the rainbow disappeared she had been exiled as penance for her treatment of her fellow ponies. If she and her family have to pay for her wrongdoing, I must pay as well. I can't go on living knowing I was only God's grace away from doing such a terrible thing without being punished."
Twilight Sparkle heaved a sigh. "All right. As a princess of Equestria, I have been given certain powers. I have never used these powers before without permission from Mayor Mare or one of my fellow princesses. This will be my first official act on my as a princess."
Megan bowed her head.
"I, Princess Twilight Sparkle, make you a subject of my realm and beholden to my laws and decrees. Do you understand?"
Megan nodded, still looking down.
Twilight Sparkle placed her hoof on Megan's head. She trembled as she collected herself. "As your princess, I accept your confession of guilt and waiver of all rights to defense and reprieve meaning I may sentence you up to the full extent the law allows for your crime which would be imprisonment for the rest of your natural life."
Megan sat their silently.
"I, Princess Twilight Sparkle, pardon you. I absolve you of all punishment for your wrongdoing. I forgive you," Twilight Sparkle said tenderly. "And as your princess, I decree you must forgive yourself. You are not a monster. You were just a scared little girl who made a terrible decision. As Wind Whistler said, you can't change the past. You can only learn from it to build a better future."
Megan looked up to Twilight with bleary, tear-filled tears. She threw herself onto Twilight Sparkle and embraced her. Her tears ran down Twilight's chest as Megan sobbed.
"I also order you to send the Rainbow of Light to retrieve Wind Whistler and her family," Twilight Sparkle said.
"But there's nothing for them in Equestria," Megan said. "They're from an era long gone."
"If what you said is true, Wind Whistler is still ahead of her time," Twilight Sparkle said.
"And what about all of her friends and loved ones long being dead?" Megan asked.
"They deserve to know and figure out what to do with themselves," Twilight Sparkle said. "Ponies have been doing it for these past five thousand years. It's only fair they get the chance."
Megan sniffed. She held up the locket and opened it. A brilliant rainbow streamed from it and circled overhead.
Megan wiped her eyes. "Rainbow of Light, find Wind Whistler and her family and bring them back here. The rainbow bridge is back, and there some ponies that would like to meet them."
The Rainbow of Light took off to the northeast and disappeared over the horizon.
Twilight Sparkle wrapped her wings around Megan as she began sobbing again. "Let it all out," Twilight Sparkle said softly. "You've kept so much bottled up. Take it from a pony who has trouble handling stress, you're doing nopony any favors keeping it in, especially yourself."