//------------------------------// // A dash of Twilight // Story: Breaking Cute // by GoldenState3 //------------------------------// Twilight was glad to get out of the Hospital. Organizing the search party for the missing Crusaders had been the perfect thing for her. It let her use her organizational talents, and allowed her to get out of that horrible room at the hospital. "Rainbow Dash, you search there!" Twilight said pointing to a bit of forest on a map she'd drawn just for a future search and rescue operation like this. "Derpy! You go over there." Twilight said. Normally, it would be a bad idea to send Derpy anywhere. She was just as likely as the crusaders to need rescue. But this was an emergency. It was well after dark now. There were ancient magics and powers beyond even Twilight's imagination in that forest. You didn't mess around with the Everfree after dark. Besides, Derpy's slice of the forest was sandwiched between Fluttershy's and Rainbow Dash's. If the ditzy Pegasus managed to get into trouble, one of them could bail her out quickly. There was too much forest, and too few Pegasi. Big Mac was leading an Earth Pony team into the forest, to search the area directly around Zecora's. But they couldn't search as fast as the Pegasi. Spike was pulling on Twilight's leg, trying to get her attention. Applejack was frozen at the door to the library, Twilight knew it was bad news. She wouldn't have left Bab's bedside unless the end had come. "She's dead." Applejack said from the door. "She just up and stopped breathing. They couldn't do anything." The strong Earth Pony collapsed to the floor, and started crying. Twilight moved over to comfort her, followed by Dash. Twilight shook her head, and shooed Dash out the door. They needed Rainbow out there. If Apple Bloom and Babs died on the same day, Twilight Sparkle knew that Applejack would run away again, like she had after the All Equestria Rodeo. Only this time, they'd never be able to get her back. Twilight wanted to comfort Applejack, but she decided that the search for Apple Bloom was going to take first priority. She still had Pegasi to give assignments to, and there was the whole matter of keeping track of which areas of the forest would still need to be searched. There was a lot of forest that had to be covered. "What'll I tell her parents. They trusted us to take care of her..." Applejack rambled. The night wore on slowly. Dash and her Pegasi were searching the forest. There wasn't anymore that could be done. Rarity, and Pinkie Pie were sitting off to the side, trying in vain to comfort Applejack. Even Pinkie had toned down her antics, at least as much as it was possible for her to. Fluttershy flew in, reporting that she'd completed her sector. This was her third area of the night, and it got checked off the list. Twilight gave out her next assignment, and sent her back out. High overhead, there was a dud as Rainbow Dash made a crash landing on the balcony. Dash had been running herself ragged to try and find the missing crusaders, and the stress was starting to show. Twilight was going to ground the Pegasus if it got much worse. "They're not in that last one either." Dash said. The normally confident Pegasus was starting to doubt herself now. Twilight knew that she was going to have to work hard to raise the her spirits. Once Dash started doubting herself, she'd start pushing herself. "They're probably scared and in hiding. We'll find them. We have to." Twilight said, attempting to reassure Dash. Derpy was back too. She'd only needed to be rescued twice tonight, which for Derpy was good. Twilight decided that she was going to have to give her some kind of award. She'd put Spike on it. He'd think up an award for the poor thing. "Derpy, why don't you go with Rainbow Dash." Twilight announced. There weren't anymore places that Twilight could assign Derpy too where she'd be within easy reach of a strong Pegasus. Removing the Pegasus would be too painful. Everypony liked Derpy, even if she had destroyed the town hall. There was no need to hurt her feelings. Dash shot Twilight a look that screamed "What the feather are you doing!" She looked like she might open her mouth, and ruin the pride that Derpy was feeling for having done a good job. Then, her demeanor changed as her mind caught up to what Twilight was saying. The two of them left together, flying up to the balcony, and then away to the forest. Raindrops entered next. Twilight eyed the Pegasus, before giving her a new assignment. Rarity had calmed Applejack down enough in the meantime that she was able to join Twilight at her desk. But, Applejack was still radiating despair. "This ain't good. You've got a good parta' that forest searched already, and you ain't found no pony." Applejack said. "Uhm, well we're trying. They're probably out hiding somewhere safe. Who knows, they might have even made it to Zecora's, and be on their way back right now." Twilight said. They both knew that there was no way that Zecora was leaving her shack till dawn. It just wasn't something that people who knew the Everfree did. Spike was trying to get Twilight's attention again. He had a letter in his claws, and Twilight took it and read it. It was from Celestia of course. The contents were cryptic. "Meet me outside" was the only thing it said. Twilight Sparkle stood up, and ordered Spike to give out orders to any Pegasus that came back for the next search area. She rose from her desk, and headed down to the first floor of the library. What could Celestia want? Had she somehow heard about what had happened, and decided to help out? She didn't like to bother the Sun Goddess if she didn't have to. Sure, Celestia had better things to do, but there was more. She was of course still afraid of being sent back to Magic Kindergarten. Even if Celestia had made it very clear that wasn't likely to happen, Twilight couldn't help but still worry about it. That's just how she was. Outside, she didn't see Celestia anywhere. She was about to write it off as an old message, when Luna stepped out of the Shadows. "We have need of your services! the Alicorn announced. "We were patrolling the dreams of our subjects last night, when we saw something most..." "Terrifying." Luna continued, sounding as meek as Fluttershy. "It is not the kind of thing one forgets most easily. It was most horrible." "Uhm, so what do you want me to do?" Twilight asked. "Well, that's the thing. The dream contained the most horrible things. Some pony was dreaming about poisoning another." Luna said. "Then I heard about that filly that... Well you know." "We charge you to go forth and find the Pony, so that they shall face Celestia's judgement. " Luna finished, having recovered enough to return to using the Royal Canterlot Voice. "Oh, and another thing. Can I have a memory spell for the road? There are somethings that you just don't want to remember." "Can't you like give me something more to go on? Surely you know what Pony had dreamed of the poisoning?" Twilight asked. "Why should we remember the specifics of our subject's dreams if our subjects have no desire to remember those specifics." The princess of the night replied. "I really do need that memory spell though. I'm just terrified that I'll leave a portion of that dream in some pony's mind. If you saw it, you'd want a memory spell too. You don't want this thing getting out." Twilight cast a spell on the princess to help her forget the dream, and the princess sailed back off into her night.