//------------------------------// // Look Up and See (Love Has A Face) // Story: Nightmare's Return // by CanterlotGuardian //------------------------------// The cornfields stretched out for as far as the eye could see, and undoubtedly much longer than that. A breeze blew through the individual stalks, rustling ears and leaves alike. The resulting natural symphony was almost as silent as the wind on the air, and yet for the pony who stood in the middle of the field, it was as audible as her own voice, her own screams. The pony with the rainbow mane sat still, staring at the scarecrow that towered over her. Rainbow couldn’t quite figure it out, why the scarecrow bore an uncanny similarity to one of her friends. Which one, she couldn’t even tell. Maybe it didn’t look like any of them at all, maybe all of them at once. She just couldn’t stop staring at it, regardless. A tear slid down her cheek, from eyes that had already cried too many tears to count. She had long since abandoned all false former pretenses; they were no longer necessary. Nopony had any more need to see her as a constant stalwart, an anchor in the water when the waters of life had begun to roil and froth around them. She wasn’t that pony anymore, at least she didn’t see herself that way. Before this thought had even finished manifesting itself in her mind, the scarecrow before her began to speak in an ululating, rhythmic tone. “You have grown so much since I first came to know you, young one… Some day, you will never have to grow again. But not now. Not any time soon.” The voice seemed so familiar to Dash, but there was just nothing that she could do to identify how she knew it. She didn’t care much. As long as the voice wasn’t that of Queen Chrysalis, or of the rich-timbred Changeling drone that Chrysalis had tasked with watching over the Element of Loyalty, she didn’t care who it was. “What do you mean?” she asked. “Am I going to get out of this alive?” “Just know,” the voice said in response, “that there are those out there who have your back, and who are working this very second on a plan to free you. Myself included. Just remember, Rainbow Dash: you may be Loyalty, but you have some who are more than willing to return that loyalty to you. Your friends.” Just then realization hit her. She bowed low, as was the custom she always practiced. “How did I not recognize you before now…? Princess-” “It is quite alright, Dash. I must be getting back to Canterlot very soon; my duties are required there as always. Just remember, you cannot give up. Soon, we will have you out of this land and back to your friends, where you belong.” Dash stood up and smiled a wan smile. “If you say so, Princess… I will keep going. I can’t think of doing anything else but that.” She heard no voice after that, so she knew that she was alone now. No one else around. The voice had departed. The voice of the night. “Darling, please calm down…” Rarity stood at the head of the pack of ponies, looking at Twilight who was laying on the circular patch of fabric that made up the large rug directly in front of the main bookshelf at her Ponyville library. Celestia had gone on her way after the two of them had exited, and had sealed the archives back up. Almost immediately, she had been hit with a wave of inconsolable sadness, and had crumpled to the ground, racked with spasms from her crying. Unable to move for almost an hour, she had finally gotten enough strength up, and used her magic to teleport herself back to Ponyville. Spike had met her inside, and seeing her state, had rushed off to find the others. They were then all gathered there before her. Rarity knelt down beside her and laid a comforting hoof on the small of her back. “Dear, why don’t you tell us what has you so sad? Maybe there is some way we can help-” “No,” Twilight said decisively, brushing Rarity’s hoof away. “There is nothing you can do to help. This is beyond me. This is beyond all of us.” “What do ya mean?” Applejack asked. “How can ya expect us to understand if ya won’t tell us what’s really going on?” Twilight got up and walked over to the window right by the door, opening it up to let in the breeze. She sighed and turned to face her friends. “Both of us are right, you know. What I just found out is absolutely huge, but at the same time it’s no reason for me to blow all of you off. You do deserve to know.” Twi came up to them close, so she wouldn’t have to raise her voice so they could hear. “I took a trip with Celestia to the royal archives earlier. I wanted to have a look at some of the genealogy books, so I could confirm something for myself.” “Did this have anything to do with that theory you had?” Fluttershy asked. “The one about your sister-in-law?” Twilight nodded. “I couldn’t stand it anymore, not knowing the truth. And the Canterlot archives have the most extensive genealogical resources in all of Equestria. So I figured that if there was anyplace that I could find out that information that I needed… It was there.” “And what did you find out?” Fluttershy asked. Twilight sighed, then steeled her resolve. “Celestia was right. There is a direct genealogical link between Cadance and Chrysalis. They really are related.” The quiet pallor that came over the room upon Twilight’s pronouncement could not only be heard. It could be felt as well. They were all stunned into silence. It was Applejack who broke the silence a few moments later, and even then she spoke in a hushed, almost reverential tone. “But how could that be possible? Her body structure is so much different from regular pony body structure- or alicorn bodies, for that matter…” “From what I read,” Twilight continued, “it was a very long time ago that Chrysalis and her bodyguards left the mainland of Equestria and went on to found the Changeling nation. Their bodies simply adapted to their new surroundings. I guess, anyways. Maybe something even worse happened to them, that caused them to change their body structure. Who knows? All I know, is that the book I read showed a clear and distinct familial link between them.” “So what?” AJ asked. “What does that have anything to do with why you were just about inconsolable an hour ago, from what Spike told us?” Twilight sighed. “It wasn’t that part that had gotten me so bent out of shape. When I was in the archives with Celestia, she was acting very… strange. “How so?” asked Applejack. “She kept asking me questions about what I planned on doing with this information, why I needed it… And then there was Luna coming in…” She relayed the story about Luna’s conversation with her and Celestia. “It really seemed like Luna wasn’t at all comfortable with the whole situation.” “Did she sense something was up?” “It’s possible. And if she did, she wasn’t the only one. I kept getting this odd sense that we were being watched by somepony. When Luna came up to us, I thought it might have been her that I was sensing, but when I thought about it some more after she’d left… It just didn’t add up. I know the kind of magic that Luna has. I would have recognized that it was her. I didn’t feel that. I felt like somepony- or something- invisible was watching us. I kept trying to steal glances around the room while we walked, but I could never catch a glimpse of anything concrete…” “That is really weird…” Spike admitted, walking back into the room carrying a sandwich. “So why didn’t you just try to use your magic to see if you could figure out who was watching you that way?” Twilight had nothing to say to this. Why hadn’t she done that? “I… don’t know,” she admitted. “I guess because my biggest focus was on the whole reason why I was there to begin with.” A familiar voice came from the doorway: “Then I suppose ‘twas a good thing that I was there, and being a fair lookout.” Everypony looked up to see who it was, then customarily bowed when they recognized who it was. “That is not necessary at the moment,” Luna stated. “You may rise.” They all did so. “What brings you out here?” Twilight asked. “Shouldn’t you be back at the castle, preparing to raise the night like you normally do?” “That will come momentarily,” Luna replied. “For now, I felt I must come speak to you all about some troubling matters. Not the least of which is your missing comrade.” “Do you know anything about Dash?” Applejack asked. “I mean, like where she is or if she’s alright.” “I spoke to her last night, through my dream powers. I reassured her that we were coming to break her out as soon as we possibly could. She is holding on for now, but I am not sure how long that is going to last. I located her in Chrysalis’ personal chambers. That is where she was being held.” She sighed. “I went to the Changeling lands for a brief time, trying to find out anything I could about the current situation. I fear that upon retrospect, that may not have been the most well-advised move.” Twilight gasped. “You went there? You could have been killed! Did you even think about that before you left? And what about the castle? You see it too, don’t you? The situation with Celestia? You were trying to tell me something in the archives, weren’t you?” “I thought it was the best thing to do at that point. I see now that my thinking was erroneous. And you are right about one thing. Not all is right with my dear sister. I do not know what has come over her, but she is not the Celestia that I have known and loved for so long.” “What do you wish for us to do?” Rarity asked her. “Surely there is something that we can do to help out-” “Not in the matter concerning my sister. I fear that only two ponies will be able to do anything positive regarding that situation: myself and my sister’s student. As far as the rest of you are concerned, the best path for you all to take at the moment is to try to determine the safest way to get Rainbow Dash out of Chrysalis’ clutches. I fear she may not last much longer… I must leave you all now. Take care, and stay safe.” There was a flash of bright light, and then the ruler of the night was no longer among them. Twilight sank to the floor. “Why all of this? Why now? As if we don’t have enough on our plates to begin with…” “Maybe that’s the point though,” Applejack pointed out. “We can’t afford to let all these other distractions get to us. The number one biggest thing we gotta worry about now is figuring out how to get Rainbow Dash away from Chrysalis.” “I would say let’s just go ask Princess Celestia,” Pinkie replied, “but didn’t Princess Luna just say that there’s a chance that Celestia isn’t actually Celestia at all?” Rarity nodded. “If something has happened to her, then we mustn’t risk having our plan discovered by snooping eyes or ears.” “So… We’re alone in this?” “Not really,” Applejack pointed out. “We may only have each other… but that still means we have each other, right? One of our own is out there alone and scared, and we’re going to work together to go get her!” “But… Nopony knows where the Changeling lands are…” Fluttershy pointed out. “Well, nopony except Luna, I guess…” “Yeah, and I don’t think she’d tell us, would she?” They all solemnly shook their heads. “So what now?” Twilight asked. “We’re no further along than we were at the start. What are we going to have to do to make things right?” They all thought very hard for what seemed like forever, but nopony could come up with anything concrete. Just as they were about to go insane, Twilight looked up at her friends wiith a very odd look on her face. “What’s the matter, darling?” Rarity asked. “I have an idea, but nopony is going to be willing to go along with it. It’s dangerous, but we might be able to figure out a plan if we take this risk.” “Explain, please…” Twilight sighed. “We need to figure out something that is going to allow us to get Rainbow Dash out of there without her suffering harm. You heard Princess Luna: Dash is okay for now, but I’m not sure how long it’s going to last that way. If we want to get there and get her out, we’re going to need some serious help. I’m going to ask Princess Luna to do what she can, and you all need to do what you can too, but we need a magic stronger than what we can muster.” “I’m still not getting what you’re trying to get at,” sighed Applejack. Twilight fixed her gaze upon her friends. “I think it’s time we paid Discord a visit.”