//------------------------------// // Ringpercussions // Story: LanternFall // by leonidas701 //------------------------------// Dear Twilight Sparkle,         I am happy to hear that reconstruction is going smoothly, and quickly! Even with the power of the rings, I still expected that Ponyville would remain broken for a number of months. It seems that we both underestimated them.         Happy as I am to hear of the quick recovery, I must disagree with you about your friends. As I said, the fixing of Ponyville was expected to take months, not a matter of weeks. With how quickly they are going, they deserve a little time to goof off and experiment with their powers. However, your idea that the lanterns can only recharge the rings so many times does leave me uneasy. I will enclose with this letter instructions on how to do a spell that will allow you to sense the stored energy in a substance, to use on the lanterns. If they do prove to be a limited resource I am sure that your friends will agree that the power should be saved for the work.         I must admit that I am quite jealous of you. Brand new magic, more powerful than any I have ever come across, requiring no spells to use! If given the option I would switch places with you in a wing flap, but alas, my royal duties keep me at bay for another few days. I cannot wait for my visit, if only to see them first hoof.         As for your ring, keep trying. I’m sure that it will work eventually. Perhaps it just got a bit damaged and requires some repair. I will be happy to look at it when I come.                Your loving mentor,               Celestia.         Twilight gently lowered the letter she had been reading onto her bedroom table, picking up the paper that came rolled up with it when it appeared earlier that morning. The small space of time between her setting the letter down and picking the other paper up was enough for Twilight’s mind to start wandering as she considered what she had just read.         So, there are some things that even the Princess doesn’t know about, Twilight thought, not sure how to feel about that fact. Still, I can’t blame her for being so excited. These rings are incredible. Twilight remembered the look on the villagers’ faces when they first saw what the rings could do. Even now, four days after then, most of them still looked up in awe and wonder when they saw the amazing things the rings could do. Well, most of them anyway. Twilight frowned and looked at her ring, taunting her with its gleam as it sat on her desk. Despite Twilight’s best efforts, she had failed to make the blue ring do anything on her hoof except look pretty.         She sighed with a small amount of envy as her mind’s eye pulled up the images of how happy her friends looked as they played around with their rings, and how quickly the looks turned to pity when she mentioned that, no, she had not figured out how to make hers work yet.         Yet, she reinforced. She glared more at the jewelry. I know there’s some way that I can make you work! Her resolve thus strengthened, her thoughts came back to her friends. And I guess she’s right, there’s no reason for them to not have fun as long as-- Oh yeah.         She shook her head, clearing her mind as she recalled why she was levitating the paper. She began committing the instructions to memory, mouthing along with the words as she prepared to practice. -----After the Practice-----         It had taken her the entire rest of the morning, along with a chunk of midday, but Twilight was now confident that she could cast the spell flawlessly. She stood up from the chair she was occupying while she practiced, and immediately felt lightheaded; understandable, given that she had been sitting long enough that work on the town was now over for the day. Balancing against her desk as she waited for the rush to subside, she was static long enough for her body to force her aware of how hungry she was.         Once she was properly reoriented, she went down to the kitchen to pick up some food, making sure to bring along the batteries she was testing the spell on so she could put them back.         While she was making herself a snack, she noticed the blue lantern that had come with her ring. Given that she hadn’t used it at all she had just placed it the top of her cabinet, covered with a thick blanket to keep the light from getting out and bothering anyone.         She sat down at her kitchen table and levitated the blanket off. Twilight figured that even if she never used it, it could work as a control and give her some idea of how much power the other lanterns had. She cast the spell on it and was immediately forced to balance herself against the table against the massive headache she got. The amount of stored energy she could feel within the lantern was unbelievable. It felt like it could last forever or if not, at least longer than she would be alive.         She dispelled the magic and the headache quickly started lessening. When she could see sharply again, she looked at the lantern still radiating its soft blue light. She sat in shock of just how much was packed into that relatively small container for a good few minutes before remembering what she had to do. She shook off the last dregs of her headache and left to go find her friends and make sure the same was true of all their lanterns as well.         Wouldn’t it be ironic, Twilight thought in a dark humor, levitating a few packets of aspirin out of the kitchen while she walked out the door, if the only one that felt like that was the one we couldn’t use?          Twilight decided to start off with one friend she knew where to find. -----At the Sweet Apple Acres Produce Stand-----         “Howdy, Twilight,” Applejack said as she saw the lavender mare come walking up the road. “Fancy a drink?” Applejack lifted up a pitcher of apple juice with the light from her orange ring.         “Hi, Applejack,” Twilight said. “Sure, I’ll have a cup.” Twilight set a bit down on the stand.         “Oh, uh, sorry sugarcube, but it’s two bits now.”         Twilight’s brow rose in surprise. “Huh,” she said as she put down another bit. “Why?”         “Well, th’ insurance ain’t gonna cover alla th’ damages.” Applejack scooped up the coins while the light poured out a cup of juice and placed it in front of Twilight.         “I thought Celestia was paying to have all the houses rebuilt?”         “The house, shure. It’s the orchard that’s costing us,” Applejack explained as Twilight drank. “‘Bout a half of the trees are ruined, and the insurance company says our explosion coverage don’t count if’n they’re from space.”         “Oh. Sorry.”         “Nah, don’t be. It’s not yer fault the insurance company’s full a no-good weasels.” Applejack grimaced briefly before regaining her usual soft look. “Still, ain’t as bad as it coulda been. Least I got this thingy to help out.” She pointed at her ring.         “Actually that’s part of why I came here,” Twilight said.         “Oh? Did yah-”         “No,” Twilight cut her off before she could ask about her ring. “I need to check up on your battery, make sure there’s enough power in it that you can… well…” Twilight gestured at the orange light rearranging the stand.         “Waste it?” Applejack asked gently.         “Yeah.”         Applejack shook her head, “No problem. If these thangs really are limited, then Ah should be usin’ it for summin’ else. Here.” Applejack pulled her orange lantern up from underneath the counter. “Ah keep it nearby in case Ah run out.”         Twilight cast the energy detection spell and was once more struck by the same vastness as she had felt within her lantern. Thanks to that prior experience, she wasn’t struck quite as dumb as before and was able to keep her head more or less clear through the experience. But something threw her off. While the spell was quite simply cast on her lantern, the orange lantern felt like it was resisting her somewhat. Twilight quietly made a mental note of it.         “It seems like you’re all good to go,” Twilight said.         “Great,” Applejack said. “Hey, are yah plannin’ on doing this for all a’ us?”         “Yeah, actually. Better safe then sorry.”         “Well, Fluttershy is at the farm if’n yah wanna go see her.”         “Really?” Twilight asked. “What’s she doing there?”         “After the explosion, Big Mac helped her find alla her lil’ critters an’ she’s been helpin’ us out because a’ it.” Applejack looked up the road and noticed some ponies walking towards her stand. “Looks like Ah’ve got customers Twilight.”         Twilight caught the hint. “No problem. Bye, Applejack.” She left the stand and started walking towards Sweet Apple Acres.         Applejack, busying herself with her customers, didn’t respond. -----At Sweet Apple Acres-----         Twilight went into the farm grounds, and it wasn’t long before she spotted the telltale pink glow of Fluttershy’s ring. She headed towards it, going through rows of saplings that looked like they had all been freshly planted. Getting closer, she could see the yellow pegasus was using her ring to place trees into holes in the ground next the big red stallion known as Big Mac.         “Uhm, is- is this okay?” Fluttershy asked quietly as she straightened out the sapling she had just finished placing.         “Eeyup,” Big Mac said. From Twilight’s point of view it seemed like he hadn’t even turned to look at Fluttershy’s tree, keeping his attention on the one he was planting.         “Ah- are you sure?” Twilight thought her eyes were playing tricks on her because it almost seemed like Fluttershy had nudged the plant a little to the side. Twilight rubbed her eyes while Big Mac spoke again.         “Eeyup.”         Twilight was starting feel a bit rude just listening in on their conversation, so she decided to do what she came for. “Fluttershy?” she called.         “Eep!” Fluttershy flinched and flashed invisible. She turned around. “Ye- yes? Hi, Twilight.”         “Uhm, hi,” Twilight said. “Listen, would you mind showing me your lantern? I need to check something with it.” Twilight explained the situation to Fluttershy.         “Ohh. Uh, sorry,” Fluttershy said as her pink light lifted up a mound of dirt and poured it into the hole. “I- I don’t have it here. I’m sorry.” She shrunk back a bit from Twilight, breaking eye contact and fidgeting in place. “I- I would go and show it to you, b- but Big Mac needs my help. Sorry.”         Big Mac finally lifted his head. “Eenope,” he said.         “Wh- what?” Fluttershy asked. “A- a- are you sure?”         Big Mac looked at the few holes remaining for him to plant trees in for the day. “Eeyup.”         “O- o- oh.” Fluttershy briefly looked downcast. “Okay then,” she said quietly. She started walking off the farm. “Come on, Twilight. It’s at my house.”         Twilight had to raise an eyebrow at Fluttershy’s strange reaction, but chalked it up to her friend wanting to pay her debt in full. “Kay. Bye, Big Mac.”         Big Mac grunted and waved a hoof in goodbye, his attention fully back on his planting. -----At Fluttershy’s Cottage-----         “Here it is.” Fluttershy said. She had brought Twilight into the massive room in her house where she kept all of the animals. Which smelled like a room where someone would keep a bunch of animals.         “Why’s it in here?” Twilight asked. Her voice sounded a little strange as she was using her magic to hold her nose shut. She moved carefully around the room, making sure not to step on any animals, or into any of the things animals leave behind.         Fluttershy noticed her friend’s discomfort. “S- sorry. I use it as a nightlight for the animals to help them sleep better.” Pink light sprang from Fluttershy’s ring as she made a hook to bring down the lantern from where she kept it, resting on the ceiling bars.         Twilight focused on casting the spell, a task made much harder than usual because it meant she had to stop holding her nose shut and let in all of the bad smell. Fortunately, Fluttershy noticed.         “S- sorry.” A pink set of clothespins materialized in the air, opening up and closing around her nose.         “Thank you,” Twilight said in her altered voice. Her problem thus fixed, she was easily able to detect the energy in the battery. And immediately regretted it.         The second her spell reached the pink lantern, Twilight’s mind was flooded with its energy. She felt like she was being smothered, the energy grabbing hold of all of her senses and refusing to let go. She pushed against the suffocating vastness, even as it pulled back on her. Finally, she was able to break the spell.         She expected it to feel like breaking the surface of the water after drowning and was prepared to gasp for breath, but she found that she felt fine. She was breathing normally, albeit through her mouth, and her head only had a slight ache. Twilight rubbed her head. What was that? she thought.         “T- Twilight? Are you okay?” Fluttershy asked, derailing Twilight’s train of thought.         “Huh?” Twilight had momentarily forgotten what was happening. “No, no, I’m fine.” She shook her head. “You’re good. Thanks.”         “Oh. Good.” Fluttershy said.         Twilight went back to thinking. The lanterns feel almost alive. I wonder if the others all feel like that.          Fluttershy coughed awkwardly. Twilight had been standing in her house deep in thought for a few minutes. “Do- do you need anything else?” she asked. “Oh, sor-”         “No,” Twilight shook herself out of her mental fog. “No, I’m good. Bye.”         “Goodbye,” Fluttershy softly said to Twilight’s back as the lavender mare left her house, already again deep in her thoughts.         Who should I go to next? Twilight asked herself as she walked around the outskirts of the forest towards Ponyville. Rarity’s always at her house, but I’m going to have to go there again later to pick up Spi-         *Crash*           For the umptillionth time that day Twilight was shaken out of her thoughts. What was that? It sounded like it came from Rainbow Dash’s training ground. Well, that answers who I’m talking to next, I guess, Twilight thought as she walked towards the sound. -----At Rainbow Dash’s Training Ground-----         Twilight stepped into the large grassy field that served as Rainbow Dash’s practice area.         “Hey, Rainbow Dash,” she said. “I need to see your lant- Whoa.” Twilight stopped dead in her tracks. Rainbow Dash was well known to be a messy flyer, most of her practice sessions ended with more than a few divots dug out in the grass. But she always took care to fix it up afterwards, carefully replacing the dirt and the grass as close to perfectly as she could. It wasn’t unusual to walk in on Rainbow Dash’s practice and find a few holes in the ground and large amount of spots with soil that looked upturned. But what Twilight didn’t see any of that, the grass and the dirt was undisturbed. It was everything else around it that gave her pause.         Trees with their branches brutally ripped off, some with bowling ball sized holes in the trunks that oozed sap. Rocks that Twilight was pretty sure hadn’t been there before littered the ground, some bigger then her, some barely more than pebbles. The smaller ones had rough, jagged edges, as though they had been recently smashed off of something, while the larger ones looked downright mutilated. Massive gouges, a few inches deep, adorned most of them, along with a variety of odd angles that made it clear something had been cut off from them. Twilight saw a number of clusters of rocks that looked like they had once been part of a much bigger stone. She looked at the carnage in fear and confusion.         What did this? she thought. Twilight heard a loud crack. A moment passed and it was followed by a chunk of rock falling from the sky. She looked up and saw Rainbow Dash.         The pegasus was floating in the air, a red aura around her cyan body. There was another large rock floating up there with her, with its own red aura, being smashed into with a massive red hammer. With Twilight’s attention now fully on Rainbow Dash, she could hear a soft thumping coming from the collisions between rock and red hammer. Suddenly, another loud crack rung through the air. From Twilight’s viewpoint she could see Rainbow Dash swing her forehooves violently before the red aura disappeared from the part of the rock that was broken off.         The hammer swung at the, now much smaller, rock a few more times before Rainbow Dash screamed. “Arrgh!” she yelled throatily. The rock went up higher into the air, until it was as far away from Rainbow Dash as Twilight herself. Then, much faster than if it was solely under the influence of gravity, the red-light covered rock slammed into the ground.         *Crash*         So that’s what that was. Why’s Rainbow Dash been doing this? Twilight wondered as she recovered from the shock. Looking up at her friend, Twilight was tempted to leave. Just turn around and walk away, talk to her some other time. Floating up in the air, hunched over with a red aura around her that suddenly reminded Twilight of blood, even without anything for her to hit Rainbow Dash was still a terrifying sight. But Twilight had a job to do. Besides, she reasoned, Rainbow Dash is the element of Loyalty. There’s no way she’ll do anything to me.         “Rainbow Dash?” Twilight tried calling, but it came out in a voice barely louder than a squeak. She cleared her throat and tried again. “Rainbow Dash,” she said, much more audibly this time. But Rainbow Dash showed no reaction, still hanging motionless in the air.         “Rainbow Dash?” Twilight was louder this time, but still gained no response. Somewhat frustrated now, she took a deep breath. “Rainbow Dash!” she shouted.         “WHAT!” Rainbow Dash snapped back. There was so much anger in her voice that it made Twilight take a step back, ready to run. Then Rainbow Dash saw who she had just yelled at. “Sorry, sorry,” she said in a much nicer, or at least less angry, tone of voice. The red glow around her dissipated and she spread her wings, gliding to the ground in front of Twilight. “Sorry about that,” she repeated. “You startled me.”         No shit, Twilight thought. Twilight cleared her throat again. “What are you doing?” she asked.         “Working out some anger,” Rainbow Dash said.         “What happened to make you this angry?” Twilight asked as she looked again at the massive level of damage Rainbow Dash had wrought. “Did something happen recently?”         “You could say that,” Rainbow Dash said, her gaze suddenly turning into steel. “It was around two weeks ago.”         What happened two weeks ago- Oh. “The manticores?” Twilight remembered seeing the body of her friend laying on the forest, her blue coat marred with ugly purple blotches, her eyes shut tight and her chest heaving. Then, the sight of the two ugly puncture marks, as Fluttershy told the group what they meant with tears in her eyes.         Rainbow Dash slowly nodded. “Yeah.”         “Rainbow Dash,” Twilight said. “I know you’re upset, but this isn’t going to fix anything.”         Rainbow Dash exploded, “I KNOW!” making Twilight flinch again. Seeing the fear in her friend’s eyes the pegasus tried to calm down, breathing deeply through grit teeth. “I know,” she said when she felt calm again. “But what should I do? Just forget about it?! Twilight, I nearly died!”         “I don’t know!” Twilight shouted back. Twilight looked around at the mounds of rubble and warped wood again. At least she’s only doing it to rocks and trees, she thought. Twilight took a deep breath. “But, there has to be a better way for you to deal with this,” she said.         Rainbow Dash scoffed. The pegasus tossed her head. “Look, I know you didn’t come out here to lecture me about anger management,” she said. “What can I do for you?”         It took Twilight a moment to remember what she was doing. “I need to see your lantern.” Twilight explained the situation to Rainbow Dash. “I’ve already check Applejack’s, Fluttershy’s, and mine, and they all seem infinite, but I need to check the rest just to make sure.”         “Okay. Wait here.” The ruby light once more surrounded Rainbow Dash, lifting her up into the tallest tree.         “When did you learn to fly?” Twilight asked.         “When I was four,” Rainbow Dash said as she rummaged around in the treetop.         Despite what had just happened, Twilight felt her body rolling her eyes. “Very funny. Seriously.”         “The day after we got these. I tried to go home, and the light picked me up before I could spread my wings.” Rainbow Dash pulled the lantern out from the leaves she had covered it with, allowing its bloody red glow to cover the field, turning the green grass black. She brought it to Twilight.         Twilight concentrated on the lantern and cast the spell. It stayed up just long enough for her to feel the same swirling infinity as she had felt in all the previous lanterns. Then, with a feeling like she had just gotten punched in the jaw by a very angry buffalo, Twilight’s spell ceased through no action on her part, leaving her with a massive headache, the worst one of the day.         At the sight of her friend buckled over, Rainbow Dash’s concern was immediate. Her ring’s red light surrounded Twilight, bringing her head up and steadying her. She asked, “Are you o-” before she was cut off by Twilight lifting a hoof in a gesture clearly meant to ask her to shut up.         Once Twilight’s head stopped feeling like ponies were using it as a taiko drum, dropping to the much more tolerable level of bongo drums, and the rushing of the wind through the leaves stopped sounding like an angry P.E. teacher blowing their whistle into her ear, she spoke. “Yeah, yeah, I’m okay now. Thanks. You’re good to go.”         “Are you sure?” Rainbow Dash asked, looking sideways at her lantern like it had suddenly turned into a crimson cockroach.         “Yeah,” Twilight said. She moved away from the constructs holding her up, feeling steady enough to let her legs handle the full burden of keeping her up. I really need to let Celestia know about this, she thought. Still, I shouldn’t worry her. I don’t know if it’s a problem or not. “That happened with the other lanterns too,” Twilight lied.         “Okay.” Rainbow Dash said. Twilight noticed that she still looked unsure.         “Seriously, I’m fine.” Twilight tapped on the side of her own head, trying not to flinch.         Rainbow Dash looked at her one more time. Seemly satisfied with what she saw, she relaxed. “Okay.”         “Great,” Twilight said. She turned around towards Ponyville. “I’ve gotta go now, I still have to check on Trixie, Pinkie Pie, and Rarity. See you tomorrow?” she asked over her shoulder.         “Yeah. Bye.” Rainbow Dash waved at her friend. When Twilight was out of view, she turned and stared at her handiwork. “And, you’re right,” she mumbled as she twisted her ring around her hoof. “I can think of a better way to deal with this.” Rainbow Dash screwed up her eyes in concentration. A short, thin bar of red light appeared in front of her. A/N: Cutting it off here because this is way too long. What did you guys think? Please let me know in a comment, it helps my motivation. I cannot tell you how tempted I was to have “Whoa” link to Keanu Reeves.