Twilight paced in her study, incessant in her motions. It had been only a few hours since the Changeling had told her about Chrysalis’ plans for Rainbow Dash, and she had immediately (and tearfully) taken off to her library, Spike and the others trying their best to follow closely behind.
“There has to be something that we can do!” she exclaimed angrily. “I may not get along with Rainbow all the time, but she’s still my friend, and I’ll be damned if I’m going to let some two-bit self-proclaimed Queen steal her from me!”
The others were there still, though they were more inclined to silence than their friend. They were all feverishly thinking about what to do, but none of them were really coming up with anything.
“Well, let’s just think about we do know,” Applejack chimed in. “We have less than twenty-four hours now before Queen Chrysalis is going to supposedly enact this ritual that will bring Nightmare Moon back, and we figure that Rainbow Dash is somehow going to be a key part of this ritual. But what use is she going to be if she’s dead?”
“I haven’t read much of anything at all about blood magic,” Twilight replied, “only that it’s outlawed in all civilized areas of Equestria and that it is a process that will inevitably- and irrevocably- taint the soul of the individual who performs it. That’s the only thing that I can think of, for why Chrysalis would need Rainbow Dash. If the ritual didn’t require some sort of blood sacrifice, why kidnap her? Why not just perform the ritual on her own, and quietly at that, so we wouldn’t know what was going on before it happened?”
“That just tells me,” Rarity replied, “that Chrysalis is willing to do literally anything to ensure that this happens. Though for the life of me, I can’t figure out why she would want to do this… What is her motivation behind this?”
“She’s evil and loves to spread it throughout Equestria?” Spike suggested with a hint of sarcasm in his voice. None of them could really argue with that.
“There’s something more to this, though,” Twilight mused, “something that we’re just not seeing. Rarity brings up a good point. Chrysalis has mainly stuck to her own agenda, that we know of. She needs love to feed her Changelings and maintain her country, so why would she be doing this? This is totally out of character for her.”
“Um… Maybe she isn’t doing this willingly…” Fluttershy offered. The others stopped and looked at her, their full attention now on her.
“What do you mean?” Twilight asked.
“Well… You did say it yourself… This is completely out of character for her… So wouldn’t it stand to reason that maybe she’s not doing this completely of her own volition? Maybe something- or someone- is controlling her from behind the scenes, or at least directing her actions in the direction that they want them to go…”
“I hadn’t thought of that at all,” Twilight admitted. “I’d just been going off the notion that Chrysalis knew what she was doing, and that she wanted this whole thing to happen the way it’s been happening. But if she’s being controlled by someone to make this happen… This just throws a wrench into-” She gasped. “Dear Celestia, I think I know who’s doing this! And I think I’ve known it all along!”
Spike was immediately in sync with her train of thought. “Nightmare Moon herself?”
Twilight nodded. “Think about it. Nightmare Moon has appeared to me in my dreams how many times now?”
Spike thought for a moment. “I think about seven or eight.”
“Exactly. And the first few times, she’d bragged that the time was coming nigh that she would come back into the world!”
“So what you’re saying is that, what? Queen Chrysalis is now Nightmare Chrysalis or something?” Applejack asked bemusedly.
“No, I don’t think so. If Nightmare Moon were strong enough to fully possess Chrysalis and operate within her body, then there would be no need for the ritual. She could just use her dark magic to corrupt Chrysalis’ body, and eventually change her into a suitable shell for her work. I think in this case, she may just be influencing Chrysalis’ mind in her decisions, possibly through some sort of telepathy or mental link.”
Just then, they heard a clapping sound from behind them. “Oh, bravo…” came a very familiar voice. “You all have been running around like chickens with your heads cut off for so long, I doubted you would ever catch on…”
Twilight whirled around angrily. “So you’re telling me that you knew about this the whole time, Discord? You’ve been letting this happen?!”
Discord shrugged. “Well, I am the embodiment of chaos and disorder, after all. And what would be better than seeing all of Equestria turned upside-down by a single event… And me, having nothing to do with it!” He chuckled.
“So this whole ‘reformed Discord’ thing was nothing but a sham after all!” Rarity exclaimed.
Discord mockingly put his hand up to his heart. “Oh, my dear Rarity, you wound me to the quick with your words! Just because I haven’t done anything to stop this whole ordeal, doesn’t mean that I’ve gone back to the dark side. Had you even stopped to consider that maybe the reason why I hadn’t done anything about it was because I couldn’t do anything about it?”
Their silence was encouragement for him to go on: “I may be the physical manifestation of chaos, but my magic can only go so far. Nightmare Moon is thousands of years older than even I, and her magic extends even further than my reaches. So when you say that I did nothing to stop her, keep in mind that even I knew better than to test her.”
“You could have at least told us!” Pinkie said angrily. “Poor Twilight has been worried sick about this whole situation since-”
“Since how long ago?” Discord asked with no small note of smugness in his voice. “Quite a while, if I am not mistaken. And she herself told you about this, remember? She tried to get you to believe, but you all thought she was a madmare, a lunatic. It wasn’t until you were showed incontrovertible proof that Twilight was right that you inevitably were brought over to her side. But it may have been too late…” He sighed. “Nightmare Moon has to have been growing stronger since you defeated her. It’s entirely possible that this time, not even the Elements can save your friend and banish Nightmare Moon again.”
“And without Rainbow Dash, we can’t even use the Elements anyways…” Fluttershy reminded everypony. “Remember what happened last time when Spike tried to use her Element? Nothing happened.”
“Well, the Elements worked once before,” Twilight replied. “There’s nothing saying that they won’t work again. We have to keep in mind that if we can’t stop this whole thing without using the Elements, we may have to fall back on them as a last resort.”
“But why are we leaving them for a last resort?” Pinkie asked. “Shouldn’t they be the first thing we go to, considering the bond of our friendship is the reason why the Elements are as powerful as they are in our hooves?”
Twilight swallowed. “If- and I’m not saying at all that I think this will happen, or that I wanted to happen- if something were to happen to Rainbow Dash, that would make her unable to use her Element for any reason, we have to have other plans in the works, just as back-ups.”
“Sounds to me like a whole lot of nothing,” Discord remarked. “You all are just talking around in circles; you’re not really making any sort of progress at all towards saving your friend. Why not actually- and I don’t know why I’m saying this- do some research and figure out what is going to be the best course of action for saving her.”
Twilight turned her attention back to Discord. “That is exactly what I intend to do. But before myself and the others go to this, we need to hear this from your own mouth… Are you with us on this? If we go to defeat Nightmare Moon once and for all and rescue Rainbow Dash, are you going to be with us or against us?”
Discord smirked. “Oh, I have no intention on being against you. None in the slightest. Bear in mind, though, that my efforts may not be of any use to you at all. Remember, my magic is far outstripped by hers.”
“That may be true,” Twilight replied, “but if we all work together to fight this, I’m pretty sure that there’s nothing that can stop us. We’ll have Celestia and Luna by our side as well, and maybe Cadance and Shining Armor if I can get in touch with them. They should already be at the Royal Castle, so there won’t be much work in that regard.”
With that, Twilight began to gather up some books that she thought may be of some use in formulating a plan. The others began to anxiously help, painfully aware of the limitations that were being placed upon them, both in time… and in power.
Rainbow Dash cautiously opened her eyes. It was almost fully dark outside, as she could see from the window in Chrysalis’ room that had been left slightly cracked open, and as far as she could tell there weren’t any stars out that night. It was almost too much for her; she thought about Luna and her raising of the night.
She wondered about Luna coming to visit her in her dreams, as she had done that one time. Could it be that they had all forgotten about her? She hadn’t heard anything from Luna since that one time, and she had promised a speedy end to this trial.
Dash got up and stretched; upon standing up fully, she was surprised to find that the chain had been lengthened sometime during her sleep. She could now not only stand all the way, but she could even move around a bit, though not far enough to be able to get on Chrysalis’ bed or to reach the window.
She walked in a circle a few times, stretching out the muscles in her legs that hadn’t gotten much use at all since she’d been captured. As she was doing so, she started thinking about something else that scared her more than anything else.
“My wings…” she murmured. “I don’t know how long I’ve been down here, and I really haven’t been able to exercise my wings much at all, much less get any actual flying in. I hope this doesn’t have too big of an effect on my speed and everything. It seems like nowadays, flying is really all that I have… Besides my friends that is,” she amended quickly, even though nopony at all was around to hear her.
She stretched her wings out tentatively; it hurt at first, seeing as how long it had been since she had given them much exercise; in a few moments, though, the ache subsided and she found that- as far as she could tell- she had just as much range of motion with her wings as she’d had before her capture.
“This is good,” she said as she continued to pace. “If I can actually break out of here, I may be able to make it to-” The crackling of a piece of paper stopped her, and she looked down to see what it was.
To her surprise, she found herself looking down at a poster, an old one at that, advertising a Wonderbolts exhibition. She smiled against her will and settled down onto all fours, gazing deeply at that poster, drinking in every small detail of it: the sun setting against a vibrant sky, the rushes of air coming off their high-flying bodies, the uniform that she knew so very well and wanted more than anything else to wear one day, as an actual Wonderbolts member…
Without her even noticing it, her resolve began to strengthen. “I will make it out of here,” she growled. “I will not let this kill me… No matter what, I’m going to make it back to Ponyville, back to my friends, back to the life that I love… and I will make sure Chrysalis pays for bringing this upon me!”
Just then, the door closed behind Dash. She jumped a little bit, mostly because she hadn’t heard the door open to begin with. She quickly craned her neck to see who it was, and found it odd that she was actually able to relax once she realized it was not Chrysalis who had entered.
“I would not quite put all your eggs in one basket,” Adriu commented drily, “especially about the part where you are going to make Chrysalis pay for what she has done to you.”
“You put a lot of faith in your queen,” Dash remarked. “Is it forced into you at birth, or do you choose to be loyal to her?”
This seemed to throw Adriu for a loop momentarily. He recovered quickly, though. “Is there a difference? Being loyal to her is all that I know; it comes as naturally as breathing. If she says to do something, I do it. If she says to go somewhere, I go. If she says to trust her, I do it… Regardless of how immediately hard it may be.”
Something dawned in the back of Dash’s mind. “You really did mean it when you said you were sorry for having to come out and capture me, didn’t you?”
Adriu nodded. “It is not in my nature to seek out trouble, and I thought from the beginning that that was precisely what Chrysalis was doing when she mentioned to me about going to ponynap you. However, it is also not in my nature to rebel, so I had to go along with what she was telling me to do.”
Dash couldn’t believe what she was hearing. “You may be the only Changeling in the entire hive that has actual, personal feelings about things. You can use that to your advantage! You can help me get out of here…!”
Her companion shook his head. “I cannot do anything that would go against the will of my Queen. That much, I know and believe for a fact. However, if I could do anything to make your stay here more… Not as much enjoyable, but tolerable… Then I would do that without a second thought. I do not wish to torture you, after all. My Queen hinted that she would have liked for that to be done, but I wanted no part in it.”
“I know,” Dash replied. “What has been done to me, was done by others, not you.” Something clicked in her mind. “Did… did you bring me that Wonderbolts poster?”
He nodded. “You can take that as a sign that I want you to be strong and overcome this for yourself, or you can take it as a sign that I want to break your spirit even further, by reminding you of the things that you once had but no longer do, and the life that is inevitably going on around you, passing you by as you sit here chained up like a cur.”
He smiled. “But tomorrow evening, it will all be over anyways. Nightmare Moon will return, and her reign on this earth will last forever. And you… Well, you get the easy way out. Your friends, on the other hand… Not so much.” Before she could say another word, he inclined his head to her in what she thought in disbelief was a gesture of respect to her, then turned on his heels and walked out the door.
Dash settled back down onto the ground. If her friends were going to come and rescue her, they needed to figure something out… And quickly.
Twilight and the others thundered into the Royal Castle. Luna was already waiting there for them, as Spike had sent a letter ahead of time informing her of their imminent arrival. Zecora stood in their midst, as did Shining Armor and Cadance.
Luna led them into a large room with a singular circular table in the center. “This is the War Room,” she said solemnly. “I had wished that you would never have had to see this, as those who see it should know that when these doors are opened… There is no turning back. When a Princess enters into the War Room, it is to prepare for war. No more, and most certainly no less.”
“What about Princess Celestia?” Twilight asked.
“I still have my doubts about the veracity of her identity,” Luna replied with chagrin. “And at this point, it matters not much, because I have not seen ‘her’ around in a few days’ time.”
“At all?” Twilight asked. She only got a nod in response.
At Luna’s behest, all the books and materials that they had brought were placed onto the table and divided up amongst those standing there. Once this had been done, Luna walked up to the head of the table and took her place there.
She addressed all present: “This is an event that I never thought would ever happen, but it is right on our doorsteps. You all know of the evil that Nightmare Moon has caused during the times that she has been allowed to roam free over Equestria, and now she is attempting to influence Chrysalis into performing some kind of ceremony to give her permanent access to this world. This somehow involves one of the Elements of Harmony, the pony Rainbow Dash, Element of Loyalty.” She drilled stares into them. “The time for inaction is behind us. If we are to get Rainbow Dash out of there before tomorrow night, we need to make a plan.”
“We?” Twilight asked. “So we are all just going to thunder into the Changeling lands and try to break Rainbow out? What about the Royal Castle? Who is going to be in charge there?”
“I will,” Luna replied. “My duties are first and foremost to this nation, and I cannot abandon my post as ruler. Shining Armor and Cadance will accompany you, however, as will the draconequus Discord.” She pointedly looked at him, and he confirmed her words with a sly nod.
“Now with my leadership, we will come up with a plan. Shining Armor, I want you to start looking through the Books of Maps. Cadance, you help him. The others…”
She went down the list, telling everypony their part. They all agreed to do them, and set about it with enthusiasm. Luna watched over them, knowing that this was doing more than helping them to free Rainbow Dash: this was also helping them to keep their own minds off the troubles that they were currently experiencing, but more ominously…
The ones that lay ahead of them.