Her name is Rainbow Dash and she's waiting for me to come back. She's safe, she'll be taken care of and I will see her again. I only need to remember that her name was Rainbow Dash and that we made a promise. No matter what happens next, there’s a place where I can go back to.
Octavia remembered the filly’s face, her smile and the distant thunder of guns. She doubted, because she’d heard the soldiers say those horrible things. They’d apologized, but pulled the trigger on the ones who tried to save them nonetheless. Remembering it sent shivers down her spine.
She’d told Rainbow Dash that she would fix everything, to walk across the street without her.
She’ll be safe in the building. Even if they find her, they won’t kill her. She’s blind and sweet. She’ll be there once I get back.
That was right, everything would be fine once they reached the Lunarium. Yet the tunnel led nowhere and they only walked through a darkness that seemed to go on eternally before them.
After a few tries Lyra had managed to get the orb to work properly and now she proudly cantered ahead of them, her head held so high, a grin so full of pride adorning her face. She was the first unicorn since forever to cast a spell and Octavia only barely could keep her eyes of the glowing ball that illuminated the path in a shimmering green light.
It was something to be proud of, for sure.
The orb was small but bright, enlightening an area of a few meters around them. It was better than any lamp.
Yet, what astounded her the most was Twilight, who’d shown Lyra how to do it so easily. Was this what unicorns had been capable of a long time ago? Where all the stories actually true?
“There’s magic in music,” her grandfather had told her.
“That’d be awesome,” Rainbow Dash had answered her.
Octavia needed to remember her, because she was okay. Canterlot was okay. It could all be fixed and the ponies that got shot would all be fine, too. If they weren’t now, they’d be once they would reach the end of this tunnel. The Lunarium would be there and everything would be fine.
Octavia’s gaze shifted back to Twilight. She looked weaker than before, her breaths heavy, her gait unsteady. Yet there was a somberness in the way she looked, only lacking the fire that her eyes had carried before.
“Twilight,” she asked, “what happened to you in Canterlot?”
The light of the orb made the walls glitter, for they were made not only of rocks, crystals and gems were spread across them, too. Their natural colors reflected in the light and gave the caverns a most resplendent atmosphere. She took a moment to notice it, as Twilight thought on her answer.
The tunnel was small, too. An adult would’ve had a hard time fitting through here, Octavia thought, but she did not deem it impossible. Not that any adult would come, the soldiers had no reason to search the ruins, right?
As they moved on the path unknown, everypony struggled to be as close to the light as possible. And the only real sounds were their steps on the floor and their breaths in the air.
It was after a few moments that Twilight would finally say something. “Octavia, sorry it took me so long, but to answer your question. I guess I had an … epiphany.”
She had trouble enunciating the last word, Octavia noted. A big word, even for a smart filly. Octavia had, of course, no idea what it meant and one look around told her that nopony else did either.
It was Lyra who broke the silence: “What’s an iperfamy?”
Twilight laughed and coughed at the same time. Octavia felt bad just listening to it. The unicorn still leant on Derpy, who seemed concerned, but also proud of herself being there for her friend.
Twilight explained; “It's epiphany. What I mean to say with it is that I fought Magia and after that encounter I witnessed what exactly it is. I feel now like I understand what we need to do, too. When I jumped forward, that Wise Goat told me that I did the right thing, that I could finish it right there. I guess he kinda encouraged me.”
Octavia almost stopped. The Wise Goat? But he told me that you were wrong, she thought, but didn’t quite know whether she should say it. Maybe it was a different goat. Maybe there were lots of goat spirits all around Canterlot, filled with regrets of grass uneaten.
The tiny earth pony sure didn’t know what to make of it, but Twilight seemed to have an affinity for the arcane. Maybe that meant just meant one got involved with magic goats.
“This magic I used before, it was ... I tapped into the Magia's power. I-,” she broke up and inhaled deeply.
Octavia saw how a shiver ran through the filly and she pondered whether she should say something. However, Twilight quickly regained herself and continued on.
“I think that's what the Wise Goat wanted, maybe he wanted me to die. I mean, it was a voice in my head, just appearing, telling me how special i was, how I could change the world. I can’t say why, but I think he lied to me.”
Octavia had noticed that he’d gotten quiet. Was it because of fear? Did he not wish to be questioned, or were they truly on their own now. Before she could begin figuring out an answer, her thoughts were interrupted. Twilight stopped dead in her tracks, her breaths growing heavier by the second.
“Sorry, I- I need a rest. I can't … Oh, Luna .... My body- It's. …”
She fell on her knees, struggling for each breath and the other ponies tried to close in on the narrow path. Derpy managed to stand beside her, Octavia before her and Raindrops behind. Trixie stood there, looking at Twilight with a mixture of spite, pity and fear. Lyra was the last to turn around.
“I’m sure it's only a bit farther Twily, then we can rest,” she said with a smile, but Twilight only shook her head.
There were tears falling from her eyes and she grabbed her stomach, grunting and coughing.
The little filly was in pain and scared of it, too. Octavia remembered her donning the same expression during the time they had dinner. However, this time there were no adults who could interfere, nopony to help them.
She felt her own breath accelerating, but snapped out of it the moment she saw Raindrops. The black filly was beginning to cry too, now. Nopony seemed to know what to do, it seemed, but Tavi understood perfectly that one of them had to stand up. They had to, even if none of them quite knew what to do.
She moved to Twilight’s side and embraced the filly. What had Hugh said back then?
“It's okay, calm down. Take deep breaths,” she spoke, too hastily, “Think of a calm sea , a blue sky with white clouds.”
Rainbow Dash, she thought.
One filly had broken down before her today and she’d been there for her. Yes, she hadn’t failed then and she sure as hay wouldn’t fail now. She would be brave, she would be there for everypony.
She stroke through Twilight’s mane and whispered whatever soothing thing came to her mind. She showed her calm breaths and hummed a song, one of those Raindrops liked to sing, but she felt so hollow while doing it.
In truth, she would’ve given everything for the boon of doing Twilight a real kindness and take the pain from her.
The other filly calmed down in Octavia’s hug.
“You’re so small,” Twilight whispered.
“W-well, that’s just because your head’s t-too big. You should really stop reading so many books,” Octavia answered with a smile. “All better now?”
Twilight nodded. “I’m sorry.”
“It’s fine,” Derpy chimed in. “I can carry you if you want.”
The Lunarium would probably be right at the end of this tunnel, right? So having somepony carry Twilight wasn’t that bad an idea.
“Maybe you could do that,” Octavia said.
“No, no, I want to walk. I want to see this through on my own four legs. If that makes any sense.”
Raindrops grumbled. “I want to fix everything before midnight. We’ll get grounded if we take too long.”
Well, that would certainly be a problem then, Octavia thought, and everypony silently agreed.
“Onwards then,” Lyra said, pointing forward.
As they started to move again, however, Octavia noticed how Twilight slumped. She might have asked Lyra if she could magic Twilight’s pain onto her. The filly twitched with every heartbeat, as if a tiny hammer was crashing against her chest and tried to break through the wall of bones.
That was the sort of pain Octavia never wanted to experience.
After that thought it was like her mind went blank and she noticed how weak her own legs had become. She was shaking and her teeth were chittering, weren’t they?
She tried to walk closer to Twilight, to soothe her own fears. It was okay though, because she was just a filly, too and there wasn’t any magic in her own music.
She was just prattling on and she really wasn't anypony special.
That’s how it’d always been. Her mother had told her so, the other foals in the city had told her so and only Hugh had smiled whenever she took out the bow. Even that little pegasus would eventually overcome all odds and become a wonderbolt, but she was just a normal filly.
Her name had been Rainbow Dash, Octavia remembered and somepony saying something to her. She remembered the words and the smile her grandfather had given her, but it felt like there was something missing.
Here she was, surrounded by the five ponies she thought closest to her and yet she felt alone. Raindrops was sniffling, quietly, without anypony really paying attention. Not even she herself did. All she had on her mind right now was a name, because everything else felt so distant now.
Octavia knew she needed to be brave now, or else she’d become dead weight for all of them. They were unicorns and pegasi, but with magic, she would be the only earth pony.
Would they leave her once magic was back and saw the paradise of old restored?
Actually, even her parents had thrown her out, hadn’t they? She’d been too busy with her instrument, too busy to chase the dream of being like her uncle and she hadn’t grown up when the fire came.
Now, she wasn’t even a proper Quarternote. Even if she’d been, wouldn’t her parents be gone now, too?
She felt herself shaking more and more. My parents … They were still in the city weren’t they? she suddenly thought and stopped in her tracks.
“What now?” Trixie asked annoyed.
It was silent then.
The smog covered in another layer of inescapable filth, like it always did. Looking out of her window, Octavia found nothing to look at. The same old ugly garden, the same old ugly town. There were dark-tiled roofs and houses of red stones, grey streets and alleys exploding with waste. Everything was ugly.
Her grandfather had often taken her through the same streets. They hadn’t been ugly back then, but beautiful and rich with sights. Why couldn’t they be like back then? To where were they gone and to where had her grandfather left?
The blaze lingered on her mind for a second and then she turned away from the ugly world towards a colorless room that had only a bed, a cabinet and pictures of family members staring down at her with utmost disdain. An ugly world outside and an empty world inside.
Her parents would be mad if she left her room now, however. This was no time for proper little fillies to walk about and annoy them, after all. They were busy, too. They did adult things little fillies shouldn’t question. Her parents usually got really mad whenever she questioned what they did. Be it among themselves or with her.
But she didn’t want to be alone in her room, with dolls too fragile to play with and furniture too expensive to touch. The filly walked away from the window and towards her cabinet.
With one pull she opened it and revealed all the dresses and headdresses her parents would put on her whenever they left the house together. She was their own, precious babydoll after all.
Beneath the dresses was a large trunk. Octavia wasn’t supposed to touch it, but her parents seemed to have forgotten that it was even here. So she opened it and looked at the thing she’d hidden away inside. Her grandfather’s cello case was right before her and the filly quickly grabbed it with her teeth, pulling it out. Though it was much too big for her, she managed to drag it across her room and towards her bed.
Octavia got atop it with great difficulty. She was still young and often clumsy, not that the instrument was helping. However, she managed to get up there, seating herself and placing the case in front of her. The filly opened it.
The smell of her grandfather lingered there and she took it in.
“It’s almost like you’re here again,” she whispered.
Taking the bow, she prepared herself to play it, to hear him again.
“Octavia Quarternote,” her father’s voice erupted from the door.
Instinctively, she threw the bow back into the case. “Fa–” she started, but couldn’t finish.
Of course, she wanted to explain, she wanted to tell him that she just wanted to do something, that she didn’t mean to upset him. But that didn’t matter, not really. He stomped towards her, his face contorting in anger.
“How often have I told you to,” he grabbed her mane.
She screamed, of course she did. He never listened, but Octavia thought that if she made herself heard, maybe there would be mercy.
“Just,” he sat down and threw her over his lap.
“Let,” she felt his over hoof coming down on her haunches.
“It.”
“Go.”
She was crying, of course she was. It was unfair, she hadn’t even done anything bad. Not this time.
“I just want grandfather to come back,” the girl cried out.
He stopped spanking her and she looked up to see his face. Shock was clear on it. Had she gotten through? He’d never stopped before.
Then, she felt another sting of pain as he threw her back on the bed, ripping out some hairs. Her father, her beloved father, he only ground his teeth as he towered above her and lifted his hoof again.
It came down on her face, she remembered. Again, then again. Back then he’d lifted her again by her hair, but before she could scream out his other hoof would come down on her. By the time he threw her against the wall, she was only half-conscious and reduced to blubbering apologies that he didn’t care for.
Then there was more pain, more hits. He was screaming words she couldn’t hear. She couldn’t even see him anymore. Her sight was red and her face felt oddly light, with some liquid flowing down. She felt another beneath her thighs, the sight must’ve infuriated him even more.
Octavia remembered her mother. “She was always a dreamer, not a true Quarternote. We could always try to make another. Just let go of her and that memory of your bloody father.”
That was how she’d calmed him, but Octavia didn’t remember much thereafter. No, there was only a grey street before her, with lampposts to each side. She remembered herself dragging the cello case after her and the thought of her grandfather smiling down on her.
There is magic in music. ...
Then she was in the middle of the road, the smog obscuring the nightly sky and two eyes. They were as gold as the sun, but whereas one stood at an early dawn, the other rose up high in the sky.
“Daddy,” a filly in a distant memory yelled.
“You’re going to be fine,” a stallion had told her. “We’ll take care of you.”
Her mother had smiled when she first put the bow to the cello.
There was silence and darkness and nothing else. It felt so hollow all of a sudden, so cold, it was like the entire world had come crashing down and at the same time it didn’t. Octavia felt oddly distant from it all, as the only thing she did was to stare at the sand. Yet she felt arms put around her.
Derpy was holding her and tears coming out of her eyes.
“Don't cry, Octy. Don't-”
Was she crying?
Her eyes went to the ground, and she noticed how droplets were falling from then. She looked up again and saw everypony’s faces.
Lyra smiled, but she her chest was moving with heavy breaths. Trixie looked simply downtrodden and Twilight looked a wreck, leaning against the wall, sweating and panting. There were tears rolling down Raindrops’ eyes as she eyed back.
They had stopped, hadn’t they? Is this what happens when the halt?
“Sorry, it’s nothing,” she said, but couldn’t find her voice. “We need to. …”
Canterlot was behind them, wasn’t it?
Octavia understood. She would never see Hugh again nor Madame Hooves, she wouldn't get to watch Trixie trying to make a decent magic show, Lyra throwing her off with a comment about “hands”. She wouldn't get to see a table nearly breaking under the weight of the muffins atop of it ever again. Never again would she smell the dirt of Canterlot and canter beneath the smog and the poison rain.
The chance to see her parents again and bring a little music into their lives was gone as well.
She felt them gather as much as they could, gathering in a hug, grasping for what warmth they could find. All they had now was each other, because everything else was behind them and there was no turning back.
Only one pony didn't join in, instead she simply adjusted her hat and said in a loud voice; "Magic is harmony and harmony is peace. When we get to the Lunarium, everything will be fine.”
They turned to Trixie, who looked forward. The path twisted itself into darkness.
“Everypony we have met, everypony we haven't. They're all going to be fine and maybe there will be Alicorns, too. I don't know what you're crying about, because what happened up there, if anypony can undo it, it has to be an Alicorn! There’s probably one at the Lunarium."
They all looked at her, how she stood there. For a moment Octavia thought how tall she looked. And then, Trixie turned her head, revealing her smile. For one single moment, she dropped the sad act and smiled at them with hope.
They were all together, not just in grief and fear.
“We've all seen what happened up there,” Trixie continued, “but we shouldn't run away from it, instead we should go forward so we can save it. Brave and strong, mature and not crying. That would make all our parents proud, Trixie's sure."
Tiny and piebald, brown and white. Octavia had laughed when she first saw Trixie and only later learned that the household she lived in was similar to Octavia’s old home. There, she would get beaten for even the most minor thing. Sometimes Trixie would get her head bashed in just for the sake of having it bashed in.
Octavia had known and like anypony else done nothing about it. Everypony was like that, every parent found a reason to despise their child. All but Madame Hooves and Hugh Jelly.
If there ever was a chance to change that, was it now? Was the Lunarium really the answer? Had the Wise Goat lied about everything, or should they cling on to that little bit of hope?
“Come on everypony, we've still got ways to go,” Trixie said and turned around.
Octavia just looked at her and for a moment the tiny and weak Trixie seemed truly great and powerful. Everypony found some strength in that speech.
“Alright,” Lyra said gravely and continued to lead the way.
“I’m fine, Derpy, you help Twilight, alright?” Octavia told the grey pegasus who nodded in return.
Then she turned to Raindrops. “We’ll be there soon, come on, I’ll walk with you.”
That cheered the pegasus up a bit.
So they walked forward. Trixie beside Lyra, Derpy beside Twilight, Octavia beside Raindrops. The path was narrow, but Octavia felt a bit better. Now they could surely finish it.
I'd do anything if I don't have to look back now, Octavia thought as she moved forward. The rest of this journey would be a piece of cake.
“Fuck!”
The voice echoed from far behind them and they all turned around.
Raindrops froze as she heard it and only one thought came to Octavia’s mind. Someone had followed them and she was sure it wasn’t a helpful pony. They shot the mares, both of them. They only tried to help us.
In the distance, they heard noises and a small light appearing.
“There’s something up front,” she heard a voice, one she didn’t recognize. “Sarge, there’s something strange there.”
When you hide they can't find you, she had told Rainbow Dash. She remembered her and she told herself that the poor, blind foal was safe and sound and she would be taken care off. They hadn't gotten her who was even more tiny than Octavia. They hadn't gotten the filly and they most certainly wouldn't get her.
“We need to go,” She said, her voice and body trembling. “Now!”
All looks were upon her, but Trixie quickly began to nod.
“They’re soldiers,” Octavia said, “I really hoped they wouldn’t come, but they did and if we won’t hurry, then they’ll kill us. We need to go, we need to run. We need to hurry!”