//------------------------------// // When we waved goodbye // Story: Awakening // by punisher143 //------------------------------// Rainbow Dash had just gotten back to the cloud that she left Twilight on. She was both glad and sorry that both Twilight and the creature respectively were still there. “Hey, I’m back,” Dash said to Twilight, who was staring at the creature. “We have a serious problem,” Twilight said without looking up. “Yeah, I knew that Twi. Are you just getting that?” Twilight looked up at Dash. “I’m serious Dash, we have a problem,” Twilight said and looked back down. “I think that thing knows who our friends are.” Rainbow cringed and looked down as well. “Yeah, that is pretty bad. How would you know?” “I don’t like the way it was grinning when Applejack was here, and even if it doesn’t know about them there’s still something else.” Twilight looked at Rainbow, “Exactly how long did it take for us to notice something was wrong with Pinkie?” “Around the time she drugged me I suppose,” Dash answered. It took her a second to realize what she said. “Oh, that’s not good.” “If that thing can possess ponies and mimic them so well, and if it knows who our friends are, then what’s to stop it from doing this all over again? Everypony we know is in danger as long as that thing is here.” The creature started jumping up and trying to reach the cloud. Dash pulled the cloud higher and it stopped. “Yeah and I’m worried about Pinkie. You know how sensitive she is with things like this,” Dash said and Twilight nodded remembering the events around Pinkie’s birthday last year. “Who knows how Pinkie’s going to take this, let alone anyone else it gets.” Dash crashed onto the cloud and sighed. “What are we gonna do?” Twilight closed her eyes and thought it over. She analyzed the problem from every angle she could think of. Something still bugged her about this, which Rainbow gave voice to. “Why is it even coming after us anyway? What makes us so special?” Twilight perked up and a theory started forming. “That’s a good point Dash, why is it doing this?” Dash looked at her and Twilight held a hoof up. “Just follow me on this; it had to have gotten close to Pinkie to have possessed her right? If that’s true, why would it go through the trouble of possessing her and try to kill in such an elaborate way instead of killing Pinkie? “Maybe when we woke it up, it imprinted on us somehow. If that’s true, then everything it does should just be a way to get to us.” “But we don’t know that for sure,” Dash said. “It hasn’t moved away from here at all since we’ve been here. It could easily leave and go after somepony else, but it doesn’t.” Twilight tried her best to look into its red eyes. “Also, if what it said while possessing Pinkie is the truth, it enjoys the reactions it gets. We might be reacting in exactly the way it wants us to, so it’s going to stick with us.” Twilight sighed and turned to Rainbow. “I hate to say it, but I can only think of one way to keep everypony safe from this thing.” Dash caught on to what Twilight was saying. “Wait a minute; you’re not suggesting we leave Ponyville are you?” Dash asked. Twilight looked away from Dash. “If it comes to that, it should only be for a little while, but I’m not sure what to do. I have to think about it.” Twilight looked up at the overcast, “What time is it?” Dash quickly flew up and looked through the clouds for a few seconds before landing. “It’s just about evening. Oh crap I forgot; if you can’t get to the library safely, where are you gonna sleep tonight?” Twilight didn’t answer. “Twi?” Dash asked looking over to her and found Twilight asleep. “Well, I guess that works,” Dash said to herself. Dash moved the cloud a little higher before settling into the cloud herself. “Thirty days has September, April, June and November; all the rest have thirty one, except for February which has twenty eight, but on leap years twenty nine.” The voice stirred Twilight awake. When she opened her eyes she found herself lying in a pool of light, the voice echoing from the darkness beyond. “The Fibonacci sequence is both simple and complex in how it works; start with one and one, then two to three, and repeat for infinity.” “Hello?” Twilight called out, “Is anyone there?” Orange eyes and a smile appeared in the darkness. “Oh, your back; that was fast, I expected you to take a little longer. Then again, if you had been any slower, Rainbow would be dead and Pinkie lost to madness. So, a B+ it is.” The face moved through the darkness, though it didn’t stop facing Twilight. “Whatever, how did you know about that anyway?” “I have something of a connection to Ms. Pie, so when twinges of pain echoed from her mind, I felt them. A shame it took me so long to realize what the problem was.” The smile slipped a little. “But either way, you acted swiftly. Perhaps your future is not as dark as I thought.” “Connected? That doesn’t make any sense!” Twilight yelled and pointed a hoof at the face. “Who are you?! What are you?! For all I know, you could be that thing playing tricks on me!” The smile disappeared completely and the eyes moved back and forth, like it was shaking its head. “So quick to forget, aren’t we? If I was that monster, why would I tell you my plan? No, I’m something much more personal.” “Then show yourself.” “As much as I want to, my appearance is…mangy isn’t the right word, but I’m not a pretty sight.” Twilight didn’t back down and stared intensely into those orange eyes. Soon, the voice sighed and the eyes closed. “As you wish, Ms. Sparkle.” Twilight couldn’t help but smile at this small victory and waited. When nothing stepped out of the darkness, Twilight thought to go into it. That was changed when- “Boo.” Twilight screamed and dove forward. She heard a chuckle behind her and felt anger rise up in her. She got up and turned around to give it a piece of her mind, but her anger boiled down when she saw the voice’s body. “I warned you Twilight,” it said. For all intents and purposed, Twilight was looking at herself. The hair and coat colors, style of mane, and cutie mark were all the same as hers, the only difference being the aforementioned orange eyes and wild smile as well as a few errant strands of mane and tail sticking up. It or she walked over to Twilight, who backed up an equal amount. “Oh don’t be like that Twilight. Remember, ‘don’t judge a book by its cover.’ Despite my appearance I can be helpful, and as it turns out you need help.” “W-what do you mean?” Twilight asked. The other Twilight started circling around her. “I’m talking about this horrible little dilemma you found yourself in. Do you stay with your friends and try to console Ms. Pie, and ultimately put them all in danger. Or…leave town and betray their trust, though in doing so keep them out of harm’s way?” She stopped in front of Twilight. “If I may, allow me to lessen the burden.” She leaned toward her. “A true friend will understand your decisions. They may not like it at first, but if it ultimately is for the best, they’ll accept it. And if you’re worried about Pinkie, don’t be; though the road to recovery is long and hard, she’ll make it if she perseveres.” “Really,” Twilight asked. She wasn’t entirely keen on trusting this doppelganger, but it did seem sure of its words. “Of course, but that won’t happen as long as that thing is here. I trust you to make the right decision.” She then turned and walked into the darkness. Twilight was about to say something, but felt consciousness slip from her. She fell to the floor, and instead of the hard floor, she landed on some kind of soft material. Twilight woke up on the cloud she fell asleep on. It took a second for her eyes to adjust to the light, but when she did she found that the overcast was gone, replaced by the usual bright sun. Twilight looked around and found Rainbow Dash was nowhere to be seen. At least until she popped up out of nowhere. “Hey Twi, glad to see you’re finally awake,” Dash said, “Hold on, I’ll get you down.” Dash grabbed Twilight and kicked the cloud to dissipate it. With that done she flew Twilight to the ground. “Thanks Dash. What happened to that thing?” Twilight asked. Dash shrugged. “It must have left before I woke up. I kind of woke up early to help clear the storm, so it must have gone back to the Everfree forest.” “That’s good,” Twilight whispered to herself before speaking up, “Hey Rainbow, about what I said last night, we need to talk about it.” “About how we may have to leave for a while,” Dash asked. Twilight nodded. “I think we may have to do that. I don’t like the idea, but we don’t really have a choice if we want to keep our friends safe.” “Are you sure?” Dash asked, wracking her head for some other solution. “I mean, what if one of us led it away from Ponyville for a while.” “That wouldn’t work. You’ve seen how tenacious it is and it might not even follow in the first place.” Twilight shook her head. “I’ve gone through every solution I can think of and this is the only one that’s guaranteed to work.” “Well, what about Pinkie and the others? I don’t want to leave them without an explanation.” “If we tell them the truth, they’ll want to come with us which is too dangerous.” “If we do this, we need a good reason.” “So you agree?” “I never said that,” Dash sat down, “I’m just saying you would need a good explanation for leaving so suddenly, especially with what happened to Pinkie.” Twilight agreed with that and thought harder about what to do. ‘What would Princess Celestia do?’ Twilight thought. ‘Wait a minute.’ “Princess Celestia.” “Oh duh,” Dash said and facehoofed, “I forgot about her, we can just ask her for help.” “I know she can help, but that thing still poses a problem. I don’t how strong it is, so what if it manages to overpower the princess?” Dash thought about that situation, and shivered at the thought. “We don’t know that.” Dash pointed out. “It doesn’t need to fight her; all it would take is one lucky surprise attack. No, I was thinking this. What if the princess asked me to go on an extended trip, one that could take weeks or months to accomplish, and you went with me to help.” “They would still want to come along.” “It has to be done fast, so only one or two ponies can go.” “They would want to see the letter saying that.” At this Twilight looked away with slight embarrassment. “I…may know how to forge the Princess’ writing.” Dash stared at her in disbelief. “Seriously,” Dash asked and Twilight nodded. Dash looked down, trying to think of something else, but couldn’t think of anything. This plan was crazy and probably wouldn’t work. Dash sighed. “What would we need?” She asked. “Spike, are you awake!” Twilight yelled as she flew the library door open, startling said dragon. “Twilight, where have you been?” Spike asked as Twilight looked frantically around the library. “Uh, I spent the night over at Rainbow’s house. Oh, where did I put those ink wells?” “You spent the night at Dash’s house, even though the library is closer to Sugarcube Corner?” “I fell asleep on the floor,” Twilight said while digging through a desk and pulled out an ink well. “Great, now where did I put those quills?” “Twilight, what’s going on?” Spike asked with his voice completely serious. Twilight turned to him and saw he had a look on his face that said he knew she was lying. Twilight was quiet for a moment, and then sighed. “I can’t hide much can you, can I?” Twilight asked. “You try,” Spike said and moved closer to Twilight. “Come on, what’s got you so spooked?” Twilight pawed at the floor. “Do you promise not to tell anyone?” she asked. “What do you mean?” Spike asked in return. “Promise me you won’t tell anyone about this, especially Rarity.” “Alright alright, I promise I won’t tell anyone.” With that said, Twilight sighed and told Spike everything, from the trip into the forest to the possessed Pinkie (leaving out the more gruesome implications from that part) to her plan to leave Ponyville for a while. “And you’re sure this will only take a couple months?” Spike asked when Twilight was finished. “I don’t know Spike; I’m way over my head in this. All I do know is that I don’t want to see what it will do next if I stay,” Twilight responded. She briefly wondered how her life suddenly became so complicated, but pushed it away. Spike thought for a moment and rubbed a hand along the back of his head. “I don’t know Twilight, this plan seems way too complicated to work.” “I know Spike, but I can’t think of anything else right now. All this just came crashing down around me and-“ Twilight stopped when she felt a clawed hand over her mouth. “Alright, I got it Twilight. Just…hurry up and solve this quickly ok?” Spike said and took his hand of Twilight’s mouth. “Thanks Spike, I’ll try and solve this as soon as I can.” Twilight said and looked around. “Um, where did I put my saddlebags?” “They’re up in your room. I can get them ready, unless you want me to write the letter?” Twilight shook her head. “Thanks Spike, but I would prefer to write it myself.” Spike nodded. “Ok, the scrolls are where they always are.” Twilight nodded and got started on the letter while Spike went upstairs. Rainbow Dash landed on her cloud home and went inside. Twilight had told her to pack at least a week’s worth of food as well as various other things she thought she would need. So Dash got her saddlebags from her room and went to the kitchen. Dash didn’t know what to bring, so she just packed what she could. Apples, carrots and other fruits and vegetables were stowed away. With food taken care of, Dash turned her attention to the ‘other’ part of her list. That was settled to be her bit stash, which she had been saving for a while, a small Wonderbolts picture, and something that Dash had forgot she had. It was a necklace with a custom pendant in the shape of her cutie mark. Dash smiled at the memory of the day she got it, her mom had given it to her a couple days after she got it. She had long ago out grown it, but considering she didn’t know when she would be back she decided to bring it along, putting it in the bag of bits. Thinking of nothing else to do, Dash hoisted the saddlebag onto her back and flew out of the house to her next destination. Twilight rolled up the scroll that she wrote the letter on and sealed it. She levitated it off to the side as Spike walked over with a pair of saddlebags over his shoulder. “Well, this should be everything you need,” Spike said and set the bags down. Twilight looked through them to double check that she had everything and nodded in satisfaction. “Thanks Spike, what would I do without you?” Twilight asked and nuzzled Spike, who shied away from the attention. When she stopped, Twilight put a hoof to her chin in thought, wondering what else to get. An idea struck that she hadn’t thought of before. “Spike, we wouldn’t happen to have any empty journals around would we?” Twilight asked. “A journal?” Spike asked and then moved to a bookshelf until he pulled out from, of course, the J section. “You mean something like this?” Twilight took the book from Spike and examined it, a brand new journal with all the pages blank. “Yes, this will do nicely,” Twilight said and packed the journal in the saddlebag, along with a couple quills and ink wells. “Why the sudden interest in a journal?” Spike asked. “I guess it’s to give me something to do,” Twilight said as a sad look crossed face. “And…if this doesn’t end as well as I hope, I’ll at least be able to get my thoughts down on something.” Twilight levitated the bags onto her back, “Well, I guess that’s everything. Can you take care while I’m away?” “Of course I can,” Spike said and hugged Twilight around the neck. “And besides if I do need help, the others will help me out. So don’t worry about me.” The two held the hug for a little longer before letting go. “Thanks Spike, that means a lot to me.” Twilight said and nuzzled Spike again, and then walked to the door. “I’ve got to go now Spike. Hopefully I’ll see you soon.” Spike nodded and watched Twilight leave. ‘Well, that was one hard thing done,’ Twilight thought, ‘now for the next one.’ Rainbow Dash was circling above Carousel boutique and keeping an eye open for Twilight. It was on her fifteenth or so circle when she spotted Twilight. Dash dove down and landed near Twilight. “How’d it go?” Rainbow asked. “About as well as I could hope,” Twilight replied with a small smile as the two continued to the boutique. “I had to tell Spike what was going on, but he seemed to understand.” “Really? Well, that’s good I guess. We can only hope the others will be just as understanding.” Dash said. They stopped at the front door to the shop. “Ok, we go in and explain our ‘mission’ to Rarity, and if whether or not she asks I’ll give her the letter. Are we clear on that?” Twilight asked. “Yeah yeah, we already went over this,” Dash responded and pushed the door open and entered, Twilight following. The main floor of the shop was empty, save for the usual mannequins here and there. Twilight walked around the shop while Dash called out. “Hey Rarity, are you here?” There were a few moments of silence before a voice called back from upstairs. “One moment, I’ll be down in a second.” Rainbow looked at Twilight who nodded back certainly. Rarity came down the stairs and was surprised to find the two mares. “Rainbow, Twilight, thank goodness you’re alright. We’ve been worried so much about you and Pinkie. Where have you been?” here Rarity noticed the saddlebags that both had on, “And why are you both packed for a trip?” “Well,” Twilight began, “I know it’s kind of sudden, but I got a letter from Princess Celestia earlier this morning. She apparently needs me to go find various plants from all around for some kind of special concoction.” Twilight gestured to Dash. “Rainbow found out and offered to come with me.” Rarity looked at the two of them strangely. “Well, I must say that this is rather sudden. Why would the princess want you to go now, especially with Pinkie Pie the way she is?” Twilight gulped. “I only heard the basics from Rainbow Dash. What exactly happened?” “The poor dear must have had a nervous breakdown of some kind. She completely tired herself out and made a mess of Sugarcube Corner’s basement in the meantime. You should have seen all that food coloring everywhere; it was horrifying to look at!” Rarity explained, adding a bit of dramatic flair to the end. “Food coloring?” Dash asked. “Who cares about that, is Pinkie alright?” Twilight asked. “Oh yes, she’s fine now,” Rarity said, “She passed out the second we got her to bed.” “So, you and the others can watch her while I’m out of town?” “Yes, but Pinkie could really use all the help she can get. How long will this last?” Rarity asked. “A couple of weeks at least; don’t worry though, me and Dash will try our best to get this done as fast as possible.” “Which brings us to why we’re here,” Dash said, “You wouldn’t happen to have a couple traveling cloaks, would ya?” Rarity rubbed a hoof against her chin. “You’ll be back quickly?” she asked. “As quickly as we can,” Twilight said. “You promise?” “We promise,” Twilight said and Dash nodded in agreement. Rarity closed her eyes for a moment and nodded. “In that case, I have just the thing,” she said with a shine in her eyes. Almost half an hour later, Twilight and Rainbow walked out of Carousel boutique, minus a letter and with two new cloaks, and headed for the road out of Ponyville. “Thank Celestia we managed to talk her out of those elaborate cloaks,” Dash said with no small hint of gratefulness. The cloaks they had were a simple brown color, too simple for Rarity’s needs but good enough for its purpose. “I just hope the others won’t be mad at us,” Twilight said sadly. “It sounds like Pinkie could really use our help right now.” “You want to turn back?” Dash asked, “It’s not too late for that.” Twilight shook her head and felt tears come to her eyes. “No, we already told the others, we better go through with it.” Twilight said. ‘I just gotta keep telling myself that, that this is for the best.’ Rainbow nodded and the two continued. They looked back at their home, just taking it in before they left for who knows how long. After a few minutes, Dash turned to Twilight. “I’m gonna fly for a bit. I won’t leave the road though.” Twilight nodded and turned away from Ponyville. Rainbow flew up and Twilight started walking. She thought she saw a pair of red eyes staring at her from the forest, but shook it off for later. And that more or less brings us to now. It’s almost nightfall now, so Rainbow set up a couple clouds to sleep on. They’re really comfy; no wonder she likes to nap on them all the time. I’ll write more when I have time. -Twilight Sparkle Twilight looked over what she wrote, checking for spelling errors and nodded when she found none. She closed the journal, resealed the ink well she had been using, and stashed and stashed everything back into her bags. Dash landed in front of her. “You done with that journal thing, it’s almost time for that thing to come out.” Dash said. “Yeah, I’m done.” Twilight said and looked down the road. “You think we can move a bit farther from the road? I don’t want anypony to get hurt during the night.” “Sure thing, just give me a second,” Dash said and flew back up to move the clouds over. With that done, she flew down and picked Twilight up to get ready for the first of many nights. This is probably one of the harder things I've written, mostly because I was hung up on a good reason for them to leave. That was harder than I thought. Anyway, updates will more than likely slow down because I need to figure how where to go from here.But next time, we'll check back in with the present and see what the princess' are up too.