Chapter V- Unknown
“Lady Arcus!”
The mare awoke immediately expecting danger as somepony knocked on the door of her bedroom. She swiftly ran to the door and swung it open.
“What is it? Are we being attacked?”
Before her, Shattered Ice was wearing an expression of glee. Lady Arcus allowed herself to lose the battle stance and regain her usual composure.
“No. It's good news, for once,” he stated.
“Well, go on,” she urged.
“A rainstorm broke over the Iridium Plains last night. We have a chance to get close to the city.”
“What makes you think that? Despite the fact that the rain would cover our approach for a ways, the guards will still be able to see us when we get close enough to the city. Not to mention, there's a wall around Iridis. Trying to scale that in the rain might get somepony seriously hurt.”
“But think about this. Some of the guards will most likely be neglecting their duties to stay dry. If we could find an area of the wall that is unguarded, we could get close enough to investigate so that‒”
“No,” Lady Arcus interrupted, “We've already sent Stardust to investigate the walls before. The walls were without flaw, remember? Impenetrable.”
“But you know Stardust. She may have missed something.”
“I'm sorry, but no. I appreciate the idea, but I'm not putting any of my ponies at risk for such a trivial matter. We will wait for the savior.”
Lady Arcus turned to walk back into her room.
“Listen here!” Shattered Ice shouted at her. She halted. “There is no savior! We can't sit around waiting for some celestial warrior to fix our problems! We have to do it ourselves!”
Arcus shook her head, “Oh, you of little faith...”
With that she shut the door behind her, leaving the frustrated white pegasus on the other side.
“How can I not have faith... if I have seen the savior with my own eyes...” she whispered to herself.
Soarin had fallen asleep on Minuette's couch overnight. Having not slept in over twenty-four hours, he had drifted off while she had been talking. He awoke with a blanket thrown over him and red dawn rays shining onto his face through the window next to the front door. He still felt pretty empty, but he forced himself to get up, stretching his limbs and wings.
“Good morning, sleepyhead,” said Minuette, who was entering from another room.
“How long was I asleep?” he asked.
“About thirteen hours. I was almost afraid you wouldn't wake up,” she said with a slight chuckle.
The news kinda made Soarin feel bad. He didn't want to rest until Rainbow was back in his arms again. She wanted her to be there. Now he didn't even know where she was. It was... saddening. His heart ached. He would find her. Only then would he be whole again.
“You want something to eat? There's some toast in the kitchen,” Minuette offered.
“No thanks. I don't feel like eating.”
“Okay then,” she shrugged.
Soarin stood up and stretched. Saying nothing, he opened the front door and stepped out onto the street. The sun had barely crept over the horizon. Clouds were building up in one corner of the sky. It was going to be a dreary day.
“Fitting,” he muttered.
He stood there for a while, not thinking about anything in particular. His mind would drift between sadness and a general sense of delirium. The hopelessness of the situation was making him depressed. Apparently, the kidnapper had the capability to time-travel. How was he supposed to find Rainbow in the vastness of time. There were millions of possibilities. Infinite even. It was impossible to determine when they went.
Minuette stepped out beside him. “You really do love her, don't you?” she asked.
Soarin nodded. It was true. He loved her more than anything in the world. In fact, he had started saving for a certain special gift for her. But it was too late. He had lost his chance. She was gone.
“There needs to be more like you in the world,” Minuette said. “Anypony would be so lucky to have you.”
Soarin turned to her. “Is it possible to get to Arcanum's time?”
“Well,” she looked at him, “If we had a reference. We would need to find out the time he comes from.”
“How would we do that, exactly?”
“That's just it. I have no idea.”
“Nothing, huh?”
“We could stop by the Golden Oak Library. Maybe something could be found there.”
Soarin shrugged. “Better than nothing.”
“Come on, cheer up!” she said. “You'll see her again.”
Soarin let out a sigh. “I hope to Celestia that you're right.
Rainbow Dash sat near the bars of her cell window, staring out at the vast dry land stretching out into the distance. According to Summer Blaze, the unicorn she met the day prior, this entire world was new.
“Thirteen years ago,” Summer had told her. “The old world was wiped from existence. Nopony except a mare known as Lady Arcus knew of the old world. Rumor was that she and the emperor were the only ones to survive the destruction of the old world. The emperor, using god-like powers, created a new world that he named Altero. The ponies that populate his world have no memory of their pasts. Some create their own imaginary pasts and others question if that past exists at all.”
Rainbow wasn't sure what to do with this information. Was she supposed to be scared? It didn't feel real. This all felt like a dream.
“Maybe it is,” she said to herself. “Maybe this is all a figment of my imagination.
But she knew it was different than that. The dream was too real this time. And she hadn't seen that stallion from her dreams. But some part of her was whispering that she'd wake up soon.
Rainbow turned and looked into Summer Blazes cell. The yellow mare was sleeping on her cot, curled into a ball. Her orange tail was draped over her nose like a warm blanket. The unicorn was peculiarly accepting when Rainbow had told her that she was from another world. Maybe she thought that she was from the old world or something?
Rainbow gazed back out the window. Was she? What was the old world?
You have to go and restore the timeline.
The sentence echoed through the back of her mind. It was a line from one of her dreams. Why did that come back to mind? She remembered a tower in the background. And the stallion. And darkness.
They were puzzle pieces she couldn't fit together. So many questions. So few answers. And all Rainbow could do is sit imprisoned in a cell made of iron. She had no choice but to wait for a miracle.
“You're just as lost as the first time we met, aren't you?”
Rainbow turned at the sound of the voice. Her pitch black doppelganger was standing there in her cell. Rainbow jumped back in surprise.
“How did you get in?” she yelped.
“I didn't. I'm not actually here.”
Rainbow then noticed that she could see Blaze through the tattered pegasus before her.
“Who are you?” she asked, regaining her heart.
“Still don't remember?” the double said. “You and I decided we'd call you Rainbow, and me Dash.”
“But,” Rainbow tilted her head, “I'm Rainbow Dash. I'm both. How could you be… me? I think I'd remember something like this.”
“Deep down you must. Way down in the shadows of your heart, there is the pony that I wanted so desperately to kill. The one who stole my love from me as well as my home.”
“But I fixed it! Everything should be normal!” Rainbow covered her mouth as soon as the words escaped her lips. Those weren't her words. Those were somepony else's.
Dash smiled. “I knew it. You are there. And when I meet you again, I'll settle the score once and for all.”
Then the mirage faded, leaving Rainbow alone, staring at the door of the cell. Crouching down to the floor, she covered her head with her hooves and said, “What in Celestia's name is going on?”
This dream was getting far too strange.
