Book Five: Crash Down
Chapter Three – Acceleration
Rainbow Dash’s Dream, Present, In the Sky Above Avenport
Perhaps it was the cool night air blowing against her body, or perhaps it was the sinking feeling in the pit of her stomach that she might have been seen using magic, but Linnai felt chilled to her bones despite the fact that she was being held in Gerulf’s arms as he soared through the sky. A sharp pain shot through her side as Gerulf shifted her body slightly in his grip. She could feel one of his claws pressing firmly against her ribcage.
Oh, that’s it, she thought. It’s loss of blood.
“We have to get you to the hospital,” Gerulf said, looking down at the pegasus.
Hospital? No! Linnai thought. If they put me under or numb me, I could revert back to changeling form! Even if I catch it and it’s only on the inside, they might still be able to tell. Especially if I use any magic!
Linnai squirmed slightly in Gerulf’s arms. He gripped her more tightly, causing him to waver through the air briefly. “Calm down!” he shouted down at her.
“No!” Linnai shouted, her eyes locking with his. “No hospital! I’ll be fine!”
“You won’t be fine, you were stabbed!”
This old fool is going to get me killed! And then it’s off to my execution in the real world!
“Please! You have to listen to me!” cried Linnai, her voice shaking. “I can’t go to the hospital! They won’t… I just can’t!”
Gerulf narrowed his eyes. “They treat plenty of ponies there. Don’t worry about that.”
“It’s not that! I can’t explain it, I just… just trust me, please,” she responded more calmly, still gazing into his eyes, which softened slightly as he let out a sigh. “Gerulf, please…”
“Fine, fine. But yer not gonna like the alternative.”
Linnai blinked. “What’s… the alternative?”
Gerulf changed course, heading southward back towards the tavern. “I told ya we used to do security work. That wasn’t exactly a lie, but it wasn’t wholly true, either. When I saw where the delivery was going, I had a feeling there would be trouble, so I followed you just to make sure.”
“What are you saying?” Linnai asked, blinking her eyes.
Gerulf shook his head. “Let’s just say we couldn’t always go to the hospital for our injuries either, so we got pretty good at patching ourselves up. When we get back to the roost, I’ll get you fixed, but the reason I say you won’t like it is, well…”
“Well?” Linnai asked, almost not wanting to know.
“Ain’t had any anesthesia for a while. It’s gonna hurt. You still don’t wanna go to the hospital and see a proper doctor?”
Linnai shook her head and turned to stare southward. “No. I’ll be fine. Do what you have to do.”
“We all have secrets, kid. Don’t sweat it. I know.”
Linnai gulped and nodded her head. You have no idea, old bird. This isn’t much better, though. If he notices anything out of the ordinary…
Gerulf pushed open the tavern doors and immediately rushed to the stairs in the back. As he climbed the stairs past the second floor and onto the spiral staircase that led up to the attic, Frida’s voice came from below.
“What happened?” Frida shouted.
“Stove still fired up?” Gerulf yelled back, continuing his ascent to the attic. “Knife wound.”
“Why are you asking her about the stove?” Linnai asked, attempting to shift slightly in his arms, but ultimately unable to budge but an inch.
“Stay calm,” Gerulf said, looking back down at her. “You have to stay calm or you could cause more bleeding. It’s slowed significantly, but only due to the pressure I’ve been putting on it.” By the time he’d said this, they were upstairs passing through what looked like a combination living room and workshop. Gerulf pushed a door in the back open with his shoulder and entered a smaller room in the back. Moonlight shone in through the single window, and Linnai found herself placed upon a long padded table underneath it. She tried her best to keep her breathing calm, though shivers shot through her body as soon as she was freed from Gerulf’s grasp. The griffon rushed across the dark room and lit an oil lamp which he then brought over to the table. He rummaged through the drawers that sat beside the table, pulling out items that Linnai recognized as standard first aid implements: Gauze bandages, a bottle of clear liquid, some clean white rags, and some adhesive tape.
Linnai’s attention was pulled away as the door at the stairs opened again and a slight red glow entered the room. Gerulf turned his head briefly, then turned back to Linnai. He lowered his face down to the knife wound and pressed against it with his claw. Blood poured out and he quickly pushed his palm against the wound again. Linnai screeched in pain, but Gerulf’s other arm quickly shot around her and held her as steady as he could manage.
“Stay calm,” he said. Linnai could see Frida now standing behind him, a dull red glow still coming from somewhere she couldn’t see. Frida circled around the table, and Linnai could hear her rattling something around in her claws. A second later, she heard Frida’s voice, as calm as could be, speaking from behind her.
“Alright, my dear, you’re going to have to trust us. Just take a deep breath,” she said as she lowered some straps down over Linnai’s head. It was a bridle of some sort, the straps made from a tough polished material, and was buckled and tightened around the back. Two straps that came together at a wide, padded bit was lowered in front of Linnai’s face and held there so she could see it. “Bite down on that, hun. It helps, believe me.”
Linnai groaned internally but opened her mouth all the same. The bit was pulled in, and she bit down upon it.
“This is going to hurt. You have to bear it. It will only be for a second,” Gerulf said. “No matter what you do, no matter how hard you have to bite down on that thing and scream, you need to stay as still as possible.”
Linnai’s eyes darted down and she finally saw where the red glow was coming from. Gerulf was holding a rod with a flat, rounded piece of metal at its tip, that was glowing red. The question about the stove, the bridle, and the bit finally connected in her mind, and she closed her eyes as tightly as she could. They meant to cauterize her wound.
Okay, well, I’ve probably flung hotter flames from my wings, she thought. This won’t be so bad. I should still act like it hurts, though, just to keep up—
The red hot metal pressed against her skin, interrupting her train of thought, and causing her eyes to shoot open. She bit down even harder, feeling as though her teeth could crack from the pressure, as the red-hot pain sliced through her. Her screams echoed through the tavern and out into the streets, but only for a brief few seconds, and then it was over. A cold, wet towel was slapped over the cauterized wound, and Linnai concentrated on keeping her breaths as calm as she could. Despite her determination, her chest heaved uncontrollably.
I have never… been so wrong… in my entire life, she thought. When she was finally able to blink, she felt tears escaping her eyes briefly, and she let up on the bit. As Frida gently removed the bridle from her head, Linnai looked down again and saw Gerulf sewing her flesh along the burned scar with a needle.
“I can’t… I can’t even feel that,” she managed to say. “I thought you didn’t have any anesthesia.”
“We don’t,” Gerulf replied. “All the nerves were burned just now. I could stab you again and you’d feel nothing. Don’t worry, though, the feeling will return. They got one of your arteries pretty good, but it wasn’t a major one. You’ll heal up fine, and you didn’t lose as much blood as I thought you had.”
Once he had finished, Gerulf poured some of the clear liquid onto a rag and pressed it against the stitching. He proceeded to take a swig from the bottle, as well, after which he coughed and slammed the bottle down onto the table beside him. “Whew! Ain’t got any disinfectant, either! Still, this stuff’s strong enough to kill anything. Anything ‘cept me, anyway.” He laughed slightly and smiled at Linnai. “Ya done good, kid. Let’s get you somewhere more comfortable to lie down.”
“I’ll go put some tea on,” said Frida. She turned and headed to the stairs, glancing over her shoulder at Linnai once more as she began her descent.
Gerulf carefully slid his arms underneath Linnai’s midsection and lifted her up effortlessly. As he wrapped his claws around her, one of his talons slid past a hard lump on the right side of Linnai’s chest. She flinched slightly and Gerulf shook his head as he carried her across the room.
“Got somethin’ else in there, hmm? I’ll take a look in a second.”
Linnai frowned. “Don’t worry about it. And I can walk, you know,” she said. She could feel the sore spot that Gerulf had just touched pulsating with pain. That damn bullet, she thought. Had to use magic to stop it or things would’ve been way worse. If he sees it…
Gerulf delicately placed Linnai on a sofa that was set up against a wall. Linnai stared up at him intensely. Don’t do it. Just let it go, she thought, as if he could possibly hear her if she concentrated hard enough.
“Let’s take a look at the other side of your chest, now,” the griffon said, leaning down and reaching to Linnai’s right. She rolled to the right in response.
“Can we not?” she asked. “It’s nothing. The knife wound was it.”
Gerulf paused, staring back down into her eyes. After a moment, he stood back up and walked over to a padded stool across from the couch, taking a seat upon it. “If you say so,” he said. “But I’m tellin’ ya, yer best to just get it all over with at once, trust me.”
“I said it was nothing!” Linnai snapped, and then stuffed her face into a small, square pillow at the end of the couch.
Gerulf shrugged. “Sorry. I don’t mean ta pry,” he said, and then turned to a square table near the stool. Upon the table sat many small objects: Tweezers, screwdrivers, a magnifying lens, and small bits of wire and other mechanical components. He picked up a pair of tweezers, used them to pick up a piece of wire, and trained his eyes through an arm-mounted magnifying lens.
After a couple of minutes of nothing but the sound of Gerulf’s tinkering, Linnai lifted her head and looked over at him. Her mind swirled with strange thoughts she had never had before. Why did he apologize? He was trying to help me and I yelled at him like that. She lifted a hoof up and stared at it. If he knew the truth, he would toss me out on the streets, or worse. Stupid old bird. That’s what he gets for being so trusting.
Alright, my dear, you’re going to have to trust us, Frida’s words echoed in Linnai’s mind. She buried her face in the pillow again.
Who’s the bigger fool? Them for taking in a total stranger, or me for letting them? Linnai thought as she remembered the past two days. She could feel something, like a tiny spark of warmth, glowing somewhere deep inside of her mind. As if possessed by that little spark, she could feel her eyes starting to tear up.
“I should just leave,” she said quietly into the pillow. “There’s something wrong with me.”
“Hmm?” Gerulf vocalized, turning his head back towards Linnai. “Something wrong?”
Linnai shook her head, letting the moisture from her eyes soak into the pillow. “Nothing,” she replied, turning to look at Gerulf again. She spotted a large telescope behind him. It was aimed out the window. Gerulf noticed her gazing past him and turned his head to look at the telescope.
“You a stargazer?” Gerulf asked.
“I’ve been known to look at them, but never really cared all that much. That’s a telescope, right?”
“Indeed. It’s a window to the cosmos.”
Linnai shrugged and turned on the couch slightly, resting the side of her head against the pillow. “What’s the point, though? If you’ve seen one star, you’ve seen them all, right?”
Gerulf laughed. “Now, I thought you were a bit of a scholar, lass. The night sky is a wonderful place of dreams and romance.”
“What’s that supposed to mean? You’re not going to get all poetic on me, are you?”
“I can hardly help it. We used to think that the stars were just dots of light in the night sky, but they’re actually other planets and suns, just like our own. Imagine if there were another world just like ours out there, and on it there was a culture just like ours, staring out into the same dark void. Dreamin’ about that kinda stuff… That’s what drives me forward. You ponies have unicorns that can use magic, but the night sky… now that’s real magic, lass.”
“Don’t the princesses control all that, though?”
“Where’s the romance in that? It’s true, Celestia and Luna are in charge of the sun and the moon, and I’ve heard that Princess Luna used to dot the sky with stars of her own creation. A true visionary, but they were all twinkle and no substance. I’ve known a few people like that, myself. They seem so full of life, but inside, they’re empty. Sorry… that got a bit dark, didn’t it?”
All twinkle and no substance, Linnai thought to herself, and deep down inside felt a strange, uncomfortable feeling. She took a deep breath and focused on it, but it was unfamiliar and confusing.
Gerulf stood up from his stool and walked back over to the couch where Linnai was lying. “Don’t you worry, kiddo. Look, in light of today’s events, I think it’s fair to say you can spend as long as you need to recuperate. I might need a day, myself. These old bones ain’t as strong as they used ta’ be,” he said and then pressed a claw against his back, rubbing it firmly. “And if ya want me to look at that other injury that I know durn well yer hiding, just let me know.”
Linnai simply nodded in response, and the old griffon patted her on the head. She shied away from his touch, slouching down further on the couch.
Gerulf laughed and turned to leave. “Don’t you worry, kid. You got plenty of substance, I can tell.”
“Yeah. Plenty of substance…” Linnai responded.
Without any further words, Gerulf made his way towards the staircase that led down from the attic. Near the stairwell, he opened a closet door, pulled a blanket out of it, and tossed the blanket towards Linnai. The soft cover landed with a flop against the back of the couch and then slid down over the disguised changeling. She grabbed ahold of it and pulled it over her head.
“Get some rest. We can talk more in the mornin’,” the griffon said, and then made his way down the stairs.
“What about the tea?” Frida’s voice came from below.
“I’ll have a cup with ya down here, lovely. Come on,” Gerfulf replied, his voice a little softer than before.
“Oh, what’s gotten into you?” Frida said with a giggle.
“I was merely taken by your beauty. You’re the brightest star in my sky, after all.”
Oh give me a break, Linnai thought as their voices trailed off. She closed her eyes, her mind focused on the swirling, unfamiliar sensations inside of her. What is happening to me? Is this what happened to you, brother? This… emotional nonsense?
Linnai felt a tear run down her cheek. She took a deep breath and concentrated on blocking out the strange feelings. She eventually fell asleep.
The next morning…
Linnai was awakened by having her blanket ripped off of her. She curled up into a ball and shook her head.
“Rise and shine!” a voice said enthusiastically.
“Come on, are we really going to do this every morning?” Linnai mumbled. A second later, she felt a claw grip her by the shoulder and shove her against the back of the couch.
“Wakie-wakie, changeling! Time to face the music!”
Linnai’s eyes shot open. “What!” she screamed.
The face of Gilda was staring back down at her.
Cloudsdale, Reality, Five Minutes Ago
The changeling dragon stared down at the clouds below, which were still swirling from where his partner had dropped through them to the ground. He snarled and turned his eyes up to the line of pegasi down the road from him, and the ballistae that lay between.
At the other end of the road, Radiant Thunder stood, a line of troops in front of him, Major Nimblewing to his right and the unicorn known as Light standing to his left. He waved his hoof in front of him and shouted out to the troops. “Ready another volley!”
The dragon’s eyes began to glow bright red and fire began to blaze from between his clenched teeth. “Fire your pathetic weapons, ponies! The others were careless, but I am not the same!” he howled. The scales on his body began to dance and his shape began to slightly morph. Within a matter of seconds, his skin seemed to take on a stone-like appearance, his teeth like stalactites and stalagmites. His eyes still burned fiery red as she screeched down at the ponies. “Fire when ready, weaklings!”
Radiant Thunder shrugged and nodded his head. “Fire.”
Several large bolts launched at high speed from the ballistae, all flying straight at the massive beast that hung in the sky. The dragon swung his wings upward, dropping in altitude. With great purpose, he allowed several of the bolts to hit their mark one after another. They exploded into wood chips upon impact with the dragon’s stony skin. The last two bolts, however, sailed over the dragon’s head, and he flipped his body in the air, whipping them with his tail and propelling them to even greater speed. They both lodged themselves in the icy dome that covered the sky.
Radiant leapt back and stared up at the now cracked dome. “That’s some carapace!”
“More like stone skin,” the major corrected. “He’s showing us that his body is stronger than the dome. Compared to the other, this dragon is on a whole different level.”
“Is this really the time to be standing here commenting on the fight?” asked Radiant.
Nimblewing groaned. “You started it!”
The dragon, meanwhile, unleashed a blast of fire breath at the point where the bolts had penetrated the dome, sending the cracks speeding across its surface. He laughed, his voice echoing across the sky.
“I guess he still wants to escape,” Radiant noted.
The dragon’s ear twitched and he turned back to the ponies. “Escape? If you were only that fortunate!”
A thunder-like boom tore through the air, the ice dome above shook violently, and the cracks on its surface spiderwebbed out even more.
“Since you’ve refused to give us Hyperion, we’re more than happy to dig it from the ruins of this city!” the dragon bellowed. Another enormous boom echoed through the air. This time, the ice dome shattered, sending shards of ice falling to the ground. From the point where the bolts had hit, there came a cracking and then a hissing sound. Two massive, spined insect-like legs wrapped around the frozen edge.
“Come on, already!” the dragon shouted. A giant beetle-like creature leapt up over the dome, which was now more of a wall, and landed with a thump on the cloud surface.
“What on earth is that?” asked Major Nimblewing.
The dragon laughed and stared down at the creature. “Juggernaut! Attack!”
With a deafening screech, it began to charge toward the line of ballistae. it veered left and right as it went down the road, smashing buildings to pieces as it went. When it got close to the ballistae, the ponies that had been there had long since fallen back. The beast opened its maw, revealing a long, thick tongue. From this green, pulsating appendage, it fired a stream of bright green, thick liquid. The ooze coated everything it touched, and its rancid smell was quick to spread through the air.
“You got a plan?” Nimblewing asked, grabbing Radiant by his jacket’s collar.
“I bet some soap and elbow grease can clean that stuff right up,” he replied.
“I mean for stopping the creature!”
“I don’t know! Your guess is as good as mine, major!” he shouted back, slapping her hooves away from his coat. He stared at the creature as it approached with great speed. The dragon swooped down over where it had sprayed the green gel and blasted the area with its fire breath. The goopy substance ignited and burned like an inferno, dissipating the clouds and burning the ballistae to a crisp.
“Admiral!” the major shouted. “We have to go! Run!” The other troops around them needed no second command and all began to run to the other side of the city, away from the Juggernaut.
Radiant merely turned his head to his left and stared at Light. Her eyes were wide, and her horn was glowing. He reached a hoof up and patted her on the head. “You don’t have to, you know.”
Light shook her head. “You know we have no choice, now.”
Major Nimblewing blinked and stared at Light. “You two are not seriously suggesting we--”
“What other options do you see here, Major? We don’t have much time to debate this.”
“You could destroy half the city!”
“That thing will destroy the entire city.”
The major sighed and backed down, her shoulders slouching. “Just… get it over with!” she shouted, and then sat down and covered her ears with her hooves.
Radiant nodded to Light. “Go. You’re the only hope left.”
Light’s eyes began to glow bright white and she levitated slightly into the air. The lightning bolt on her cutie mark seemed to pulsate with light. The clouds all around, on the ground and in the air up above, began to turn black. The dragon stopped in mid-air and the Juggernaut skidded to a halt, opening its mouth and preparing to fire another round of green ooze forth.
The dragon stared down at the floating, glowing unicorn, now just yards away. Magic pulsed out from her body and shot into the atmosphere. Remnants of the ice dome began to melt and evaporate, turning into even more clouds, and the black clouds that they joined began to swirl in a circle directly above the dragon.
“What are you doing!?” the dragon screamed.
“Ending you!” Light shouted.
From the center of the swirling cloud, a lightning bolt the size of a building came crashing down, striking the dragon directly in the head. It screeched in pain, its eyes lighting up bright white and electricity shooting randomly off from its body in all directions. The lightning bolt persisted, frying the dragon, violently blasting pieces of its stone skin off. The lightning didn’t stop there, though. It ricocheted from the dragon down to the Juggernaut, blasting pieces of its carapace away and boiling its insect-like flesh. Green ooze exploded from its upper body, which caught fire upon contact with the electric energy of the lightning bolt. Flame shot up and outward, but any that came towards the ponies hit an invisible forcefield.
But the lightning bolt did not stop there. Light screamed, her body still hovering in the air, as one final blast of lightning, the biggest thus far, shot down onto the city streets and through the clouds, blasting a massive hole into the very foundation of Cloudsdale. The bolt continued until it finally hit the ground.
There was nothing left of the dragon or the Juggernaut. There was nothing left of Cloudsdale where they had been situated. In front of Light, the major, and the admiral, there was just a window to the surface that used to be a city block.
Light lowered back down to the ground and fell to a heap, breathing heavily. “I’m sorry… admiral…” she said between breaths. “I couldn’t.. control it.”
Radiant Thunder knelt before the unicorn and shook his head. “No. You did well, Light. We’re all alive because of you, and look, you only took out a block or so. Remember when they said your special talent could take out the whole city? This is way less! Great job!”
Major Nimblewing smacked Radiant Thunder on the back of his head. “It’s still an entire city block! We’ll have to write a report to the princess about this.”
Radiant turned his head in the direction of Canterlot. He couldn’t see it through the city and the smoke, but he knew it was there. “If there still is a princess,” he said. “Prepare Cloudsdale to move. We’re going to move this city as far away from Canterlot as possible. I’ll go get the fleet ready. We’re going to need every able-bodied soldier to get on board.”
The major stood up and composed herself. “Very well. What is the objective?”
Radiant stood back up and slid a cigarette into his mouth. After lighting it, he turned to the major, his face showing no sign of patience or humor. “Tonight we take Canterlot, princess or not. Citizens or not. If these changelings are there, if they’ve already taken over, then I am not willing to believe anypony is who they say they are. We take the fleet, fly to Canterlot, and demand their immediate surrender. If it’s the princess, she will understand. She’ll allow it. And if she doesn’t, then we know… we know it’s not her.”
“And then what?”
Radiant closed his eyes and took another drag from his cigarette. “We attack the castle. Reduce it to rubble.”
“And if you’re wrong?” the major asked, flabbergasted.
“Then I’ll see you in tartarus, major. You wouldn’t be by my side if you weren’t ready to follow me there, anyway.”
The major sighed. “Alright. I’ll get the word out. But first, carry Light somewhere she can rest. The poor thing is exhausted. She’s a pony, you know, not just a weapon.”
Radiant laughed and waved a hoof over his shoulder. “Look behind me lately?”
The major glanced behind Radiant and saw at least four pegasus soldiers standing over Light, all fawning over her.
“Are you okay, captain?”
“Did it hurt? Tell me where it hurts! I can rub it for you!”
“Do you need anything? Let us carry you someplace nicer!”
The major shook her head and gritted her teeth. “No one ever treats me like that,” she grumbled under her breath.
“Probably too scared of ya,” Radiant murmured.
“What was that?” Nimblewing asked, a vein over her eye bulging.
“Nothing!” responded Radiant. “Let’s get moving!”
Canterlot, Reality, Present
A bright flash of lightning lit up the sky in the west, the brightness of the blast lighting up the throne room for several seconds as if it were daytime. Chrysalis turned her head and opened her eyes, which were glossed over with white magic.
As the light dissipated and the room returned to its usual dark, green glow, a single tear fell from the queen’s eye and streaked down her cheek.
“I’m so sorry,” she said softly. “I couldn’t stop her.”
Rainbow Dash’s Dream, One Day Later (Dream Time), Rainbow Dash’s Hideout
Mulcibar stamped his hoof against the floor and shut his eyes tightly. The room was dark now, the scent of the burnt-out candle filling his nose as he took a deep breath. I can’t get out of here with magic, and I just wasted my chance to trick them into letting me go. I guess it comes down to muscle, now, he thought. He opened his eyes and looked in the direction of the door at the far end of the room. The slightest sliver of light shone from underneath the door. I’ll have to make a break for it. Fluttershy will be safe with Rainbow Dash for the time being. Once I break out, they’ll all surely come running. Daring Do, Fluttershy, and Rainbow Dash, who I know has some sort of lucidity… at least enough to have blasted me earlier. There will be no time to think, just have to move.
“So, what is it that you want here?” a voice spoke from the darkness.
Mulcibar jerked his head around, but could only see blackness. “Who’s there?”
“You really threw a wrench into things, you buffoon. And that power you used… I’ve never seen anything like it.”
That voice. It’s new. A fourth pony here?
“I should leave you locked up in that cage, let you rot. I am not about to have my plans ruined just because some love-hungry changeling barges in. Why are you here? Are you a traitor? Trying to expose me?”
“First tell me who you are,” Mulcibar responded.
“Oh, no, it’s not that easy. You’re in the cage, I’m out here. I ask the questions. You almost got free earlier with your freaky magic, but it won’t work this time.”
Mulcibar threw his wings up, illuminating the room with their blue glow. He caught a glimpse of a dark figure to his left, but it quickly ducked back into a shadow that was being cast from a crate. He wasn’t able to make out any distinguishing features, but the body shape and eyes were unmistakable. “A changeling drone, eh?” he said, lowering his wings. “Where’d you come from? Are you part of the reset swarm? I’d been made to understand it was more, well, straightforward.”
“Reset swarm?” the changeling questioned. “Is that some other hive? I knew you weren’t one of us.”
Mulcibar placed a hoof to his head and closed his eyes. “Wait, wait, you’re actually not from the outside?”
“Oh, I’m from the outside, alright. I’ve been here in Rainbow Dash’s hideout for the past week waiting for the right moment to strike. She suspects nothing.”
“Wrong outside. Nevermind,” Mulcibar said. “Look, if you know what’s good for you, you’ll get me out of here. There’s something coming, and no one is going to be ready for it. Not you, not your changeling buddies, not Rainbow Dash. Trust me.”
The changeling laughed. “Trust you? When you barged in and almost blew my cover? What were you thinking, anyway? You clearly know nothing, you’re probably insane. Be that as it may, you’re still a changeling. Just lay low and I’ll make sure you get out of here. Just don’t say anything to the ponies, and don’t interfere with me!”
“Or what?”
“Or you’re dead! I’ll skewer you like a kebab! Understand that?”
A flash of green magic lit up the room for a second, and then the door opened briefly as the changeling left. Just before the door closed, Mulcibar could make out the outline of a pony, but couldn’t identify them. The door shut again, and he once again found himself in darkness.
So there’s a changeling here, too, and not one of ours, Mulcibar thought to himself. She must just be part of the dream. Does this mean…
His eyes went wide with realization.
“The reset swarm! It’s not here yet!” he shouted aloud. Sitting back down, he placed a hoof to his chin. “Wait, why am I so worried about that? That’s a good thing! But it’s been replaced with something different and possibly worse… that changeling might be planning on using Fluttershy to get at Rainbow Dash. I gotta get out of here! Now!” He shot to his hooves and slammed against the cage door.
Moments earlier…
Fluttershy and Daring bolted out of the door where the changeling prisoner was being held and slammed it shut. Fluttershy fell the ground, breathing heavily, her eyes wide and shedding tears.
“What happened in there?” Fluttershy asked. “You were going to set him free.”
Daring shook her head. “Some kind of magic. Made me think I was locked in the cage and had to get myself out. It was crazy.”
“So, he can make you see things? That doesn’t sound very nice…” Fluttershy said. An image of the throne room in Canterlot flashed in her mind. The changeling prisoner was there, and he was whispering something into her ear. She shook her head and turned to look at Daring again.
Daring looked down at her. “You okay? Overexert yourself? You were pretty awesome in there, you know, the way you leapt to action and saved me. I owe ya.”
“It was nothing,” Fluttershy replied between breaths. “I just think I never want to go in there again.”
Daring laughed. “That’s fine. I’ll keep an eye on the prisoner, you should go check up on Rainbow Dash. I gotta use the little fillies’ room first, though,” she said, and then walked through another door to the right, closing it behind her.
Fluttershy, alone now, stared ahead blankly at the locked wooden door that led to the prisoner’s room. Her breathing was still quickened. She turned her gaze down to her hoof and remembered the scream of pain the changeling let out as the cage door had been slammed onto his foreleg. She cringed as she imagined how it must have felt. She could still see the dripping blood and pained expression on the changeling’s face.
Somewhere deep down in her heart, she felt a chill as she recalled the changeling’s words as she and Daring shut him back in.
“He was crying,” Fluttershy whispered. “Not just from the pain in his leg. I know that cry… that cry from deep down inside.” She pressed her hoof to her chest and took a deep breath as her pulse finally returned to normal.
She stood up, turned, and walked down the hall to a doorway at the other end. Pushing it open, she caught sight of Rainbow Dash lying on a bed at the far end. The blue mare was curled up in a blanket, lying on her side, facing the wall. Fluttershy quietly approached the bed and sat down upon its foot.
“Fluttershy?” Dash’s voice came out, slightly muffled by the pillow her face was stuffed into.
Fluttershy turned her head and nodded. “How are you feeling?” she asked.
“Terrible.”
Fluttershy sighed and gently placed a hoof against Dash’s blanket-covered back. “Do you need anything?”
Rainbow Dash growled softly into her pillow, her body tensing up for a moment before going limp again. “I guess not,” she responded flatly. “I mean, apart from… well… you know…” The sound of her fending off crying cut her response short. Fluttershy knew what the answer would have been, anyway. She ran her hoof up and down Rainbow’s back and shook her head.
“It’ll be okay, Dashie. We’ll get through—“
Rainbow flipped the blanket off and twisted her body around to stare right into Fluttershy’s eyes. Before the cover could even hit the floor, Dash thrust her wings outward – or she would have, but only one wing spread. A small stump where her right wing would have been shook slightly. “Easy for you to say! You still have—!”
Before she could finish, her lower lip began to tremble. She turned and flopped back down on the bed, folding her single wing back up and moaning into her pillow again.
“Sorry… sorry,” Dash said a few seconds later. “It’s not your fault. I shouldn’t take it out on you, or anypony for that matter. I know, I know…”
Fluttershy placed her hoof on Dash’s back again, gently brushing it up and down the middle of her back. Bumping up against the small stump that should be a wing, Fluttershy closed her eyes and was greeted by an image of a strange place, somewhere she was sure she’d never been. Inside of a hollowed-out tree. The image was as much tactile and aural as it was visual. As she ran her hoof across Rainbow’s back once more, she felt the sensation of hooves rubbing against her own back. She knew, somehow, that the one who was rubbing her back had been Rainbow Dash, and she could feel pain in her wings and stiffness in her back.
“I’m sorry,” Fluttershy said aloud as the strange memory washed over her. “I’m sorry for being so selfish.”
“Selfish?” Rainbow Dash responded, turning her head slightly. “What are you talking about?”
Fluttershy opened her eyes, but her mind stayed locked onto the memory. She couldn’t shake it. She stared down at Rainbow’s confused expression. “Sorry, I was just… remembering something. I think, anyway.”
“You hit your head or something?” Rainbow asked, flinching slightly as Fluttershy’s hoof brushed past her severed appendage.
Fluttershy lifted her hooves. “Do you want me to stop?”
“No. I mean, you don’t have to. I mean, if you want to keep going, I’d be okay with that,” Dash responded. “It’s… whatever.”
Fluttershy smiled and continued to rub Dash’s back, putting more strength into it this time. She could feel the tense muscles in Dash’s back relaxing little by little. The haunting memory of that hollowed out tree still hung in her mind. She leaned forward and spoke softly just behind Dash’s head.
“Hey, do you remember a time when you were giving me a massage? I think we were hiding. Yes, hiding just like now, but it was… different.“
“Different how?” Dash asked, her tone of voice sounding as if she were dozing off.
“We were in this old, hollow tree. I couldn’t fly, and you… you wouldn’t leave me. Just like always…”
Rainbow shook her head. “Sorry, I don’t remember that.”
“You were rubbing my back, just like this. It felt really nice. I didn’t want it to end, even if it meant causing pain and trouble to others… I was so selfish.”
Rainbow Dash raised an eyebrow and turned her head slightly to glance at Fluttershy. “That doesn’t sound like you at all. Was it some sort of dream, maybe?”
Fluttershy laughed and blushed slightly. “You’re right. It must have been a dream.”
As she said the word ‘dream’, her eyes fluttered. Vivid images of dragons attacking Cloudsdale flashed through her mind. She saw the guards fighting, ponies burning in the streets, buildings collapsing. One structure came down on top of an outstretched hoof.
“You… You saved me,” Fluttershy said, tears welling up in her eyes. “I think… oh gosh, Dashie, you didn’t make it. You were… gone.” Rainbow Dash turned onto her side and stared quizzically at her yellow friend.
“Are you crying? It was just a dream.”
“It was a nightmare,” Fluttershy replied. The image of Rainbow Dash’s still, colorless body faded from her mind, and she stared at the real Rainbow Dash who was lying right in front of her. She leaned forward, wrapping her hooves around Rainbow and hugging her closely, practically tackling her and pressing her face into Dash’s blue coat. “I thought I’d never see you again, somehow. Just from that nightmare. Isn’t that silly?”
Rainbow Dash awkwardly stretched her hooves out, not sure if she should hug back or just lie there or say something. “This… is a little awkward,” she said straight out. “Were you always so… huggy?”
Fluttershy felt the dampness of her face rubbing against Rainbow’s chest. She pulled away, her cheeks turning flush red. She smiled and shook her head. “Sorry. I’m sorry,” she said.
Silence filled the air for a moment. Fluttershy stared down at the bed and Rainbow Dash stared up at the ceiling.
“Okay, so...” Rainbow Dash said, turning back to Fluttershy. “That was a strange little moment we had there. I think the stress is getting to us both, maybe.”
Fluttershy nodded her head, which was slowly filling with the memories of every time Rainbow Dash had ever rescued her from anything, no matter how small. “Hey, Dash, do you remember when we were fillies? Back when we first met?”
“Of course. What about it?”
“Back then, you were the only one who ever stood up for me. I used to get teased a lot, you know that… well that was really stressful, too. It was awful sometimes. But, you were always there at the end of the day. You were always there for me, even as we grew up.”
Dash blushed and rubbed the back of her head. “Shoot, anypony would have--”
“No, they wouldn’t have,” Fluttershy said with certainty. “Not for me. You gave me a chance when nopony else would. So, I guess what I’m trying to say is that… now that I can be there for you when you need me, it feels really nice.” As she spoke, she was hit with a feeling of deja vu. The feeling of those words leaving her lips caused more strange memories to flash in her mind. The desire to help Rainbow Dash, while familiar to her throughout her life, was now also somehow nostalgic in a way she couldn’t quite place.
Rainbow Dash shifted slightly. “Well… thanks. Thanks for everything,” she said somewhat more timidly than usual.
“Hey, anypony would have, right?”
Rainbow Dash shook her head and then turned to look at Fluttershy, who was still staring down at the bed. “That’s not true, though. Who else is here with me right now but you?”
Fluttershy looked up at Dash, her eyes locking with hers. “Well, the others had to stay behind and make sure everypony was safe while you recovered.”
Dash sat up and leaned towards Fluttershy. “Yeah, I know, but,” she said, pausing for a moment, and then took a deep breath. “There’s nopony I’d rather have by my side than you, Fluttershy.”
Fluttershy could feel her cheeks getting warmer, and could see Dash’s own blushing cheeks as well. She turned her face back downward, her heart uncontrollably racing. “I’m glad to be here. Just promise me something,” Fluttershy said as memories of her dream and her fillyhood raced in her head. “Promise me you’ll always stay with me... because I’ll always stay with you.”
“Of course,” Rainbow responded without hesitation. “We’ve been through so much together.”
Fluttershy lifted her head back up, her nose practically bumping into Rainbow’s. “Thinking about the past so much, you know…” she said, then took her own deep breath. “I always had this silly little thought, like maybe I sort of had a cru--”
“Shh,” Rainbow interrupted, causing Fluttershy to flinch slightly. “It wasn’t just you.”
Rainbow softly pressed her lips against Fluttershy’s. The yellow mare could feel her breath gently brushing against her cheek. Her lips began to part and her eyes slowly closed. She could feel her body beginning to tremble.
And then, like a strike of lightning, the face of a changeling flashed in her mind as vividly as if he were right there in front of her. Her eyes shot open. She pulled away, scooting back across the bed, her hooves shooting forward, and a look of terror spreading across her face.
“Mulcibar?” she said, and then shook her head.
Rainbow Dash stared at her, her own expression of shock now plastered firmly on her face. “Fluttershy, what’s wrong? What happened?”
“My head is…” Fluttershy said, and then gripped her forehead with her hooves. “My head is pounding.”
Rainbow raised an eyebrow. “Really? A headache? If we’re moving too fast, you can tell me, and--”
“No, it’s not that,” Fluttershy said, waving one hoof in front of her. “It’s… I’m… I’m remembering. Remembering something. Something important.”
Rainbow cleared her throat and tried to regain her composure, sitting up straight on the bed and brushing her coat down with her hooves. “Well, what is it?”
Fluttershy lowered her front hooves and stared into Rainbow Dash’s eyes. “Listen to me, Rainbow Dash. You have to really listen, because this is important. It’s coming back to me bit by bit, but what I’m about to tell you is the truth. No matter what, promise that you’ll believe me.”
“You’re kind of freaking me out a little bit, Fluttershy… what’s this all about?”
“Promise!” Fluttershy demanded.
“Okay, okay, I promise. What is it?”
Fluttershy took another deep breath. “How long ago was the royal wedding?”