//------------------------------// // 20 // Story: Seven Lights // by Fresnor //------------------------------// Soon after returning from Canterlot Aegis Flare spent a couple days on a quick scouting trip of the Everfree while gathering items for a couple requests around town. When she returned she was planning to spend some time with her sister until she learned about a sleepover she was going on with her friends and she was conscripted to help out at the library with some re-shelving for Twilight. Most of her friends were also there to help with the only exceptions being the pegasi of the group who were off elsewhere. While they worked the five mares chatted about what had happened recently though the orange unicorn kept catching Rarity glancing at her out of the corner of her eye, eventually causing her to let out a sigh. “All right Rarity, what is you wanted to talk about now?” The other three in the room looked over in curiosity as Rarity got a light blush on her face at being caught out but quickly recovered by clearing her throat. “Well darling I wanted to talk to you in private but if you insist on doing this now then well...” She gave her friend a chance to respond but continued at her nod. “Well I was curious as to why you never mentioned anything about that whole knighthood thing that we were all given for us helping the princesses. None of the others have even hinted at it before and something like this they wouldn't have kept secret from the rest of us.” The others look a bit shocked about this, with one exception, as they all turn towards the orange mare but they soon turn back again when Pinkie Pie spoke up. “You mean none of you knew about it? I figured it out when I found that bank account the princesses opened up for me in Canterlot that was full of bits. That and the bank ponies calling me Dame Pinkie Pie once they showed me the paperwork.” They all froze for a moment at the pink pony's words and they all have different thoughts before the first of them vocalizes theirs. “Wait, ya are telling us that we all have a whole load of bits just sitting up in Canterlot under our names? Ah really could have used some of that to help fix up the farm. And what will all this mean for us when the tax pony comes around?” The thought of tax issues didn't come to mind to most of them and there was a bit of a clamor until Aegis Flare spoke up again after removing her hoof from her face. “I never said anything because it never really mattered and it wasn't my place to tell you if the princesses didn't. I can guess why it was never made fully public though since the town would be flooded with reporters and who knows what else. As for the whole tax issue there isn't any since there are no taxes on money from the crown.” The others looked to Twilight for answers as she thought through everything that her friend just said and she nodded. “Well she isn't wrong about anything, though I would have liked to know about all of this sooner. The Equestrian Council voted centuries ago to put it into law and it's never been changed since since the nobles benefit from it the most.” She is interrupted by a snort from the orange unicorn, once again turning all heads her way. “Actually they probably get the least benefit from the law but they just don't know it. Sure she gives the occasional pittance to them, but from what I could tell when reading through the reports in the Canterlot Archives most of the money from the crown goes to the guard, city services like doctors, and other groups that deal with the princesses.” At the dumbfounded looks from her friends she gave a small shrug before turning back to the books she was shelving. “What? I've always had a head for numbers and when I get bored enough while in Canterlot I grab something like that to read to stay sharp.” The others just stared at her for a bit longer before shaking their heads and getting back to work shelving books. They were finished pretty quickly so took some time afterwards to clean up a few other things since they finished faster than originally planned. So they were all still a bit distracted when a sound of screaming slowly filtered through the window but when the source turned out to be Rainbow Dash flying uncontrollably through the window there was barely enough time to do react. Aegis Flare, having dealt with making split-second decisions before, quickly threw up a barrier to protect their hard work while leaving the five friends to take the brunt of the impact from the cyan pegasus. After picking themselves up, and Fluttershy flew in through the window to join them, they found out that the crash as a result of a failed flying trick by the pegasus in question. After learning about what the two were doing as well as a few other things they flew off to continue before they needed to leave for Cloudsdale. When they left all attention went to the protege of the princesses for a solution to a problem brought up by the incident. “Let's see, flight spells should be in one of these books just give me a moment to find them.” The others watched Twilight with a mixture of interest in boredom as she searched through the books for the spell she was searching for. She was about to let her friend search on her own but something that her mother mentioned to her in the past in relation to her work. “Hey Twilight? Wouldn't it be easier to use a cloud walking spell like they do for diplomats traveling to the cloud cities around the world?” The purple mare looks up from the book she was looking through to say something when she paused in thought. “I almost forgot about that kind of spell. I'm pretty sure the princess has taken me to Cloudsdale once before but I can't remember many of the details of that day. On basic principle that spell would be much easier to cast than a flight spell, especially having to do it multiple times.” With a new target in mind, as well as a better idea of where to find it, Twilight quickly found the spell and looked it over. “Of course the flight spell is in here but the cloud walking spell is much easier. It lasts three days so even if I cast it now it'll last through tomorrow easily. We should gather here tomorrow to get that out of the way while I'm getting my balloon ready.” With nods all around the others prepared to leave to prepare for the next day but Rarity and Applejack were held back as Aegis Flare lifted a hoof to stop them. “If we are going to be cheering Rainbow Dash on then wouldn't it make sense to bring her biggest fan as well? And if she were to go I'm sure that she would enjoy bringing her friends along as well.” The first part was directed towards Twilight but the last was to all of the mares in the room. It didn't take them long to get what she was asking and she was greeted with smiles. “That actually isn't a bad idea. Sure, go ahead and bring Scootaloo with you tomorrow and if both of your sisters want to come as well it will be fine. It might be a tad cramped in the balloon but it should be able to handle a little extra weight.” With a smile the four part ways to prepare for what tomorrow would bring. <><><><><><><> “I can't believe it! I'm actually going to see Rainbow Dash showing her moves in front of an actual crowd! This is going to be the best day EVER!” Aegis Flare gave a small smile as she watched her sister's antics while they all waited for Twilight to finish preparing her balloon for the flight to Cloudsdale. She warily watched her friend work since she wasn't sure about the mode of travel that they would be using as she was more used to either traveling along the ground or the rare times going by sky chariots. “And everything is triple-checked, you can all hop aboard now and we can be on our way to Cloudsdale.” There were sighs from Rarity and Applejack who had gotten a bit bored waiting for Twilight to go through her checklists though the rest just climbed aboard quickly without complaint. Aegis Flare made herself comfortable in the center of the basket while all the others jostled for positions around the edge to watch as the flew across the sky. They were quickly on their way with both Spike and Twilight piloting the balloon to a decent height before the settled back themselves with only the occasional correction to their course and altitude. “There, we should be there in a couple hours now. Rainbow Dash is going to be so surprised when we show up to cheer her on, I just know it.” She looked around at her friends and noticed that Spike went over to join the cutie mark crusaders and she let a small smile grace her lips. She hadn't thought much about it before but she was glad that Aegis Flare brought her sister over that day as she really had been neglecting Spike by not ensuring that he had friends his own age to talk to. As her mind settled on the unicorn mare her eyes darted around for her in puzzlement until the settled on the orange form hiding in the center of the basket. “Come on Flare, why don't you join us in enjoying the view? It's not often you can take in a site like this without help from a pegasus.” The mare in question just looked up at her impassively for a moment before shaking her head. “No thanks, I'm fine down here and I'm sure that there will be plenty to see in Cloudsdale.” Twilight looks at her strangely before her attention is diverted by a hoof on her shoulder from Pinkie Pie who was shaking her head. “You shouldn't try to push her, she's just really really scared and is trying to stay calm.” She wasn't prepared for the pink mare's serious tone but when she took a closer look at the orange unicorn she could detect a faint tenseness to her muscles. “Are you going to be all right, Flare? You don't have to come with if you don't want to, we can still drop you off and make it there in time.” The calm looking mare's answer to her question was a simple shake of her head before turning her attention to her hooves. “I'll be fine. As long as I don't get a clear view of how far away the ground is then the vertigo won't bother me as much.” The others look unsure for a moment but don't question her resolve though Spike bluntly puts their thoughts into words. “Huh, I never thought that you of all ponies would be scared of something like this. Shouldn't the Element of Courage not be scared of anything? And didn't you fall off a cliff during the incident with Nightmare Moon?” The three fillies around him made shushing motions but Aegis Flare wasn't at all offended by his question. “Courage isn't about not being scared, that's just being a fool. Real courage involves still being scared but not letting that fear control you. It wasn't so bad with the cliff since I knew I could easily save myself but I'm not sure if I could do the same from this high up.” They all looked at her for a moment longer before deciding to leave her to what she was doing while going back to watching the landscape pass by. While it was simple for pegasi to reach the city in the clouds it took them a couple hours to reach it even with Twilight's assistance in propelling the balloon in the proper direction. As they were were coming in for a landing the sound of a familiar voice which caused on filly to launch herself out of the basket early and charge off in the direction of it. Of course this action caused one other passenger to react a bit poorly as she lunged after her until she saw the carpet of clouds below. The familiar cyan figure was caught off guard as the orange and purple projectile plowed into her side and started bouncing atop her. “I can't believe this! I'm finally going to see you performing for real, this is so awesome!” Fluttershy hid her tiny smile behind a hoof as she watched the filly bounce atop her idol though like the confused pegasus on the ground she was also a bit confused. “What the? Where did you come from squirt? Does anypony know that you're here?” The filly was too excited to answer, but it was rather hard to miss the large balloon landing nearby, her friends disembarking from it. After a short chat, and much teasing of the orange unicorn as she nervously climbed out of the basket, to catch the two older pegasi up on what happened without them Rainbow Dash took them on a small tour before the Best Young Flier Competition started. They first stopped at the winter section of the Rainbow Factory which should have turned out fine... If it wasn't for three young fillies that were willing to do nearly anything for their cutie marks. “Hey! What do you three think you are doing! Don't touch that!” *CRASH* “No! Not that! Do you know how expensive that stuff is!” *SPLASH* “Fire! How in Equestria did you set a whole vat of snowflakes on fire!” Eventually they workers were too caught up with trying to clear up the disasters they made to pay attention to the three fillies as they were ushered out of the room by their sisters. After that, a much closer eye was kept on the three to make sure they didn't run off again with the threat of a Pinkie Promise backing it up. So they were kept from any trouble when they reached the area rainbows were made, but that didn't stop Pinkie from sticking her own hoof into trouble. While the the rest were having a small chuckle at their pink friend trying to eat a cloud to get the taste out of her mouth, Aegis Flare was looking at the pool with interest before dipping a hoof into it for a couple drops. “Hey, don't tell me you want to try as well? Didn't you see what happened when Pinkie tried it?” The orange unicorn just raised an eyebrow at the cyan mare before licking the drops of rainbow off of her hoof. She winced a bit when the taste hit, but since she didn't have anywhere near what Pinkie Pie did it was mostly manageable. Her friends' jaws all dropped at her apparent lack of reaction, but her other eyebrow rose as she recognized the flavor. “Cloud Kicker's Five Alarm Chili.” Her words only drew confusion from the others at first, but Rainbow Dash slammed a hoof into face in realization as the unicorn explained further. “Every once in a while Cloud Kicker brings a family recipe to the chili cook-offs that occasionally happen in Ponyville. She never gives out the recipe, but this tastes much like what nearly burned my tongue off last time I tried her chili.” All eyes turned towards Rainbow Dash as she let out a growl of annoyance. “I was wondering where all that extra liquid rainbow was disappearing to when we had to dump it for whatever reason. I think I'm going to need to have a talk with her when we get back to Ponyville.” As they continued on their tour they ran into a few old acquaintances of the two pegasi but things didn't go well as they lobbed multiple put-downs at the rainbow-maned mare. Her friends looked at her worriedly as the continued the tour since they could tell that her resolve was shaken though luckily the youngest four of the group were oblivious to it. As they arrived at the at the stadium later Rainbow Dash looked like a wreck from her worries so while the others went to find their seats Aegis Flare pulled her aside for a moment. “Hey Rainbow Dash, don't focus on what those jerks were saying earlier. Instead focus on something else and fix that in your mind while you do your tricks to push the fear away. My sister always talks about you so I'm sure that whatever you do will be great.” She left before her friend could respond though she didn't quite have the last word. “Hey! Who are you calling scared?!” She just shook her head at the cyan mare's bravado and hoped for the best. She had a bit of trouble joining her friends though when she spotted the lack of bottom on the stadium, but with generous usage of her barrier magic she blocked most of the vertigo by putting up walls between her and the fall as she moved in their direction. The group watched as the competition began with a decent amount of enthusiasm between them all. Only Fluttershy may have known the difficulties behind some of the tricks but even so they were still impressive more often than not. Over a dozen pegasi had already gone out and shown their routines but they had yet to see their friend yet. During a short break between competitors the group talked amongst themselves about what they had seen until they turned towards Aegis Flare who had been quiet until that point while keeping her vision pointed upwards to avoid seeing the long fall nearby. “So how about you, darling? What is your favorite routine so far, hmm?” The orange unicorn's eyes briefly darted towards her friends before returning towards the sky once again. “Well I'm not sure about favorite, but I was rather impressed by what Derpy was doing up until the end. Even Rainbow Dash admits that some of the things she does in the air should be impossible, it's just too bad that she doesn't seem to be able to control it.” There were many winces as all eyes turned towards the music section where a unicorn filly and teenager were still trying to pry the bubbly mare from out of a tuba. Unfortunately this wasn't the one she originally crashed into as she had followed a muffin that had escaped her grasp into the current one... for the second time even. All conversation between them ended as the announcer's voice rang through the stadium calling out the next number. “And now, for our final competitor of the day, contestant number fourteen!” “It's Rainbow Dash! Hey Rainbow Dash! Over here!” There were a few chuckles from the older mares at Scootaloo's antics in front of them but all eyes were focused on the cyan pegasus as she started her routine. The filly's wings buzzed in excitement as her idol weaved through pillar shaped clouds to a rock song, only lightly clipping a wing at the end. While some of the grouped winced slightly as their friend spun-out a bit, the filly's excitement wasn't diminished at all as she leaned even further forward. Rainbow Dash's second stage of her routine went much better even though she still stumbled a bit in the transition to her third part. All eyes were on her as she ascended into the sky for the final part so nobody was watching as a certain orange filly kept bouncing closer and closer to the edge of the cloud. “This is going to be so awesome! Go Rainbow Dash! G-oWOAH!” All eyes darted down at the filly's panicked yell as her form disappeared over the edge of the cloud as she lost her balance. Aegis Flare's eyes nearly bulged out with how wide they opened as she watched her sister disappear from sight. “SCOOTALOO!” She dove after her sister and would have fallen as well if Applejack didn't clamp her teeth onto the orange unicorn's tail while Twilight and Rarity caught a rear hoof each in their magic. Not being able to follow after her sister, Aegis Flare was left to stare in shock as her sister fell away from her with their hooves reaching out to each other. Tears started the well up in her eyes as she watched her little sister fall further and further away, but they were wiped away by a technicolor blur passing in front of her face. ~~~~~~~ Moments Earlier “Ugh, I can't believe that I messed up like that. I should have had those two down perfectly with how often I practiced them. I have to put everything into this last phase or else...” Rainbow Dash shook her head to try and clear away the negative thoughts that were building up in her head. Fortunately her friend's words came back to her at that moment as her gaze went down towards the platform her friends were on as she finished her ascent. She immediately noticed that something was wrong when she saw an orange figure hanging off the edge of the cloud but her pupils shrank as she noticed a smaller orange figure falling away from them. “No, it can't be. I'M COMING SQUIRT!” With a powerful flap of her wings she propelled herself into a vertical dive after the filly, narrowly missing the cloud her friends were on as she passed. She wasn't the only one to notice the falling filly as three of the Wonderbolts had heard the yelling from her friends and quickly noticed the falling filly as well. Unfortunately for them they weren't prepared for the prismatic streak to blow by them and send them into a tailspin. “Come on, faster, faster! I've got to catch her or else...” She clamped down on that thought as she pushed herself to her limits and beyond as she kept her attention focused on the falling figure. She didn't notice as the air around her started to get thicker as a cone began to form around her. With all of her attention focused on the filly she didn't even notice it happening even as she pushed through the resistance. She started to falter a bit, but when the tears of the filly falling below her splattered off her cheek she was able to force herself to put even more energy into her flying, enough to finally break through the barrier forming around her. With an explosion of color the prismatic mare's speed increased drastically, allowing her to catch the filly just moments before she hit the ground. Looking down she noticed that the filly's eyes were squeezed shut but with the change of wind direction as well as the forelimbs holding her the filly slowly peeked an eye open. Scootaloo looked around in confusion at first until her eyes settled on the one that saved her. “Rainbow Dash? I'm dreaming right? Wasn't I just falling?” The cyan pegasus shook her head as a grin came to her face. “It's not a dream squirt. I would never let anything happen to you when I'm around. I'll always have your back.” Looking behind her she spotted the energy from her Sonic Rainboom spreading across the sky and she lifted the filly a bit to see over her shoulder while an even bigger grin spread across her face. “And take a look at that!” The filly looked and saw the ring of expanding color behind them and her wings began to buzz as she realized what she was looking at. “You did it! You completed your Sonic Rainboom! Awesome!” Rainbow Dash smiled at her young fan as she cheered her on as she flew an arc over the stadium before she flew in for a landing near her friends. She didn't have a chance to say anything before Scootaloo was pulled from her grasp by a frantic unicorn. “Scootaloo! You're all right! I thought I had lost you!” Tears were pouring down Aegis Flare's face as she held onto her sister without any sign of letting her go. Scootaloo, after a moment to realize once again almost happened, joined her in crying in relief though at a more subdued level. The two just stayed that way while their friends watched, though when Rainbow Dash got to close she was pulled into a crushing hug as the unicorn chanted 'Thank You' over and over again until she managed to escape. The orange unicorn refused to let go of her sibling from that point on as her friends lifted the two into the balloon's basket for the trip home. It wasn't until they finally reached Ponyville that she released the filly, but it was only to set her on her back for the walk to their home. The two stayed quiet as the rest of the day passed and it wasn't until after they finished their evening meal that a word was spoken between them. “Scoots? I think tonight we should stay in mom and dad's room again. I don't think I'd be able to sleep otherwise.” The young filly paused as she heard the wavering in her sister's voice and she knew how badly her sister was affected if it showed in her voice. With a nod the two unlocked the door to the room and settled down in the bed next to each other. The room was still just like their parents had left it when they vanished, and for that night they imagined that their family was whole once again with both of their parents next to them.