//------------------------------// // Top Dash // Story: Edge of the Ponyverse // by TopWanted //------------------------------// “So what do you think?” “I think she’s perfect. And she’s just twelve?” “I know, right?” “…” “So you want her?” “Buck yeah, I want her! A powerhouse like that will be a captain in under five years.” “There is one snag.” “…” “She’s got a bit of an attitude problem.” “I’d expect her to!” “I mean, a HUGE attitude problem.” “Ha. Don’t worry. I’ll whip this mare into shape. What was her name again?” “Dash. Rainbow Dash.” ===E8DB Rainbow woke up with a jolt as the morning horn sounded. She was still in her cot at the base. Weird. She hadn’t dreamed about the past in a long time. It had been almost ten years now since the Wonderbolts Commander Easyglider took her under her wing and made her a Wonderbolt cadet. It was thanks to that mare, who had been like a second mother to her, that Rainbow had done something with her life. Still she did miss home. With an open state of war, all officers were expected to stay on base in case of attack. She hadn’t been back to Cloudsdale in over four years. The horn blasted again once more and her roommate below her grumbled with disdain. “Four more minutes.” Dash jumped out of bed and pulled the covers off of Lightning Dust’s cot. “Get up, sleepyhead! Time for morning practice.” “Guuuuhhh!” Lightning moaned, her mane a mess from last night’s sleep. She lifted her head and glared at her perfectly awake roommate. “I had the weirdest dream.” “Really? Me too,” Rainbow replied as she went to the bathroom to brush her hair. “I had a dream about my childhood. What about you?” Lightning shook her head and smacked her lips to get her mouth wet from last night’s sleep. “Naw, nothing like that. It was just… weird. Like there was a bunch of different you’s and bunch of different me’s.” “Oh really?” Rainbow raised an eyebrow and stuck her head out the door of the bathroom. “What were these other us’s doing?” Lightning tossed a pillow at her that hit the doorframe. “Get your head out of the gutter,” she chuckled. Then her expression changed. “It was more like… we were all in agony. Scared or something.” Rainbow turned on the shower head and tested the temperature. Perfect. She turned back to Lightning who was still getting out of her night shirt. “Maybe it’s got something to do with an inherent fear. Maybe something between you and me?” She grinned at Lightning who looked at her as if she wanted more pillows to throw her way. “You got me,” Lightning said mockingly. “I’m afraid of commitment.” “Ha! Knew it!” Rainbow got into the shower and began to hum to herself. After a minute she unconsciously began to sing the words as well. “Hush now, quiet now. It’s time to lay your sleepy head.” “Whatcha singing?” Lightning asked from the room. Rainbow opened her eyes in surprise, not realizing that she had been singing. “Uh, I think it’s a song one of my friends used to sing.” “Anypony I know?” Lightning asked as she joined her in the bathroom and began to brush her teeth. “No,” Rainbow muttered softly. “No, I don’t think so.” Less than an hour later the two were on tarmac of Wonderbolt Base Alpha: Sky Glaive. The structure was more than three miles in diameter and housed over five hundred pegasi troops battle ready for deployment. The base was composed entirely of clouds and wind attribute materials that could survive living above clouds. While this base was mobile, the one below wasn’t. On the ground was Camp Hoofenbach, housing nearly a thousand other pony troopers and soldiers. Rainbow took a look above her at the sky. The moon sat neatly next to the sun in an eternal dance. The light below stopped just about a mile away from the camps ending in a land filled with night. Another day, she thought. Another ordinary day on the dayline. Lightning and Rainbow said their goodbyes as they parted for morning training. Both ponies had long since passed the point where they were expected to take place in such daily exercises, but they were expected to train other younger ponies. Rainbow smiled to herself for having finally found a pony she could relate to after Easyglider’s death. Lightning had joined the program a year after Dash and accelled at nearly everything. Within a matter of weeks they became great friends and even got to share a room in the officers’ quarters. Rainbow had become a captain at the age of 18, Lightning at 20. Rainbow took a look at her newest recruits from a distance before she approached. She had been training this group for close to two weeks and they had begun to show some promise. Some, which was not great. Rainbow expected nothing less than perfection. When she presented herself and walked in front of their line they gave her a salute and stood at attention. “At ease!” she shouted. The ponies let out a collective sigh of relief as some began to rub their eyes, still trying to wake up. “Today we are going to run some focus drills.” She began to pace as she spoke. “When you are in the air you are vulnerable, exposed. Danger can come at you from all sides. You must have a 360 degree field of vision. To train that into you, were going to be flying with these.” She threw down a couple of blinders that the recruits were expected to pick up. Most did except for one dark blue mare with an anxious look on her face. “Everything alright, Zipline?” Zipline nodded but then turned to her instructor with a worried expression. “Um, were just fighting Nightmare Moon’s monsters, right?” “That is what the war for the past four years has been about,” Rainbow joked, gaining a snicker from the group. Zipline still did not look convinced. “But captain, last night I think I saw something during midnight watch,” she stammered. Rainbow folded her hooves and frowned. She noticed the rest of the group beginning to take this time to lollygag so she shouted at them, “Start with ten laps around the tarmac!” The group groaned and flew off but Rainbow kept Zipline back. “You reported this?” “I… I didn’t know if I should,” Zipline replied. “I mean the more I think about it it was probably just the light.” Rainbow placed a reassuring hoof on her shoulder. “Cadet, what did you see?” Zipline looked into her captain’s eyes and bit her lip. “I saw… a pony. In a Wonderbolt uniform. Only it wasn’t.” Rainbow lifted an eyebrow. “What do you mean it wasn’t?” Zipline shook her head as if to dislodge the memory. “It was only for a second. She was so fast. But it looked like her uniform was purple with black hooves and mask. I was going to call it in, I swear! But the night watch supervisor is pretty strict about false alarms and if that was just an officer out for a night fly I didn’t want to get in trouble.” She paused for a moment to judge Rainbow’s reaction. “We are the only ponies here, right? Cause there have been rumors. Ponies saying that the Nightmare Moon has been gathering an army of ponies loyal to her just past the dayline.” Rainbow frowned and looked over her at the horizon. It was true that after the epic battle known as Nightmare’s Return, half of Equestria had been subjugated by eternal night. After Nightmare came back from her thousand year imprisonment in the moon she came to a town called Ponyville. Apparently there was some ragtag team of ponies there that tried to beat her themselves. Reports said that those ponies never succeeded. Only one of the names of the ponies on that list meant anything to her. A pony she knew as a filly. One that used to be bullied a lot. One that for the past four years she had felt guilty about not protecting. The Princess fought tooth and nail against the Nightmare but it ended in a stalemate that split the land in two. So many ponies were left on the other side, Nightmare refusing their release. Rainbow supposed it wouldn’t be a stretch to think that Nightmare Moon had swayed some ponies to her side. After all, they were pretty much abandoned. “I’ve heard those rumors too, Zipline,” Rainbow said. “I don’t know if their true or not either. But tell you what, I’ll report what you saw to Commander Spitfire. That way it gets done and you don’t get in trouble.” Zipline nodded and ran off to the track. “Hang on!” She stopped and turned. “What exactly made you think it was a she?” Zipline rubbed her chin thoughtfully. “She had a long flowing mane. Longest I’ve ever seen. Plus it was bright pink.” With that she ran back to her group, leaving Rainbow to sit down on the tarmac, too stunned to move. ===E8DB “You think who might be alive?” asked Lightning as the two ordered their next round of drinks. Practice had ended and the day was over. While Princess Celestia still raised and lowered the sun to keep her ponies healthy, the moon never left the sky. At this time of night, this side of the dayline was just as dark as the other. Especially tonight since it was the solstice. The longest night of the year. Rainbow and Lightning liked to come to the officers’ bar in Camp Hoofenbach on nights like this. A nice time to pick up stallions and get hammered. The waitress came around their table within a minute with two new pints of cider ale. “Thanks. You were saying?” “I think a friend of mine might be alive,” Rainbow muttered. “This same friend that you just said was in the group that tried to take on the big bad Nightmare themselves?” Lightning asked with a raised eyebrow and a smirk. “Wasn’t she on a list of casualties?” “Missing!” Rainbow said loudly as she stamped a hoof on the table. “She was pronounced missing! Not dead.” “Right. Right. Missing… In Nightmare land.” “I know how it sounds,” Rainbow grabbed her mane in frustration and scratched furiously. “Graah! I just… If she’s alive and behind the line then I need to go over there and save her.” At the mention of this Lightning’s drunken attitude disappeared. “Girl, you don’t just cross the line. Nopony crosses the line without a royal decree. To do so would be… well, crossing the line!” “I have to do something,” Rainbow muttered. “She’s the first friend I ever had.” Lightning pushed her drink away and leaned over the table toward her. “You don’t even know if whatever that grunt of yours saw last night was actually her. For all you know it very well could be just an officer.” “How many officers do you know with long pink flowing manes?” Rainbow asked seriously. Lightning stared at her for a long moment before letting out a sigh and leaning back in her seat. “Fine. You want to throw your career away? Go. See if I care.” “Oh I think you care,” Rainbow smirked. “No.” “I think you care a lot.” “Don’t you dare.” “After all why would you be having hot dreams about me,” Rainbow burst into laughter. “Oh shut the hay up! It was not… I was… Shut up!” Lightning frowned and crossed her arms in front of her in a mock pout. “So?” Rainbow asked after getting all the laughs out. Lightning looked her in the eye and let out a groan. “I swear you can’t do anything without me.” “Probably,” Rainbow smiled and held out her pint for a toast. “But you can be my wingmare any day.” “Get real,” Lightning protested as she raised her pint as well and the two clinked. “You’ve always been my wingmare.” ===E8DB As the moon reached its zenith and the nightlife began to die down, Rainbow and Lightning slipped into their uniforms and took to the skies. Their destination, the other side of the dayline. They touched down just before a long miles wide trench that the ponies had dug to designate the separation of the continent. Both mares hesitated for a moment. “After you,” Lightning whispered. “Why me?” Rainbow asked. “Because this was your whole bucking idea!” Lightning shot back. Rainbow couldn’t argue with that and took a deep breath before jumping over the line. She expected something to change but the grass felt just as soft and the air was just as humid. “Everything okay? You’re not… zonked out are you?” “What’s ‘zonked’?” she asked. “Yeah, you’re you.” Lightning took a deep breath and jumped over as well. “Huh, I was kind of expecting something.” “I know right?” Rainbow replied before taking wing again and flying toward the tree line. Unbeknownst to both, a dark figure emerged from the undergrowth and watched as they flew away. It was clad in a black and purple uniform and grinned devilishly as it turned its attention to the twin camps just past the dayline. After about twenty minutes of flight Lightning began to whine. “So do you know exactly where we’re going?” Rainbow shot her a quick backwards glance that told Lightning everything she needed to hear. “Great! You have no idea where to start, do you?” “Ponyville,” Rainbow replied. “We start in Ponyville.” “May I ask why?” Lightning asked. “That’s the last place she was seen. It’s where we’re going to start.” They touched ground in Ponyville about ten minutes later. The place looked like most normal towns across Equestria. Normal houses. Normal shops. There even seemed to be a treebrary and a gingerbread sweets shop. It almost looked like a paradise. If it wasn’t so dark and- “Quiet,” Lightning muttered as she surveyed the area. “It’s too quiet.” “That’s a cliché,” Rainbow retorted. “Of course it’s going to be quiet at night.” “Dash, I’m serious,” Lightning whispered. “I don’t think there’s anypony alive out here.” Rainbow frowned but kept a close eye out. They made their way to the town hall where Rainbow entered first. “Gonna apply for a new flyer’s license?” “I need to find out where she lived,” Rainbow muttered back. “Just wait out here for a minute and I’ll be back.” Lightning nodded an affirmative as Rainbow went deeper into the town hall. Slowly but surely she was beginning to realize that Lightning might be right. The building looked as if it hadn’t been cleaned in years. Down the hall was a door marked “Town Files” she headed there but stopped when something caught her eye. A big double door close to the entry hall was slightly ajar and she saw a wisp of something blow out from it. She walked forward slowly and looked down to find it was… confetti? Carefully, she opened the door and peered inside. The moon illuminated the room with light causing Rainbow to take in a sharp breath. The room was some kind of grand reception hall with banners and streamers everywhere. Somepony here liked the color pink since it was almost everywhere. She noticed a large banner had been cut and hung down close to the ground. She grabbed its end and flew up to unfurl it. It read “Summer Sun Celebration.” Rainbow bit her lip. Nightmare Moon attacked on the Summer Sun Celebration. These ponies’ lives all seemed to have stopped on that day. If they were still here, what were they doing these past years? “Dash!” Lightning shouted from outside. Rainbow shook her head and returned to reality. She shot off to the front door and landed in a skid. “What? What is it?” she shouted. Lightning tackled her and pulled her under the porch of the town hall to hide. Rainbow tried to question her or get her to let go but Lightning just gave her a pleading look and shushed her. Her eyes went to the ground outside as a couple pairs of hooves landed on the ground where they had been standing. Their boots were black with purple uniforms. “You sure you heard something down here?” asked one with a raspy voice. “I think so,” replied another with a more masculine voice. “Could have sworn I saw a Pegasus here too.” “They’re all at the line,” the other replied. “Where we should be. Come on! I don’t want to be last in line for the invasion!” Rainbow’s eyes went wide. Invasion? Whoever these ponies were they were going to invade Celestia’s domain. She looked to Lightning who returned her worried expression. “Hey, you think the admiral’s going to be there?” the stallion asked as they began to take off. Rainbow could not hear the last of their conversation as the two pegasi flew off. When they couldn’t hear their wings beat anymore the two mares emerged from under the building. Rainbow couldn’t hold in her panic. “Damn it! This is bad. This is very bad.” Lightning brushed the dirt off her uniform and glared at Rainbow. “Okay, mission aborted. We need to get back to base now!” “No! Please! Just let me go and grab that address and I’ll-” Lightning grabbed her friend’s shoulders. “Dash! Listen to me! There’s no telling your friend is even still alive! Plus they just said that everypony that lived here was at the line. That means this whole town has gone native! What if…” Lightning tried to finish her thought but couldn’t when Rainbow shot her a death glare. “What if what, huh?” Rainbow spat back. “What if she’s gone native too? Is that what you were about to ask? No way, the pony I remember was afraid of her own shadow, let alone eternal night. If anything she’s holed up somewhere crying her eyes out.” “For four years?” Lightning replied angrily. “Ponies change, Dash! Even the strongest of us succumb if there’s enough pressure. Sounds to me like your friend would have broken under a minute.” Rainbow slapped Lightning across the face. For the longest moment the two simply stood silently, then Lightning turned her cheek to look Dash in the eye. “Why are you trying so hard now? You haven’t thought of this pony in years, never even mentioned her.” Rainbow grit her teeth and looked away, then she headed back to the town hall. “See if you can get to the camps before them. I’ll catch up shortly,” she said with her back turned. Lightning scowled at her friend’s hard headedness but took off anyway, leaving Rainbow alone. She went back in the town hall and into the “Town Files” room where she found the address she needed. Five minutes later Rainbow stood in front of a pleasant looking little cottage. At least it would have been pleasant if not for the decaying remains of an animal sanctuary next to it. Rainbow had to hold her nose as she passed. Either something had recently died in the chicken coop or some animal had chosen this deserted spot for its bathroom. She took a gulp and tried the door, not surprised to find it open. The door opened slowly allowing her a view of the inside. Just like she feared, the place looked deserted. No pony had lived here for years at least. Many of the curtains and furniture were chewed up or eaten by moths. Rainbow could hear the nervous skitter of bugs and mice as she entered. Across the living room was a stairway to a bedroom above. The bannister on it had been chewed through as well. Nothing in this house suggested a living thing. Rainbow sighed with despair as she turned to leave but stopped when she noticed a dusty picture in the wall. She brushed the dust off and saw a yellowing photo. It was of two fillies. One with a rainbow mane and cyan hoof wrapped around the others neck and smiling broadly, a few bumps and scratches on her suggesting she was in a fight. The other filly was slightly taller with a beautiful yellow coat and flowing pink mane that covered one of her eyes. She was trying to tend to the wounds of the smaller filly but looked surprised as she grabbed her around the neck for a friendly hug. Rainbow placed a hoof on the photo and bit her lip to stifle the emotions it brought forth. “Fluttershy,” she whispered. “Speak of the devil,” a feminine voice came from behind her and Rainbow turned around sharply. A tall mare with the same purple and black uniform she had seen before stood before her. Her goggles and face mask were up but there was no mistaking that flowing pink mane. “And she shall appear.” “No way,” Rainbow whispered doubtfully. The mare noticed her hesitation so she lifted her goggles and pulled back her mask. Rainbow gasped as she saw the ocean blue eyes she remembered from her childhood as well as the yellow coat. “Fluttershy? Is it really you?” Fluttershy walked forward, taking a look around the cottage with a small smile. “I haven’t been back to this place in years.” She looked back to Dash and her smile grew wider. “It’s good to see you, Rainbow.” Rainbow ran forward and hugged her long lost friend, some tears slipping out. “When I heard you might be alive I… I just needed…” She pulled back from her and sniffled. “I’m so sorry I never visited. When I thought you were dead I nearly…” Fluttershy placed a hoof on her mouth to silence her. “It’s okay. I knew how busy you were in Easyglider’s battalion. I couldn’t expect to see you every week.” She smiled too as her eyes began to water as well. She quickly brushed them away. Rainbow did the same and the two mares laughed at each other. Then Rainbow finally noticed the uniform Fluttershy was in. “Why are you in that getup?” She asked hesitantly. “I just saw a couple of ponies in that costume talking about invading the line. Are they Nightmare Moon’s minions?” “Yes and no,” Fluttershy replied, her smile beginning to slip. Rainbow nodded her head in realization. “Oh, of course! You’re disguising yourself so you can move among them safely, right?” Fluttershy’s smile was gone now. “Not exactly, Rainbow.” Rainbow frowned but finally saw something different about her uniform compared to the others. While the other two she saw had one lightning stripe to separate the colors on their uniform, Fluttershy had three. Along with a large medal on her chest. It was dark blue and bore the symbol of a crescent moon. Rainbow shook her head as she frowned and looked back up at Fluttershy’s eyes. “Fluttershy?” Fluttershy’s face had many conflicting emotions. “Just let me explain.” She tried to move toward her but Rainbow backed away, confusion and pain on her face. “You’re… one of them?” she asked. Fluttershy’s face contorted in anger. “Don’t judge me! You do not get to judge me! You weren’t there! You didn’t see what happened!” Rainbow stamped and angry hoof on the ground. “I heard! You were part of a group that went into the Everfree forest to try and stop Nightmare Moon. The only reports about that incident were that you went missing.” Fluttershy grit her teeth as she turned toward the window and looked out at the moon. “We were doing fine. Surpassed any obstacle that came at us. Then we reached a broken bridge. I was the only one who could fly across the gorge and reattach it. On the other side I was greeted by a group of ponies, ones in the uniform you saw before. They offered me… a position in their ranks.” She paused for a moment as she turned back to Rainbow and tried to smile. “I was never like you. I never wanted fame or to be the fastest in Equestria. So I turned them down. But they distracted me. I didn’t tie the knot tight enough. My friends. All of them. The rope snapped and they fell. I wasn’t… fast enough to save them.” Tears began to return to her eyes. Then with a wipe of her hoof the tears were gone and her eyes looked dead inside. “That’s when they came back. They offered me power this time. The strength to save those I couldn’t. The speed to overcome my limitations. It was my fault the others died. So I accepted. Now I needed strength. Now I needed fortitude if I wanted to complete the mission my friends started.” “But you didn’t,” Rainbow interrupted. “Those ponies you’re with are going to attack everypony on the other side of the dayline. Nightmare Moon is trying to invade!” “Nightmare Moon is dead!” Fluttershy shouted. A new silence spread across the room. “That’s right, I killed her. Two years ago, with the same power she gave me, I put a sword right through her chest. And do you know what I found?” Rainbow couldn’t reply she was too stunned. “We were lied to! Nightmare Moon wasn’t a monster. She was the lost sister of Celestia. That’s what she told me with her last breath.” She got up on two hooves and spread her wings and arms out. “We were free! But at the same time we weren’t. The moon was still up there casting its darkness and we had just killed a royal sister. Everypony on this side of the line feared the reprisal. And why shouldn’t they? For years we had been living under the rule of a tyrant. For many of the ponies here they can’t even walk in the sun anymore! So we all came to a consensus. Celestia abandoned us, then we would abandon Celestia. And that worked for about a year. But you know nothing can grow without sunlight.” She took a step toward Rainbow and glared at her with a manic seriousness. “We’re running out of food. This is the only way.” Rainbow grabbed her friend’s shoulders. “No it’s not! Just come back with me and explain everything to Princess Celestia. She’s a good pony, she’ll forgive you.” “No!” Flutterhsy shouted as she jumped back from Dash. “I’ve had enough dealings with gods!” A dark miasma of energy began to billow around her hooves. Rainbow looked down at the floor and the spreading darkness. “Fluttershy, what did you do?” A wicked smile played across Fluttershy’s face. “All that darkness had to go somewhere.” Suddenly the room was plunged into blackness and Rainbow was left blind. She stumbled around looking for Fluttershy and waving her hooves around to find her. “You can still help me, Rainbow,” Fluttershy’s voice called out from the darkness. “I still consider you my friend. I can offer you the same thing she offered me.” An image appeared in the darkness of a Rainbow Dash clad in purple and black, dark magic flowing from her eyes. “We can help everypony here that was abandoned. Together we could unite Equestria!” Rainbow stared at the powerful image of herself for a moment then turned away in disgust. “Fluttershy, please don’t do this! There’s another way this can go. We can talk to Celestia. Find a compromise.” “Did Celestia compromise when she imprisoned her only sister in the moon for a thousand years?” Fluttershy shouted back. “I told you, I’m done dealing with gods and monsters!” Rainbow grit her teeth in frustration. “The only monster I see right now is you!” Rainbow let out a gasp after she said it, immediately regretting her words. The darkness receded just enough to show Fluttershy by the door of the cottage. “Very well,” she said solemnly, a look of rage in her eyes. “If that’s what you think, then a monster I’ll be.” She stamped a hoof and summoned a mass of shadows that took form as a black version of Rainbow. “I’m needed on the battlefield anyway. I’ll leave you to work out your problems with yourself.” With a flip of her mane she shot off into the sky, the shadow doppelganger getting into a fighting stance. Rainbow felt her heart ache as she watched Fluttershy fly away but set her hooves and prepared for a fight. “Fine, you want some of me!?” The doppelganger made the first move and lunged at her with amazing speed. Rainbow took it head on, literally as the two headbutted each other. Rainbow could feel blood begin to drip down her mask but she did not let up. “Fluttershy thinks you can stop me?” she shouted. The doppelganger did not respond but kept up the pressure. “She was right about one thing! I wasn’t there with her! Just like she wasn’t there with me! She has no idea what I’ve been through!” She pushed forward a step. “The pain I’ve felt!” Another step. “The loved ones I’VE lost!” The doppelganger lost its footing on its back hooves and fell to its knees, Rainbow still applying pressure. “I will never give up! Not just on my home, but her too! Whether she wants it or not!” Rainbow lifted her head for a brief second only to bring it down again, shattering the doppelganger into wisps of shadow. Rainbow let out a large sigh and wiped the blood from her forehead. With a determined look she turned to the sky outside the door. Sunrise was still a couple hours away. In the distance she could make out what looked like a swarm of dark figures gathering eastward toward the dayline. “I won’t abandon you this time, Fluttershy.” ===E8DB Lightning swore to herself as she closed the distance to the dayline. There was a massive amount of ponies gathering about a mile out from it, both on the ground and above. It would take hours for her to find a way to fly around. For now she hid herself in some bushes and watched the invaders as they sat impatiently for somepony they called the Admiral to arrive. Three sat at a campfire that burned a deep blue casting something that looked like moonlight on them. One’s stomach rumbled hungrily. “Buck! I’m starving!” Another at the fire offered her a bottle of what could only be liquor. The first pony rejected it and stood up angrily. Lightning saw a cutie mark of three flowers on her flank and the pony’s eyes were illuminated in iridescent red. She began to pace back and forth with a look of anger. “We can’t move till the Admiral gives the word,” the third pony stated, whom Lightning noticed had some pieces of candy for a cutie mark. Her eyes too were red. The flower pony grabbed her by the mane and shoved her. The candy pony got right back up with a feral growl and lunged at the flower one, almost seeming like she was trying to bite at her. Whatever these ponies had been through they were now something else. Lightning held her breath as another flew down to end the brawl. With a spread of her wings and threatening look the new black clad grey Pegasus let out a guttural roar that silenced the feud. “Everypony will sit and be patient until the Admiral arrives!” she shouted. Once all at the fire acknowledged her words she nodded and took off again running into another Pegasus in midflight. “Watch it, you ditz!” he shouted at her, to which she responded with a growl. Suddenly all across the encampment ponies began to murmur with excitement. Lightning had to turn her attention to a spot further off. Darkness billowed around it and gushed from the earth revealing a Pegasus with yellow wings and long flowing mane. Her suit was the same as most of the other ponies there but everypony still paid her respect. She stepped forward and addressed them all. “My fellow Night Ponies. Two years ago we threw off the shackles of oppression that had been put on us by the gods of Equestria. Yet we were still prisoners. Prisoners to the fear of one last god.” She pointed eastward. “The accursed sun still rises every day. Risen by a hedonistic pony that had no intention of rescuing us from our enslavement. Well, tonight is our night! Tonight is the solstice! The longest night of the year! And at the moon’s zenith we will take back the land that was once stolen from us.” She raised a hoof to the sky and let darkness flow from below her into the ponies around them. “With this power, we will free ourselves from restraint and live as we desire once more!” The darkness flowed all over the camp seeping into everypony available and making them glow with eerie blue power. Eventually the darkness made its way to where Lightning was hiding. She didn’t notice as it brushed past her. The Admiral shot a quick glance in her direction and smiled her eyes beginning to glow. Most of the other ponies in the camp’s eyes began to glow as well as they turned toward her too. “It seems we have an eavesdropper. Everypony! Show her our hospitality!” “Oh buck me,” Lightning muttered as she tried to shoot out of the underbrush and into the sky. However she was thrown back to the ground when one of the ponies from the campfire grabbed her leg and pulled her down. Just how strong were these freaks? She struggled to free herself but more ponies pinned her to the ground. The Admiral sauntered over slowly with a grin. “You’re never gonna win this! There a lot of you but there’s a whole lot more of us.” The Admiral chuckled. “Winning implies there being a loser. I intend to leave nothing behind.” Lightning gulped as the rest of the ponies in the camp began to chuckle alongside her. ===E8DB Rainbow kicked herself into overdrive as she flew past the hills and valleys. The cloud of dark figures she had seen from Fluttershy’s place were now less congregated and flying erratically. She could see traces of ponies in blue uniforms as well in the fray. The battle had already started. Rainbow burst over a forest of trees and came to a halt as she saw the scene of battle. “No,” she murmured. It was carnage both above and below. Ponies on the ground at Camp Hoofenbach were fighting for their lives. The unicorns and earth ponies were trying their best but there was something about the invading forces that overwhelmed them. They fought like ponies possessed, unafraid of dying. In the skies above the pegasi were having a tough time overcoming their own foes. The elusive flyers in the black and purple uniforms were everywhere and moved with incredible speed. It seemed like ponies were dropping like flies. “No!” Rainbow reared back and shot forward like a cannon into the ponies below. She held out her hooves when she collided with the ground, her special uniform absorbing a lot of the impact and directing the force of it outward. A cloud of dust blasted out from her and knocked a bunch of the glowing ponies down. However they simply glowed a little brighter and returned to the fight moments later. Rainbow grit her teeth as she cracked her neck and stretched, preparing to do a Super Dash. With a kick from her back legs she shot off at one of the invaders and curled up into a ball before slamming into the back of their head. The pony went down hard, his light extinguishing. Rainbow continued to ride the force of the impact and pinballed her way around the battlefield knocking out ponies this way. When the velocity had ceased and she untucked herself she noticed that she had also knocked out some friendlies. That was fine, she thought. At least they’re not dead. She didn’t want anypony to die tonight, especially her friends. Next, Rainbow turned her attention to the sky where the bulk of the battle was waged. She would need something much bigger and stronger to scatter or nullify the ponies up there. This was a good time for her patented maneuver. Rainbow grinned as she planted her hooves in the dirt and crouched down preparing to shoot upward. Another cloud of dust blasted from around her as she disappeared from the ground and rocketed to the battle above. She could feel her face begin to be pushed back by gravity and air pressure as she began to surpass her limits, the magic building up around her. “Now!” she shouted as she pushed through that final barrier and let loose an explosion of rainbows. The Sonic Rainboom spread out from the center of the battle consuming any and all pegasi in its way. While her Wonderbolt friends were merely pushed back, the invading forces suffered greater injuries. The light from the Rainboom blinded them causing them all to scream in agony. Ponies shouted and pointed out that the glow that had been making them stronger subsided when they were struck by the blast. The invaders on the outside of the battle recognized this and tried to fly away, a few of them making it before another pony entered the scene and waved her hooves in front of her. She released a wave of darkness that consumed the Rainboom and canceled it out. Rainbow landed on the surface of Sky Glaive to rest and examine the damage her attack did. When she saw the darkness cancel it out she knew it could only be one pony. “Fluttershy.” Rainbow took a deep breath and shot back down into the battle. Both sides of the battle were flying towards each other to resume the fight when Rainbow flew in between the two and held out her hooves. “Stop!!!” she shouted. The invaders saw her face and the rainbow colored mane. Most of them backed away in fear, knowing that she was the one that had created that explosion that nearly wiped them out. Only a few were brave enough to stare at her with bloodthirsty eyes. One flew forward, her pink mane flowing in the night breeze. “That’s enough, Fluttershy!” Fluttershy smiled. “You took care of that doppelganger quite easily. I honestly thought it’d take you longer. You really have gotten fast, Rainbow.” She opened her hooves in a gesture of acceptance. “My offer still stands. I can call off the attack right now. Everypony can be spared. You just have to convince them that Celestia must be deposed!” Rainbow turned to fully face her friend. “You know I can’t do that, Shy.” Fluttershy lowered her head with a sigh. “Then I guess I have no choice.” She nodded her head to her subordinates behind her and they brought forth a restrained mare with a yellow mane. “Lightning!” Rainbow shouted. Lightning tried to respond but a gag had been placed over her mouth. A Pegasus carrying her pushed it a little deeper down her throat. “You let her go!” She rushed to catch them but Fluttershy nearly teleported with speed to be in front of Dash. She held out a hoof to stop her. “So a friend of yours?” she smirked. “Isn’t it weird how all your friends and loved ones either die or change for the worse?” Rainbow froze. “What are you talking about?” Fluttershy’s smirk grew wider. “Easyglider died after a routine scouting mission, right? I’ll bet you thought it was monsters.” Rainbow did not like where this was going as she shook her head. “You may not have thought of me all this time, Rainbow, but I thought of you. I kept tabs on you. Watched you from afar. I saw your graduation! You think I couldn’t recognize the pony who raised you? Who took you away!” Tears began to fall from her eyes as Fluttershy lifted her goggles. What had once been eyes of ocean blue were now pinpricks of iridescent red. “I hated her so much! I had fun tearing her apart piece by piece.” Rainbow grabbed her ears with her hooves and curled into a ball to try to block out the words. “You were right about the monster thing! I’ve known it for a while now. The thing is… I don’t know if I want to change. All I do know is… I want you!” Fluttershy rushed forward with blinding speed leaving a glowing blue trail behind her. Rainbow reacted with just enough time to intercept her attack as the two pushed hoof to hoof in midair. Fluttershy’s manic smile returned. “What do you say, Rainbow? We never competed before, but let’s see whose better now. That poor shy little filly you once knew, or the big strong Wonderbolt!” Rainbow let out a scream from the bottom of her heart and pushed her off, swiftly delivering a strong right to her cheek. Fluttershy took the hit and returned it with a one-two to Rainbow’s ribs followed by a knee to her gut. Rainbow doubled over and nearly lost her concentration in the air, beginning to fall. “Oh no you don’t,” Fluttershy hissed as she grabbed he wings and through her over her shoulder. Rainbow was able to right herself in midair just as she noticed Lightning being taken away. She tried to fly toward her friend once more but Fluttershy was there again. “This is just between you and me, Rainbow. No distractions. I want to enjoy this.” “Fine!” Rainbow shouted as she flew up in vertical line. Fluttershy laughed madly as she came up behind her. Within seconds they were side by side again. Fluttershy turned leisurely toward Rainbow and smiled. “You know you can’t beat me,” she chuckled. “I’m stronger, faster, and more powerful than you can imagine.” Rainbow grinned as they broke dove into the cloud bank above just below the stratosphere. “Maybe, but there’s something you forgot.” “What’s that?” They burst through the cloud layer into the thin air above where all was clear. In the far off distance the sun was beginning to rise. “We’re on the dayside of the line.” Fluttershy had to shield her eyes as the light of the sun reached her. She screamed in pain as the sun’s rays began to burn her skin, the dark miasma surrounding her beginning to dissipate. Rainbow took this chance to tackle Fluttershy in the stomach and began to drag her down again. They pushed through the clouds again and Fluttershy tried to struggle but was unable to overcome the speed at which Rainbow was going. “You said I’d forgotten about you,” Rainbow began to speak as they fell fast toward the earth. “But that’s not true. I never forgot about you, Fluttershy. What I forgot about was my loyalty. My loyalty to you. I never wrote, I never visited. I remembered my friend with fondness but I never thought you needed me.” Fluttershy’s struggles began to dwindle as she listened closer to her. “I was so wrong. Wrong to abandon you. But I came back…” Tears flew past her as she continued to speak, unaware if they were hers or Fluttershy’s. “I came back because no matter what you’ve done, you are my friend! And I will never abandon you again!” The earth came at them like a bullet and the two created a giant impact crater. Everypony within a mile was sent flying as the biggest cloud of dust yet billowed outward and consumed both the camp and Sky Glaive. Silence fell over the battlefield. ===E8DB “Ugh,” Rainbow slowly opened her eyes as she scanned her surroundings. She was in a white sterile room with a single pony in a white lab coat off to the side checking a chart. He noticed her slowly open her eyes and gasped, turning to the door and calling for a nurse. Rainbow could feel her consciousness fade once more as several other ponies rushed in and tried to tend to her before she blacked out once more. Fluttershy, was all she could think. The next time Rainbow opened her eyes she was greeted by a familiar sight. Commander Spitfire sat by her bed with a solemn smile on her face. “How you doing?” she asked. “Fluttershy,” Rainbow croaked out as she attempted to stand up. Spitfire placed a hoof on her chest that shot a bolt of pain through her and made her sit back down. “Easy there. You did just freefall from nearly 30 kilometers. You’re lucky to have gotten out with a few busted ribs and legs.” Spitfire went back to her seat at the end of the bed. Rainbow took a long breath. “Was there… another mare with me?” Spitfire shook her head. “No, though a lot of ponies say they saw you take the ringleader into the sky and then the two of you came crashing down. Don’t know what you did but that little stunt you pulled made the rest of them pull out.” She smiled as she said this but Rainbow wasn’t smiling. “Hey, cheer up. We won.” Rainbow looked over to her with a sad but stern expression. “There’s something I need to tell you.” Rainbow proceeded to tell Spitfire everything that had happened the last couple of days. Fluttershy’s involvement. The death of Nightmare Moon. Everything. Spitfire could only nod as a response. “I’m glad you told this to me,” she said. “We were under the impression that they were ponies under Nightmare’s control but… this changes things quite drastically.” Rainbow narrowed her eyes at her. “How?” Spitfire took a deep breath. “Depending on how these Night Ponies react. Either new peace or… a new war.” Rainbow felt her head drop back into the pillow as she stared at the ceiling, a new thought occurring to her. “Hey, where is Lightning Dust?” Spitfire frowned. “We were actually hoping you could tell us. Captain Lightning Dust hasn’t been seen since the battle.” ===E8DB Lightning was finally able to throw off the last of her restraints as she ran through the forest. After those feral ponies lost and retreated they tried to take her with them but she took advantage of the disaster and gave her captors the slip. “Buck!” she swore at no one in particular. “Bucking shit!” She tried to take off and fly away but a new pain shot through her. She screamed in agony as she looked to her right wing which had had a piece of debris shoot through it from the crater impact. “Dash,” she grumbled. “You bitch.” She continued to hobble through the forest until she came across a small clearing. In the center was a dying feral pony. She noticed the fading light around its body and decided to steer clear of it. She turned to leave but was stopped by a voice. She turned back to the dying pony but knew it couldn’t have been from him since his throat looked to be crushed. Plus the voice felt a lot more melodic and feminine. She heard it again and stepped into the clearing, the pony noticing her but too weak to do anything. “What are you?” She asked the strange voice. The voice replied. “You want me to what?” The voice spoke again. Lightning looked at the dying pony and then at her destroyed wing. “I… I don’t know about this.” The voice ushered her on. “Sure it’s her fault but it was an accident.” The voice responded. “Her friend was in trouble, of course she’d-” The voice interrupted. “Yeah, she did just leave me there to die. But…” The voice tried to convince her. “I want to be stronger.” The voice succeeded in convincing her. “I will be stronger.” The voice laughed. “Then I’ll show Dash that she can’t just leave me to die!” Lightning brought her hoof down on the pony’s neck killing it instantly, releasing the dark power from him. The swirling darkness proceeded to float around her and seep into every pore. Lightning smiled with mischievous delight as her eyes began to glow and her wing slowly regenerated. ===E8DB Two weeks after the battle that the ponies of Camp Hoofenbach had dubbed the “One Night War,” Rainbow was fully healed for the most part and had obtained permission from Commander Spitfire to scout out the night side of the dayline, searching for any of the night ponies or dark clad Pegasi that the Wonderbolts had begun to call “Shadowbolts.” Rainbow had been searching the land for days with no luck. She even revisited Fluttershy’s old cottage but the place was just as deserted as when she found it. She did pick up the photo of the two of them. Rainbow sighed to herself as she hung the photo on her wall. Memories flooded her as she looked at the innocent faces. She turned to the second cot in her room and frowned. Lightning Dust had been missing for a while as well with no explanation. Two friends gone, just like that. But Rainbow Dash had faith. Faith in her loyalty to the both of them. She would find Fluttershy and bring her back from despair, and she would save Lightning from whatever danger she was in. She was sure of it. Rainbow just finished putting on her uniform for the day when the room was rocked with an explosion of sound. Rainbow was thrown into the wall and she had to close her eyes from the pain resurfacing in her side. She moaned as she opened her eyes. Two mares stood in her room. One was pink and wore a white bodysuit with purple lightning stripes and balloons. The other wore a dark blue and purple suit with wide brimmed hat and a mask that covered herb whole face. “I do not like vibratey,” the masked mare muttered with a groan as she held a hoof to her aching head. Rainbow’s eyes widened at them before her battle instincts took hold. She lunged at the pink mare who saw her coming and moved with unimaginable speed to avoid her. Instead she collided with the masked mare who caught her lunge and used the momentum to toss her backward into the wall once more. Rainbow caught herself in the air before hitting the wall and yelled as she floated in midair, the masked mare pulling out some kind of “M” shaped projectile and getting into a battle stance. “Who are you and what are you doing here?” Rainbow asked with a sneer. The pink mare sped in between the two and held out her hooves. “That’s enough, Rainbow Dash! You too, Twilight.” Rainbow looked stunned at the fact that the mare knew her name. The masked mare huffed and withdrew her projectile into a belt below her waist. The pink mare turned to Rainbow with a serious look. “We know who you are, Rainbow Dash. Judging from you’re reaction I’m guessing you don’t recognize me but my name is Filli-Second. This here is Mare Do-Well.” The masked mare huffed again as she continued to watch Rainbow for any sudden moves. “We’re from realities separate from yours.” Rainbow cocked an eyebrow but began to lower her guard. “Seriously?” “I was pretty skeptical too,” Mare Do-Well muttered. Filli-Second gave her a glare but sighed in resignation. “I know it’s hard to take in, but there is so much you don’t understand,” she explained. “I don’t have time to explain it all right now, but believe me when I say that this world and every world are in danger.” She held out a hoof for Rainbow to take. “We need your help.” Rainbow frowned. “I don’t even know you. Why should I trust you?” Filli-Second thought for a moment. “You don’t recognize either of our faces?” Rainbow shook her head. “What about the name Rarity? Applejack? Fluttershy?” At that last name Rainbow narrowed her eyes. “How do you know about Fluttershy?” she asked. “We’re all connected in some way,” Filli-Second responded. “Again, I can’t explain the extent of it right now. But trust me when I say that your Fluttershy, just like every other Fluttershy could be in grave danger. As well as everypony you care about.” Rainbow found it all hard to believe but the mare’s face showed no sign of dishonesty and the masked mare behind her seemed just as lost as her. After a minute of pondering it over Rainbow nodded her head. “Alright, I’ll help. What do we do?” Filli-Second smiled. “We’re already half way through. We just need to make three more stops.” Mare Do-Well walked over to the white clad mare and grabbed her shoulder, motioning for Rainbow to do the same. “So who’s next?” “Fluttershy.” Rainbow looked at Filli-Second in confusion before she began to vibrate and in a flash of light and sound the three of them disappeared. The room was silent once more, a picture of days gone by hanging loosely on the wall.