What have I done?

by St Jimmy

The Elysium Project

Rainbow Dash collapsed to the ground, her sadness, though not visibly apparent, was felt by every living thing within a few feet of the headstone, including Twilight. The Unicorn set herself down next to the weakened Pegasus, and reached out to place her foreleg over Dash’s shoulder before catching herself, and setting it down next to herself.

“I’m sorry,” Twilight leaned her head against the empty air occupied by Rainbow’s spirit.

“Sad bit of business, that is,” Said a deep voice with an accent native to the region. “Public library went up in flames. Those two helped out as many as they could, but the roof fell in on ‘em,” The voice sighed. “Terrible business, that is,”

Twilight turned towards the stallion. “Would you mind if you left us-,” Twilight caught herself. “I mean me, to mourn in peace. I mean, I don’t mean to be rude but-,”

“S’alright, I need t’be goin’ anyway,” He tipped his cap, and left.

“Ponies here are so social,”

“Twi’? Do you think maybe you could crash somewhere near here? You know, so I can-,”

Twilight nodded, and smiled a sort of sad smile. “Of course,”

“Thanks,”

“I’ll go set up somewhere…”

“Okay,” Rainbow Dash never took her eyes off of the headstone, re-reading it, again and again.

Twilight stood up, and sighed. She made for the densely wooded area not far from the headstone. After looking around for a bit she decided that it would have to do. A low-end cloaking spell would keep out prying eyes.

“Uuuh, Twillight?”

“Hmm?” Twilight turned toward Dash, but found herself face-to-face with a cloaked stallion.

He flipped back his hood, and held out his hoof. “Nice to meet you Twilight Sparkle,”

“Wha-huh?”

“You can drop the act Miss Sparkle, it’ll help move things along. Anyway…” He gestured towards the headstone. Suddenly, his raspy voice changed tones to a smooth drawl. “Sad bit of business, that is,” She recognized that voice as the same voice that had belonged to the older stallion who had been there a bit ago.

“What? Why would you-,” She shook out her head. “What are you playing at?”

“Counting my eggs,” Said Ray. “I’ve got to be ready for when they hatch,” He smiled, smugly. “Say, have you ever heard of the Elysium Project?”

“Um,” Twilight thought for a moment. “Can’t say that I have,”

“Too bad, that was a nasty bit of business too. Maybe you should look that up,”

“What?” Twilight gained a look of complete bewilderment. “Why?”

The stallion chuckled. “Why not?” He checked his pocket watch. “Well, I must be off,” He bowed. “Until next time,”

Twilight stood, unmoving for a few moments as the stallion left. She then shook out her head. “What…what was…What was with him?”

Rainbow Dash shrugged. “I dunno,” She paused. “Is the Circus in town?
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Rainbow Dash sat alone in front of the headstone. She couldn’t believe they were gone. She hadn’t even seen them in 7 years, or even written to them. The last thing she had said to them was that she was “off to see the world” and she’d come visit sometime soon, but the longer she was away, the less she wanted to go back. Now that they were gone, she realized how much she wished she had.

She glanced towards Twilight’s concealed tent. “Are these the kind of feelings that…” She turned back to the headstone. “That drive somepony to what you were driven to Twi’?” She leaned towards the headstone, instinctively stopping herself before she passed through.

“I-,” Dash began to stutter, and if she still had tear ducts, she would have begun to weep. “I j-just wish-,” She closed her eyes. “D-damn it all…”

A normal pony would be crying every last drop of water out of their body, thought Rainbow Dash. A normal pony might unleash a sort of self-detestation. A normal pony might stop in a nearby bar, and drown themselves with alcohol. A normal pony...

“Of course, I guess I’m not really normal am I?” She opened her eyes and looked towards the heavens. “Am I!?” She shouted. “Is this some of cruel judgment!? Huh!? You think that you just take everything that I came back for!? THINK AGAIN!” The shouting had awakened Twilight, the only pony who could here Dash, just in time for her to see Dash’s translucent silhouette flash an angered red.

“Rainbow?” Asked Twilight, half asleep. “Rainbow!” She came running out of the tent.

“YOU CAN’T HAVE THEM! YOU CAN’T HAVE MY FRIENDS, AND MORE IMPORTANTLY, YOU CAN’T TAKE HER!” Dash’s form crackled with Soul Force. “YOU. CAN’T. TAKE. TWILIGHT!!”

“Rainbow! Calm down!”

Dash turned to Twilight, and her expression changed abruptly from anger to sadness. The Soul Force dissipated from around her, and her translucent form fell to the ground. Then, her eyes slowly fluttered closed.

“Rainbow? Are you alright?” Twilight rushed to her mare-friend’s side.

Dash’s eyes opened to a squint. “Ugh…yeah…I guess…” Her form compressed down to a bright blue sphere, and entered the amulet. “I…I need to rest for a bit…”

Twilight yawned. “That makes two of us,”

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Twilight carried the stack of books she had just taken from the shelf, to the table where she and Rainbow were seated, and set them down in front her spot.

“Hey, Twi?” Asked Dash, meekly.

“Yeah?”

“Can…can you…can you turn the page for me?”

Twilight smirked. Rainbow was reading the newest Daring Do, but not having a body made it difficult. “Sure,”

“Thanks,”

Twilight opened her own book, and skimmed through the table of contents, looking for “Elysium” or “Project” or preferably “The Elysium Project”. Upon discovering none, she closed it, set it down to her right, and selected the next book off the top.

What really piqued her curiosity was the strange pony who was in the graveyard last night. What was he doing? How did he see through her disguise? And, most importantly, what was he playing at? It was clear he had some unspoken motivation for directing her to The Elysium Project, whatever it was, but what? She could sit there all day and debate this with herself, or she could turn to page 153 in the book she had open, and read the chapter titled “The Elysium Project”.

“Convenient,” She remarked. She turned to the chapter, and began to read.

The Elysium Project was a relatively secret project which took place a few months after the Crystal Empire Incident. It was led by a unicorn named Ray Eclipse, an authority on ancient artifacts. He started the project because he was convinced he had found the final resting place of the Sapphire of Ancients, an ancient stone capable of-

“Page turn?” Asked Rainbow.

Twilight turned Dash’s book to the next page.

-an ancient stone capable of enhancing magical abilities to a god-like status. While the excavation yielded treasures, and records from long before the Luna-Celestia Diarchy, the mythical stone was nowhere to be found, so Eclipse branded the project a failure. The group gathered to collect it was disbanded, and Ray Eclipse disappeared. The ruins are now a public domain location, which ponies can explore freely, just a few miles north of Ponyville.

“Dash, hope you’re ready for a long train ride, then a long walk,”

“Why?”

“We’ve got to take a train to Appleloosa, then hoof it to Ponyville, then walk north a few miles,”

“Yikes, how long will that take?”

“The rest of the day, and most of tonight. First we’ll stop and get something to eat,”

“You,”

“What?”

“You’ll stop and get something to eat,”

“Oh…right,” The two left the library, and passed a cloaked and hooded pony on the way out.

Once they were a good distance away, he spoke to himself. “I’ll just have to take the next train to Ponyville,” He stepped away from the library, and headed for the train station.

Author's Note:

God it took way too long to write this, but at least I finished it. I'm hoping to get more writing done more frequently now, that way I don't have to keep you guys waiting another 4 months for the next chapter.

If you survived this long, and got to read it, please post in the comments what you thought!

Comments

[silvadel]

Rainbow Dash has no tears to cry.

[fargo11]

It's mainly because of the doctor who binge I just got off of...

But to me, Ray seemed to be acting a bit timey-wimey.

[St Jimmy]

4958235 Actually, I based him off of Sherlock Holmes

[St Jimmy]

4186321 It was a one time thing, I swear

[fargo11]

4958960

Ah well, their both British, so I came close.