Chapter Nine: Echoes of Marigold's Past Part One
Equestria, Hoofington, 03-12-05, 9:17 P.M. A.N.M. (After Nightmare Moon)
An exhausted purple alicorn collapsed onto the mattress furthest from the door. The last twelve hours had been the longest period spent in meetings that Twilight could remember in a long time.
Hoofington was a mess. The actions of the local Assembly showed a complete and utter destabilization of the government in the territory. Twilight had been forced to disband the entire body and point regional governors over each jurisdiction, at least until a general election for a new body could be held.
Twilight turned her head slightly to gaze on her cyan friend. She sent Rainbow Dash away several hours ago to get some sleep after they had gotten as many details ironed out as needed. She’s been a real trooper; handling all of this on top of what’s been happening to her.
Twilight’s concern for her friend caused the deep seated anger she had towards Celestia to come forth. The mare angrily punched her pillow. Why did I agree to this, this quest in the first place?! I’m no longer under any obligation to do what should be Celestia and Luna’s job, and the Princess knows it! So why did I do it?
Further musing was cut short by Rainbow. Her wings flared from where they had been lying along her back. Twilight got up in alarm as flashes of mana started to travel down the length of Rainbow’s wings. Simultaneously, a levitation aura started flowing around the room. All sorts of objects started to lift from their places.
Twilight realized that Rainbow was having a mana flare. Her exhaustion vanishing as a result of adrenalin, Twilight quickly moved to seal the room off. She also sealed any large objects from being affected by any other kind of magic outside of her own. This had no effect on anything within a hoof’s length from Rainbow’s flaring wings.
Twilight made her way over to her friend, noticing that Rainbow’s eyes were moving rapidly. This was a clear sign that she was deep in the throes of an REM sequence. Suddenly, the mare cried out, her eyes opening. They glowed a bright white with power.
The room flared as scintillating bolts of mana flashed off Rainbow’s wings. Twilight layered the walls of the room in sealing spells so that nothing would leave. A torrent of air started flowing around Rainbow as her pegasus mana started to respond to the flare.
Twilight gasped as the hotel room started to shake. Jumping up, she burned a sealing rune on the wall with her horn, then levered her earth pony mana through it. A vibration thrummed through the walls as the room itself was sealed off from the rest of the hotel.
Twilight watched worriedly as bolt after bolt of mana flared off Rainbow’s wings. While not the most dangerous flare she had ever seen, it nonetheless was concerning. She knew that she needed to let it run its course, as this wasn’t at all like her flare when she hatched Spike.
A few very tense minutes later, Rainbow slumped as her eyes lost their eldritch glow. Her wings settled down. Twilight sighed in relief, though she held the seals in place just in case.
Rainbow gradually woke up, shaking her head. Tears were in her eyes as she raised her head. “Oh Twi, you’re all right!”
Twilight squawked as Rainbow lunged from her bed, catching her in a tight hug. The pegasus was shuddering from terror as she hugged her lavender friend. Twilight hugged her back, stroking a hoof down her withers.
This continued for several minutes. Twilight let Rainbow go as soon as she felt her wiggle. Rainbow Dash flushed a bit. Trying to get her bearings, she took a look around the hotel room.
“Um, what happened in here?” she asked confusedly. Twilight sighed a little, knowing that what she was about to say was going to be hard for Rainbow to take in.
“You had a mana flare Rainbow Dash.” Twilight started to use her magic to straighten the room.
“A mana flare? Isn’t that something that just happens to unicorns?” Rainbow asked in surprise.
Twilight paused. “Well, yes and no,” she said at length. “It happens to unicorns a lot, especially when they have overly large wellsprings.”
Twilight sighed as she sat next to Rainbow. “It’s far more common for ponies that are undergoing a metaphysical shift. That usually only happens when a nascent pegacorn is making the transition from whatever they were before to a full pegacorn state.”
Rainbow’s ears flattened against her head. “Twilight, is this something that’s gonna happen a lot?” she asked in a fearful voice.
Twilight looked at her friend. “I honestly don’t know Rainbow Dash. Nearly all of the pegacorns I’ve ever talked to were born that way. The only ones that I know of that didn’t have never given any details of their transitions, and I’ve never met any of those that were born a different type before you.”
Twilight could see the vulnerability in Rainbow’s eyes, something that she thought she’d never see. “Rainbow, no matter what, I’ll do all I can to help you.” She paused, frowning. “There’s not a time limit on all of this, and I know that Luna called the PPP in to protect Ponyville. We could head back, at least until the changes are complete.”
Rainbow thought hard about what Twilight was saying. She was scared, really scared. And yet, she remembered what her dad always said about being scared.
“Twi, I am scared. But, what we’re doing here is important. If we don’t do this, ponies can get hurt.” Rainbow sighed. “Doing all that Element of Harmony stuff has never really been about saving Equestria for me. It’s always been about helping my friends. But this, this is gonna help a lot more ponies than just those important to me. I can’t just not do what needs to be done because I’m scared.”
Twilight smiled at that. “There’s the Rainbow Dash I know. Well, let’s try and get some sleep; we’ve got an early train to catch tomorrow.” Rainbow nodded at that.
After straightening the room, Twilight lay back down. Rainbow smiled at her friend before doing the same. She soon fell asleep, joining Twilight in the Realm of Dreams.
This time at least, she had pleasant dreams.
Equestria, Trottingham, 03-13-05, 4:17 P.M. A.N.M. (After Nightmare Moon)
The train depot in Trottingham was crowded, and not just with ponies. Rainbow Dash looked around her in stunned surprise, doing her level best to hide it.
Never before had she seen so many different creatures in one location. The gryphons weren’t that odd; even before her friendship with Gilda, Rainbow had met the occasional gryphon. However, to see donkeys, canid, even deer was unusual, even for Equestria.
“Um, Twi, I thought Diamond Dogs don’t bother going above ground,” she said in disbelief as the group passed a pair of canines going in the opposite direction. She then looked more closely at them; they only bore a superficial resemblance to the Diamond Dogs that lived outside of Ponyville. “Oh, my bad; sorry about that,” she said sheepishly to them. The female just snorted, slapping the chuckling male upside the head. Twilight just facehoofed.
Clever Marigold scowled at the conversation a pair of gryphons were having off to the side. “I really hate market days sometimes,” she said. “It brings out the riffraff.”
“Clever Marigold, that’s not a very nice thing to say,” Twilight snapped. “Just because they’re not ponies doesn’t mean they’re ‘riffraff’.”
Marigold snorted. “I wasn’t talking about the gryphons Twilight.” Marigold paused at a nearby concession stand, which happened to be the same one the gryphons had just left. After purchasing a wrapped package, she made her way over to the gryphons.
The taller male took a closer look at her, starting to smirk as he realized who it was. “Well, look what the wyvern dragged in,” he said in reasonably good Equis. “I’d heard from the grapevine that you were collared in Ponyville; did you get an early parole or something?”
“Never you mind Claude; just make sure your chicks know who got this for you,” she replied, smirking. The two gryphons walked off, chuckling.
The unicorn manning the stall scowled and would have said something had an angry blue snout not got into his. “Got a problem with the way she used her purchase, horn head?” Rainbow snarled.
“N--no problem ma’am,” the stallion stuttered out.
“Good.”
A few minutes later, the three were waiting for the police carriage that was to take them to the Trottingham Guard-house. They were all eating some shish kabobs that Marigold had purchased.
Rainbow stopped scarfing for a moment as what had happened earlier was still on her mind. “You’d think that living in a town with so many different races would make somepony more open,” she said, before continuing with her third kabob.
Marigold just rolled her eyes as she finished her first. “Miss Dash, outside of Ponyville, it’s far more common to find riffraff that judge like that, especially around here.” she levitated another kabob from the plate sitting next to the trio. “The ponies around here are far more insular than any I’ve ever run into, except maybe the unicorns that live in Canterlot Heights.”
Twilight snorted at that, smirking a little. “I would take umbrage at that Marigold, as my parents have lived in the Heights all of my life.” Marigold blanched at that. Twilight’s smirk grew. “However, as the house we have there is an inheritance, we really didn’t have much of a choice. Mom really doesn’t associate much with our neighbors outside of the weekly Bridge game she hosts.” Twilight took a quick bite of her second kabob, finishing off the grilled salmon pieces. “Come to think of it, none of the ones that join her there are from the Heights themselves.”
Rainbow gulped down the last of her kabob. Burping a little, the pegasus settled down in her seat before taking a large swig of water from the bottle next to her. She looked at the other two ponies with a question in her eyes. “I’d heard of that before; is it really all that bad?”
Twilight snorted. “Rainbow Dash, Blueblood’s mother lives three doors down from my house; what do you think?” Rainbow facehoofed at that. The other two mares chuckled.
Twilight looked at her cyan friend over the top of her third kabob. “I’m pleased and surprised that you actually stuck up for Marigold like that Rainbow, especially concerning what had happened in Ponyville.”
Rainbow scowled a bit. “Twi, that’s unfair. I’m not that thick-headed; nopony got hurt, else it would have been harder for me to.”
Twilight smirked. “Actually, I’m thinking more about your reaction towards Zecora, but that works too I guess.” Rainbow facehoofed at that.
“Ugh, yeah, I guess that wasn’t my proudest moment,” Rainbow said sheepishly. “Any more than how I treated Trixie the first time she came to Ponyville.” She frowned a bit at that. “I still don’t get why she went after the Alicorn Amulet like that; she’s never given me a straight answer.”
Twilight blinked in surprise. “You’ve been writing Trixie? Huh, there’s more to you than I thought.” Rainbow blushed a bit at that. “As far as that goes though, I don’t think she can give you a straight answer, as that’s one of the ways that artifact protects itself.” Twilight scowled. “I just wish we got more warning than we did; whenever the Alicorn Amulet becomes active, all alicorns currently in Equestria become aware.”
Marigold frowned. “Princess Twilight, are you insinuating that the Diarchy knew that a Class A Dark object was active, and did nothing?”
“No, I’m stating that Celestia knew that a Class A Dark object was active, and ignored it anyway.” A flare of magic burst from Twilight’s horn as her expression darkened. Rainbow noticed that her coat was darkening as well. Without being fully conscious of her actions, Rainbow used her harmonic connection to light to soothe Twilight, who visibly calmed.
“I don’t know if I should tell you this or not Marigold, but I’ve been irritated and angry at Celestia for awhile now,” Twilight said in a low voice. “I’ve come to terms with most of it, but I still have doubts that make me uncomfortable.” She turned her head. “Some of these doubts make me at least a little sympathetic to some of those who want to see an alicorn-free Equestria. I just don’t agree with their methods; I’d be all-too happy to step down if the High Council was willing.”
Further conversation was cut short by the arrival of not one, but three police wagons. Once they stopped, a cadre of Lunar Guards-ponies surrounded the bench the three were sitting upon.
“I’m sorry to do this,” the one in the middle said in an apologetic voice, “but I have no choice. Corporal Clever Marigold, you’re under arrest for murder.”
Several hours later, the local commander of the Lunar Guard and the D.A. were getting an earful from one irate purple alicorn.
“I cannot believe you’re actually entertaining this, this farce! She was over five hundred kilometers away in Ponyville when all three murders were committed!” Twilight stormed up to the D.A. “And before you go off and say that she has the knowledge to use earth runic magic to travel along the leylines, let me remind you that I was with her in all three occasions!”
The D.A. refused to back down. “I’m sorry, Princess Twilight, but the evidence is clear; the murder weapons have her unique magical signature all over them. And you yourself have stated time and again that there are ways to make one think something was the way it wasn’t.”
“Just as there are ways to fabricate evidence! Thaumaturgical signatures are unreliable as evidence for that reason! I can name at least three methods off the top of my horn where such traces can be falsified! Don’t insult my intelligence councillor! Unless you have more concrete evidence, then this arrest is only going to stay active for the next twenty-four hours!”
The D.A. frowned at that. “Why such a small time-frame?” he asked.
Centurion Roulette frowned. “I thought you were aware of the particulars Councillor. In twenty-four hours, I’ll be informing the other witness to Corporal Clever Marigold’s alibi, one whose authority trumps that of Princess Twilight’s.” The nocturne stallion sighed. “I’m afraid the witnesses to at least one of the crimes will be harder to ignore, even for Princess Luna.”
The D.A. smirked a little at that. “Well, I can be assured that at least some justice will come from this. Clever Marigold has long missed her day in court after all.” So saying, the unicorn left the conference room.
Once he was away, the Lunar Guard stomped his left hind hoof; a glow sealed the room off. He sighed as he turned towards Twilight. “I’m truly sorry for this Princess. I know that you were sent on a special mission, and I also know that there’s no getting around this.” He started to pace.
“The evidence against her is fabricated; I know this, the mayor knows this. Hay, the detectives who found said evidence know this. But because of the nature of three of the witnesses, my hooves are tied.”
Twilight scowled. “Centurion, I have incontrovertible proof that even those of a priestly nature can be wrong about something.” She stomped her hoof in aggravation. “Most unicorns have to work to sense leylines and personal wellsprings; I have to work hard at using suppression magic to keep from sensing such things! I’ve had to since I was a filly!” Twilight snorted angrily. “Encapsulated mana pulled from things she’s touched was all over that miserable excuse of a lawyer!”
Roulette frowned. “Then why didn’t you order her release?” he asked. “That alone shows his involvement.”
Twilight looked ready to tear her mane out. “Because I don’t have the authority!” She sighed in defeat. “You’re her superior; she’s only a part of mine and Rainbow Dash’s journey because of the circumstances in Ponyville.” She sat down heavily. “Also, that only shows that the encapsulation is leaky, not that he was involved. He’s not in any case-- he’s too much of a coward to get involved.” She then frowned. “At least directly; he might have taken a bribe of some kind.”
Roulette looked sternly at the purple alicorn. “Then you suspect that this has something to do with what happened to you in Hoofington.”
Twilight sighed. “Yes, and it looks as though I’m not going to be able to much, as something tells me this isn’t my problem to solve.” She smirked a little at the stallion’s confused look. “Just call it alicorn intuition. I may not know how this problem will be solved, but I do have a pretty good idea as to who will solve it.”
Equestria, Trottingham, 03-13-05, 7:19 P.M. A.N.M. (After Nightmare Moon)
To say that Rainbow Dash was was angry would be understating things.
Ever since Clever Marigold’s arrest hours earlier, it was all she could do to keep from blowing her top, shouting just like Twilight was at those involved. The trouble was, she was most angry at the one who needed her anger the least; Clever Marigold herself.
“I don’t understand you! You act all cocky one moment, and then the next, you go right along with whatever others are saying about you! And you’re not even gonna try to deny their claims?!” Rainbow Dash threw up her hooves in exasperation. “I’d be right in their snouts, demanding them to send word to their superiors; instead I see that you’re just sitting on your plot, meekly accepting whatever crap they’re saying!”
Marigold glared at the pegasus before her. “Rainbow Dash, I’m not just meekly taking it! I happen to have been at this particular dance before, only this time, I’m going to do right by those I’ve sworn to serve!”
“Even if it’s untrue?! You’re just gonna go along with it?!” Rainbow huffed in frustration. She then took a closer look at the obstinate look on Marigold’s muzzle. The mare was hiding it well, but Rainbow could see the fear and hurt in her eyes. Spy or not, Marigold never did anything to really hurt anypony.
“You really are innocent,” Rainbow said softly. “You’re not fighting this because on some level, you feel you deserve to be punished.”
Marigold turned her head sadly. “I have a lot of bad things to answer for, and Karmic justice has a way of working around to bite the deserving in their cutie mark.” She sighed again.
Rainbow’s eyes narrowed. Something didn’t make sense. Clever Marigold was too smart and too crafty to just let everything slide like this. She knew that there was more going on than what everypony else knew. “So why are you letting this happen? And don’t give me that crap about Karma; if you were really so concerned about that, you wouldn’t have done half the stuff you’ve done.”
A smirk appeared on Marigold’s muzzle. “You’re a lot smarter than ponies have given you credit for Rainbow Dash.” She sighed, the smirk she was wearing fading as she did so. “I’m allowing this because of what I am now. Somepony in my position has to answer to the laws of this land, whether they’re guilty of what they’re being accused of or not. It’s simply how the Lunar Guard works. And there’s really nothing I can do; this cell has spells cast on it that neutralize my mana, not to mention this undignified limiter they’ve stuck on my horn. Even if I wanted to escape to clear my name, I wouldn’t be able to.”
Rainbow grunted at that. “Whoever decided to try and frame you is probably banking on you to try and escape anyway; it’ll make you look even more guilty.” She scowled. “Something about that lawyer pony seems off; he was a little too quick to put you in here, and made too much of a big deal about the security. Even I know limiters are only for those that have been convicted and await sentencing.”
The look in Marigold’s eyes confirmed Rainbow’s suspicions. If he’s part of the greater conspiracy, and Marigold doesn’t escape, then they’ll try and send somepony to off her. Well, I can use that to our advantage; they’ll be looking for her mana, and not mine.
Rainbow huffed, doing her best to act a part. Above all else, she had to make Marigold’s next moves appear as genuine as possible, though it hurt her to do something like that to a friend. “If you’re expecting my help in this, don’t; even I can see a lost cause when it smacks me in the snout.” She turned to walk away, cringing inwardly at the shocked and hurt look on Marigold’s muzzle. “Since you seem so Tartarus-bent on being a martyr, maybe I should leave you to it.” She then stalked off, leaving behind a bewildered and sad unicorn.
An hour later, Marigold’s meditation was interrupted by the arrival of Centurion Roulette and the local D.A. Both were accompanied by a pair of plainclothes pegasus Guards-ponies. Marigold smirked a little bit as she saw them entering the cell block she was housed in. I wonder if the local authorities are aware of that stallion’s connections to the Polomare bloodline, she thought to herself cynically.
“Corporal Marigold, the D.A. has decided to offer you a deal; I suggest you listen to what he has to say. As I told Princess Twilight earlier, there’s little chance of securing your release with the evidence against you.” The Nocturne stallion gestured to the Guards-ponies, who escorted her to a nearby briefing room.
Once they were inside, the Nocturne passed a scanning probe around all the objects in the room. Once this was done, he sat down.
The D.A. frowned. “Centurion, while I’m comfortable knowing you’re here to protect me, what I have to discuss with the accused is between me and her.” The Nocturne scowled a bit, then left.
Once he was outside the door, the unicorn sealed the room in a silence bubble. “Well now, you’re probably wondering what kind of deal my boss has for you,” he said, smirking. “I have here two proposals; you either plead guilty to the ‘crimes’ we’ve prepared for you, or you use the method of escape provided.” He passed a note to her. She took a look at it before balling it up and snorting. “Such a shame; well, I’m sure you’ve already found the duplicate in your cell.”
Marigold snorted again. “I’ve already taken the third option; I’ll simply plead ‘Not Guilty’, and wait until both Princess Twilight and Princess Luna rip your so-called evidence apart.” She got up and sneered at the D.A. “So you can tell your bosses to shove their offer of a new job up their plots!”
The stallion looked at Marigold with pity. “One of the most intelligent mages currently alive crafted the spells that secured the evidence we have against you. You have no chance against a spell crafted by Clover the Wise herself.”
Marigold laughed out loud at that. “Clever Mind is nothing more than a hack politician with not even a thousandth of the brains of Twilight.” She smirked at the frown on the stallion’s muzzle. “Oh yes, I’ve worked for her clandestinely more than a few times; she’s a con-pony of the highest caliber. Clever, true, and likely one of the smartest ponies alive. But I’ll bet you a thousand bits that the spells you used to frame me are somepony else’s work. You’re wasting your time ‘counsellor’. I’m not interested.” She stomped her hoof on the ‘end interview’ button on the edge of the table near her seat. Runes flared up, cancelling the silence bubble the stallion engaged.
The stallion sighed as the Guards-ponies came back in to escort Marigold back to her cell. He then made his way back to his own office; he had a meeting to prepare for.
Even if he was paying attention, he wouldn’t have seen that he was being followed by a certain angry cyan pegasus. But then again, he was as stupid as Rainbow Dash pegged him to be.
Equestria, Trottingham, 03-14-05, 12:45 A.M. A.N.M. (After Nightmare Moon)
The local D.A. waited both impatiently and nervously at the meeting site for his contact. No matter how it played out, the situation he found himself in was untenable.
His bosses had assured him that a thief and spy such as Clever Marigold would be unable or unwilling to face the music, no matter what deal she had made with Princess Luna. The stallion himself had his reservations, and Marigold’s actions bore into it. She had shown herself to be as loyal to the Night Princess as any member of her family.
Not only that, there was no way to use her family as leverage, as virtually every living member of her family had vanished, right down to third and fourth cousins. It sounded impossible to make over two hundred ponies disappear virtually overnight, but that is precisely what happened.
Further musing was cut short by the arrival of his contact. The mare in question had a passive expression on her muzzle. “I take it that things have gone as planned?” she asked the councillor.
He shook his head. “Unfortunately, she did what you said she wouldn’t; she’s essentially letting the law do its work.” He shook his head. “Not that that’s going to get her anywhere.”
The mare scowled. “That would be the case; however, our contacts within the Justice Department have informed us that Princess Twilight has replaced all of the currently sitting Justices. It seems as though she had all the evidence to prove they were receiving bribes.” She glowered at the D.A. “That is why you were to ensure that she took the deal. You should have threatened her family; that would have been effective.”
“Threaten her with what she knows is an empty threat?! That would have achieved nothing!” He snorted. “I had already informed you that her entire family was moved to an undisclosed location, one that we since have determined that was staffed entirely by Lunar Guards. In any case, none of this would have happened had we not just simply followed the directives originally given when her group left Ponyville.”
“And risk the destruction of one of the major thruways? Are you as much of an idiot as my sister thinks you are?!” the mare countered. “It matters not though; there are other ways to tie loose ends.”
The stallion smirked at that. “Quite right; one of them I find myself taking great pleasure in.” He then slid the telekinetic blade he had hidden behind the mare in between her shoulderblades. The mare collapsed in shock and disbelief as she looked at the assassin. “Oh, did you come here thinking that I was going to be punished for the plan’s failure? The failure wasn’t mine; the plan was yours after all.”
The mare looked pleadingly at the stallion in question as the last few seconds of her life fled. She then closed her eyes. “So ends another waste of a unicorn; oh well, you can’t have everything after all.” So saying, he walked off.
Off on one of the nearby rooftops, Rainbow Dash looked on in both shock and anger, before shaking her head to dislodge the image of one pony killing another. She then flew off to go find both the local Lunar Guard commander and Twilight; she felt certain that they were going to try and pin this murder on Marigold as well, and she was sure that Twilight needed to hear the evidence she had just witnessed.
Centurion Roulette and Twilight looked up from their briefing of the recording of the conversation between the D.A. and Clever Marigold in shock as the door slammed open. “Twilight, Commander, I’ve got some real bad news that you’re not gonna believe!” Rainbow Dash shouted.
“Rainbow Dash, what’s happened? I thought you were in your room!” Twilight said, noticing the tense, taut set to Rainbow’s wings. “What’s happened that you felt the need to interrupt an important debriefing?”
“I’ve been spending over the last five hours following around that lawyer pony from earlier, and I just witnessed him kill another pony! He’s gonna try and frame Marigold for this one too!” Rainbow Dash was sweating from the exertion, and still hadn’t come down from the adrenalin rush from earlier.
“That’s a serious accusation Miss Dash, even for an Element Bearer. Do you have more than your word?” the commander asked.
Rainbow looked at him in angry disbelief. “You’re seriously questioning me too?! What is this, the Maerish Inquisition?!” The stallion scowled at that.
“Rainbow Dash, calm down! Shouting at Roulette for only doing his job isn’t going to help.” Twilight then turned in reproof to the Nocturne stallion. “While I understand you need to entertain doubts, there’s a couple of ways I can use to confirm what Rainbow Dash witnessed.”
Twilight then walked over to Rainbow. Leveling her horn at the necklace the pegasus was still wearing, she cast a spell. A holographic image showing everything she had seen in the last several hours appeared before the ponies. They all paled as it confirmed that she had indeed witnessed the local D.A. kill another pony.
“Well, this confirms what we’ve already verified; this makes four murders he’s been involved with.” Roulette turned to one of the Guards-ponies present. “Issue a warrant for the good councilor’s arrest.”
“One moment Roulette,” Twilight said. “I think it would be better if we send ponies to secure the body, and make certain that any nearby ‘witnesses’ have conflicting evidence.” Twilight then cast her Call charm; a ball of mana appeared over Rainbow’s left shoulder, colored a bright purple. “This recording charm will have recorded everything within a five block radius of Rainbow Dash, including any counter auras that may have been laid.”
Roulette smirked. “What they have said about you is true my Princess; you’re every bit as intelligent as Clover the Clever was.” Twilight blushed at the unsanctioned praise. The stallion turned to the charm, leveraging his tribe’s unique magic into it.
Within a few moments, several condensed mana crystals appeared around it. Roulette levitated one over to the reader that sat on the table. All present watched as the scene unfolded; it was apparent that there was an alteration blanket all over the recording. However, the original recording showed through, as intended.
“Well, this is more than enough to prove what we’ve already been able to determine. We’ll have to wait until he springs the rest of the trap in question before we collar him.” Rolling Roulette smirked at his Princess. “And you said he wasn’t capable of something like this, Princess.”
“I stand corrected; I’m just as equine as any other pony Roulette,” Twilight said, a bit stiffly. “I wasn’t aware that the Court-appointed psychologist was part of the conspiracy at the time.” Twilight then noticed the expression on Rainbow’s muzzle. “With respect Centurion, I’m sure Rainbow Dash would like to get some sleep, and I need mine as well. See you later today, as they likely won’t spring the rest of it before Morning Role-Call.” Having said that, she and Rainbow Dash left to head to their nearby quarters.
A few minutes later, Twilight was watching Rainbow Dash pace in agitation. The pegasus had been unable to settle down ever since she and Twilight had retired to their shared quarters.
“Rainbow Dash, talk to me,” Twilight said. “I can’t help you unless you tell me what’s wrong.”
All of a sudden, Rainbow slumped to the ground, tears in her eyes. “I don’t know what’s wrong with me Twi; it took every bit of Wonderbolt military training I’ve got to stop myself from flying down and delivering an Iron Wing strike to the back of that assassins’ head.” The tears started to fall as she continued. “All I could think of was that he deserved to die for hurting that pony. The thing is, she was every bit as bad as he is, and yet I feel this need to avenge her death.”
Twilight sighed at that admission. She walked over to hug her friend. “That’s part of your changing nature; both pegacorns and alicorns have strong protective instincts, and a strong instinctive desire to see the guilty be punished.” She stroked her friends back as she continued. “That’s why few pegacorns ever stay in Equestria; it’s hard to have such a strong protective instinct for foals that would rather see as little of your plot as possible.”
Rainbow used the breathing techniques Twilight had recently taught her to calm herself down. Admitting part of what was bothering her was helping to calm her down; Twilight’s closeness was doing more for her that Rainbow was willing to admit, however.
Twilight held Rainbow for awhile, until she started to feel her nod off. She then levitated the cyan pegasus over to her bunk. She gave her a slight good night kiss on the snout, before heading to her own bunk.
As the night before, the ponies both entered the Realm of Dreams together, this time granting Rainbow Dash a reprieve from the nightly terrors that she had been experiencing.
And this wouldn’t be the last time that the Light would prevent Fate from pushing against her chosen Avatar; the Light would continue to do so whenever Rainbow started to reach her breaking point.
Stats
Page generated in 0.02 seconds
Total duration
996 users online
7,396 hits today, 2,314,256 yesterday
FIMFiction
My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic Fanfiction
Designed and coded by knighty & Xaquseg - © 2011-2024
Follow & Support Us
Support us
SubStar
Chat!
Discord
Follow us
Twitter
MLP: Friendship is Magic® - © 2024 Hasbro Inc.®
Fimfiction is in no way affiliated with or endorsed by Hasbro Inc.®
So we get to see more of Dashes change to what she will become, as well as Marigold being in trouble. Curious as to how she'll get out of this one. Until next time.
Fate is one messed up... whatever it is.