• Published 14th Jun 2012
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The Devourer - Dandelo



A long ago forgotten terror is about to rise again ...

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Ch. 4 - Look Homeward, Angels

Your friend Rainbow Dash,” she says contemplatively. “I read in your letters that she is very short-tempered and adventurous. Is this really true?”

Definitely,” Twilight answers and is almost surprised because of her own happiness. “Why do you ask?”

Well,” she says slowly, gaze lingering in the distance, “I think we can use this for our purposes.”

I – don’t understand.”

The Princess smiles softly. “Just imagine a crossroad,” she says. “There are two ways you can go: left or right, but both will bring you to your destination. Can you see this?”

Yes.” And then immediately: “But what is…”

And now imagine you are at this crossroad. And there are two signs: one pointing to the left and one to the right; but the second sign also has the word Danger printed on it. What are you doing?”

I… go left,” she says unsure, helpless.

And why, Twilight?”

Because it’s safer.”

And how do you know this?”

The sign warned me about the right path.”

And do you know with absolute certainty that this path is dangerous? Or different: do you know that your path is safe?”

I… no… no…” She looks embarrassed.

Celestia nods. “So you took this path. But now imagine: the left path is much longer and cumbersome. You can go this way but you’ll need a lot more time. Would you decide to get your hooves sore or would you rather go back to the crossroad and try the allegedly more dangerous path? Be honest.”

She thinks about it for a moment. “I would try the other path,” she admits.

Now if we let your friend Rainbow Dash choose a path,” the Princess says, suddenly more serene, “If we put her at this crossroad and tell her that the right path is dangerous and the left one is too long; what do you think she would do?”

Twilight holds her breath. “Why would we do that?”

Today is Thursday,” the Princess replies. “That means that new recruits from the other cities will come in three days at the earliest. I fear that until then a few ponies will regret their courage and try to evacuate.”

She hesitates as she thinks about this more and recognizes the intent of her mentor. “You want… do use Rainbow… do manipulate the others? So that they don’t flee before the end?”

Manipulation is such a big word,” the Princess says, sounding like she wants to talk about the weather. “Let’s call it visualization. I’m sure that some ponies will be very happy to hear the message that help is on their way. We just have to… show it to them.”

And why do we have to show them the right way if the left one already fulfills your intents?”

The Princess again smiles softly. But Twilight can see the fear hiding behind this facade – like a huge, crooked beast.

We have to contemplate everything,” she says knowingly. “Let’s send Rainbow Dash on an adventure. I’m sure this will be fun for her.”


Two days before the last sunset

Dust means earth. Earth means life. Life means death. Death means dust. The circle of life, never ending, there from time immemorial. Coming and going, rising and falling, awaking and sleeping, everything is one under one sky. In it there are clouds, symbols of the never-ending transition between disappearing and being reborn. How are we different from these clouds? How does our life differ? Theoretically we are the same: we appear, we cast shadows on the world wherever we go, we cast adrift, some rain out, other try to make place for the sun to make somepony happy – and it doesn’t take much to let us disappear again.

Normally Rainbow Dash never thought about the clouds that she would remove; normally you could say about her that she didn’t have any further thoughts during work. But this Sunday morning it was different. This is the last on Earth she thought with a lot of pathos when she tore another hole in the cloud cover. She could feel the familiar transition of cold shadows under the clouds and the damp blindness inside them right to the warm, quiet realms above. Her fur shimmered like it was made of gemstones in the blinding light when she rose above the sky. Greedily she took in the fresh air. This feeling of total independence was beyond words and something she would never want to miss. If she hadn’t already been a Pegasus she would be jealous of every flier there is. The wind that ran through the strong wings, the whisper in her ears and the air that would caress her fur, the rush deep inside her blood, the adrenalin that would always flow through her when she broke into the heights – it was an incredible experience, every time. For a short moment Rainbow Dash could feel the satisfaction that always made flying a special experience. Then she opened her eyes again and looked through the freshly made hole down upon Ponyville. Around the proud flier new holes were getting torn up when new Pegasus ponies came through the cloud. The sky had to be cleared. Light was the most important factor in the fight. “Let them come,” Rainbow said confidently to nopony in particular. Here, up in the sky, you could still be confident. The depression and fear of the ponies that had to stay on the ground was nothing up here. Or at least it was endurable.

She plunged back into the gray and thought about the day that she had been kicking a cloud for the very first time. She had always feared that the clouds would resist. Small Rainbow Dash had been accustomed to clouds feeling like a solid ground where she could walk and play. But it hadn’t been this way – not even remotely. You could simply slip through them, they were softer and warmer than every feather, you could feel something but at the same time felt nothing. “It’s like catching sunshine,” she had heard one day. “You can feel the warmth but you will never hold something in your hooves.”

Yesterday had been a tough day. From the dawn of the day until very late in the evening she had been busy with most other ponies from Cloudsdale – bringing construction materials from one place to the other. When they completed this they had to help the Earth ponies to erect a scaffold for the ramparts that were constructed this hour. When Rainbow had fallen into her bed on this Saturday she had fallen asleep immediately. She wasn’t averse to hard labor but somehow this had been more straining than everything else, more tiring. She traced it back to looking at the distressed and scared ponies. Up in the sky you could at least vent your frustration on the innocent clouds and disappear from time to time.

Rainbow shook her head and tried to shake the thoughts away. With a quiet sigh she dropped back into the clouds and was swallowed up by them.

It was rather quiet apart from the wind rustling. That up in the sky there were no birds that you could hear and the ponies were silent. Everypony was working alone, in their own world in which they were their own ruler, and when these worlds would collide the kings and queens would act politically correct, just nodding at the others silently or greet them with a short salute. More than a few words were seldom spoken. It almost looked like they tried to remain within a safe distance with each other. Yesterday it had looked very differently. Despite the hard work they had been engrossed in conversations with the others even though most of them sounded forced and clunky. Discussions about the smartest arrangements of the front line had been heard the most often. How long should it be? How strong, how tall? Which type of wood would be the best? How many trenches would make sense and at which intervals should they be made? Pro and cons of the vastly different opinions had been discussed. They tried to encourage each other; looking at the construction material and knowing what needed to be built with this within the next 72 hours had pumped them all full of adrenaline. Everything seemed possible, the impending doom less dangerous.

As Rainbow Dash emerged from the cloud and the sunlight blinded her she didn’t see the shadow at first. Even when her name was called she didn’t react. She needed maybe fifteen seconds before she saw the Pegasus pony with the yellow fur and the flame-like mane. And she needed ten more seconds to recognize that this pony was Spitfire. Without her Wonderbolt costume Rainbow Dash could hardly identify her. It was a little bit like when a good friend who you’ve known for years suddenly wears glasses or a different haircut; it’s a sight you have to force yourself to get used to. Nevertheless, Spitfire without her outfit looked lost and unsure; she was exposed with all her weakness, standing in front of the world.

“Rainbow Dash, hey!” she called again, landing on the cloud and looking up to her, expecting Rainbow who was a few feet above her to join her.

The blue flier took a deep breath, her jaw twitched. Then she let herself fall. She went through the cloud and tore it to pieces. She came out at the bottom, bit her lip, made two, three somersaults and flew upwards again, getting nearer to Spitfire without standing directly next to her. Instead she stayed at least a wingspan away from here in the air.

“What do you want?” she asked sharply.

Spitfire made a step backwards and tried to smile a pained smile. “I just wanted to see you.”

“Why? Can’t you see I’m busy?”

“Yes… yes…” She searched for words. “I just wanted to see you. And, if you have time, talk to you.”

“Talk about what?” Rainbow folded her hooves.

“About the night.”

“Then we don’t have a thing to talk about,” she said quickly.

“I think we do.”

Rainbow Dash hissed. “What do you know? Nothing.” And then she repeated with a voice full of disdain: “Nothing.”

“I understand,” Spitfire said hesitantly. “I just wanted to… talk to an outsider. And I just thought of you first.”

“Why do you think this would be something that concerns me?”

“If it wouldn’t, would you be so angry with me?”

Rainbow narrowed her eyes. Only three days ago she would have given anything to have such a hero as Spitfire talk to her or even know her name. But now everything was different, it was a whole new game.

“I’m sick of this,” Spitfire added, “To just sit in this house in Ponyville, alone and abandoned. The walls are suffocating me. And I can’t go outside.”

“But still, you’re here,” Rainbow stated.

Spitfire looked frightened for a moment; as if she hadn’t realized where she was. “I mean, I couldn’t go out,” she corrected herself. “It wasn’t possible. I lay in my bed, crying and shivering and sweating, sometimes alternating, sometimes at the same time. But today I couldn’t stand it anymore. Today I feel fine.”

“How is that?” she asked with a faked interest.

Spitfire looked at her. “I took something.”

This involuntarily humor – the slightly crooked gaze – left Rainbow fuming and she had to bite hard on her lips to not scream at Spitfire.

“She gave me something,” she continued. “This weird pony. No, oh, it was a zebra.” She made a short pause to let Rainbow Dash help her out with the name – but she didn’t do her the favor. “The zebra gave me a tea, to calm down. It makes the memories soft – that means, more tolerable. Now I feel better. Now I can think about the death of my friends…”

“Be quiet,” Rainbow whispered.

“And talk about it without breaking down.”

“Be quiet.”

“I wonder what exactly was in this tea that it makes me so calm. I’m not troubled or tired because of this. I can even fly again. And enjoy it.”

“SHUT UP!”

Spitfire looked at her upset. Rainbow Dash was breathing heavily and her face was contorted to an angry grimace. Her chest was rising and falling in a flurry and the other ponies that could hear them – so almost every pony up here – looked at them surprised.

Her gaze was manic; you could think she wanted to tear Spitfire’s fur from her flesh just by staring at her. Her jaw was clenched, her teeth were grinding, the tendons on her neck were showing and made Rainbow look like a furious wild beast. “With everything that is holy,” she pressed through her teeth, “with every pony living on this earth and in the name of every animal that has ever lived, I swear here and today that if you ever open your damned mouth again I will make sure that the whole world will see that you really are just pitiful and miserable. Only one word and you’ll get the shock of your life.” She hesitated before she made her final strike. And she, said almost like in a trance, but still with never-ending wrath: “I despise you. I – hate – you.”

A dog that had been almost beaten to death couldn’t possibly understand the agony that Spitfire was feeling in this moment. Her mouth was open, forming a big O, and hot tears were welling up in her eyes. She didn’t know what was happening; like somepony who was watching a row in the distance and freezing because they can’t even comprehend what is happening. Spitfire looked distant and unworldly, but if you could see her face from up close – and only two ponies apart from Rainbow Dash were close enough – you could see that the loneliness and absent-mindedness was slowly merging into a deep lack of understanding without any sense, and the lack of understanding very quickly became fear. Now she covered her still silent mouth with her hooves to not lose any words, and her tears were flowing freely. You could feel the many questions she wanted to ask Rainbow Dash: Why? How? What? Her legs were trembling until they finally gave in. She fell and banged her chin against the cloud – which would have been painful if not for the soft fabric of the cloud. During all of this she didn’t once turn her gaze away from her torturer. She didn’t show one bit of regret in her eyes. She lay crying before her and couldn’t understand a thing. Horror was controlling.

This is the last thing on Earth.

“Go away,” Rainbow Dash spat at her. “Get lost. Beat it.”

One pony approached them. The young mare had a fur as blue as Rainbow’s but with a dark patch on her nostrils and a mane and tail the color of cream. “What did she do that you’re treating her this bad?” she asked cautiously and ducked her head as if she expected a punch.

“What she did?” Rainbow shouted without looking at her. All of her attention was on the wretched figure that was cowering before her. “She knows what she did! Look at her!”

“Don’t you think you’re exaggerating a little bit?”

“There’s nothing to exaggerate when it comes to this coward. You should be ashamed,” she said, now talking to Spitfire again, with a quivering voice. “You should be ashamed to be such a coward. Once you were the best flier in all of Equestria, you were envied by everyone, you were well-respected and had fans everywhere… I was your fan! And now look what has happened to you. Shame on you and on everything that you were and aren’t anymore! How can you even dare to show up here after everything that has happened? I don’t care how much you took or what somepony gave you! Don’t even think that I could forgive you! Your friends, you say? You don’t leave your friends to die! You murderer!” Her voice swelled and was slowly starting to sound more like a hysterical screeching that she had never did before. “How do you dare? What did you think? Who do you think you are? Why are you here? HOW DO YOU EVEN DARE TO STILL BE ALIVE?

Now she was lowering herself down a bit and put her hooves into a cloud, tearing out pieces of it and throwing it at Spitfire. The cloud pieces were vanishing on her body without actually touching her, but the emotional pain still showed up on her face and the tears, tears, tears, were flowing. “WHY – ARE – YOU – NOT – DEAD?” Rainbow Dash shouted at her accusingly in the rhythm of her volleys. “WHY – ARE – YOU – NOT – DEAD? WHY – ARE – YOU – NOT – DEAD? WHY – ARE – YOU – NOT – DEAD?”

You could feel the tension in the air. All ponies around were shocked, looking helpless; but they didn’t do anything. It was a terrifying, unreal spectacle and the Pegasus ponies from Ponyville and Clousdale were frozen witnesses during the final act when Rainbow Dash was raising the dagger with every piece of cloud and thrusting it deep into the soul of the former Wonderbolt captain with every hateful shout.

“WHY” - throw - “ARE” - throw - “YOU” - throw - “NOT” - throw - “DEAD?”

Deep, deep into her heart, a story of a buried life. Spitifre, helplessly extradited to the barrage, chased by her own demons, shivering and coated with tears and snot, suddenly jumped up, the hooves pressed so hard on her mouth that she could hardly breath, and tried to flee this hell with her last strength; she flew erratically and lost height every now and then, hardly staying in the air until she somehow escaped the stares of the others. And Rainbow Dash

“WHY”

was

“ARE”

screaming

“YOU”

her

“NOT”

lungs

“DEAD?

out, throwing pieces of cloud around her. She had her eyes closed, didn’t see anything, didn’t even notice Spitfire disappearing. This bizarre spectacle lasted for over two minutes until she tried to grasp new munition but didn’t find any: in her rage she had dug a huge hole in the cloud. Now that she noticed this she was frightened by her destruction. For a second a shadow showed on her face, but soon her eyes were sparkling with anger. Her hooves cramped and felt like she would be torn apart. Then she remembered the gaping crowd. “What are you staring at?” she shouted huskily. “Go back to work! These clouds won’t vanish by themselves – come on!”

Seemingly thankful that they had an excuse to leave, the ponies started to move immediately. If they had been quiet before, now they were dead silent.

Rainbow Dash could feel her heart beating in the rhythm of a fevered dance and the blood circling wildly in her veins. Suddenly she soared right up into the sky until the air was so thin that she could hardly breathe. Then she turned and flew down quickly until she stopped short over the cloud cover and flew back up again. She did that four times until she slowly let off enough steam to shrink the fire inside her and to not let the flames lick at her soul. When she flew downwards again and decided to do this again one more time, she was held back. Two chunky stallions were shouting at her, signaling her to come to them and soon after that Rainbow recognized their golden armor in which the sunlight was reflecting: they were guards of the Princess.

She swallowed and stood before them.

“Rainbow Dash?” the left guard asked with a deep voice.

She nodded.

“Her majesty Princess Celestia wishes to speak to you,” the right guard now said with a similar tone and added with emphasis: “Now.”

“Do I have a choice?” Rainbow asked and tried to look nonchalant.

The guards didn’t bother with an answer. Instead they took her to the city hall where the other guards were positioned. The two guards opened the doors and stepped inside, putting Rainbow between them like a prisoner. “Your Majesty,” they said simultaneously and reverentially. They bowed down and left the city hall immediately.

Rainbow Dash was alone with the Princess who stood at the end of the big entrance hall. Through the window there was light flooding the room and granting her a mystical glow; her white fur was shining and her mane and tail were sparkling daintily. But she looked very serious. almost spiteful.

“Come here,” she said.

Rainbow obeyed.

“Do you know why I called you?” the Princess asked.

“I think I do,” she answered defiantly.

“So?”

Rainbow fluffed her wings up. “If you want me to apologize then – then I refuse!” she exclaimed with a mix of resolution and insubordination. “I don’t see why I should regret what I said.”

The Princess looked at her with an observant gaze. Rainbow tried to withstand the examination but she could feel herself shrink.

Then the Princess said surprised: “What are you talking about?”

She almost fell forwards. “Y- you mean you didn’t call me because of Spitfire?”

“I think there has been a misunderstanding,” Celestia said after a while, composed again. “I called you here because I have a mission for you.” She turned around and went to a table. “Come.”

Confused but relieved she followed the order and stepped to the table. She looked at the princess and saw what was spread on the table: a big map that was pinned down with an ink pot and a small vase so it wouldn’t fold. There were a few tears at the edges but apart from that it was in a mint condition.

“Here,” the Princess said and pointed at the middle. Ponyville. On the north-west side of the city there were a few lines in different colors, obviously portraying the front line and a few other things. In the city and between Cloudsdale and Ponyville there were other lines with descriptions like “material transport”. Other arrows were making the map hard to read for the untrained eye. The map showed a huge chunk of the city's surroundings, big enough that places like the market place, the city hall, the library and Sweet Apple Acres were shown, but not big enough that Canterlot was on it; instead there was a huge arrow in the upper right corner with “to Canterlot” written on it.

The words had been struck through by somepony else.

The Princess let her hooves wander to the east of the city and indicated a circle. “Do you see this part of the forest? It’s almost an hour of flying away.”

“I can do this in less than an hour!” Rainbow said confidently.

The Princess smiled. “Oh I’m sure of that. I’ve been told about your flying skills.”

The flier was preening, happy about her skills being praised.

“What is there?” she finally asked.

“Somewhere in this area there will be the first of three troops that will support us.” She moved her hoof a bit to the north-east and indicated another small circle. “Here is the second one, and down here –” she moved a good chunk south, “the third. Manehattan, Hoofington and Appleloosa,” she said and tapped on the circles in this order. “At twelve o’clock, so not quite two hours away, they’re supposed to meet at this positions; that was what was ordered so that we can give this whole thing a bit of a structure. The messengers that I sent are right now onto the task of leading the ponies here. That means that I need somepony from here to check that everything goes according to plan.”

“And that’s where I come into play,” Rainbow said. “Don’t worry, Your Majesty, I won’t disappoint you.”

“I don’t doubt you,” Celestia murmured. “Your readiness is pleasing. But you have to start soon. For if something isn’t right or goes wrong we need enough time to initiate possible other plans. And you’ll have to choose two companions.”

“Why?”

“Three positions, three messengers,” the Princess stated simply. “That’s the fastest way. And I have something for you.” Around her horn a golden corona started to shimmer and soon after that a drawer opened in a cupboard behind her, letting three scrolls levitate towards them. Rainbow took one of them and opened it – it was a map, too, only smaller than the one on the table. On it there were three crosses, marking the meeting place.

“You’ll have to leave in half an hour,” the Princess said and let three amber saddle bags come out of the cupboard; the royal symbol was engraved on them. “Search for your companions right now.”

“You can count on me!” she assured, excited that the Princess was trusting her with such an important mission.

“This mission is very important. Do you have any other questions?”

Rainbow thought about it, putting a hoof on her chin. “I’m not sure.”

“Not sure?” the Princess asked.

“Well… yes I do, I think. There’s one thing I would love to know, but I don’t know if this is related to the mission.” Actually she did believe to know what it meant. She went back to the huge map on the table. “What’s this mark up here?” She pointed to a dark stain at the upper edge of the map. An arrow was pointing out of it.

Celestia’s face went bleak. “Stay away from there,” she ordered Rainbow. “The arrow indicated the movement of the darkness. And this mark is indicating their most probable whereabouts.”

“Why only most probable?”

“Well, not many messengers dare to come near this spot. And I don’t force them to. The last messages confirmed the movements so new spies are unnecessary. Only the bravest ponies dare to travel north.”

Rainbow followed the slightly bent arrow in her mind. The bravest ponies, she thought.

“Now go,” the Princess said in a commanding tone. “Time’s of the essence.”

“Of course!” she exclaimed erratically. She put a map into each saddle bag, put all three of them on her back and left the city halls after she had bowed down in front of the Princess for the last time. When she passed by the guards she held her head high.

When she had left, Celestia called the two guards in front of her door. They stepped in immediately.

“I need total privacy,” she told them. “Nopony is allowed to bother me; only Twilight may enter if she has a good reason. I have to concentrate. I will be in the upper chambers and prepare the city for the cleansing. If it’s an emergency – and only then – I will allow a disturbance. If the scouts get back they shall talk to the mayor – she will know what to do.”

“As you ordered, your Majesty,” the two guards said simultaneously. Heeding her sign they stepped back outside and closed and locked the door while the Princess – as she had done the days before – stepped upstairs and started to concentrate her power because she knew: if the cleansing wouldn’t go according to plan it would have disastrous consequences for them.

~ ~ ~

The enthusiasm of the other Pegasus ponies was almost non-existent. After the quarrel with Spitfire nopony wanted to take the chance to be Rainbow’s companion. When she had flown back up and explained the mission, many ponies had already been gone because the cloud cover above Ponyville had almost completely vanished. There were only a few spots in the south of the city left where the Pegasus ponies had migrated to. The ponies that were still there were just now putting away the last pieces. Then they had seen Rainbow Dash and started feeling unwell immediately.

“Does nopony want to accompany me, really?” she asked again and tried to make the mission more palatable: “Our Princess Celestia has given me this really important mission and you have the chance to be a part of it. Just imagine: if all this is behind us, we’ll be put in the history books!”

Nopony moved. They tried not to look Rainbow in the eye; they watched their hooves or their gazes were going here and there, everywhere and nowhere, apparently fearing that they may had overlooked a few clouds.

Rainbow could feel shame and anger bubbling up inside her. She knew why nopony wanted to talk to her. Murderer, she had screamed at Spitfire…

“I ask for the last time,” she said exasperated. “If nopony is willing to do this I will just order someone to; and don’t think you can just disobey a royal order.”

She looked around when suddenly a hoof was in the air.

“Aha!” she exclaimed with a smile. “I knew there is still somepony here who is actually –” But when she saw whom the hoof belonged to she choked on her own words. Why her? Rainbow thought. “Uhm, well,” she stuttered. “Good. Good, now we know that you’d be ready to follow me just in case. But I feel like there are more ponies willing to volunteer. Right?”

Nothing happened.

“Really nopony?”

Still only one hoof.

“Not anypone else?”

Absolutely nothing.

Rainbow sighed, rubbing the bridge of her nose and finally gave up. “Well okay. I guess I’ll have to take what I can get. Come here, Derpy.”

The mouse gray pony with a blonde mane flew to her. She swayed a little bit to the side as if she were drunk and her sunny, innocent smile was only direct towards Rainbow.

“We’re in a team!” she said proudly.

“Yes, of course.” Rainbow rolled her eyes. “Okay. So half of it is done. Now there’s only one pony missing…” She searched the crowd and actually a new hoof was in the air. A pony called Spirit who Rainbow knew for a few years already but with whom she had never talked too much. Still, she was pleased.

“See, it’s possible.” She let both of them stand in front of her, looking at her companions: Wid Spirit was a slim stallion with a messy, beige mane that was always in his face. His fur had the color of mustard, his tail was very short. He looked strong-willed but a little bit agitated. And Derpy was – well, you couldn’t describe Derpy with words. She was just… Derpy.

She faced the crowd once again. “These two ponies here have more courage in one of their feathers than all of you combined,” Rainbow said presumptuously.

But she knew that the others were simply relived that Derpy and Spirit basically sacrificed themselves. If the crowd could have decided they would have avoided her for a few days – maybe even forever.

Derpy shook her hooves with Spirit who wanted to tell her in his weirdly nasal voice that the had already greeted each other today. Rainbow gave the two ponies their saddle bags and took the map out of her’s. Then they set out.

Just short after their departure, the first limits made themselves clear. Rainbow Dash as the leader tried to make them go fast and would have loved to simply dash forward without the ballast that was holding her back. But she respected the words of the Princess and didn’t say anything, just looked at the map every now and then to make sure they were flying in the right direction and gave tips to the others if they had to correct their course.

Derpy was always by her side. She was clinging to her, smiling excessively, humming a melody every once in a while and let her head circle in the form of an eight, completely unbothered. Spirit was a stark contrast. He let himself fall back a bit and held about five feet distance to the two mares. His red eyes that were deep inside their sockets were heavy with tear sacs as if he hadn’t had more than three hours of sleep a night ever in his life. His cutie mark was a big top because behind the harsh persona was an acrobatic genius hiding. He had visited the same classes as Rainbow and Fluttershy but had been shy and reversed even back then. He had never been abrasive, but with every year he had been more introverted and shut himself away – at least to the day when he discovered his passion for acrobatics and started to try risky aerobatics; he had gotten more social since then. When Rainbow became part of the weather patrol, Spirit joined a small traveling circus. At first a mere extra, he started to become a crowd favorite soon. His at times breakneck performances had attracted ponies en masse and soon he was a regular guest in the biggest cities of the country, even getting invitations to perform at big private festivals. But his longing for home brought him back to Cloudsdale after four years where he then continued to perform. But after a performance gone wrong he hurt himself so bad the he had to stay in bed for almost four months and had to spend another two months at a health resort out of town. The long time of doing nothing had taken his toll on him: he had become more and more choleric, bordering on a complete and total rage some time so that he had shut himself away more and more again and only let the nursing staff get to him. Just five weeks ago he had started working on his comeback, but his rage had been revealed time after time again and crossed his plans. Only very slowly he changed and overcame the imbalance in his mind until he would be the same again. His easily agitated mindset was nevertheless still present.

While Spirit was lost in his thoughts behind them, Rainbow Dash was roped into a conversation she didn’t particularly like. She liked Derpy well enough, but having to do this mission with these – she didn’t find a better word for it – weird ponies made her a little cranky. But the worst thing was Derpy being co clingy – Rainbow had to look out that their wings wouldn't cross.

“I really like it that we can do this together, Rainbow Dash,” Derpy said loudly. She always spoke loud, never mind the situation. And she called everypony with their full name. It wasn’t very soothing. “Normally I’m always last when it comes to making teams but when I noticed that you have a hard time deciding on somepony I wanted to come forward immediately.”

“This is not a game, Derpy.”

“Of course, I know that.” She laughed.

“I somehow doubt this.”

“No no you can believe me. As sure as I’m standing here in front of you! Well – next to you. And flying. As sure as I’m flying next to you!” She laughed again.

“How can you be so happy?” Rainbow asked. “This is a serious business.”

“Well I’m always happy. I just am. I don’t like being sad so I’m just – not. I think the others could do this, too, but many of them want to be sad.”

“What do you mean?”

“Well I think if you want to be sad you will be sad. And you want to be sad so that you can feel better some day. But I don’t like this. I’m rather happy all the time.”

Rainbow smiled at this simple thought but she had to admit that she wished she could laugh about everything the way Derpy did.

“Ask me another question! I’m so happy to talk to you, Rainbow Dash.”

Somehow, Derpy was really sweet. Only, sadly, jus as naive.

“Okay,” she finally said when she made up her mind. “I’ve always wondered about your eyes. Why are they so askew?”

“Oh, that,” she laughed. “My mom told me about this when I was still very small. My mother could always talk about things so well that I could easily understand her. She told me that when I was a foal I was visited by two angels every night. And they talked to me and moved so fast that my eyes couldn’t keep up. So I had to start to cross my eyes to see them. My mother told me that my eyes are a gift from heaven. She said that I can see a lot of things other ponies can’t see. Whenever I cross my eyes that means that there are angels somewhere, protecting me.”

“Wow… that sounds… crazy.”

Derpy laughed. Derpy always laughed.

Under them the scenery flew by. East of the city there were mostly sparse woods. The air was golden in the morning and in the evening when rays of sunlight shimmered through the tree tops. Wild animals were browsing between the colorful flowers that were heavy with bees. Birch and beech trees were standing around beautiful clearings. The bark of the happily bending trees were not as dark and rugged as the ones in the Everfree Forest. Here, everything was friendly and safe.

Now the land started to split up: north east it started to rise up to the mountains, south east it started to decline. The trees that were moved by playful breezes were dwindling and revealed the huge grassland that touched the horizon. In the east the forest became thicker, the ground barely declined and was some kind of a layer between the mountains and the valley.

“There!” Spirit suddenly exclaimed. Dash followed Spirit’s gaze and signaled them to stop: in the wood under them something was moving, shadows very scurrying and they could hear the swelling sound of trampling hooves when they flew a little bit lower.

Between the branches they could see herds of ponies. These were the troops that were from Manehattan and they were marching strong.

Rainbow looked at the map. “We’re still a bit away from the actual meeting point and we started at around twenty minutes before eleven o’clock. Since then we maybe flew half an hour. They are way ahead of schedule!” Her winning smile was back on her lips and a hot, happy prickle was crawling up her neck while she was watching the silhouettes down below. She estimated about two hundred ponies but about as much were probably hidden from view. When this were four hundred ponies from this troop alone, how much would it be with the ponies from Hoofington and Appleloosa? The hot prickle turned out to be pure joy.

“That means I don’t have to wait here?” Derpy asked legitimately and Rainbow was surprised for a moment how fast she had understood the situation. The plan had been that they would fly to the first meeting point together which would take them about an hour. Derpy was supposed to wait for the troops at this point – this seemed to be the safest option for everypony because they thought that Derpy couldn’t possibly do anything wrong while waiting – while Spirit would fly north and Rainbow south. They could both fly fast, though Spirit was still inferior. From the first meeting point they would need about thirty minutes to the other meeting points. After successfully completing this they would return to Derpy and fly back home together. But now that Manehattan was so early everything would shift a little bit.

“I don’t know,” Rainbow contemplated. “You could wait here; we need you as a sign to find everything easily. If I’m honest I would rather have you wait here. You would only slow me down – no offense.”

Derpy laughed.

“You could of course go with Spirit,” she continued. “I think you’d take about the same time. Why do we have maps, anyway?” And then you can pester somepony else, she thought, but not angrily.

“Yes!” she exclaimed.

Spirit didn’t say anything. His ruby red eyes were shimmering for a moment but that disappeared quickly. He looked at his own map, then around and looked to get started. Derpy followed him and waved at Rainbow.

Rainbow rolled her eyes, looked at the way and then put the map away. The piece of paper would only get in the way if she wanted to fly as fast as she intended to. Then she looked around. Spirit and Derpy were only recognizable as small dots. The sun was up high and blinding her. For a moment Rainbow searched for her shadow on the tree tops under her but even her shadow seemed to have left. She was alone – a lone pony. If you want to outpace everypony, you leave them all behind eventually. After all the commotion because of Spitfire, the pride after the meeting with the Princess and the joy over the ponies from Manehatten, she now felt the weight of the morning, bordering on melancholia. Loneliness. A big word. For who is not forever a stranger, prison-pent and alone?

She shook her head. Where did these thoughts come from? They seemed alien, like they were implanted in her mind. Rainbow Dash closed her eyes and tried to breath evenly. In – out. The voice in her head that questioned everything got weaker. In – out. Finally, her practical side was in charge again. She opened her eyes and dashed forward like an arrow. Everything around her became blurry because she was so fast. She started grinning automatically. The speed was intoxicating and she let herself feel everything. It didn’t take long for her to get lost, so she stopped. Looking at the map she saw that this was the exact meeting point. How long had she been flying? It couldn’t have been more than five minutes. Well, in reality it had been more than three times as much.

The valley was wide open. High grass was swaying with the soft caress of invisible hands of air, here and there you could find bushes and fern looking like small islands. Five minutes passed. Ten. Impatiently she started to fly in circles. Nopony was showing. Then she decided she would simply take matters into her own hooves and fly towards the Appleloosa troops. She flew strictly south, watching the horizon. After 10 miles still nopony was visible; she started to worry. Looking at the sun it should be almost twelve o’clock. They should be clearly visible by now, where were they?

Rainbow started to soar to get a better view. The valley looked like a bowl, deep in the middle and rising in every cardinal direction. The higher she flew the more she could see. She had to protect her eyes from the sun – looked at one, then in the other direction – and then suddenly they appeared. They looked like a dark spot from afar, crossing the land like a dark shadow. But they were too far away in the south. Rainbow looked disappointed. Coming back with bad news: she hadn’t planned this. She took a pencil out of her bag and wrote a note about the delay on the map.

Then she started to return. At first she tried to take her time and was angry about this huge delay. The angrier she became, the faster she got – and soon everything in her world narrowed down to the never-ending fight between her and the air. Rainbow could always prolong it with her speed, but never win.

Some time after, she came back to the point where they had split up and found Derpy and Spirit already there, waiting; she hadn’t expected that. Both were sitting on a small cloud that they had found somewhere and were talking to each other with their backs to Rainbow so that they didn’t see her arrival. She couldn’t hear much but it was enough to notice that Spirit and Derpy were talking about her. Rainbow Dash perked up. On her hooves she tip-toed to them without making a sound, trying to listen to the conversation.

“… can’t believe it,” Spirit just finished his sentence.

“Oh I don’t think that she was this mean on purpose.”

“Not on purpose? You were there. You’ve heard just like everypony else how she attacked Spitfire. If you say that she hasn’t done this on purpose I can’t believe you.”

“You don’t understand me. I just said that she wasn’t mean on purpose. I didn’t say that she didn’t handle on purpose because of her anger. That’s a difference, somehow. I bet she regrets this.”

“I doubt this very much.” He stretched himself before lying down; if he would bend his head just a little bit more he would see her, the topic of their conversation – but he didn’t. “Maybe she knows that she exaggerated, yeah… but regret? I don’t think so.”

Derpy stretched her back to enjoy the sun on her fur. The soft breeze let her hair fall into her face. “I’m very sure that she will say sorry sometime.”

“Spitfire would be crazy to let her nearer than a wingspan away.”

“Could be, maybe. Many of the other ponies were angry because of Rainbow Dash. I don’t understand this.”

“Don’t understand this?” he repeated, and you could hear the dark look on his face.

“Well, Rainbow Dash is a good pony. No matter what happened. She knows that what she did wasn’t okay and she will say sorry for this. I don’t know why she was angry with Spitfire, it must have been a misunderstanding. But if she just wants to she won’t be angry anymore.”

“You mean like you said before? Why you are never sad?”

She nodded excitedly. “That’s the same reason I’m never angry. With nopony. And definitely not with Rainbow Dash. We are friends, you know? We’ve known each other for such a long time, I just can’t imagine being angry with her. This wouldn’t be fair. She is a good pony. And maybe I’m not a smart pony but I know who’s good and who isn’t. And in the end the good always win.”

“Did your mother tell you this, too?”

Derpy laughed.

“Maybe she already left the town,” Spirit said after a while and crossed his hooves behind his head. “Spitfire, I mean.”

“No she didn’t.”

“How do you know this?”

“I just do,” she said, shrugging and smiling.

“Okay… but even if not. Today during the evacuation she will probably leave. And to be honest, you should do so too.”

“Me?” she asked confused.

“M-hm. In two days everything will start. You could get hurt.”

“Why? I have everything under control.”

“Well I feel very uncomfortable giving you a weapon. If we even get some, that is. What do I know what the Princess has prepared for our safety? But still, I feel even worse thinking about you getting hurt.” He swallowed.

Derpy looked at him. “Don’t worry, Wild Spirit. I can manage everything.”

Spirit ran his hoof over her back – it looked forced, static.

Rainbow used this pause. “Wake up you snails!” she shouted and acted like she had just come there. Her appearance didn’t fail to have the desired effect: both were turning around, Spitfire scared, Derpy happy. She jumped up and greeted her with a wide grin while he stood up, sighing quietly.

“If we had time to rest the Princess wouldn’t give us these missions,” Rainbow instructed them. Her gaze rested on Derpy.

“What did you find out?”

“Hoofington is right on time,” Spirit said nasally.

“How many?”

He shrugged. “Hundred, maybe one hundred and fifty ponies. They were on time at the agreed meeting point. What about you?”

Rainbow reported what had happened. Spirit replied with a snort. “Then we can get back when everything is finished?”

She hesitated. “Yes… almost.”

He lifted one eyebrow.

“I have to do something,” she said. “You fly ahead and tell the Princess everything. I have to fly somewhere.”

“Does the Princess have another task for you?”

“Uhm…”

“Can’t we know about this?” he guessed. “What are you hiding from us?”

“Nothing!” she barked. “Really, nothing. It doesn’t have anything to do with the Princess or our task.”

“Then you can just as well tell us.”

“You can’t force me.”

His jaw twitched, but he didn’t say anything. He pierced Rainbow with a sharp gaze.

“I just want to look at something, that’s all,” she said. “I don’t need your permission for this and I don’t need to justify myself.” She put the map that she had took out during her report in Derpy’s bag – she didn’t want to come near Spirit – and said: “All you have to do is tell the Princess what we’ve seen. I’ve put a mark on my map so that you don’t forget it. Got it?”

“Got it!” Derpy exclaimed.

Spirit didn’t stop watching Rainbow. The glimmer in his ruby red eyes was back. “Derpy,” he finally said. “You can find your way back alone, right? I guess I’ll go with our mystery monger here.”

“More than got it!” she laughed.

Rainbow looked at him darkly. He reciprocated. She could see in his eyes that he wasn’t backing down no matter how much she would argue. “Fair enough,” she sighed. “If you insist. But before we start I want to talk to Derpy.”

She led the other mare out of earshot.

Derpy looked at her happily, asking: “What do you want, Rainb…”

But she didn’t finish. Rainbow cut her off – and hugged her. She embraced her and pulled her on her chest, burying her face in her shoulder. Her hearts were aligned with each other; they were beating the same beat.

“Thanks for believing in me,” was the only thing she whispered. Derpy didn’t say anything. After a while she added, a little bit louder: “Sometimes I'd love to see the world with your eyes. I’d really love to.”

“It’s okay, Rainbow Dash.”

“Fly home. We’ll come back later. It will only be a few hours, not more.”

“Whatever you say. I will be back to the Princess in no time.”

“Yeah, I trust you,” Rainbow said when she stopped hugging Derpy. And in that second shivers were running down her spine. What had Derpy said? Whenever I cross my eyes that means that there are angels somewhere, protecting me.

Her eyes were crossed. Crossed in a way like never before. Only for a few seconds but you couldn’t miss it. Which angels were watching over her in this second, trying to bring her safe back home?

Home – and not north?

Derpy flew away after she had said her goodbyes to both of them. During the flight she swayed from side to side like before. She got smaller and smaller.

Spirit approached. “What did you tell her?”

“That she shouldn’t be afraid,” she lied.

He snorted. “And where are we going now?”

“North.” Rainbow watched him in the corner of her eyes. She could watch fascinated how his almost indifferent calmness bloomed quickly into a flower of disbelief.

“North?” he asked unsure. “Into the eye of the storm?”

“You can still change your mind.”

“You wish.” But she could hear the tremor in his voice.

She smiled boldly. “Then let’s get going. We have a long way ahead of us.”

And with a last gaze to the west they left this place.

~ ~ ~

The huge area north of Ponyville was one of the most remarkable areas in all of Equestria. There was a wide aisle of short green grass that looked like a dead snake, meandering through the mountains in the east. There were trees all around this aisle that was called the Green Plank by romantic souls and had been filling the minds of poets and singers for centuries with wild ideas. The surrounding area had the most forests in the whole world. The knotty roots were full of secrets; it was a fertile land that had inspired many myths and legends. The most well known probably was the fairy-tale of the Lonely Giant. Many different variants of this tale were circulating the world but the most important points were the same: the tale was about a giant who had existed long before the first ponies had been awoken in this world; he had fallen in love with the beautiful sight of the starry sky. He had been wandering around, climbing hills to be nearer to them, jumping up in the air and pounding huge valleys and canyons into the earth when he landed. One day he found a place where he could see the stars perfectly. Night after night he laid down and gazed at the circle of these magic lights. When the nights were long in the winter he couldn’t stop marveling at the beauty that had been brought to him. But in the summer when the days got longer he was so saddened by the love he had lost that he sat down, from dawn till dusk, to cry. His tears would slowly form a huge river, and in the river bed he cleansed the land and took away all the trees. The Lonely Giant (how he would later be called) didn’t want to move anymore; he just wanted to look at the stars. So it happened that after a thousand years he became one with the land. He became stone – he became the mountains where eons later Canterlot had been built into the hillside. As soon as he had turned into stone the rivers of his tears had stopped and got covered with grass – but no trees wanted to grow anymore. That was how the Green Plank had been born.

The legend closed with the poetic remark that the giant would be tied to this place until the nights would finally cease to exist and the ever-lasting day would start. When that would happen he would rise and bury the world in the waves of his longing tears.

The Plank was winding it’s way down from the most northern mountains in a huge arch towards the west, finally turning to the south and stopping just short of Ponyville between Sweet Apple Acres and the Everfree Forest. If you wanted to walk the distance by hooves you would need about two days if you didn’t take the shortcut through the forest – and nopony did that because you could get easily lost in this dark city of trees. The Plank was twisty, at some points it even transformed into a serpentine that made it impossible to go too fast.

“Just a safety measure,” she explained for the fifth time. Rainbow and Spirit could find the Plank without the map. They were flying swiftly and chose the shortest way which made them pass Ponyville. “The Princess said that it’s not necessary to send somepony up here, but if something unexpected happens it’s important to know about this.”

“Okay, but we shouldn’t get too near,” he warned.

“We’ll see how near they’ll let us.”

“It could be dangerous, Dash.”

“Danger is my specialty,” she said arrogantly.

“Maybe yours – but not everypony’s.”

“You didn’t have to come if you’re only complaining.”

“I’m not com-”

“Coward.”

“I’m not complaining. I’m just stating the facts. And I’m stating that it is definitely sufficient to be within range of sight.”

“And if it’s not enough?”

“We turn around.”

“Well you can turn around right now if you want,” she said. “I will fly as near as I want to.”

“Exactly who do you want to impress?” he mumbled. “Nopony is here besides us. No applauding crowd that celebrates your courage. If you want to, fly there and risk your life, but leave me out of this. I said I’ll come with you and if something happens I will help you. But if we get in danger because of your stubbornness you’ll have to manage on your own. I won’t vouch for you.”

“For somepony who has risked his life during all of his acrobatics you’re really lacking ambition.”

“That’s completely different!” he exclaimed tired. “How can you compare this?”

“Forget it!” she said annoyed. “I didn’t expect you to overreact.”

“That’s huge coming from you,” he mumbled.

Rainbow looked at him; he noticed and stared right back, his face distorted into a you’ve-heard-me-grimace.

“Hey,” she said sharply. “If you want to tell me something, do it.”

He stayed silent.

“That’s what I thought,” she said satisfied. “You’re just a coward after all.”

“You want to boast about what you did?” he suddenly blurted out. “Do you even know what you did? I don’t want to imagine what Spitfire is thinking right now. But everypony that has been there wants to avoid you right now, probably forever. Nopony wants to talk to you.”

Her head got red. “If that’s so why did you come with me? Why did you volunteer?” she screamed.

“That didn’t have a thing to do with you!” he screamed back.

“Oh? With who then?”

“With who? With who? Of course with… with…” He went quiet and turned his head away from her.

Rainbow still stared at him. “Don’t tell me this is about Derpy?” she asked spitefully.

Spirit bit his lip and tried to pass by her. She watched him and could feel her anger vanishing when she noticed that his was a peculiar topic for him. She caught up with him. “Did you really come with me because of Derpy?” she asked, more friendly. He didn’t answer. “Do you have… feelings for her?”

“That’s none of your business,” he said without force.

“So I’m wrong?”

He took a deep breath when he slowed down. His anger seemed to have vanished, too. He ddin’t speak but Rainbow could see the truth in his gaze; suddenly scenes from the last few hours whirled through her mind, only this time she watched them from another angle. The slow raising of his hoof after Derpy had volunteered; the cautious distance he had held during their flight; the glimmer in his eyes when they had separated; his worry during the conversation on the cloud and the soft caress of her back – not static, but rather tense because of the feelings it inspired.

They flew a few minutes without talking. Spirit’s mind was obviously somewhere else. Every now and then a smile started to crack through his stonelike mask that was hiding his face and Rainbow could almost see the memories in his head every time the corners of his mouth twitched.

The silence got unbearable.

“We will have enough distance to them,” she promised. “We look at where they are and then we’ll be out. And before dusk we’ll be home.”

“Thanks,” he said without looking at her.

“Why didn’t you fly with her?” she asked. “You could have been alone with her but instead you came with me. Why?”

Spirit snorted amused. “Have you ever been really in love?” he asked.

She negated.

“Then you can’t understand this,” he said simply. “Sometimes we do things that we can’t explain, you know?”

“Yeah… you’re right…”

(Murderer)

“Have you told her?” She tried to shove the image of Spitfire away into the furthest corner of her mind.

“No, no. Of course not,” he said, sounding like she had just asked if he had ever robbed Granny Smith. “I didn’t get the chance.”

“You’ve been alone with her earlier. You could have done it then.”

“Just out of the blue? That, no, that doesn’t work that way.”

“How long have you been feeling this way?”

“I don’t know. A few weeks before my accident, I guess.” He had to giggle. “It's like I’m talking about a disease.”

“That’s almost half a year ago. You can’t tell me that you never had the chance to tell her,” she said sourly.

“Maybe I am a coward,” he said, almost sounding like an excuse. He looked sad.

“You know,” she started after hesitating, “I’m really not the pony with whom you can talk about stuff like this. Feelings and all this stuff, that isn’t my style – but if you want to hear my opinion: I think you should just get your ass in gear and tell her how it is. What could possibly happen?”

Spirit looked at her but couldn’t hold her gaze. He smiled crooked.

“It’s not important right now anyway,” she said then and pointed to what she saw.

In front of them there was a gape between the trees and they could see a wide grass belt: the Green Plank was winding it’s way through the world. Above it, far away, there was a shadow in the sky.

“What is that?” Spirit asked.

“Don’t you know what the Princess said? The Dark are getting weaker in the light. They are marching under a huge black cloud to be safe.”

He hummed in approval. “Good. Now we know where they are. Let’s get away from here.”

“Wait, we can go nearer.”

“You said…”

“I know what I said. But look how far away they are! We can go on, a few miles. Maybe we can see how many there are? This would be really valuable and completely safe.”

“If you say so,” he grumbled. He didn’t feel good thinking about this.

They kept on flying. With every wing beat towards the darkness it got colder. The warm sunlight didn’t seem to reach them so far away from everything that was good. An ominous wind started to get tangled up in their manes. Her wings started to get numb and heavy.

“Hey, Dash.” He had trouble speaking. Something supernatural was going on out here. “We should turn around. This doesn’t bode well.”

“Soon,” Rainbow said. She tried to ignore the nervous twitch of her eyelids. “Just a little bit. We can see them soon. Only a little bit.”

Spirit didn’t answer.

The trees started to move under them, reach for them as if they wanted to stop them. Or catch them. Trap them in their branch prison for all of eternity. The wind blew stronger and small black flowers were appearing in her eyes. The blood in her was too thick; her temples were pulsing and her mouth tasted like copper. Rainbow felt like she would faint any moment.

“Okay,” she whispered. Then, louder: “Okay, okay. We go back. Something is wrong… here, I… Spirit? Spirit!”

Nopony answered her.

Wild Spirit was gone.

Rainbow Dash looked around. A forbidding murmur was filling her eyes, vibrating in her bones. Her focus got blurrier with every heart beat, the black flowers exploded and tore holes in her perception. Then something weird started: the trees that had just been way under her suddenly started to grow and grow over her. She wanted to get out, started to panic, screamed on the top of her lungs, or did she only do this in her mind? Out of her mind she started to fly in a zig zag, got caught in invisible spider webs that took her breath and made her slow down. She could hear the creak of branches, the rustling of leaves and the trickle of resin that was oozing out of the pale bark while the webs were cutting into her flesh. Then she could see the ground, covered with dry leaves, that came nearer without any reason. Then she could feel the earth on her face.

Then the darkness embracing her.

Then, nothing.

~ ~ ~

Rainbow’s head felt like it had been filled with lead. The world was circling her in crazy rounds. Everywhere lights and shadows were flickering. Her guts were cramping and for a moment she thought that she would throw up. But then everything was over, everything was back in his usual place and her fatigue was vanishing.

She could see a green shimmer on the ground that was crawling towards her like thick fog, touching her. It was night. A bright purple light was pulsing at the horizon, tearing apart the darkness every few seconds and letting Rainbow see her surroundings: statues of huge ponies were around her, ash was on the ice cold ground that was omitting an unnatural drumming noise like one thousand hooves; sharp rocks were looming like broken teeth in an abyss. A cold wind was playing around her fur.

She stood up. The green shimmer was receding but immediately thin fog crawled out of the ground, stinking like sulfur. Her legs were shaking, she could hardly stood upright.

“Is somepony here?” she asked breathless. For a moment her question was lingering in the air before it got whisked away. The sound of her voice let shivers run down her spine because it was rough and sounded almost like a whimper. She gazed in every direction, looking behind the statues and the rocks.

“Where am I, goddammit?” she murmured. Her voice started to gather strength and let her find her courage again. “Hello? Is somepony here?”

No answer. Not even an echo.

A fluttering noise started above her head, almost as if a bird had been startled. On instinct she ducked. Then she felt as if she was being watched – an intense and piercing feeling of being at the mercy of something; of fear. She couldn’t shake it off, it got stronger with every minute and forced her on her knees.

Did the statues just move?

When she first saw the twitching movements she thought that she had been the victim of an illusion. But it was true: the statues had moved, had come closer, had stretched her hooves towards Rainbow hungrily.

She moved back screaming, got stuck at a chasm, lost her balance and fell against a cliff. It gave in easily as if he was made of flesh. A swarm of huge, yellow flies were bursting out of the top, the drumming noise of her giant wings suffocating every other noise. Suddenly a shrill scream was piercing the night, leaving her shaking. The statues turned her black heads into the sky and screamed, too. Rainbow pressed her hooves against her ears and could feel warm blood trickling down her fur.

“It’s beautiful, isn’t it?”

The screams stopped and left a high frequent whistle behind that rang inside her ears. She looked around: didn’t somepony just speak? An old, warm voice? It almost felt like it had come out of Rainbow herself but she could feel the presence of another pony.

Then the voice spoke up again:

“No. It’s terrible. Ugly. And that which is ugly is to be hated.”

Rainbow sank down. The soft rock where the flies had flown out was now a normal hill made of stone – and on this hill there was a pony – and this pony was as pale as ashes, no wings, no horn, no mane and only a thin white tail.

“Who are you?” asked Rainbow; she wasn’t sure if she should be happy about the appearance of this strange mare. “Where am I? What’s happening?”

She didn’t answer; instead she stared into one direction.

The flier followed her gaze – and could see a mountain of giant magnitude with titanic, rough mountainsides that seemed to stretch into infinity.

This is beautiful, is it not?”

She looked the stranger in the eye.

“Do you want to see it?” The voice somehow sounded familiar. It reminded her of the rustling of leaves when she flew above autumn forests.

“Who are you?” she asked again. “What is this supposed to mean? And where am I?”

“You shouldn’t talk about powers that you know nothing about,” the strange mare said monotonously. Then, with more strength in her voice: “Come, come with me to the mountain top!”

The earth twitched. The fatigue started again and she fell on the ground. Her guts felt like they were impaled with hot bones.

The stranger lend her a hoof to help her up. The pale fur felt weird; as if it wasn’t fur but rather old paper. Rainbow stood up and shook her fur off. Everything around her was different. The statues, the rocks, the flies, the fog – everything was gone. This was a completely different place.

“Come,” the stranger said. “I have to show you something.”

Rainbow looked at her warily. Everything just became more bizarre. But in order to get answers she would have to stick to this weird mare; Rainbow knew this. She didn’t exclude the possibility that this was an enemy, so she followed her cautiously when she led her to the edge of a slope where they stared into the depths.

Rainbow shivered with fear what she would find there. But as she looked down she was consumed with an existential, eons old fear: the realization that in reality you are just small and trivial. At the same time she could feel awe in the light of everything that had been crated, life itself, maybe in a way that nopony had ever felt before. Her mouth was wide open and her heart leaped in her chest.

“Yes!” the stranger exclaimed. “Look at all this glory!”

They were on the top of the mountain, this unbelievably high mountain that had been so far away just seconds ago. And under them – like on a tablet – the whole world was lying before them: Equestria and everything beyond.

She could see areas and landscapes of her home that looked like they were painted onto the ground but there was more – so much more, corners of the world that she had never heard of before: mountains, lakes, oceans, valleys, canyons, steppes, swamps, deserts. Was this really her world? Or a constellation of all words?

Rainbow shivered. She could feel her cheeks getting wet. Her wings were hanging down loosely.

The strange mare looked at her. “Beautiful, isn’t it?”

She did not - could not - answer.

“That’s what I see every day. Time after time I see it the way it is. The boundless beauty of life.” She paused. “Now close your eyes.”

“What?” she asked like in a dream.

The stranger puffed air into her eyes. Rainbow blinked. When she could see again the world – or worlds – had changed. Everything seemed dead. Red dust was covering the ground where there had been fertile earth before. The lakes were parched, rivers and streams lost their water, the mountains were smoothened, furrows that were miles long were glimmering with a deadly glow and a sinister flicker was in the air.

“What happened?” Rainbow asked softly.

“This is the future,” the stranger said sadly. “This is what will happen to the life that I love so much when the Devourer can unfold his whole power.”

“The what now?”

She got a taunting gaze. “It’s pitiful that you don’t know a thing about the world that was given to you,” she said reproachful. “Be it as it may, I can’t really hold it against you. Even the world itself seems to forget what inhabits it.” The pony turned around and left.

Rainbow followed her. “Who are you? And where exactly am I?” she asked again.

“You should ask other questions, for I shall not answer these.”

“Why not? What do you have to hide?”

“Let me put it differently: I can’t answer these because your mind couldn’t possibly comprehend everything I could tell you. You’re a sorry creature of this one-dimensional world of yours.”

When Rainbow Dash didn’t answer, she continued: “What is the last thing you remember?”

“We flew,” she answered quickly. Her eyelids started to twitch again, but only for a moment.

We flew?” she helped along.

“Yes, me and…” Her eyes got big. “Where is Spirit?”

The strange mare gave a crooked smile. “Good question! I knew you could do it. Come on, he’s already waiting for you.” In front of them the ground opened and stairs appeared, leading into the mountain.

“Did you bring us here? Wherever… we are?”

“Yes, I brought you here. You resisted unnecessarily – if you hadn’t you wouldn’t have woken up in this terrible place. I hate it myself: it’s a place of dried up memories.”

“Wait…” Rainbow thought back to the weird occurrences before she had lost her consciousness. “So you were responsible for all of this?”

“The weird winds? The numbness? The trees? Yes – I needed to hide you.”

“Hide?” she shouted excitedly. Her voices echoed back from the cold walls ten times as strong.

“Hold your horses,” the stranger said. The stairs ended and they stooded in front of a gate that was shimmering in colors that Rainbow Dash had never seen before and couldn’t possibly describe. As soon as the stranger stepped forward towards the gate it opened quietly. They stepped inside a huge room. Instead of a ceiling made of stone Rainbow could see a never ending sky; stars were sparkling in it like candles. In the middle of the room – although you could hardly call it that in lieu of the stars above it – there was a small throne made out of granite. A dark creature was sitting on it.

Spirit! She wanted to shout but her lips didn’t move. She ran towards him. His head had fallen onto his chest and his hooves seemed like they were melting into the throne.

“He is fine,” the strange mare said, not waiting for Rainbow’s question. “He is only unconscious.”

“Then wake him up.”

“He must sleep.”

“Wh–”

“This is not about him.”

“Wha–”

“We’re here because of you and you alone.”

“Stop-”

“Reading your mind?” Her gaze pierced through her like an icy spear. “You are not in the position to make demands. This is not your world.”

She had to gather all her strength to not say anything. Rainbow couldn’t look her in the eye for too long. An unknown feeling was running down her spine when she saw her face.

“All in due time,” the stranger said. “There are… things about this place that you should know. One: this is my home, although I wasn’t born here. It obeys me and only me. Whatever you see, hear or feel has already been seen, heard or felt by me. There is no place in here where I couldn’t find you. So don’t even think about hiding from me. As long as you’re here I will see you. And this is the second thing I want to tell you: you are nothing in here – only a copy of life. And I brought you here for a reason. So don’t resist and don’t make me angry. I promise you, you would regret it.”

Rainbow’s muscles tensed. “And what if I don’t want to?” she asked with hardly concealed sharpness in her voice. “If you think I would just sit still and let you give me orders you don’t know who’s in front of you. This trick of yours with the mountain might have been cool but don’t think you can just take me or Spirit as a prisoner.”

“You simply cannot fathom what I am capable of doing,” the strange mare said.

Rainbow spit. “Yeah? What're you gonna do, huh?”

Whatever pleases me!” she shouted and her scream got carried away by a huge blast that threatened to carry Rainbow away. The flier tensed her wings to not get blown away but then she could feel that something was keeping her in place. The next second she could see roots coming out of the earth, entangling her.

Rainbow tugged at the roots but as soon as she had got rid of one two new ones sprouted. “Order them back!” she said. “Let me go! Now!”

“This defiance,” the stranger said sharply, “next to your loyalty is one of your most important character traits, Rainbow Dash from Cloudsdale. But it has no place here.”

“How do you know my name?” Now amazement had found her way back into Rainbow’s mind – that and disgust because of the winding roots.

“I know everything that you know. Your mind is an open book for me. At least as long as we’re here, in my spheres. Will this answer suffice? If not, you can ask me what I know – but you shouldn’t do this. Even without the impending doom you would more than one lifespan to learn about everything that is crossing my mind in one second.”

Rainbow shivered because she had to face the terrible truth: she was completely at the mercy of this pony – no matter who she was. And she began to believe that she wasn’t anything here. Who was she, compared to her? What good was it to be the fastest flier in Equestria if there was somepony who could form space and time with only the thoughts of his mind? She looked at Spirit who was sitting lifelessly on his throne. A dozen thoughts were crossing her mind. Finally she asked the question that was the heaviest on her mind:

“Is this real?”

The stranger pursed her lips approvingly. "An excellent question,” she said. Then the floor under them started to spin, everything got shifted a bit and an intense, slowly increasing drumming noise was moving in the air. Rainbow, still entangled by the roots that were slowly making their way up her body, got moved around a few degrees until she was looking directly at the throne. The throne lowered down until the back rest vanished. Spirit’s head got pulled backwards. The strange mare took a few steps in a circle around the two ponies.

“Reality,” she said when the spinning slowed down. “What is reality? A thin line between perception and truth. From every angle it seems like one – yet it is not. Our ears and eyes are deceiving us. What we think is the shadow of a mountain is in reality the shadow of a pebble. What sounds like the gurgling of a stream is the wind in the trees. What is truth? What is delusion? Where do we draw the line, the invisible border that separates us from everything that we can’t grasp? It is only in our minds, thoughts, ideas.”

She went to the still unconscious Spirit and lifted a hoof that started to transform. Five thin stumps were growing out of it, bowing and freezing; several clicking noises could be heard in short intervals, the hoof grew flat and soft, the fur vanished – the hoof had transformed into a hand. She put the hand on Spirit’s forehead and lifted his head up a little bit so Rainbow could see him.

“Truth and delusion. Where is the difference? What things do you think are real, irrevocable laws of nature?”

She started to run her fingers through Spirit’s mane, slowly as if she wanted to remember the texture of his mane forever.

“The sun follows the moon… the moon chases the sun… life as you call it… it’s not what you think it is… it’s nothing more than a sequence of occurrences… accidents and incidents, foretold or not.”

Every time she paused, her fingers ran through his mane.

“Life… an unshaped chain.”

She combed his hair.

“Time… mere illusion.”

Spirit’s face started to twitch.

“Death… only a circumstance.”

His skin started to tighten.

“The border is at a thin edge… and we hold balance… as good as we can… but only one… small push, and we…”

She ran her fingers through his mane one last time. Spirit’s face was contorted, his eyes were slits, his nostrils wide, his lips grimacing.

“… fall.”

As soon as she spoke the last words the skin on his face started to rip open like the seam on the back of a doll that had been worn out – it felt like she had pulled at his life force with every combing gesture. Spirit’s head looked like it had been split open by an axe, a huge gap from his forehead to his lips. There was no blood, instead sand was trickling out of him, grain after grain. The bones were cold and pale.

Rainbow wanted to scream, but couldn’t. The roots had already reached her face and closed her mouth shut. What was happening here? What did she see with her own eyes? Had she been the victim of an optical illusion? Tears were streaming down her face. Where they touched the roots small leaves started to sprout and cover her fur. She couldn’t move her wings. Only her neck had been untouched.

The hand transformed back into a hoof and she went back on four legs. At the same time Spirit’s mane was vanishing with his fur and the skin that was slipping off his head like a hood and scattering into tiny pieces that were flying into the sky, putting new stars into it. Only the skull was left: a silently grinning memorial.

“Delusion or truth, Rainbow Dash from Clousdale,” the stranger said when she approached her. “Where do you draw the line? Is it real or is it fiction?”

Suddenly one single huge wing started to come out of the torso of the earth pony with feathers as white as light. The wing blocked her view of Spirit for a moment. When she lowered it again – it was melting and trickling away into the ground – the throne had become a pile of sand and Spirit was gone.

“I’m asking you, Rainbow Dash from Cloudsdale,” the stranger said like a judge who was proclaiming his sentence while around them the drumming noise became louder and louder: “Is this real?

It had to end, it had to! She could feel her heart in her chest beating agitated, she thought it had to explode while panic was starting to well up inside her. She couldn’t speak because the roots held her firmly. So she thought it, and the strange mare could hear her.

She smiled. “There you have your answer,” she said. The drumming noise was gone as quickly as it had started.

“Now I will explain to you from whom – or rather, from what I had to hide you, you and your little friend.” Her gaze was drawn to the pile of sand which scattered immediately. “There are things,” she started, “that the Princess of Ponies hadn’t included in her thoughts. She is doing her best, I don’t want to deny that. Thinking about how quick she had to decide she managed to show greatness. When Celestia decided to send you north she put a lot of thought into this. The mind of ponies is so easy to manipulate, it’s laughable. Hope and fear. The Princess toyed with that, and the stakes are your lives. She wants to give you courage and scare you at the same time so you’re ready, but not over-confident. What she didn’t know, however, was that there is another power apart from the Dark that has something to say in this war. This is a world full of life and I simply cannot watch how it gets destroyed. But I have to admit, my effects on the physical world are limited. I can only seldom bring something from the other world into mine. No, it’s not my task to forge the destiny of the ponies; but I can give them a nudge. You asked who I am. Well, I can’t give you a name. There aren’t enough – yet too much. But you aren’t the only pony to whom I talk. You know her. Very good, in fact.”

Who do you mean? thought Rainbow.

“Your friend, Rarity,” the strange mare answered. “I’ve visited her two nights ago in her dreams. I’ve been speaking to ponies this way since the dawn of time: I’m the voice in their dreams, the prophet of their unconsciousness. I wanted to see how far I could go, wanted to tell her so much more, lead her to the right path, but I couldn’t help it – I didn’t have enough power. Celestia doesn’t know about me. And still she managed to lock me out of Ponyville even though I can hardly blame her. I can get through the barrier but it’s just not enough. I can’t withstand the magic of the living creatures, not in your world, that is.”

What barrier do you mean?

“It’s a shield,” she said. “An invisible shield. The whole city is trapped in it. Didn’t you notice? A faintly noticeable glimmer in the air, silver, almost like a warning for the light, like snowflakes? Couldn’t you feel the fatigue every time you had to go through the barrier while you obeyed Celestia’s order like the marionette you are?”

Rainbow could remember a tiredness that had befallen her and everypony after work, she could remember the silver shining that she had seen from above.

“It’s Celestia’s shield. She made it and sustains it which costs her a lot of strength. This is why she is hiding in the city halls every day. But she can’t sustain it forever. Soon it will break down. Very soon.”

Why does this barrier exist?

“This is the reason why I had to hide you,” she said and lifted her head. “The core, the Dark how you call them, isn’t as blind as you might think. The night sees everything, Rainbow Dash from Cloudsdale. The core has sent its spies, invisible phantoms that are watching everything. Right from the beginning they were following Celestia – when Canterlot burned, and she could feel their presence. She couldn’t prevent them from following her to Ponyville. The phantoms are the eyes of the core. Because of them it could see where Celestia was going – and because of this they know where they have to attack. But this is all according to her plan. Yes, flier. Ponyville hasn’t been chosen randomly. As soon as Celestia came to your town she started putting up the barrier. She locked the phantoms inside this town in order to blind the enemy. Nothing can get in, nothing can get out. The inside of this barrier is just a white spot for the core – it can’t see anything inside. But outside they are still patrolling. They watched you when you flew east. And they almost got you when you flew north. Celestia couldn’t know that. It was naive to think that the night only had a few spies. This is why I had to hide you, flier. This is why I brought you here. I couldn’t risk you to get caught by them. You’re too important for that.”

Why me? thought Rainbow. The roots were holding her tight, only her eyes were still visible.

“I can see the future,” she said. “Not always – but from time to time. And your image has always been in my visions. You will play an important role in this conflict.”

In the blink of an eye, she suddenly stood right in front of Rainbow, despite the fact that she had been several yards away only a heartbeat before. The stranger forced Rainbow to look her in the eye and she could hardly take it. Her white eyes were as deep and limitless like space itself and she could feel herself getting lost inside them if not for the stranger’s help. The strange mare now whispered: “Things will happen, Rainbow Dash from Cloudsdale. You will see a lot of despair and disaster. Your friends will die, they will die right before your eyes. They will die because of you, they will die for you, and all of this only for one splitter of hope. But you can’t prevent this; as soon as you wake up you will have forgotten everything I just said. You couldn’t change it anyway. And, even though I don’t like to admit it, neither could I.”

Why? she thought desperately.

“Well, that is the nature of dreams, is it not? As soon as you open your eyes you forget about them. The only thing left is the feeling that you have just seen a glimpse of another world. It isthe scourge of your world that you don’t know a way to take something out of them.”

So all of this is a dream. It’s not real?

“Just the fact that you think it’s a dream makes it one.”

Why do you tell me this if I'm bound to forget?

“Because one day, if the world should last that long, you will remember this. And when you do you will come back here. But this is still far away. It’s not important right now. Just listen, I have a message for the Princess; you will forget it, too, but the memory will come back to you very soon. If I have to tear it out of your mind.”

Her voice got even quieter; she didn’t even move her mouth anymore, only communicating telepathically with Rainbow.

The stone is a vessel that was broken, the voice said. The Devourer needs a vessel, yet the vessel is no more. He has to be imprisoned, lest the world will be crushed in his wake.

For a terrible moment everything was silent. Rainbow could feel the stranger with the pale fur still being in her mind. The roots were now covering her eyes. The night was embracing her.

Now you have to sleep.

Why? Rainbow thought breathless when the roots started to get tighter and tighter. She was afraid. Terribly afraid. For this truly was the last thing on earth: darkness.

I already told your friend, the stranger thought. You have to sleep. You mustn’t resist. If you do, you will never wake up.

The roots were crushing Rainbow.

I will close the gap in your mind. You will see what I have seen up north and it will suffice. Otherwise you will have doubts. And if you have doubts, you won’t move.

And with that, the voice was gone.

She could hear her bones rubbing against each other as they got closer and closer. But she didn’t feel fear or pain anymore. There was only a small spark of bewilderment with the striving for revelation, but even this need stopped after a while. Finally she became a breeze, condemned to cross the circles of the otherworldly spheres, searching for an exit, a way out.

Maybe a way to redemption.

~ ~ ~

lo?

ou okay?

hear me?

se, wake up, please, wake up!

ppened?

Dash, can you hear me?

Come back to me, please, something has happened!

~ ~ ~

She woke up in a black world. A harsh, always moving and flickering horizon was contrasting the darkness. Noises she couldn’t identify got to her ears; dull word piles that only slowly started to make sense:

“Dash, you have to wake up! Can you hear me? Can you see me?”

The horizon grew wider and colors started to emit from the light, scattering, starting to from outlines, silhouettes, finally bodies.

“Thank Celestia, I was so afraid!” the voice exclaimed after a long sigh. Rainbow looked the young stallion in the eye and needed almost ten seconds to connect a name with the beige mane and the ruby red eyes that were deep inside the sockets.

“What happened, Spirit?” she asked and stood up. She was still wobbly on her legs and got supported by him until she could stand herself. The sun was setting, the sky was a fiery red. In the east you could already see a few stars.

“I don’t know,” he said tired. “I woke up, right next to you. Damn, I thought you were…” He didn’t manage to say the word and instead spilled a silent tear.

She sat down because she felt dizzy again and shook her head. Her forehead was pulsing when she put it on her hooves. “Are we still at the Plank? How long have we been out?”

“We’re home, Dash.”

She looked up to him in disbelief.

“Ponyville,” he insisted and gestured into one direction. Rainbow lifted her head – her heavy, heavy head – and saw the town from the top of a small hill. The lights were on and she could see ponies like little dots, wandering around.

“As I said, something happened.”

“What do you remember?”

“The Plank,” he said after a while. “We where up north. Saw a huge cloud – then I don’t know anything.”

Her mind felt like a pile of broken glass. She could see how far away a huge dark spot had been mounting up. But then everything was gone.

Same for me, she wanted to sigh tiredly. Then something weird happened: almost feeling like she was watching a movie, she started to remember things. Almost as if she had been experiencing them right now. “We flew,” she said automatically. “We were very near, we could see them. Yes, yes, I remember. You became unconscious. I put you on my back and brought you here.” It sounded like she was reading it from a piece of paper.

He listened astonished. “Really? Why did I become unconscious?” And, almost with the same breath: “You said you wouldn’t fly so close! What if something had happened?”

“We were safe,” she answered. Although he had just been snarled it she didn’t feel anger, not even annoyance. No. The usually stormy ocean inside her was calm and without any wave. “I brought you here because you couldn’t fly yourself… I saw them. They were so many. And they will need exactly one and a half day. When the sun is at her highest point on Tuesday they will be here. This is true, I know it.”

He sighed. “I really don’t know how you want to know that or what even happened up there, Dash – but I think I have to thank you.”

“It’s okay,” she said quietly. In her mind several things were happening at once. She felt like she had just lived a whole day in the last two hours; but the most pressing issue was that she could remember the flight back, but almost like she had seen it in a photo album and nothing more. And her feelings felt strange, too. She didn’t know what exactly she felt in this moment: somehow she was completely lifeless, then she felt regret, guilt, melancholy, sadness, self-pity. Depleted, her character was laid out in front of her, she could see it and was disgusted by it. Everything seemed to have lost its sense. Life seemed pale, exposed, the hidden demons had been freed, but she couldn’t see or even feel them; they were hidden and free at once. The knowledge about something that she had never known; visions of things that she had never seen, that she couldn’t remember, but that she seemed to know, then she saw a door that she had never found, a leaf that had never fallen, a stone that had never been apart from it’s rock, a stone, a leaf, a door not found, and all the forgotten faces were dancing in front of her inner eye.

She felt like she was about to burst.

“What do we do now?” he asked and wanted to lend her a hoof to help her stand up.

She declined the offer and continued to sit.

“Should we tell the Princess? I mean, we started out on our own accords.”

She almost shook her head. “Yes, we’ll tell her. No, wait, please, can you do that? Please.”

“Why, are you afraid of her?” he asked, forcefully relaxed. Rainbow looked at him from the ground. Her formerly beautiful eyes, now scarred with burst veins, were glassy and full of tears.

Spirit stooped down. “Dash, what’s wrong? Is everything okay?”

“Yes.” No.

“Should I bring you home?”

“I have to go somewhere else.” She stood up and breathed heavily. “Go to the Princess. Please. Tell her that they’ll be here in one and a half day. Not a moment later. And there are too many, too many.” With that, she turned around.

“What do you do now?” he called after her.

“Searching for a door,” she answered. The feelings that had been implanted in her, as if she had been confronted with life and death and the termination of her own existence, were growing like a tumor inside her, but with every step she took away from Spirit she also gained distance between her and the things that were straying in her mind. The thoughts of the other world were shifting into higher mental planes that she would never be able to reach fully conscious. Pieces of it were nesting inside her without being able to be found, without her noticing, and soon she had forgotten that she had ever felt that way. It didn’t change her character but it made her more open for the sufferings of others, gifted her with the understanding of things that she wouldn’t have understood before.

Like an uncomfortable truth that she had denied because of egoism and self-protection.

Silent and alone with her inner conflicts, she went her way.

~ ~ ~

“Is somepony home?” Rainbow shouted when she stood at the open door, going inside Fluttershy’s house without knocking.

The lamps were giving up a generous light and the dwindling sunlight that was crowning the tree tops of the Everfree Forest was falling in through a window. In the open window there were wind chimes singing quietly along. The living room was almost disheveled for Fluttershy’s standards. Everywhere were small and big boxes, some empty, some filled with band-aids, gauze and syringes, opened and closed ampules, bottles of disinfectants, compresses and a brochure about first aid. On the covers of the boxes there was a red cross. On the couch there was a hastily put together blanket. In the corner there was a sack from Sugarcube Corner with FLUTTERSHY written on it. The small animal shelters were empty.

Upstairs a door was opened. “Who’s there?” a voice asked that didn’t belong to the shy Pegasus pony. Rainbow swallowed but didn’t say anything.

“Who’s there?” the voice asked again. Now she could hear a hoof cautiously stepping on the first step.

She took a deep breath.

The creaking of the steps continued as the voice went downstairs. “I ask again: who is there?”

“It’s me, Rainbow Dash,” she said with unknown diffidence.

The voice went silent.

“I’m here because of you, Spitfire,” she called upstairs. Then, suddenly, a huge rumbling started when four hooves turned around and galloped back upstairs, followed by the bang of a closing door.

Rainbow looked sadly at the stairs. She climbed onto the window sill, out of the window and flew upstairs. Then she looked through the bedroom window and saw Spitfire, cowering down in front of the door, her ear pressed against the wood. She pushed gently against the glass; it wasn’t locked, so it swung upon silently.

“Spitfire…”

The flier turned around in surprise and looked at her, scared. A high wail escaped her lips before she put her hooves in front of her mouth not unlike this morning. She pressed her shivering body against the door as if she wanted to go through the material or melt into it. Her hind legs were scratching against the floor, her hooves were leaving behind ugly scratches on the wood.

The sight… it was pathetic. Rainbow Dash wanted to cry. That was her work, her wretched doing. She stepped off the windowsill without stopping to look at Spitfire and sat down on the floor, her head tilted against the wall. Their eyes met.

“I just want to talk to you,” she promised softly. “That is all.”

A few moments of silence passed. Spitfire calmed down a bit. The drumming of her hind legs stopped slowly but she still had her hooves pressed against her mouth.

Rainbow stood up and made a step towards her – Spitfire reacted by drawing a sharp breath and tensing. She looked at Rainbow like a small foal looking at the closet door at night: huge eyes that were taking in every moment, in permanent fear of the monster that they suspected behind the calm exterior. And Spitfire had already seen it.

She took another step.

Spitfire turned her head around and nodded. Rainbow could see that she was looking at a pile of paper. She went to them, took a few pages and a pen. She put both in front of Spitfire with a little distance and went back to the window.

Spitfire wrote a short note, then scrunched it up and threw it to rainbow as if it was poisonous, putting her hooves back onto her mouth after that.

She took the paper, unfolding it.

What do you want here?

“I told you I just want to talk to you. Because of this morning.”

Spitfire wrote another note, scrunching and throwing it:

I don’t believe you.

And soon after the next note:

You will scream at me again.
You want to see me dead.

Rainbow read the last line again and again, devastated. “That... that’s not true,” she said, shaking her head. “I swear, I just want to talk to you. I want to say sorry, really.”

The next message:

Why should I believe you?

She didn’t know what to say to that. Another message came:

You wish I would have died in Canterlot too

.

The next:

You hate me.

And the next:

Why do you want to say sorry now?

“Spitfire, that’s…” She was amidst a circle of unfolded slips of paper and looked at every single on, reading their content. “I did something terribly stupid,” she said, the regret weighing heavy on her voice. Spitfire took out another piece of paper, but now Rainbow Dash recognized how laughable all of this was. She took a step towards her before she could scribble the first word.

“Put that away, Spitfire,” she tried to convince her.

She turned around from Rainbow, arched her back and hid the paper from view.

“Stop this, come on, don’t do this!” She tried to snatch the paper away from her. Spitfire shook her head vehemently and resisted – the paper was torn when they both pulled at it. The former Wonderbolt flier let herself fall to the side as if this cut had also destroyed her will. Her hooves were pressed on her mouth and she cried, the tears streaming over her cheeks that were hollowing every time she tried to breath. Her whole beautiful form was twitching epileptically, her mane was glued to her face, her wings fluttered every now and then as if she wanted to take off at any given moment – away from here, away from this vale of tears. This picture moved Rainbow Dash, still holding the torn slip of paper in her hooves like an ancient relic, to tears. She hated herself for what she had done – almost a week ago she had dreamed of being so close to Spitfire. Now she wished to be anywhere, not here. But she had to say what was burning in her mind.

Rainbow lied down cautiously and approached Spitfire until her warm bodies were touching each other. She tried to force a smile and said nothing. Sptifire didn’t have any strength left to flee. She let it happen. Seconds became minutes, passing by silently. Eventually she started to calm down. She breathed normally, her tremors ended, her cheeks weren’t hollowing. Rainbow took her hooves and slowly pulled them away from Spitfire’s mouth. Saliva was dropping from her chin.

“Everything’s okay,” she said as if talking to a child.

Spitfire took the pen again.

“No,” she said conciliatory. “Speak. Tell me.”

She didn’t find a paper, so she started to let the pen dance on the ground.

Rainbow put a hoof on her shoulder and caressed her soft fur. Spitfire started to cry again, the tears forming dark dots on the ground. She let go of the pen. Rainbow read what she had written. It was only one word:

Why?

She took the pen and put it away. Spitfire leaned against her chest.

“I was angry at myself,” she whispered, stroking the flame-patterned mane. “I wanted to blame myself – if I had just worked harder and you had taken me in because of that I would have been in Canterlot that day. I could have helped. I questioned my whole life. What did I do wrong? Where did I fail? I spent the first night doing nothing but shouting into my pillow. It couldn’t be real. My biggest idols – just gone? After the meeting I just flew around, and after a while my self-hatred began shifting towards you; I always feel better when I can put the blame on somepony else. I tried to distract myself with work. But when I saw you this morning, everything came back. I imagined how it had to be when everything came to its end. Somehow, it felt as if it had been me back then. That I had seen them dying – not you. I wanted to stay away from you. It just hurt too much to see you. And the fact that you forced this pain on me made me despise you. I was angry at you because you stirred up all these feelings in me that I had shoved away since Saturday. And… it just built up. The more you said, the bigger the pain and the anger within me grew. Until everything just came bursting out. I didn’t know… no… I did know they were your friends, but I stubbornly denied it. And I just wished that you had died with them. Then I wouldn't have to live through this hell that you had put me in, according to my ignorant views. And since you were so calm because of this stuff that Zecora gave you... I just got so angry that I saw everything through a red curtain. I’m so unbelievably sorry.”

Her voice broke when she thought about how much she had shouted, how pitiful Spitfire had flown away, how everypony had stared at her, but most of all how Derpy hadn’t once doubted that she was a good pony during her conversation with Spirit. Everything came back and pushed tears into her eyes.

Tears of regret are saltier then tears of sadness, always.

“I never want to be angry again. I never want to hurt other ponies as much as I hurt you. Can you forgive me? Ever?”

Spitfire sobbed quietly. Her face was buried in heavenly blue fur.

“Please, say something,” she begged. Silver linings on her cheeks were melting into the golden shimmer of the last sun rays that bedded the two Pegasus ponies into the night. The shadows grew longer and played around the soft curves of their bodies. Crickets were chirping in the grass. The house was creaking slowly and the walls watched how Spitfire, after minutes of silence, opened her eyes and lifted her chin to get to Rainbow’s ear. And she whispered, completely exhausted, spent, but cleansed by the sharp glow of hot tears and calm, without paralyzing fear that had forced her to stay inside Fluttershy’s house for far too long: “Yes.” Then she put her head down again. She could feel Rainbow hugging her even tighter and pulling her against her while she whispered broken thanks.

The night came to Ponyville. The sky became black and infinitely deep, full with myriads of unblinking, brightly shimmering eyes that looked upon the world. The moon was a thin sickle at the firmament that bathed the city in pale silver light. A soft wind from the west made the branches of the trees and the heads of the flowers teeter. It blew from the Everfree Forest through the open window into the bedroom, danced around the ears of the two fliers and robbed Spitfire of the memories of her home. On cold feet the wind tip-toed back outside, and the images of the former noble city that haunted Spitfire every hour followed him silently. Over the wide spread landscape the wind and the thoughts moved towards the east, occasionally passing a pony or wild animal that felt a faint, sudden feeling of yearning that they couldn’t explain. They circled each other and were tumbling around, melting into one searching whole, sensing the land, dipping into an ocean full of fantasy images until they climbed the crumbled walls of Canterlot and scattered around the stone. Before sleep claimed her, Spitfire's imagination travelled up to those far away eyes in the sky, looking down in hopes of finding the images that had been stolen, believing that at least the stars could give her what she missed so badly: her home. For who hasn’t been a stranger throughout their lives, imprisoned, alone?

O lost, and by the wind grieved, ghost, come back again.

~ ~ ~

When Fluttershy came home that night her house was still brightly illuminated. She tip-toed up the stars and looked through the door that was open a crack. On the floor were Spitfire and Rainbow Dash. With a soft smile on her lips they had fallen asleep.

She fetched a blanket and carefully spread it over the two ponies. For a moment, she stood there and looked down on her guests. Then she left the room, turned off all the lights and went to bed.

Comments ( 3 )

The Devourer is based off of Galactus, right?

8289396
I'm sorry, but I don't know who or what this is

8289396
Galactus no es malo ni representa maldad, es un tipo con hambre. :raritywink:

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