Storm of Secrets

by Wolf Guardian

Chapter 4: Second Glances

After an extended farewell to Fluttershy and all her animals, Twilight took her brother back to Ponyville to Sugar Cube Corner for lunch. Pinkie squealed with delight at finally meeting Twilight's brother and asked a seemingly unending barrage of questions about what it felt like to be in somepony else's body, which Shining Armor answered as best he could. (Some of the questions about the possibility of swapping bodies with flowers or baby crocodiles left him a bit speechless.) After that, Pinkie danced on the table and sang a song that began as a welcome for Shining Armor, then turned into some sort of idea for a party where everypony swapped bodies with each other, then into something that neither Twilight nor Shining Armor quite understood, but had something to do with everypony in the world swapping bodies all the time and never having the same body for more then one day. It was weird. When Pinkie was finally done, she ordered a cupcake eating contest in honor of Shining Armor and the new body swapping utopia his coming heralded. Twilight and Shining Armor were glad for the cupcakes, at least they got Pinkie's mind off body changing.

After the cupcake eating contest (which Pinkie won) the three ponies fell to chatting until Shining Armor mentioned how strange it was suddenly having red fur instead of white. Twilight obliged by dumping a sack of flour over him, he laughed loudly and responded by dumping two sacks over her. Pinkie joined in and soon all three were fighting with whatever baking goods they could find. “Open the oven, Pinkie” Shining Armor called, lifting his sister (who was squealing too much to resist), almost to the ceiling and smearing her neck and mane with strawberry jam “this cake needs to bake about twenty minutes on high heat before she'll be ready to eat.” When Mr. and Mrs. Cake got home they found three white ponies rolling on the ground, laughing and sneezing hysterically. They made each of the three friends pay for a cake, saying they had chosen to wear their cakes instead of eat them, and then they were made to clean up the mess; but they made a game of it so nopony minded.

Cleaning up the hard wooden benches and floors of Sugar Cube Corner was fairly easy. Cleaning up three ponies covered in flour, jam, peanut butter, chocolate, custard, and sprinkles, on the other hoof… that was more difficult. Pinkie was somehow able to clean herself up in a few seconds with her tongue, and offered to clean Twilight and Shining Armor the same way... they refused. Instead the two unicorn siblings opted for washing up in the river, which was harder then it sounded. The moving water was useful for wiping off loose bits of food, but it turned the flour to dough which got stuck deep in their manes and coats, making it more difficult to get off. Rolling in the long grass helped loosen the sticky bits, but only the top layer became loose enough to wash off, meaning both ponies had to complete four or five cycles of swimming in the river and rolling in the tall grass before they were clean.

Twilight shivered as a cold gust of wind blew over her soaked body, then noticed her brother was regarding some distant trees with unusual curiosity. “That isn't the Everfree Forest, is it? I thought the forest was on the other side of Ponyville.”

“That's Whitetail Wood, its perfectly safe and normal, the plants, animals, and weather are all controlled by us.” Suddenly Twilight felt a wave of nostalgia, “Hey B.B., do you remember how we used to play hide and seek in the woods near our house when we were little?”

“Yeah.”

“Well,” Twilight suddenly levitated a bulb of cold water and splashed it over Shining Armor's almost dry coat, “You’re it!”

Shining Armor blinked the water out of his eyes and opened them just in time to see his sister disappear into the dense foliage. He picked up some loose leaves and bits of dirt to pay her back with, and then gave her a twenty second head start.

…..................................................................................................................................................................

Rainbow Dash sat on a floating chair of cloud and refereed the game of cloud soccer that was going on beneath her. She couldn't get the Wonderbolts to permanently split into competing teams, but at least they were willing to split for a short game. If Rainbow kept giving them little exercises like this, it might be enough to motivate each of them to strive for their personal best. If there was one thing they all had in common (except being stupid), it was that they all hated losing; and now that they were split, loosing is what would happen to exactly half of them each game. If nopony wanted to be on the losing team, they would have to push for their best. True, if she pitted the same Wonderbolts against each other constantly, eventually they might come to resent each other and that would make it difficult to get them to work together in the performances. But as long as she regularly shifted members between teams, it shouldn't be a problem.

Rainbow smiled at how clever she had been, why hadn't she thought of this before? Already the peer pressure to perform was taking effect on both teams. Soon the Wonderbolts would be faster and stronger then ever. This was it! Finally, after all this time searching, she had discovered how to motivate the Wonderbolts. Strange, it was just two days after she met Silent Storm—coincidence? Rainbow had just started to wonder if Storm ever played soccer when the dark blue cloud ball she had got from the weather factory flew into the wall of white cloud that marked the perimeter of the field. Quick as a flash several Wonderbolts from each team dove into the cloud after it, and almost instantly Surprise flew back out with a ball and threw it into team Wonder's net. “All right!” Surprise shouted, “one point for team Bolt.”

“Hold on!” shouted Wave Chill, who was the Wonder goal keeper, “There's no way you could have found the ball that fast.”

Surprise grinned cheekily at Wave Chill, “Surprised?”

“Not at all” said Blaze, the caption of team Wonder, “I reckon you cheated! You stashed another ball in the cloud, then got Soarin’ to kick the real ball into the cloud, got your fake ball out, and tried to score with it. You little cheat!”

Dash swooped down between Blaze and Surprise, and pulled them out of each others’ faces. “Blaze, don't accuse Surprise just because you don't like what happened.”

“But it's not the same ball, Dash. Look, the ball that Surprise took out of the cloud is a totally lighter shade than the one Soarin kicked in.”

“It's only lighter because the blue cloud mixed with the white.” Surprise retorted “It's still the same ball!”

Dash knew how to settle this. The ball she got from the weather factory was blue because she had cracked a small dye capsule into it, and then wrapped it in several layers of cloud. If it was the ball she had made, the capsule would still be there. Dash got the ball from Lightning Streak and brought it to the center of the field where everypony could see it. One whack from her hoof cracked the ball open and out dropped a small blue capsule.

“See, See!” shouted Misty. “The Wonders didn't like it when we finally got a point and so they accused us of cheating. I think they deserve a two point penalty for that.” The other Bolts nodded their heads in approval.

“You sure this is the same ball Surprise?”

Surprise looked around at her teammates for support and found plenty “Positive, it has the dye capsule in it doesn’t it?”

Rainbow groaned in disappointment “Then maybe you can tell me why this capsule is brand new, and was only cracked open a minute ago. I broke the real capsule over an hour ago; it should be half this size by now.”

Surprise backed up a bit, “Well... what I mean is… it’s sort of the same ball… you see - "

Fleet Foot spoke up in her teammate’s defense, “We only cheated because the Wonders cheated first! Fire Streak bumped Spitfire when she was about to make a shot; that's totally against the rules!” within seconds, all the Wonderbolts fell to quibbling.

This was more than Dash could bear; Canterlot society looked up to them, they were supposed be better than this. Why was it that the only time they were creative was when they were trying to take shortcuts, and even then it was like they were sharing a brain? Dash silently prayed that something would happen that would refocus the Wonderbolts’ attention. Funnily enough that's exactly what happened, and she soon wished she hadn't asked for it. Without warning the clouds on one side gave way and a gray pegasus plummeted toward the Wonderbolts—plummeted into them would be more exact. Whoever she was, she was going way too fast, or couldn't see where she was going, or both. Whatever the reason, she came out of nowhere and crashed into Spitfire, who crashed into Wave Chill, who crashed into Firestreak, who crashed into Rapidfire.

“Sorry.” groaned Derpy as she slowly untangled herself from the wondrous mess she had made.

“Derpy?” exclaimed Rainbow Dash.

“Hi Rainbow Dash” croaked Derpy as she waved with one hoof and rubbed her head with the other, while her eyes seemed to spin in opposite directions.

“What are you doing here?” asked an exasperated Dash, “Can't you see we're training?” Dash suddenly remembered promising Silent Storm she would apologize to Derpy for not wanting to be associated with her around other ponies, and she would say sorry, just... not when there were other ponies around.

“I have a letter for you.” said Derpy “It’s from Celestia.”

“The Princess!? What does it say?”

“Hold on, I'll get it for you” Derpy turned around to the mail-bag on her flank and tried several times to open it; failing because she was trying to open it from the bottom. Dash realized before Derpy did that the leather strap connecting the bag to Derpy's harness was twisted, and the mail bag was being worn upside-down with the mouth of the bag hanging open. Any mail that had been in there was long gone. Eventually it dawned on Derpy that she was holding the mail bag upside-down. She unhooked the bag from her harness (almost dropping it in the process) and stuck her mussel inside looking for Dash's letter. Finally she realized that it was empty. Derpy's ears drooped and her hooves shook slightly as she held the empty bag out for Dash to see.

Dash looked between the empty mail-bag and Derpy's sheepish face and tried to contain her rising anger, “What did the letter say, Derpy?”

“I don't know. I was just picking up the mail from the Canterlot post office when a pony ran in and said there was a letter from the Princess that had to be given to you right away and that it was urgent. I was the only mail-pony there so I volunteere - ”

“Can't you do anything right!?” bellowed Dash, loosing any pretense of compassion, “That was an important letter and now I have no idea what the Princess wanted!”

Derpy cowered and backed away; she looked to the surrounding Wonderbolts for comfort but found none. She understood the gravity of her mistake, but she made no attempt to cover it up or make excuses, “I just don't know what went wrong. I was flying around looking for you for a long time, cause I didn't know where you were, and somewhere between those big clouds over there,” she gestured helplessly, “I must have... dropped your mail.”

“Of course you dropped my mail! If you hadn't dropped it you would still have it and I would be reading it by now!”

“I'm sorry,” pleaded Derpy, “Please don't be angry, I was trying to help.”

“GO AWAY!” yelled Dash.

“But...” stammered Derpy, “I could go look for it. If I looked really hard I'm sure I could - ”

“Forget it! Go lose somepony else's mail. You've done enough here already, now SHOO!” Dash shoved the mail bag into Derpy's chest.

Derpy slowly put her mail-bag back on (the right way up this time) and left without another word. Dash watched her go; seething with annoyance, tingling with guilt, and trying to plan her next move.

“What are we gonna do, Dash? That letter was probably important. We might need to go back for an emergency performance, or to get our pictures taken or something.” High Winds definitely sounded concerned.

Dash spun around to fly back to Canterlot to get her orders repeated, but just as she was about to take off she had another idea. In the other direction, at slightly less than half the distance, was Ponyville. She knew Twilight was there... and Spike. She could write a letter explaining what had happened, have Spike send it straight to the Princess; and have a response in less time then it would take to fly to Canterlot. “Wait here,” she shouted as she dove toward her old home, “I'll be back with a copy of our letter in no time. We don't know what the letter will say, so be ready for anything when I get back.”

…..................................................................................................................................................................

Shining Armor bounded around the trunk of a large tree, he could see Twilight about thirty paces off but she hadn't seen him yet; if he did this right she never would. Shining Armor picked up speed and zeroed in toward his sister, who turned to face him seconds before he reached her, her sweet lavender eyes filling with terror.

“DON'T!” she cried, but it was too late. One of the razor swords Shining Armor was levitating flashed forward and caught her across the neck, cutting the jugular and spraying blood in every direction. She wasn't dead yet though, as she hit the forest floor she screamed with all the strength she had left, “PLEASE, STOP! IT'S ME!”

That infernal voice! Shining Armor wouldn't listen to it again; he would end it. “LIAR!” he yelled as he brought his other sword swooping down, severing her head from her body. As the head rolled across the forest floor the purple body went into spasms; Shining Armor began hacking with both swords, rending flesh and gore until it was beyond recognition. He continued trampling his sister’s corpse even after it had stopped moving; splattering layer upon layer of her blood unto his pure white coat.

WHAT HAD HE DONE!!? Shining Armor looked down to see his coat had turned a dark red, soaked with his sister's blood! He yelled, and shook and kicked against the sheets, trying to get the awful redness off him. But the red wasn't coming off, it would NEVER come off! He would be guilty of his sister's blood forever!

“Shining Armor?” Shining Armor looked up; the decapitated head was floating off the ground, talking to him, mocking him, accusing him. Although it said no words, its mouth moved with silent accusations. He clamped his eyes shut and hid his face under his hooves. “Shining Armor, are you OK?” He forced himself to look again. The head looked concerned, had regrown a body, and was standing in the doorway next to Spike. Again the head spoke, “After we got back from the glade last night you fell asleep right away. Spike decided to keep an eye on you, and when you started kicking and yelling in your sleep he got me. Are you OK? You look like you've seen a ghost?”

A dream… ? But if his sister was still alive, whose blood was he covered in? “You’re not dead?”

Twilight's eyes showed she was worried, but she tried to make her voice sound comforting. “I'm alright B.B., you were having a nightmare.”

Shining Armor glanced down at his fur, “Then why am I covered in blood?”

Twilight looked confused for a moment; then tried to explain, “You’re not covered in blood, you’re covered in sweat. Your fur is red because you swapped bodies with your friend, remember? You’re in Ponyville now and everything's OK. It was just a nightmare. Princess Celestia said there might be unforeseen side effects, you do remember, don't you?”

Shining Armor was slowly starting to remember, but the dream had seemed so real. For now it seemed he hadn't murdered his only sister and that was enough for him. With his heart still pounding, he checked one more time and realized he wasn't really covered in blood. Getting up from the floor beside the bed he threw his trembling hoofs around his younger sister's neck. “Thank you for not being dead.”

“You're welcome, I'm glad I'm not dead too.” Twilight's fear was giving way to relief but it was nothing compared to what her brother was feeling.

“I love you Twilight.”

“I love you too.”

Suddenly there was a crashing sound and a rainbow-maned pegasus Shining Armor had never seen before fell through an open window, talking quickly. She shouted something about needing to borrow a spike; but when she saw them, her eyes went wild, “WHAT!? HOW COULD YOU!? LIAR!” That was all Shining Armor could make out from the insane creature’s furious shrieks. He took a step forwards to protect Twilight in case the intruder attacked, but his fears were ungrounded. The angry pegasus simply yelled till she ran out of breath; then flew back out the way she had come, crying.

Shining Armor glanced at Twilight who looked as confused as he was; then stared out the open window at the faint train of rainbow the pegasus had left in her wake. “That girl is as crazy as a bowl of fruit loops,” he said at last, “I hope nopony actually gives her a spike, I don't know what she has in mind, but she would probably hurt herself. Talk about a random morning.” Convinced the stranger wasn't coming back, he turned to Twilight, who didn't seem to see any humor in the situation. “Look, it’s OK, she's gone, just some crazy early bird. If you’re worried, I could put up an energy shield around the tree house.”

“First of all, it’s not morning, it’s early afternoon; you slept a long time. Second, that wasn't a random pony; I know her, her name is Rainbow Dash.”

“Does she have a habit of flying through windows, asking for spikes, yelling uncontrollably, and leaving in tears?”

“No, she’s never done that before; she used to be one of my best friends, but she moved to Canterlot last year ago and I've only seen her a few times since. Whatever happened, she's obviously upset; we should go after her.”

“Before we rush after an angry pony you haven't seen in a year, we should try to figure out what's going on, and why she thought a spike would help.” the words were still on Shining Armor's lips when both unicorns turned to Twilight's dragon assistant who had been standing quietly behind the door until now.

“Don't look at me; I have no idea what's wrong with her.”

“Well… have you heard any rumors from Canterlot? … Have you gotten any messages lately?” Shining Armor asked.

“Well I did get a message for you from the Princess a few hours ago, but you were sleeping so I didn't open it.”

Twilight looked annoyed, “A few hours Spike? Why didn't you say something earlier?”

“The letter wasn't for you,” Spike retorted, “it was for Shining Armor, and the last thing you told me last night was to let him sleep as long as he wanted. He only just got up now!”

“Whatever,” Shining Armor was getting impatient, “the angry mare is getting further away and we still don't know why; meanwhile the princess sent me a message hours ago and I haven't read it yet. Is that it there? Give it to me.”

The scroll floated in front of Shining Armor and unbuckled itself as his horn lit up like a lamp so he could read. His eyes began breezing over the scroll then stopped, and he started again more slowly, reading every word carefully as his lips pressed together in a hard line and his ears flattened against his head. He finished the letter; then threw it in a corner. “Spike, stay here. Start packing saddlebags with food—whatever you can find that can be eaten on the move, will last a few days, and won't require preparation. Pack as much as you’re able and keep doing that until we get back, and get some blankets as well. Twilight, that mare, Rainbow Dash, does she have any connection to the Wonderbolts?”

Twilight nodded, “Yes, she's their leader. Seriously, B.B. I knew you were busy keeping the shield maintained, but I thought you would at least - ”

“We need to find her. Now.” Shining Armor was already racing for the door, “There no time to explain, just trust me. Come!”

Twilight was about to follow her brother when Spike stopped her, “What's going on? Why do I have to make all this food? Who’s it for?”

Twilight looked down at Spike and tried to smile, “I don't know Spike, but do what he says; my brother's not one to panic unless something is really wrong. If you run out of things in the house, run down to the market and get more. We'll be back after we find Rainbow Dash, I think.” Twilight looked out the open door, saw her brother already disappearing from view, and broke into a gallop to catch up. Spike looked dejected for a moment, and then set to work furiously making sandwiches.

…..................................................................................................................................................................

Twilight initially didn't think she could catch up to her brother in his stronger, faster, borrowed body, but he was still getting used to his new legs and stumbled once or twice, giving Twilight the chance to narrow his lead. Neither of them could have hoped to catch Rainbow Dash in a straight race, but fortunately for them, Dash either didn't know where she was going, or she kept changing her mind. Nevertheless by the time they had followed her trail to the edge of Sweet Apple Acres, both ponies were breathing hard. Plunging into the apple orchard, and weaving to avoid low branches, they kept following Dash’s chaotic rainbow trail. Twilight's eyes were so busy scanning the treetops above her that she almost didn't see Apple Jack carrying a bucket of apples and just barely avoided running into her.

Apple Jack dropped her apples as Twilight skidded to a halt, “Twilight! Well, how are you doing sugar cube? Looks like you’re a mite in a hurry.”

Twilight stopped just for a moment, “Apple... Jack,” she panted, “can you help us catch Rainbow Dash? It’s important.”

“What in tarnation? Rainbow Dash is in Canterlot ain't she?”

“She's back in Ponyville... not sure why; but she's in your orchard, don't know why either. But she's getting away; can you help us catch her?” Apple Jack stared at Twilight, confused. “Please, you have to trust me as a friend.” That was all AJ needed to hear; leaving her apples on the ground and grabbing a coil of rope from a nearby tree branch, she galloped after Twilight.

…...........................................................................................................................................................…...

Storm felt as though he was spinning, not just one way, mind you, but like his organs were spinning clockwise, his bones were spinning counter-clockwise, and his skin was doing somersaults. He was glad that ponies couldn't vomit like he had seen some creatures do; he wasn't sure what caused it or how it felt, but if this kept up for much longer he might be the first pony in history to learn what it was like to regurgitate its food. Nevertheless, he would gladly have felt that way for as long as possible, if it meant not arriving at the destination on the other side of his portgem. The sensation of spinning stopped almost as suddenly as it had begun and Storm felt moist earth under his body. He closed his eyes, hoping against hope that he was still in the palace or even in Fillydelphia, but the smell of the rotting trees was unmistakable. He was home.

After a long moment he opened his eyes, to see an endless sea of dense trees stretching in every direction. Their branches were twisted into cruel, demented shapes, but Storm knew that they were just coverings for the things that hid behind them. They had to get inside before they were seen. Storm looked beside him to where Cadance sat dumbly, looking around at the trees as though she were expecting to find Fillydelphia hidden under a branch or inside one of the tree hollows. Storm tried to speak but she didn't hear, instead she rose on shaky hooves and started spinning in slow circles, trying in vain to take in their surroundings, then looked back at Storm hoping for some sort of answer.

Storm steadied himself and tried to push to his feet, sharp pains ran up his legs and he collapsed. Again he tried to rise, this time he almost made it until the hawk of one of his front legs gave way underneath him. He began falling forwards and braced himself for agony—any one of the twigs beneath him could easily tear open the fragile flesh on his chin or throat. But before he hit the ground Cadance was suddenly under him; supporting his chest with her neck, she slowly raised him to his feet and helped steady him.

Not taking the time or effort to try to thank Cadance, Storm took one shaky step and then another toward a large hill crowned with several dead trees. He probably wouldn't have made it if Cadance hadn't walked beside him every step of the way, supporting him with her own body. Storm stopped at the foot of the hill and tried to muster his telekinetic energy, but failed. His heart sank in despair but then he remembered the confused mare by his side. At least now she was paying attention; if he couldn’t give her verbal instructions, maybe there was another way he could tell her what to do. Storm mustered his energy once again; it was faint, but just enough to make a little light dance along the forest floor. She didn't see it. He tried again and this time the small light caught her attention. Finally, when Storm had almost passed out from exhaustion and frustration, Cadance finally realized that the light was moving up and down a length of rope, hidden under the fallen leaves. Cadance's horn glowed brightly as she raised the rope and, seeing nothing better to do, pulled. Immediately a section of the hill rolled back like a canvas revealing a gaping black mouth that led into the side of the hill.

“Inside.” whispered Storm, hoping they hadn't already been seen.

Comments

[the other sans]

Hoo boy... I knew RD was gonna get into trouble but what with the body swap spell and well... Yeah... my mind is muddled right now But man... was she ever cruel to poor Derpy...

[Beware The Carpenter]

This is Wolf Guardian new account; here's what's happened. Since they modified the site in September I haven't been able to log on. I've tried the 'forgot password' tab and that's been useless. I tried mailing knighty twice and then mailed all three moderators with their emails available and got no responses. I've got about five chapters ready to post (plus I've edited everything I already had up) so I've made a new account and re-posted the story. I figured putting everything up at once was a bit much so there's two new chapters up, and the others I'll put up over the last week as I do the final proofread. Sorry for the wait.

http://www.fimfiction.net/story/60626/Storm-of-Secrets-Remastered