Shattered Rainbow

by TheMajorTechie

The Visitors

Windy Whistles stared at the strange pair that stood in the doorway. A young girl-- a "human", as she heard the race being called, and a middle-aged stallion. The girl wore a dirtied but otherwise tidy labcoat that appeared two sizes too large oner body, accompanied by a large backpack that seemed to nearly outweigh its carrier.

As for the stallion, he appeared to be an aging unicorn with a bland tannish coat, and was currently in the midst of cleaning the lens of his spectacles.

"Oh... oh my." Windy began, holding a hoof to her mouth, "First the queen herself visits us, and--..."

"It's alright," the girl began, "you just barely said something about Celestia stopping by, right?"

The stallion nudged the girl in the arm. "Gadget!" he whispered, "Manners!"

"Um... right." the girl-- Gadget, remarked, "Now, as I was saying, did you see Celestia anytime recently?"

Windy nodded slowly. "Y...yes?" she started, "Why do you ask?"

"Moooom!" Rainbow shouted as she galloped through the hallway, "Who is it? Is it Fluttershy?"

As she turned the corner to the doorway, she froze at the sight of the duo.

Gadget's eyes widened upon seeing the mare, but nonetheless began speaking again.

"Um..." she began, "Could you repeat that again?"

Windy lightly sighed, readying herself to repeat her words. "Celestia visited us earlier," she began in mild annoyance, "but I'm not gonna tell you any more until I know what you're doing on my doorstep."

"Well," the girl replied, "For starters, we've been trying to find her for the past few days in hopes of maybe opening some sort of trade agreement with our home."

Windy raised a brow in curiosity.

The girl turned towards Rainbow. "You're Rainbow Dash, right?" she began, "Element of Loyalty? Wonderbolt? Savior of Equestria alongside your friends?"

Rainbow frowned. "No... I'm none of those..." the mare said sadly, "I honestly don't know what I am anymore..."

"Rainbow!" Windy suddenly snapped, turning towards her daughter, "Don't put yourself down like that! You're a wonderful young mare, crippled wings or not!"

"Helloooo?" Gadget called from behind Windy as she hugged her daughter, "Like I said, do you have any idea where Celestia might've gone? Or is she still here?"

Standing up, Windy turned back to the girl. "No," she stated, "Celestia was here a few hours ago to visit Dashie here, but she left within minutes of entering."

"And she gave me a present, too!" Rainbow chirped, flaring her wings to show off the mechanized prosthetic.

This time, it was Gadget's turn to raise a brow. She turned to the older stallion and nudged him with an elbow, whispering into his ear.

The stallion nodded, and took a step forward. "Allow me to introduce myself," he began, "I am Professor Delmar, Macrophysicist, Theoretical Physicist, and Astronomer." he winced a moment after receiving another bump from the girl, "And as of late, Unprofessional Chemist and Restaurant Dishwasher."

Gadget nodded at the Professor. "So," she began, "back to the topic. Celestia isn't here anymore, right?"

Both Rainbow and her mother nodded.

"As for Rainbow Dash," she continued, turning her head to focus on the mare, "in this universe, from what I've taken after hearing your breakdown earlier, you are not the Element of Loyalty, nor have you ever performed a sonic rainboom, and I take that you haven't ever met any of the ponies that I will now list, right? Let's see... there's Twilight Sparkle, Fluttershy, Applejack, Rarity, Pinkie Pie..." she turned towards Rainbow. "And of course, there's you as well, but--"

Rainbow Dash froze in shock as the young girl that stood before her listed the names of the ponies she once thought of as friends, before she had awoke to find that some didn't even exist. She lunged at the girl, tackling her to the ground as the girl cried out in surprise.

"HOW DID YOU KNOW?!" she sobbed hysterically, "IT WAS A DREAM, WASN'T IT?! A DREAM!"

The girl groaned as she struggled to pull herself from beneath Rainbow, but appeared otherwise unhurt.

"Oh, I'm terribly sorry!" Windy exclaimed as she rushed out, "Rainbow's been a bit... compulsive at times."

The girl stood up with a smirk. "I know." she replied calmly, "Now then, could you maybe at least point in the direction you last saw Celestia heading?"

Windy shook her head. "She wouldn't say," she began, "None of us know."

Gadget's smirk dropped. "Well," she said, turning to Delmar, "I guess we failed."

"Actually," Windy suddenly continued, "If you really insist on knowing where she's heading... when she left, I saw her heading back down to the ground. And as of now, Cloudsdale is floating quite close to Ponyville."

"Thanks!" Gadget cheered, turning to leave. She abruptly paused, however, and walked back towards Rainbow Dash, pulling a small, silvery disc from her backpack.

"Keep it," she began calmly, "If you really think your dream was real."

The human girl and the stallion set off into the distance. Windy Whistles rushed back into the house upon hearing a loud crash from the backyard, leaving Rainbow Dash alone, the strange object resting in her hooves.

Author's Note:

What could the magical silvery disc possibly be?

Comments

[mastermenthe]

That's twisting the knife right there.

[TheMajorTechie]

8503910

Will Gadget and Delmar make another cameo???