...So Far Away
Twilight awoke with a start when the balcony door of the bedroom was abruptly thrown open, a loud bang echoing through the entire room. Her eyes snapped open and she sat bolt-upright in alarm, a high-pitched yelp slipping out of her. Standing in the frame of the balcony door was Rainbow Dash, her eyes wide open and her entire body quivering. The pegasus barely even acknowledged Twilight while stumbling up to the bedside table and grabbing her crown off the top. With the golden circle held in one of her hooves, she turned and began to trot across the room, her movements stiff and her eyes fixated on a tall vanity mirror leaned up against the wall.
Wide awake now, Twilight hurled the blankets off of her body and hopped out of bed. She quickly made her way to Rainbow’s side, her worry evident on her face. “Rainbow? Are you okay? What happened, what’s wrong?!” she asked rapidly, barely giving a chance for Rainbow to reply. The mare in question responded by looking over her shoulder into Twilight’s eyes and shrinking back as if she were afraid. Twilight’s ears drooped when she saw tears welling up in Rainbow’s eyes. She didn’t get a chance to act on it, though, as Rainbow shoved passed her to get to the mirror, where she then sat down on her haunches and looked at her reflection.
All was silent after that. After a few seconds, moving slowly, Twilight continued her advance and reached out with a hoof. “Rainbow, what’s wrong? Please, talk to me…” she whispered as soothingly as possible, her hoof brushing against Rainbow’s shoulder.
Rainbow twitched from the contact, her wings partially extending. The sudden reaction made Twilight back off a couple steps, a quiet gasp escaping her. For several moments, neither of them moved. Rainbow kept staring at her reflection, and Twilight kept watching Rainbow with confusion and concern. Finally, the cyan mare, with stiff and slow movements, set her crown on her head, her eyes narrowing.
“...Rainbow?” Twilight asked tentatively, her voice having almost no strength.
“It’s funny…” Rainbow suddenly said, her voice cold and without emotion. Twilight tilted her head and got braver in her approach, picking up her pace.
“What is?” she asked, reaching out with a hoof to tentatively touch Rainbow’s shoulder again. Rainbow didn’t even acknowledge the contact, her eyes never leaving her reflection in the mirror.
She lifted a hoof to point at her reflection. “Princesses in Equestria are supposed to be these… uh… I dunno… paragons of all that’s good and right with the world, right?” she began before letting her hoof drop back down to the floor. The thud it made was almost deafening. “Each one is supposed to be the best example of whatever it is they represent, a shining beacon to reach for, a golden standard to try and live up to… even if they sometimes muck it up…”
Twilight’s ears slowly perked back up, and she found herself curious about where Rainbow was going with this.
She didn’t have to wait long. Rainbow let out a slow breath through her nose, her eyes briefly flying up to look at the crown on her head. “When somepony looks at a princess, they’re supposed to feel… I dunno… love and admiration or something… respect, at least…” she mumbled before her gaze slowly drifted back down to look at her face in the mirror. It was then that Twilight noticed that the shaking in her body was getting worse. Rainbow’s face was starting to twitch subtly, and her shoulders were hunching up.
“Dash, what-”
“So it’s kinda funny that when I look at myself in a mirror…” Rainbow continued without waiting for Twilight to finish, her voice starting to crack. “...I don’t feel respect or admiration… I just…” the shaking was getting even more intense, and Twilight took an instinctual step back out of fear. It was almost like she was watching an angry animal. A comparison that proved on-point as, suddenly, Rainbow’s eyes widened, her pupils dilated, and with an ear-splitting scream of hatred, she tore her crown off of her head and drove it, along with her hoof, into the mirror in front of her.
The smooth surface shattered all at once, several of the shards sticking into Rainbow’s hoof and foreleg and piercing the skin. Although at that moment, she was too high on rage and adrenaline to care. She dropped her crown to the floor, one of the rubies having been dislodged. “YOU STUPID IDIOT!” she screamed before driving her hoof into the mirror again, punching through the wooden back of it and sending splinters and pieces of wood everywhere.
Twilight stumbled back in shock, a hoof flying up to her chest at the sight. She watched as Rainbow struck the mirror, again and again, steadily dismantling it before hurling the frame against the wall with another infuriated shout. She stopped then, her breaths coming in ragged, desperate gasps. She shifted slightly. Her wounded hoof brushed against a shard of glass on the floor, drawing her gaze to it. When she saw herself looking back, she didn’t even hesitate in stomping the shard, shattering it and adding even more glass to her hoof.
Twilight had seen enough.
“Rainbow Dash, stop!” she cried out, sprinting forward and wrapping her forelegs around Dash’s barrel and dragging her back from the wreckage. “Please! You’ll hurt yourself!”
Rainbow briefly struggled against Twilight’s hold, but only very briefly. In only a couple of seconds, her rage evaporated, and she let herself fall limp against Twilight’s chest. With her thrashing ceased, the two of them took a moment to collect themselves. After maybe ten moments of trying to catch her breath and calm herself, Twilight helped Rainbow sit upright on her haunches before sitting down before her. They locked gazes, and Twilight’s heart fell into the pit of her stomach when she saw the fresh tears in Rainbow’s eyes.
“Rainbow, what happened?” she asked in barely even a whisper, reaching a hoof out to touch the princess’s cheek.
That feather-light touch was all it took to break down the dam.
With a miserable wail, Rainbow hurled herself against Twilight and buried her face into the unicorn’s shoulder. She shuddered, sniffled, and openly began weeping. Twilight wrapped her forelegs around Rainbow on reflex, holding her close and doing her best to calm her down. Despite her confusion over what could have gotten Rainbow so upset so quickly, Twilight did everything she could to soothe Rainbow’s distress. She rocked them back and forth, she stroked the back of her head with a hoof, she whispered reassurances into her ear. This dragged on for several minutes, with the sound of Rainbow’s crying echoing in Twilight’s ears, just as it had when she had entered her mind, or when Rainbow had confessed how she had felt in Hollow Shades. It was a sound that Twilight had hoped to never hear again…
Finally, Rainbow’s cries began to die down, and after about ten minutes, she finally built up the strength to pull herself out of Twilight’s embrace. Her eyes had gone bloodshot and there were long trails leading down her cheeks where her fur had been matted down. She was still shaking terribly, but at least now she looked like she could talk. “Twi… I’m…” she tried, her voice broken and hoarse. Before she could get any more words out, however, a pained yelp tore itself from her lungs, the glass shards that had embedded themselves in her foreleg reminding her that they were there.
Twilight’s eyes widened and her face went pale at the gruesome sight. “Oh my gosh, you’re leg! Hang on, I’ll go get Fluttershy. She’ll fix you up-”
“Twilight…” Rainbow cut her off through clenched teeth, her good foreleg grabbing onto Twilight’s shoulder and holding her in place. After a second or so, she managed to open her eyes again, looking into Twilight’s. “...Get the others, too… I need to talk to all of you…”
Everypony was assembled in the bedroom not long after. While Fluttershy tended to Rainbow’s foreleg, picking shards of glass out of her leg with a pair of tweezers she had gotten from a first aid kit. Everypony else stood in various places around the room, listening to her. She didn’t dare look back at them, her head hung low and her eyes closed as she recited her tale, informing them of the treaty she had signed with King Sombra. She would have told them that she knew where the Crystal Heart was, but the words always got stuck in her throat, no matter how hard she tried to say it. It wasn’t all that hard for the others to figure out, though, and she could tell that Twilight must have put it together immediately.
When she finally finished her explanation, there was a silence the likes of which she had never heard. Nopony moved. They barely breathed. The only disturbance to the quiet was Fluttershy carefully extracting another piece of glass from her leg before running a disinfecting swab over it. She could feel their eyes on her, judging her. Too emotionally worn out to cry anymore, she shifted on her haunches to be more comfortable and sighed. “I’m sorry, everypony… I ruined everything… this is my fault…”
“Yes, it is,” the voice of Starlight Glimmer’s cold voice suddenly cut through the silence, making Rainbow cringe while everypony else audibly gasped in surprise from that statement. She didn’t seem content to let that verbal assault be the end of it, though, and kept talking. “How many ponies did you betray when you signed that treaty, huh? How many ponies live here in the Empire? Hundreds? Thousands? Tens of thousands?!”
Of course, Twilight was the first one to jump to her defense. “Starlight, please. She did the best she could-” she tried in a diplomatic tone, but Starlight was having none of it.
“The best she could?!” The irate unicorn shouted, and Rainbow finally looked up at the two when she heard hooves stomping on crystal. Twilight was backing away while Starlight advanced towards her, a seething glare on her face. “Twilight, I understand that you love her, you’re biased, but you cannot honestly think she did the right thing here! Even if we somehow beat Chrysalis, there’s still one more power-hungry villain in the world, and we’ll just have to hoof the Empire over to him!”
Twilight scoffed and stood her ground, her eyes narrowing. “I never said I agreed with her decision, Starlight, and I sure as hay didn’t say I like it! But what was the alternative?” she demanded, trying to be the voice of reason. It wasn’t hard to tell that her desire to protect Rainbow was overwhelming any ability she had to be diplomatic, though.
Starlight’s eyes shot from Twilight to glare at Rainbow Dash bitterly. Dash flinched back as if struck, and grimaced when more white-hot pain danced up and down her foreleg. “Oh, I’m sure she could have found one if she looked,” Starlight accused, stamping her hoof again.
“Are you implying she didn’t?” Twilight shot back, her coat starting to bristle. “I know Rainbow Dash and you don’t! Don’t go assuming things about her before you know her!”
Starlight turned back to Twilight incredulously, her eye twitching. “Oh, look at you! Jumping to her defense without even considering the possibility that she did something wrong!” she shouted before taking another step towards Twilight. “Let me say it again; you’re biased here. Your opinion doesn’t really count for much!”
“And you’re passing judgment on her without knowing her, or how far she'll go to do the right thing!” Twilight countered, shoving Starlight back with her hooves. “Try growing up with her, or living with her for nine months!”
“She’s doomed an entire empire of innocent ponies to live the rest of their lives as slaves under a monster!” Starlight screamed, her horn suddenly lighting up. “I don’t think I need to know any more!”
“BOTH OF YOU, STOP!” Fluttershy suddenly shouted, stepping in between the two of them and shoving them apart. Rainbow blinked. She hadn’t even seen her move… Fluttershy turned to face Starlight, the look in her eyes making the unicorn take a step back. “That’s enough! Please!” her words lost some of their strength after that, and tears began welling up in her eyes. "Please stop fighting..."
Starlight didn’t seem appeased by the timid mare’s efforts, but she did at least opt to refrain from throwing more insults around. Her angered eyes shot between everypony else in the room before, with a huff, she turned and stomped for the door. Throwing it open with her magic, she paused only briefly in the frame to glare back at Rainbow. “I take back what I said before; you’re not a good pony.”
With those words hitting Rainbow Dash like a brick wall, Starlight punctuated her parting sentiment by slamming the door shut behind her. The following quiet was so thick that Rainbow swore it could have choked her. At that moment, she almost wished that it was. Anything would be better than what she was feeling right now. Eventually, Fluttershy turned around and wordlessly sat back down by the wounded leg, checking it over for any residual shards of glass.
Pinkie Pie looked down, her mane partially deflated. “Well, this is a huge bummer…” she said quietly, scuffing the floor with a hoof.
Rarity shuddered, nervously tugging on her mane with a hoof. “Understatement of the year, I should think…” she solemnly agreed, briefly glancing at Applejack. The farmer’s eyes were hidden underneath the rim of her hat, though the tightness of her lips made it perfectly clear how she felt.
“...Ya lied to us,” she finally droned out, drawing Rainbow’s attention. Applejack then lifted her head so that her eyes were visible underneath her hat. “Why? You shoulda said somethin’.”
Rainbow shook again, her eyes drifting over to look at Twilight, who was now sitting down with her eyes closed and her head low. Barely stifling a sniffle, Rainbow answered. “I didn’t say anything because... I… I didn’t want to lose Twilight again…”
Twilight’s ears perked up, but she otherwise didn’t respond.
Applejack snorted in disbelief. “Ya didn’t wanna lose Twi again? Ya never lost her before, ya know,” she reminded in a bitter tone, The shadow cast by the brim making her disapproval almost palpable.
Rainbow looked away. “I know… but… back on the train…” she choked out before going silent. Those words were enough to make Applejack’s calm anger dissolve into something more regretful.
“That’s enough,” Twilight suddenly cut in, getting back to her hooves and glancing at Applejack, a sour look on her face. “We don’t need to dig those old wounds open, especially not right now. We need to work on coming up with a plan. We still have to protect the Empire from the changelings, and the Crystal Heart isn’t an option anymore.”
Thorax, who had been standing off to one side, watching all of this unfold in silence, looked down at the little filly at his side. Wind Whisper was pressed tightly against his foreleg, looking on in confusion and fear at the scene in front of her. Spike was with her, although the look on his face made it clear that he understood the gravity of what was happening perfectly well.
“Dashie should take a little while to calm down, first,” Pinkie Pie suggested gently, sliding over to put a hoof on the aforementioned pegasus’ shoulder. “I can’t focus when my friends are all pouty…”
Rarity let out a sigh of her own. “I am going to have to agree with Pinkie on this one, even if that’s not how I would personally have phrased it…” she agreed while giving a despondent nod.
Applejack simply lowered her head until her eyes were hidden again, giving a non-committal harumph.
Thorax watched them all, a horrible feeling building in his gut. Their morale had just plummeted. They were angry, nervous, they didn’t have the resources to fend of Chrysalis, and they didn’t have anypony but themselves to help fight off the swarm. It was as clear as day to him…
When Chrysalis arrived, they wouldn’t stand a chance.
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Wait... Sombra's treaty said that Rainbow and her friends had to leave without resistance when this is all over and that they can't touch the Crystal Heart...
...Starlight isn't Rainbow's friend, now is she? She can stay as long as she wants AND she can get the Crystal Heart to save everpony!
The road to destiny is much harder to traverse when it's been torn up like this.
9083806
She is technically under Rainbow's authority as a citizen of Equestria. So yes, the treaty effects her, too.
9083810
Oh, well dang.
Weeell crap...
9083810
Hmmm...so a citizen of Equestria is a no go...
Oh Thorax, how do you feel about saving an empire?
See, that’s the thing with contracts. You only have to abide by their words; the spirit is never binding.
Well.....at least they heard it straight from Rainbow and not from Sombra. That...counts for something, right?
9083810
Is Thorax? He's a Changeling, so he's not under Rainbow's authority as a Princess of Equestria, and I don't think he was present when Rainbow went to negotiate with Sombra. If the contract affects him too.....then the only possibility I see is that somehow Pharynx activates the Crystal Heart. He wasn't even in the Empire until after the negotiations.
9084111
what about the crystal ponies? I mean, they don't have wings, but there's another way to get ti the top of that tower, and with sombra's guards no longer stopping them from going in, they could get to it....if they find a way to open the dark staircase...But technically, the crystal ponies wouldn't count as friends, unless Sombra has a very broad definition of friends. And technically the treaty said that they had to 'remove (them)selves from the Crystal Empire and surrender it to (his) authority.' so technically, while they have to give it to them, the treaty doesn't stop them from taking it back, and even if the whole no friends touching the crystal heart thing prevents them from doing that, they could still get the crystal ponies to do it.
9084139
I think the Crystal Heart is both out of their reach and out of their memory. Rainbow can't tell anyone where the Heart is or activate it, and the same would go for her friends of they somehow found it. So how would the Crystal Ponies find and use it?
9084085
I think something physically stopping you from going against the spirit of the contract is rather compelling. For example, literally what just happened last chapter. There probably cannot be any action on Rainbow's part to get around her agreement. Someone not bound to it or otherwise affected by Sombra needs to find a way to do something.
9084155
I just love how you guys are talking about the contract and not the emotional trauma that RD just had to go through in this chapter, especially with Starlight's assessment of her.
9084185
I mean, I winced when I read this because Rainbow has become a very sympathetic character, but it's fun speculating on how she might rise out of this. And just speaking for myself, I got a bit distracted by everyone else focusing on the contract lol
9084155
you have a point....I didn't think of that...huh, well...
Do they still have the elements of harmony? Surely once they've defeated Chrysalis, and Sombra takes over the empire, they can still take it back...just with the elements of harmony or something...I dunno
9083810
but the contract was just her and her friends. never said Equestrians and it is clear that Starlight is not her friend.
9084111
I was thinking the same thing, Pharynx is by no means a friend and capable of getting to it. Sure, Rainbow can't tell them where it is, but ifn she can figure it out, someone else can.
9084155
Oh, I quite agree. If only there was someone present who is neither Dash’s friend, nor under her authority.
9084204
If they had the Elements, they would have tried that before negotiating with Sombra and exhausting Twilight with the shield. I imagine like in canon, the Elements are in Canterlot.
9084547
That is made harder by the fact that Sombra told Rainbow to move it, and we don't know where.
9084653
Javarod
That is made harder by the fact that Sombra told Rainbow to move it, and we don't know where.
Mmm, I had forgotten that. Then again, Twi and Fluttershy know Dash very well, plus she has no magic, so without those, I suspect she can't hide it any where they can't find it.
9084653
that's what I meant, sorry. I mean, after Sombra's taken over the Crystal empire, then there's no Chrysalis holding Canterlot hostage, so all the ponies have to do is go back to Canterlot, get the elements go back to the Crystal empire and destroy Sombra. That would work, right? I mean, they probably could also get Princess Celestia, Princess Luna and Princess Cadance to blast him into oblivion...
9084732
Freeing Canterlot is definitely their best bet. As for if the Elements would work on Sombra....no way of knowing for sure since they weren't used in canon. It's possible they would.
9083875
I thought of that potential loophole (as well as another) in the last chapter. And if you want to get technical, there is another loophole. The contract says that they can't stop him from retaking the throne. But I don't believe it says she can't come back and dethrone him. I doubt it will come to that scenario though.
Also, if Sombra can't stop Chrysalis, I don't think he can take the throne. First of all, he'd be defeated if that were the case. But also, he can only take the throne after victory is achieved. So if Sombra can't defeat the changelings on his own, and the ponies can't use the Crystal Heart, Sombra can't take the throne. Then again, if it comes to that, and Sombra was defeated, what would be stopping them from using the Crystal Heart?
Alternatively, I had another loophole. If Sombra or the ponies do defeat Chrysalis and the changelings, Celestia would be freed, and the ponies would be under her rule again. That being said, it would make the agreement that Rainbow had signed on the others' behalf null and void. Because technically, Rainbow Dash is only the acting ruler of Equestria because of the other princesses being out of commission.
Is it strange that I'm more angry at Applejack than I am at Starlight?
And so the truth is revealed. I love seeing Twilight and Rainbow together after so long. But now it's time to put on the thinking caps.
9084770
Yes, it is.
9084653
Actually, Sombra gave her a bit of a paradox regarding that. He said Rainbow was to move the Crystal Heart, but he ALSO said she cannot remove it from its location. See the problem?
9085439
Hmm...that may just be a slip-up on the author's part? That or Sombra meant something along the lines of she can't remove it from his possession? That is a paradox, yeah.
9085439
Where did he say that? Because that was not what he was supposed to say.
Welp, smoke 'em if you got 'em.
Please allow me to put this directly.
I don't think Starlight's outburst was of her character. This will be somehow disappointing and unexpectedly unexpected for me if it's not because of something like dark magic or so.
My apologies if any of my words is uncalled.
9083810
"Hey, guys, would you mind renouncing Equestrian citizenship for a minute?"
More seriously, though, now that Sombra already hit them with deus ex NOPE once, there's no reason for them not to demand to see its contents.
Rainbow brought this on herself, our pity is not with her.
Rainbow Dash smashing her face in the mirror repeatedly:
Um... IDK about anyone else, but this doesn't feel like a complete sentence to me. Consider merging it with the very next sentence: "While Fluttershy tended to Rainbow’s foreleg, picking shards of glass out of her leg with a pair of tweezers she had gotten from a first aid kit, everypony else stood in various places around the room, listening to her."
9128653
True true! Maybe even ASK THORAX!
GASP!
Ask Twi to read your memories.
No. Fuck you. Sombra had FULL CONTROL of that deal and you should fucking know that. He was on the verge of sending you and Twilight into a death seizure and taking over the empire ANYWAY. Rainbow gave you time and gave ALL OF EQUESTRIA a chance to survive and had to make a REALLY HARD CHOICE.
And here I am, thinking that Starlight, either of the changelings, and crystal pony they levitate or fly up would be able to grab it. Am I wrong?
Hate to say it, but... Starlight's right.