Chapter 16
Six ponies and one zebra trudged through the Everfree Forest in silence. Or, near silence.
“Isn’t there some other way through?” Rarity moaned as her hoof stepped in what she no doubt hoped was mud. “It’s so dark and dank and dirty!”
Applejack shot Rarity an annoyed look. “Don’t you think saving your kin and country is worth a little dirtying up?”
“I never said that!” Rarity snapped. “I would do anything for Sweetie Belle—but if you spent several hours on your appearance only to have it ruined in a matter of seconds, you’d be annoyed as well.”
“Well, sorry. Deal with it.” Applejack’s bluntness prompted an indignant harumph from Rarity.
Twilight suddenly looked anxious. “Shouldn’t we make a plan first? I mean, there are a lot of things in the Everfree Forest to look for, according to my books. Admittedly, the information there was only partial. Maybe if Zecora explained them I could make a checklist and—”
Rainbow flexed her wings in frustration. Everypony's already sleep-deprived and on edge. Also slow. Really slow. Ugh, this is why I wanted to come alone. She cast a look over the ponies accompanying her, silently trying to figure out how well they'd fare against Nightmare Moon and her forces. It did not look promising. Cloud Kicker went through Guard training and was good in a scrap. Derpy was tough, almost indestructible, considering all the accidents and crashes she was able to bounce back from.
Instead, now what did she have?
Applejack should be able to take handle herself, but I don't know if she'll even listen to me after earlier. Fluttershy ... she's trying but, dammit, this isn't where she should be! Rounding them off is a peppy party planner, a fussy fashionista, and a ... a ... Her brow furrowed as she struggled briefly before deciding to abandon any further attempt at alliteration. ... a pony totally without any confidence in herself.
Zecora spoke up to answer Twilight’s query. “While your idea has some merit, I’m afraid I must respectfully decline. There are too many dangers for me to list, and we don’t really have enough time. I can show how to sidestep the perils on the way, but be warned: follow my lead or the price you will pay.” She gave Rainbow a stern glare to underline the last part before she started heading in.
By silent agreement, Applejack and Rainbow Dash decided that they’d keep an eye out for the less hardy members of their group. Dash flew above the group, keeping watch from the air while Applejack headed up the rear with the same practiced ease that she’d use to herd a flock of sheep.
Rainbow craned her head back and forth. The trees in the forest had a more twisted, unpleasant look than those she’d seen elsewhere. Moss and vines grew everywhere, with no sense of pattern or purpose. It lent itself to a very wild, unkempt look which she supposed made sense, seeing as nopony controlled how the plants grew in the Everfree. This whole forest reeked of anarchy, of chaos. This was a place where Celestia and the tidy order of Equestria had never taken root.
I wonder why Celestia never did anything about this place. I mean, she could've found some way to deal with it, right? I'll have to ask her next time I— Rainbow faltered and almost fell out of the air. The return of Nightmare Moon and the fate of her friends had taken up so much immediacy that she hadn't really let herself come to grips with the fate of Celestia.
I always assumed she'd just be there. I mean, she's freaking Celestia, how can she actually be g—NO! She shook her head. “So Zecora, what’s the deal with the Elements anyway?” she asked, trying to distract herself.
“Our destination lies at the heart of this wood, where the Castle of the Pony Sisters once stood. Once a Castle of Dreams, now rotting at the seams.”
“If you knew they were there, why haven’t you gotten them before now?” Twilight asked. “You could have brought them to us.”
Zecora shook her head before looking back to Twilight. “Ancient magics like those cannot be handled by any one being. Carting them around at will seemed a bad idea, I was feeling.” Turning her attention back to the forest ahead of her she added, “What’s more, our journey is perilous, and not one I would make in circumstances less precarious.”
“Perilous? Oh my, that sounds dangerous,” Fluttershy squeaked.
Rainbow Dash looked at her foalhood friend. “Fluttershy if you want to turn back, no pony will think any less of you.”
“N-no! Thank you but no. I said I was going and that’s that.” She scuffed her hoof on the ground. “If, um, that’s okay with you, that is.”
“Atta girl, Fluttershy!” Applejack patted her on the back, almost knocking her over. “All for one and one for everypony!”
“And parties for all!” Pinkie added, wrapping up both ponies in a mammoth hug that had them both gasping for breath.
Zecora chuckled, prompting a confused look from Rainbow. “Aren't we in a hurry? Stopping for hugs isn't getting us there any faster.”
“Even if we’ve moved little, I would not be so sure,” Zecora said cryptically with a faint nod to the hugging ponies. “Sometimes progress is measured by the journey’s full tour.”
Rainbow was unconvinced. "Stopping to smell the roses works better when there aren't ponies in danger and the fate of the world isn't on the line. I thought time was of the essence here?”
“It was indeed, yes, and indeed it remains. But what I said has not quite sunk in your brain.” Zecora walked away. “Also, please beware sniffing any rose. They are likely to make your head explode.”
Rainbow came to a screeching halt, no small feat as she was still in the air. “You’re kidding, right? Right?”
The only answer was a flick of the zebra’s tail, indicating that they should follow. The denseness of the trees and vines soon became so thick that Rainbow Dash was forced to land in order that she wouldn’t lose sight of the rest of her party.
A soft mist coated the ground, growing thicker the further in they went. Soon it coated the entire area in front of them. “Stupid freak weather,” Rainbow grumbled, her feathers wilting under the moisture. She shook her wings irritably, but they still carried more water than was comfortable.
“My mane,” Rarity mourned as her precious curls fell straight, getting caught on branches or dragging on the ground. “It’s horrid here!”
“Quit yer bellyachin’,” Applejack snorted, annoyed as she felt her hat start to wilt under all the moisture.
Fluttershy let out a low murmur that nopony could quite make out, her mane having collapsed in on itself, all but blinding her. Strangely enough, Pinkie Pie’s trademark poofy mane was somehow even poofier. Twilight, who was right behind Fluttershy, shook her mane out of her way so she could hear.
“What did you say Fluttershy?”
“I—I thought I heard something.” She tilted her head upwards. Twilight twitched her ears as she strained to listen. Rainbow followed suit. She heard the hoofsteps of the walking ponies, faint conversations, and then...
“H-heeeelp me… help meee…”
“Oh my goodness!” Fluttershy burst out of the line, running through the mist and into the forest.
“Fluttershy, come back!” Twilight called as she ran after her.
Zecora turned and shouted. “Wait, please, do not heed that call! There is danger for you all!”
“Fluttershy, Twilight—come back!” Rainbow Dash darted into the mist, soon followed by the rest of their company.
Rainbow snorted as she raced ahead. This is exactly why she wanted to go alone! Too many ponies, too many things that could go wrong…
The group soon caught sight of Fluttershy and Twilight as the mist started to thin out a bit. The two mares had come to a stop and were trying to shout back at their would-be rescuers. Narrowing her eyes, Rainbow Dash leapt ahead, augmented by her wings, and landed in front of her two friends.
She instantly regretted it, feeling a squelching sensation beneath her hooves. “Eww, what is this?” The smell was so overpowering she almost gagged. Looking down she saw that she had landed straight in the middle of a bog or a swamp. She could see the edge of the sludge about ten feet away.
“That’s what we were trying to tell you!” Twilight shouted in a panic. “We can’t move! We have to tell the others to—”
“Stop!” Fluttershy tried yelling but couldn’t make herself heard. Applejack, Rarity and Pinkie Pie ran straight into the marsh and also found themselves ankle deep in muck.
“What in tarnation is this?!” Applejack shouted as she struggled to lift her hooves out of it. She couldn’t so much as budge them. The others had no better luck. Rainbow Dash flapped her wings trying to get some air, but her hooves were anchored fast. Twilight’s horn glowed as she attempted to magically teleport herself out but nothing happened.
“Stop!” Zecora shouted from the edge of the marsh. “Don’t move a muscle or even a hair! You have walked into the Swamp of Despair!”
“The what?” Rarity strained to pull her hooves out. “Ugh, this is so nasty!”
Zecora shook her head as she stomped up and down the edge of the swamp. “The swamp has beguiled and led you astray! I warned that if you strode from the path you would pay!”
“Less rhyming, more magic,” Rainbow grunted as she struggled to pull herself free.
“What is it?” Pinkie asked as she poked at the gooey surface. “Should I be panicking? Am I wasting precious panicking time by even asking?”
“Pinkie Pie!” Dash shouted. “We don’t have time for your whatever-it-is! We need to get out of here! How about it Zecora?”
The zebra shook her head. “Were it so easy, I’d have done so already. The swamp is deceptive and extremely deadly.”
“But, we’re not sinking.” Twilight looked down. “We can’t move but we aren’t sinking either.”
“The swamp drags you down not through weight, but through mind, using everything sad you’ve seen in your time,” Zecora said tersely, her voice ominous. “The heavier your heart grows, the deeper you sink. So if you want to live, happy thoughts you should think.”
Rainbow Dash was incredulous. “That is the most—”
“—pathetic attempt at Immelmare Turn ever!” Hoops laughed as Rainbow Dash picked herself out of the crater in the cloud that she’d rather abruptly landed in. Well, crashed if you wanted to be picky. And Hoops and his friends definitely wanted to. “Maybe we should call you Rainbow Crash!”
The confused mare shook her head. Why was she suddenly thinking of that? She’d long ago realized that ponies who treated her like that weren’t worth her time. She looked around only to find that everypony else in the swamp was shaking their heads or crying out … or just plain crying.
Before she could say a word, a new image flashed in Rainbow’s mind.
She was twelve—sneaking out of the palace to follow Shining Armor home. Her filly mind was all a giggle. This was gonna be great! She would follow him back and wait for him to go to bed…then the next morning he’d wake up to find himself pranked in his own bedroom! Classic!
Crouching in the shadows, she saw him stop in front of a house and knocked at the door. The front door opened up. Rainbow Dash saw Cadance poke her head out of the door. They started talking … then she saw Shining Armor quickly glance this way and that before leaning in and gave her a kiss.
She felt moisture on her cheek and as she raised a hoof to brush away a tear. Then she snarled, angry at herself and the situation. She flapped her wings, trying to extricate herself from the swamp. “We’ve gotta get out of here!” Rainbow Dash called furiously. But it was no use.
She shivered as she felt a coldness in her belly. Looking down she saw that she was sinking! Her belly was now brushing the surface of the swamp. As hard as she tried to fight it, she couldn’t budge an inch.
Rainbow scrunched her eyes shut and shook her head. “This isn’t real, this is not happening,” she murmured as other memories floated to the top. Seeing Derpy and Cloud as Nightmare Moon struck them with lightning … Shining Armor being transformed … Celestia breaking apart into a cloud of golden dust before Rainbow’s very eyes … Soon she couldn’t even remember having felt any emotion that wasn’t misery. Every memory she had of Celestia, even the good ones she'd been thinking about back at Fluttershy's, all of them were now a depressing weight. All her memories of Celestia were tainted by the reminder that there wouldn't be any new ones to make, because she was gone.
Celestia counted on me! And now she's dead. Dead. DEAD. She scrunched her eyes shut. You'll never see her again. The most wonderful and special pony of all time, loved by everypony for thousands of years, is gone! All because she thought that was the best way to help me stop Nightmare Moon. If I had been smarter or better, she would've come up with some other way. But just look where I am now! It was all for nothing because I failed!
Celestia was gone, Nightmare Moon would triumph, Rainbow's friends would remain her puppets ... and all she had accomplished was to have five good ponies end up in a muddy grave alongside her.
She was almost completely enveloped now. It wouldn’t be long now. Some part of her mind screamed and railed for her to forget all the sad thoughts and break free but she didn’t know how.
Looking around as much as she could while being neck deep in muck, Rainbow Dash saw Fluttershy, Applejack, Rarity and Twilight were in the same boat as her.
Twilight was sobbing, apologizing to somepony for reasons Rainbow couldn’t quite make out. Fluttershy's face was a mess, a stream of tears poured down her cheeks. Rarity cries had reached a high pitch that made it almost impossible to understand her. And Applejack, who was right next to Rainbow Dash was sobbing quietly. The only thing she could hear the farmpony saying was “Momma … Daddy….”
Rainbow's ruminations were interrupted by a pink hoof stroking her mane. "Oooh, I remember that look. You must be thinking about a Very Bad Day."
“Pinkie Pie? What?” Rainbow croaked, her throat constricted with emotion. Oddly enough, the feel of Pinkie stroking her mane made Rainbow feel safe. It reminded her of when Queen Celestia would do the same for her when she was upset.
“I remember when I had to say goodbye to my Granny Pie. That was a doozie of a bad day for me!" Pinkie Pie paused, frowning as her back left hoof began to slowly sink.
To Rainbow's amazement, Pinkie slowly and casually pulled it back up out of the muck. When she lowered it again, it stayed on the surface. "It's just like the Pony Pokey! You put your back left in, you pull it right back out ... Wait, no, the Pony Pokey is fun."
“But why aren’t you stuck like the rest of us? Why aren't you thinking about your Grandma dying or all the other bad stuff that happened to you?”
Pinkie Pie casually sat down next to Rainbow's head, smiling wanly. "Oh that? I am! This yucky old swamp is making me think about all the sad times. Even I feel sad sometimes, everypony does. And that’s fine. But you wanna know why I think happiness is stronger?” Rainbow nodded numbly. “Because when you share sadness, your feel less sad. When you share your happiness you both become happier!” She clapped her hooves together. “If you can share something and still have even more than what you started with, well just think how great it’d be if sharing cake meant you had more cake! And being happy tastes even better than cake.”
Rainbow Dash gave a weak chuckle.
Encouraged, Pinkie Pie nodded. “The thing to remember is that the sad doesn’t last forever and you always have friends there with you to help you through it. No matter how sad or scary something is, you never have to go through it alone. It's what the ponies you had to say goodbye to would want from you, even if it's hard.” She sighed and patted her mane some more. “It feels like having to make a super ginormous cake with only a tiny teaspoon of sugar, but like baking you just have to take it one step at a time. Just because they aren’t with you, it doesn’t mean they’re gone. Everything they did for you is still there, that hasn’t gone away. So I choose not to be sad about saying goodbye, but to be happy and smile about having gotten to know them in the first place! In fact...” She cleared her throat.
Rainbow Dash heard music coming from somewhere as Pinkie started to sing.
“It's true some days are dark and lonely
And maybe you feel sad
But Pinkie will be there to show you that it isn't that bad.
There's one thing that makes me happy and makes my whole life worthwhile
And that's when I talk to my friends and get them to smile.”
Buoyed at seeing Rainbow start to smile, Pinkie hopped around the swamp to the others, giving a comforting pat or lending an ear. For Rainbow, watching her work was a bit like seeing Celestia raising the sun again.
The same memories of Celestia were still replaying in her head, but now they didn't feel like a weight on her shoulders. They were bright spots, things Rainbow would cherish forever. She might be sad that there wouldn't be any new ones to add—but the ones she already had were made even more special for it.
“I really am so happy
Your smile fills me with glee
I give a smile I get a smile
And that's so special to me
'Cause I love to see you beam, beam, beam
Yes I do
Tell me what more can I say
To make you see
That I do
It makes me happy when you beam, beam, beam
Yes it always makes my day!”
By this point, everypony and zebra was smiling at Pinkie’s antics, hardly noticing that they had stopped sinking into the bog. And when Pinkie got to her grand finale, they were able to start pulling themselves free.
“Come on everypony
Smile, smile, smile!
Fill my heart up with sunshine,
Sunshine!
All I really need's a smile, smile, smile!
From these happy friends of mine!”
Rainbow Dash pumped her hoof in the air, only to realize that it was no longer stuck in the ooze. In fact, all the trapped ponies pulled their legs out of the swamp and laughed with relief, free from its grip. Pinkie Pie was the last one out, shaking herself like a dog and spraying the others with the last globs of muck—to Rarity’s dismay.
On the bank, Zecora reached into her saddlebag and pulled out a hoofull of powder. She gently tossed it into the swamp and chanted under her breath. The swamp shimmered and the ooze seemed to dissolve into normal, if muddy, water. “What did you do?” Applejack asked.
“From the immense strength of your laughter and joy, the magic of the Swamp I did destroy. It’s no longer a threat, but a normal swamp: warm, muggy, and wet through which ponies can stomp.”
Rainbow flew over to hero of the hour. “Pinkie Pie, that was amazing!”
Smiling, the pink pony merely hopped up and down. “Aw, don’t be silly! It was nothing really! Laughter makes everything better! I mean, even just smiling by itself is proven to make you feel better! Riiiiight Twilight?”
Twilight blinked but couldn’t help herself from smiling at Pinkie’s boundless enthusiasm. “That’s … correct, Pinkie!”
Puffing out her chest, Pinkie’s grin grew even wider and a quiet ‘squee’ even escaped from her pearly whites. “It’s like my Granny Pie told me when I was just a little filly: even if the Sun will set to bring in the dark, there’s still lots of bright amazing stars to gaze it! And then, then Sun will come back eventually! As long as you know where to look, you can find a little bit of happiness everywhere!”
Zecora, beaming widely, made her way back to the front of the group. “Come my friends, we have much further to go. The night will be long and the dangers many, before we can strike the final blow.”
“Then what’re we waiting for!” Applejack yipped. “Let’s get a move on!”
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Did... did you alter the picture, or is this one of those weird Bernstein bears time warp things again?
Darn, I knew I shouldn't have taken a jump to the left
Sweet new cover picture!
I think I like it even better than I did the original version of it!
thaaaaasat’s the stuff
The Smile song? Wow, haven't heard or thought about that in years. It fits really well here.
9732722
Not intentionally, but probably, yes.
Pinkie, how are you so wonderful?
Damn, that was great!
THe sWamP of DESSPAAIIIR! DoN'T evEn ThiNK of *cough* *gag* *wheeze* Don't even think about trying to escape.
Pinkie is, of course, amazing. The bonding begins!
Well, at least they didn't see the last famous equine who ended up in there.
Also, hella more powerful Pinkie Mojo than seeing off a few funny-looking trees.
I have to say that the cover art is excellent, as is the chapter.
I suppose that's fair.
That is what perilous means, yes.
Are you ever not cryptic?
Ah, shit.
Pardon? Oh right, Pinkie Pie.
... Huh. That, actually makes a lot of sense,
Gotta love the Smile Song.
So, annoying, but hardly deadly unless your luck is particularly garbage.
Artax, Nooooo
This place did not end well for the last horse to wander into it. Although that raises a lot of questions about Artax. What kind of weight was he carrying?
Not really much happens in this chapter other than Pinkie Pie demonstrating why she should earn Laughter, so I don't have that much to say. Sorry.
Hyphenating “on edge” is grammatically incorrect in this case… Should only be hyphenated when used as a leading adjective.
In retrospect, strange to think about how order is the natural way of things in Equestria and entropy is viewed as some weird, alien force… And the Everfree is apparently one of the only places in the world where the shoe is on the other foot. (Hoof?)
One of those bits of canon lore I’m still not quite sure about.
I like that Rainbow Dash is reckoning with Celestia’s sacrifice. I think this could be improved if it were a little less on the nose about Rainbow’s thought processes. Perhaps leave out exposition about Rainbow remembering, and the ‘I always assumed she’d be there’ monologue. It’s only my opinion, but I think internal streams of consciousness like this can veer into telling, not showing. Grief is best spoken through a person’s actions and reactions. Maybe just one or two sentences of vivid writing to help us feel what Rainbow’s feeling, and let that speak for itself.
Rainbow’s attitude throughout this scene and chapter reminds me a lot of Twilight’s attitude in the movie. Twilight didn’t come across very good there, and neither does Rainbow here. I get that the situation isn’t great, but she’s kind of being a nag.
Poison joke?
I’m trying to decide if it’s out of character for Fluttershy to bound off into the woods in search of someone to help. It one of those situations where her impulse toward kindness is at fundamental odds with her timidness. In other situations (the manticore, the dragon), the risks were understood, but here there’s a definite element of the unknown. Rushing to help a wounded animal is a bit different than rushing to help a disembodied voice in a spooky forest.
On the balance, I think it makes sense for her to want to help, especially since this universe’s Fluttershy is braver and perhaps better adjusted than canon Fluttershy.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lG__upqGgRY
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vE8mFDabqD0
Rainbow Dash and Zecora taking turns at being unhelpful. I don’t blame Zecora for upbraiding them, really. I'd be fed up too if I had to be the babysitter.
It is like The Neverending Story!
I like this. Curious to see how the group rises to beat this challenge. Surely, this has to be a moment for Laughter, right? Pinkie Pie’s time to shine?
Laying groundwork for Hot Heads, Cold Hearts. I like it.
ARTAAAAAAX! Looks like I'm not the first one to make this comment.
I like this, and I think it’s really interesting. The swamp is a creative way for Rainbow Dash to have to grapple with Celestia’s death. In my opinion, I think it’s over a bit too fast though. Rainbow spends two paragraphs grieving over Shining Armor’s affection for Cadance, but only one paragraph grieving over Celestia. It’s sort of out of balance.
Also, Rainbow’s paragraph of grieving is entirely her internal monologue. Internal monologue is useful for telling me what Rainbow is thinking in the moment, but it’s not really effective at making me feel the same way as she’s feeling. It doesn’t have as much of an emotional gut punch.
I’m pondering some additional things you could do with this, if you wanted to. It’s a great framework that could be expanded a lot. You could have a paragraph of Rainbow remembering some interaction she had with Celestia during her childhood: a prank, a skinned knee, a time Celestia was there for her. Followed by a second paragraph wrestling with her inner turmoil, and the realization that she’ll never be able to see Celestia again. Then another paragraph with a memory. Then another paragraph that enables us to feel her despair, the effect that these memories are having on her. With every memory that constricts around her heart, Rainbow sinks deeper and deeper into mourning. And at the same time, she’s also sinking deeper and deeper into the swamp, which ratchets up the tension and the stakes. Could be good, possibly.
This is a really good emotional gut punch for anyone who knows Applejack’s character. I like this a lot.
I like this a lot too. I especially like tying feelings back to Celestia. Feelings like warmth, safety, and protection are a really good thing to highlight where Rainbow’s relationship with Celestia is concerned. It gets across the truth of the bond the two of them shared.
I like the inclusion of the song. For the non-italic paragraphs that fall in-between the lyrics, I think you could stand to embellish these a bit.
Just running with my earlier train of thought. Perhaps, as Pinkie is bouncing around singing, Rainbow’s memories about Celestia transform and take on a new meaning. Maybe now, they’re not something to be sad about. They become a sanctuary to take refuge in; a place of strength instead of despair. As Rainbow wipes away her tears and focuses on the happiness of the memories instead of the sadness, we see her begin to lift out of the swamp. By the time the chapter is done, we’ve not only ticked the box on Pinkie Pie’s Element of Laughter, we’ve also seen Rainbow take the first steps toward reconciling with death. That’s just me spitballing, it’s possible the idea needs more time in the oven, but it’s a thought that struck me.
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Thank you!
Hmm, there were several bits of Rainbow Dash thinking about her good times with Celestia back when she was sitting in Fluttershy's house way back in chapter five. Would you be suggesting moving those here instead?
The only issue is that having multiple paragraphs to convey the same idea would pad this out unnecessarily. Rainbow has a memory of Celestia. Rainbow is sad she's gone. Lather, rinse, repeat. It'd bog things down as much as the actual swamp just to keep hammering the same point home.