Filly Fluttershy: Uprising

by Phazon

Scorched Feathers

Chapter 22: Scorched Feathers

Rainbow Dash stood at the foot of a bed. Off to one side of the bed, there was a simple nightstand and a large wooden cabinet. On the other side stood a dresser and mirror, and further away a martial arts dummy and two doors, one for the bathroom and the other for the closet. A few birdhouses hung from the ceiling above her, and tufts of nesting material were tucked away in coves along the walls and on the support beams above.

To Rainbow Dash, this room always seemed to be having some kind of identity crisis. The room was one part bedroom, one part haven for small animals, and one part personal training dojo. And yet everything in here was kept perfectly tidy and organized: everything from pictures and articles of clothing to animal feed to weaponry and pieces of equipment had its own neat little place in this room, and the room was more than big enough to accommodate everything inside it.

Today, Rainbow wasn’t interested in the room’s decor. Her eyes glanced past the heart-shaped bedpost finials in front of her, past the butterfly-patterned comforter that had been pulled to the foot of the bed, and under the butterfly-engraved headboard to the pegasus who lay comatose in that bed. Rainbow walked around to the side of the bed to get a better look at its occupant.

Fluttershy had been moved to her own room in Skyworld after they had all returned from the Chaos Vortex. Her tunic, damaged by the flames, had been removed, exposing her chest and barrel. What was left of her wings were now wrapped in bandages. Normally, Fluttershy would have been placed in Skyworld’s medical wing, but even the doctors agreed there was very little they could do for her anymore. She hadn’t woken up since she was brought here, and neither Celestia nor Skyworld’s doctors were sure that she would.

Rainbow Dash moved from Fluttershy’s bedside to the cabinet and stared at her own reflection. The bruising around her neck had healed after a quick Drink of the Gods, but she could still remember the feeling of Sombra’s form binding her, strangling her. She lowered her head and closed her eyes, unable to look at herself. ‘I screwed up,’ she kept thinking to herself. ‘I took my eyes off him for one second, and now… Now Fluttershy…’

Eyes squeezing shut and holding back tears, she lifted a hoof and punched straight through the glass. The entire door shattered, and she could feel shards of glass rain down on her foreleg. When she opened her eyes, she saw blood dripping from the numerous fresh cuts in her leg. She looked down into the bottom of the cabinet, down at the hundreds of glass shards as if trying to find her reflection in them again. Instead, she found something peculiar among them.

Poking out of the sea of broken glass was a pair of weapons in the shape of cats’ paws. Rainbow recognized them. They were the Paw Pad Orbitars that Fluttershy had used three years ago on her mission to the Lunar Sanctum. Rainbow always thought that Celestia was sending Fluttershy to die on these missions, and she’d cracked a joke that Celestia was making it too obvious by sending her out with these weapons.

Rainbow took a closer look at the orbitars. They were part of a set, which practically made them twins, and yet they were modeled after completely different looking cats: one based on a tabby cat and the other a calico. Rainbow looked from the Paw Pad Orbitars to Fluttershy and back, and the look in her eyes hardened with determination.

‘No,’ Rainbow thought to herself. ‘Not if I’ve got something to say about it.’ Lowering her foreleg from the cabinet, she turned toward the doors across the room.

She placed her hoof, now cleaned of any blood or shards of glass and freshly bandaged, on the door on the left and opened Fluttershy’s closet. Several white tunics just like the one Fluttershy wore stared back at her from inside, all from their own hangers. Rainbow parsed through them, only to do a double take when she saw one in black tucked away to the side. Within moments, she put the black tunic on and was adjusting the last straps.

With her new tunic on, Rainbow moved toward the dresser and mirror, where several weapons were waiting for her. With her hooves, she shoved the EZ Cannon and the Violet Palm off the side, knocking over an Ogre Club that had been propped against the dresser in the process. She picked up the first weapon, her Silver Bow, by the grip and aimed it across the room. With one quick motion, Rainbow Dash separated her bow, catching its second bladed limb in her other hoof. Using the blades, she sliced through the air in a flurry of practiced slashes and aerial flips. Satisfied, she tossed the second blade into her other hoof and placed both of them on her foreleg, allowing their magic to affix them.

Walking back to the dresser, Rainbow picked up the second weapon, her version of the First Blade with a black metallic blade instead of a white one. She approached the training dummy and swung her blade, hitting the dummy with a sharp, resounding crack. Rainbow swung again, landing a vertical swing against one of the dummy’s pegs, then ducked under another peg before spinning around and striking with an upward vertical slash. She swung horizontally, striking the dummy’s body before ramming into it with a shoulder check. Rainbow leapt, flipping over one of the pegs before landing on the other side and aiming her weapon along the dummy’s side. Her blade fired across the room, and the dummy rattled violently from the blast of the weapon’s muzzle so close by.

Rainbow Dash placed the black First Blade against her side, and the weapon’s magic attached itself just under her wing. Rainbow walked back to the dresser and took her next weapon, her old Dark Pit Staff, before turning around and walking back from the dresser. She raised the staff, her gaze lining up with the weapon’s sight as she aimed at the mirror across the room. She made slight adjustments in her aim, each time targeting a new part in the mirror’s reflection.

The staff fired, and in the blink of an eye, an orange shot struck the mirror, rebounded, and soared back at her. Rainbow hit her shot back with the butt of her staff, deflecting it just as fast and sending it into a wall on the other side of the room. Without giving a thought to the new charred hole in the wall, she half-smirked for a second before securing the Dark Pit Staff to her other side and returning to the dresser.

Her last weapon was a pair of claws made of bright, flickering blue-black flames. Surprisingly, the flames didn’t burn the dresser they were lying on, and they felt solid and barely lukewarm as Rainbow Dash picked them up in her hooves. Rainbow placed one of the Pandora Claws on her hoof and felt the blue flames rise and swirl up her leg as its power rushed into her. She put the other claw on her other front hoof and felt the same magic flare up her other leg like fire through kerosene.

A pair of white pupil-less eyes glared back at Rainbow Dash from the back of each claw as she twisted one of her hooves back and forth, testing the weight and feel of her weapons and studying the sharpness of each fiery talon. She gave them a hard look of her own as she slipped into a moment of quiet, tense thought that had become much too common for her liking. This wasn’t about revenge or pride for her, or some righteous crusade against the gods. Not anymore. This was about helping Fluttershy. This was about setting things right where she had screwed things up so badly.

As she stepped away from the table, Rainbow Dash stopped in front of the cabinet. Reaching into the broken glass, she picked up the set of Paw Pad Orbitars into her hooves. She took the tabby Paw Pad and pressed it to her shoulder. The weapon held in place, dangling from her tunic like a little ornament. Still holding the other Paw Pad, Rainbow walked over to Fluttershy’s side.

‘Hang in there, Fluttershy,’ Rainbow thought. She placed the calico Paw Pad by Fluttershy’s side and clasped her hoof around it. ‘I’m going to save you. I don’t know how yet, but I’ll figure something out. And if not me, then maybe Celestia will.’ She felt her wings twitch, and when she looked up, she saw Celestia standing by the doorway, looking on at both of them. ‘Well speak of the Discord.’

She met Celestia’s tempered, dispassionate gaze with a hard look of her own as she headed toward the doorway. Celestia let her through, neither one saying anything as Rainbow turned and headed down the empty hallway.

Rainbow Dash made her way to the end of the hallway, where a pair of doors swung open. “I’m outta here!” she shouted as she leapt through the doors. A green aura flared through her wings, and she took flight. A bleak landscape met her on the other side of the portal, with isolated mountains dotting the cold, barren wasteland below. She saw a lake in the distance, but no life in or around it. A mist hung over the area, smothering the land and wrapping around the mountaintops. Rainbow Dash turned her gaze from the land below to the cold blue-green skies around her. It all gave her the feeling that every living thing here was now long dead, except for the Belunka and three Gyrazers moving in from her left.

“Fluttershy is still unconscious,” Celestia said, her voice echoing in Rainbow’s left ear. “With her wings burned up, she won’t last much longer. But I’ve found a way to save her.”

“Of course you did,” Rainbow retorted.

“We both owe Fluttershy,” Celestia said. “You know that. Think of the sacrifices she made to save the both of us.”

“Yeah, I know…” Rainbow said, her voice tinged with regret. She fired a blue, fiery blast from the Pandora Claws into the Belunka’s open maw, watching as the giant beast lurched and fell into the valley below. She then turned her weapons on the Gyrazers, shooting them down with a spray of blue-black talons. A Monomiknose formed ahead of her, and Rainbow lunged at it with two claw swipes. The creature broke apart, and Rainbow fired point blank, incinerating the Specknose, Mik, and Monoeyes in one blast. “So what’s the plan?”

“Go to the City of Souls,” Celestia said. “It’s just up ahead. It’s where souls make their final passage into death… or back into life.”

“Oh, I understand,” a familiar voice rang, making Rainbow’s right ear twitch. “You intend to turn back the clock and cheat death. Raising the dead, keeping the near-dead alive. You are playing with dangerous forces, Celestia.”

“I know the risks involved, Luna, but we don’t have a choice,” Celestia replied.

“Hold on a sec, weren’t you two just at war with each other?” Rainbow said, even as a swarm of Gyrazers, Komaytos, and Handoras on Monoliths flew toward her.

“Please, I am not so petty that I cannot extend an olive branch at a time like this,” Luna said.

“You’re not?” Rainbow raised an eyebrow.

“Thank you, Luna,” Celestia said. “And thank you for helping Fluttershy when I couldn’t.”

“There is no need,” Luna said. “Sombra was my responsibility, and I am indebted to Fluttershy just as much as any of you for her help.”

As Rainbow Dash soared past the last of the mountaintops, she reached a forest at the end of a giant chasm. The trees were massive, but they too looked cold and lifeless. Not a single leaf could be found on any of the trees or on the rock-hard ground they rose from, and in the glow of the blue-green sky, the trees even shared the same dark gray as the earth. Still, Rainbow scanned the forest as she flew by, keeping an eye out for Underworld troops.

A red glare passed over Rainbow for a brief moment. She turned her head toward the source, but saw four Reapettes flying toward her. Further ahead, she spotted an Orne lying in wait among the trees. She fired a blast at one of the Reapettes, and then a volley of talons to shoot down the other three. Rainbow then banked left, her body twisting as she flew in between the Orne and one of the trees. She heard the roar of the Orne and the rattling of skulls in its jaws as she rushed past with the hint of a smirk, deftly avoiding contact with a monster that eagerly sought to wrench her own skull from her body and add it to its collection.

Another red flash passed over Rainbow’s body. She glanced just in time to see a Reaper summoning four more Reapettes from thin air. Aiming her Pandora Claws, she fired a volley of talons at them, shooting them down one at a time. She then swerved right, maneuvering past another Orne with practiced skill.

“Not to make anypony feel bad, but this pegasus doesn’t need your help to fly,” Rainbow said. “So don’t expect me to suck up to you.”

“I’m beginning to understand why you chose Fluttershy as your commander,” Luna said. “The nerve of this one.”

“Rainbow never offered, I never asked,” Celestia responded. “That said, Rainbow Dash, if your flight is unlimited, then you won’t have to battle on land.”

“Good,” Luna said. “Time is of the essence, and going on hoof would only slow us down.”

The forest thickened on either side of Rainbow as she flew deeper inside. Up ahead, a rock formation towered over the treetops and formed an archway in her path. Rainbow flew onward, passing through the archway and into a clear path in between the trees. Gyrazers and Syrens emerged from the forest around her. She heard a scuttling sound behind her and turned to see a group of Handoras racing after her on either side of the path. The Gyrazers fired at Rainbow with dark purple lasers, and Rainbow banked left to dodge them. Rainbow fired back with a blast from her claws, destroying two of the Gyrazers, and then rolled to her right as the Handoras fired a barrage of energy pellets at her. Aiming her claws back at the Handoras, she fired a barrage of blue-black energy talons, picking off one row of them before firing on the other.

Two Syrens fired whirlwind blasts at Rainbow Dash. Rainbow dove, ducking under one whirlwind and angling left to evade the other. She lunged at the Syrens, slashing a Gyrazer with one of her claws along the way. Her other claw slashed into one of the Syrens, slicing one of its wings and sending the creature plummeting to the forest floor. Rainbow’s back hooves made contact with the other Syren, bucking it into a nearby tree as she propelled herself forward.

Rainbow Dash blasted another Syren with her claws as she flew past. She could see the end of the treeline up ahead, at the top of a hill. With a look of determination, Rainbow pumped her wings harder and soared, leaving the last Underworld troops behind as she made for the edge of the forest. Once she breached the forest boundary, the hill sloped downward into a steep cliffside, and Rainbow reached her destination.

Dozens of glowing blue spires rose from the ground as far as Rainbow Dash could see, many of them standing on a series of raised plateaus that interlaced the landscape. This had to be the City of Souls, Rainbow thought to herself, but something felt wrong to her. There were no other buildings or structures except for those spires, but there weren’t any windows, any doors, or anything that looked like marketplaces anywhere on them. The only feature she could see on any of them was the occasional blue-white sigil that ran up and down one of their sides. The cold, ghostly glow of the spires made Rainbow shiver. And as she flew toward the city, she realized that there wasn’t a soul in sight. “What kind of city is this?” she asked.

“It’s unlike any earthly city,” Celestia said. “The spirits of the dead gather here.”

“The dead?” Rainbow said. Suddenly the bleak landscape, the Ornes and the Reapers all made sense to her. “So this is the Underworld.”

“YOU’VE GOT IT!” boomed another familiar voice in the distance. Rainbow turned to her left as she passed by a group of spires. Discord’s form loomed over the city in the horizon, his arms crossed and a wide, mocking smirk stretched across his face.

Rainbow scowled. “Oh, it’s you,” she said coolly.

“My, my, aren’t you dressed a little goth today?” Discord sneered. “I hope the stresses of life haven’t gotten you down.” A flash of light enveloped him, and a second later he was draped with a blanket and holding a handkerchief in his paw. “That would be ever so tragic.”

Rainbow rolled her eyes and kept flying through the city. “No one’s listening,” she said.

Discord put on a sinister grin. “It’s hilarious how you have no sense of humor,” he said while throwing away the blanket and handkerchief, which vanished in another flash of light. “But that sourpuss attitude is going to give you an ulcer someday!”

“Moving right along…” Luna muttered impatiently. “Your understanding is correct, Rainbow Dash. The Underworld is where souls go. As you know, Reapers are responsible for carrying souls.”

“But we’ve got an excess of souls these days,” Discord said. He shrugged, even as his form faded away. “The Reapers can’t handle them all.”

“So, what?” Rainbow asked. “They end up here?”

“Yes, the City of Souls is meant to be a waystation for souls bound for the afterlife,” Celestia explained. “Unfortunately, even here the souls of the departed are not safe. Some just fade away, while others are… eaten…”

The look on Rainbow’s face turned into one of horror. She aimed her Pandora Claws and fired on the next group of enemies she saw: a horde of Miks and Monoeyes. As she flew past the spires, groups of Handoras crawled up their sides, and she shot at them too.

“Even in the afterlife, it’s survival of the fittest,” Discord mused.

“Actually, that makes some sense,” Luna added. “The weak are consumed, just as nature intended.”

A red flash flickered in the corner of Rainbow’s eye, and she turned to see a Reaper and four Reapettes hovering below. Rainbow fired a charge shot at them, but the blast was absorbed by one of the Reapettes, and the other three flew at her. She fired a stream of talons at the three, shooting them down one at a time, and then rushed at the Reaper. The Reaper swung its scythe, but Rainbow sailed over its blade and slammed into it with both front hooves. With her claws buried in the Reaper’s cloaked body, she fired a charge shot point-blank. The Reaper hung limp in the air as Rainbow pulled her hooves away and floated back, but before long it fell back and faded away in blue-black flames.

“You don’t have time to fight every enemy,” Celestia said. “Fluttershy may not have that long.”

“R-Right,” Rainbow said. “Where to now?”

“Straight ahead,” Celestia said. “There is a tunnel through one of the obelisks.”

Handoras crawled up the spires around Rainbow Dash, and Gyrazers, Miks, Monoeyes, and Petribombers swarmed the skies to replace the enemies she had taken out. With Celestia’s words in mind, Rainbow kept going. She noticed a square passage inside one of the spires ahead and flew inside. The same glowing blue stone that the spires were made from stretched across sections of the tunnel in beams and columns. Shulms clung to the beams, and Monoeyes, Miks and Splins emerged from behind them.

Rainbow Dash fired at the Shulms, keeping her distance from the toxic clouds they gave off upon exploding. One of the Splins divided into two, and the two Splins hurled themselves at Rainbow. Rainbow ducked under the first one, its spinning blades just sailing over her head, and sped past the second one. Aiming her Pandora Claws, she fired back, shooting down Monoeyes, Miks, and several Splins with a stream of talons. The Monoeyes and Miks returned fire, and Rainbow Dash swerved right, going into a barrel roll to dodge them in spite of the tunnel’s size. One of the Miks came in close, opened its mouth and lashed at her with its long tongue. Rainbow soared over the attack, blasted the Mik with her claws, and opened fire again on the other Miks and Monoeyes.

The Splins began to take cover behind some of the pillars as Rainbow took down the other enemies, dividing into two before emerging to attack her. Rainbow flapped her wings harder, surging past the Splins as they spun at her and firing back with her claws. She maintained her speed, racing through the tunnel and putting as much distance between the surviving enemies as she could while Celestia’s words echoed in her mind. She didn’t have time to fight them all.

The tunnel’s light grew dim as she flew deeper inside. The ghostly, luminescent stone that made up the spire’s walls was replaced with ordinary stone, but the beams and columns that extended from the walls became fewer and further in between, and as Rainbow stared down the length of the tunnel, she saw no signs of Underworld monsters ahead. Undaunted, she took one last glance at the monsters behind her and flew into the darkness.

* * * * * * * * * *

Rainbow Dash emerged on the other side of the tunnel, which led out of a cave in one of the cliffsides in the area. The City of Souls stretched on, with dozens of spires towering above Rainbow in either direction. A deep fissure tore through the center of the city starting from the entrance to the cave she had exited, and even though she couldn’t see the bottom of the chasm, there were spires rising from the darkness below.

“Keep going, Rainbow Dash,” Celestia said. “This chasm should lead you to your destination.”

Rainbow frowned. “What are we doing here anyway?” she asked. “I thought the whole point was to save Fluttershy while she’s still hanging on.”

“It is, and I will explain everything soon, ” Celestia said. “But the longer we take, the smaller her chances are.”

“It may be wise to fly inside the chasm,” Luna suggested. “If you fly out in the open, you’ll likely draw the attention of the Underworld Army.”

“True,” Celestia said, “But we don’t know how many of them are down there. They could be preparing an ambush.”

“Besides, it’s not like they don’t know I’m here,” Rainbow shrugged. But as she soared over the chasm, something caught her eye in the depths below. “Wait, what was that?”

“Do you remember when I said that some souls are eaten?” Celestia said.

“Well that would be the hideous devourer of souls himself,” Luna said.

Rainbow noticed something move below her in the chasm, but before she could make out what it was, it was gone. Her eyes shifted from one side of the chasm to the other, her Pandora Claws ready as she looked for any sign of the monster. She checked around the spires that rose from the chasm, but the light of their glow only reached so far into the darkness.

A shadowy figure moved underneath Rainbow Dash, and a gigantic maw rose from the chasm. Rainbow swerved left as it lunged at her, barely rolling out of its way before it could chomp down on her. She stretched out her foreleg, aiming one of her claws at the wormlike creature racing after her. The monster opened its jaws, revealing dozens of sawlike teeth that formed multiple rows in its mouth. Rainbow pumped her wings harder as she got a good look into the creature’s maw, veering to the side as it rushed again to tear into her with its flesh-ripping teeth. She fired at the monster, but her shots bounced harmlessly off of its flesh and teeth without leaving a scratch.

“You weren’t kidding about the hideous part!” Rainbow said. She banked right as the monster lunged at her again, barely dodging it as it smashed through several obelisks in its path. Rainbow Dash descended into the chasm, hoping to lose the creature. The monster dove in after her, chomping at her as it closed in.

“Well I think he’s adorable,” Discord said. “And souls can be very delicious.”

Rainbow felt the magic coursing through her wings as she beat them harder, trying to put more distance between her and the monster. “You eat souls too?” she said in disgust. “I thought Luna said there was only one hideous soul-eating monster.” The chasm took a sharp turn. Rainbow twisted hard, barely avoiding the wall as she tried to make the turn, but losing precious speed in the process. The monster loomed over her, opening its maw again as it went for another bite.

“Cute,” Discord muttered. “Besides, it’s not like souls possess personalities or anything like that.”

“They don’t?” Rainbow asked. She swerved out of the monster’s way, but the other wall closed in and she nearly crashed into it. She silently cursed as she realized her mistake: the chasm was too narrow to maneuver in and not straight enough to pick up speed in.

“Of course not,” Discord said. “Souls have no more personality than blood or bone. They’re just another resource to harvest from living beings.”

“Your disregard for life is just astounding,” Luna said. “Could you be any more callous?”

Rainbow looked up at the walls of the chasm as she weighed her options, doubting she could fly out and still maintain enough speed on her ascent. She glanced back at the monster behind her, not sure of how long she could dodge it. Then she had an idea.

The soul-eating monster lunged again, its sawlike teeth ready to shred Rainbow to pieces. Rainbow steered right, evading it again, and angled her body upright and flapped her wings to decelerate. The creature flew past, and she dashed forward again, now flying alongside it. The creature dove, performing a loop and emerging to charge at Rainbow Dash from below. Rainbow went into a loop along with it, watching the monster’s movements and following them. The monster turned its head and twisted its serpentine body to lunge at her again, but she dipped slightly to dodge and performed an Immelmare turn to follow the monster’s movements. The creature did another loop, exiting into a steep nosedive as it hurled itself at her again. Rainbow rolled as she followed the creature’s loop and went into the same nosedive.

Rainbow gave a cocky grin as she and the creature leveled off and continued through the chasm. She soared above the creature’s back, aimed her claws at a soft, bulbous sac on its body, and fired. The sac burst, and dozens of orbs of radiant white light spilled out and scattered through the air. For a moment, Rainbow thought she noticed images inside a few of the orbs, but shrugged it off and shot another one of the sacs on the monster’s body.

“Well, I suppose I can take a stab out of it,” Discord said. “You know, souls are a bit like taffy. Sweet enough to eat, but pliable enough to mold into any shape I can imagine.”

“I regret that I asked,” Luna muttered after a pause.

“I’d love to get my claws on Dashie’s soul,” Discord said. “So dark, so bold, so malleable! A powerful spirit like that shouldn’t be wasted on Ol’ Chomper’s lunch.”

Rainbow Dash shot a blast from her claws, bursting open the last bulbous sac on the soul-eating monster’s body. She banked slightly as white orbs spilled from the destroyed sac and raced forward, overtaking the monster. The creature lunged forward, but Rainbow was already too far ahead. Rainbow flipped around, hurled a charge shot from the Pandora Claws into the creature’s mouth, and kept flying down the length of the chasm. The force of her attack rippled through the creature’s body as explosions tore through the wounds created from the destroyed sacs. The monster writhed in midair for a moment, and then plummeted back into the chasm. A final explosion rocked the surrounding area, shaking the cliffsides and spires and creating a shaft of white light that illuminated a section of the chasm behind Rainbow Dash.

“By the way, you might want to get a new Chompers,” Rainbow said. “Your last one went to live on a nice big farm up north.”

“How can you be so cruel?!” Discord howled in mock grief. “He was my only friend in the world…”

“Can’t imagine why,” Rainbow snarked.

Rainbow soared out of the chasm and continued to make her way through the City of Souls. In addition to the clusters of spires that surrounded her in every direction, she noticed some hovering in the skies as a series of diamond-shaped stone structures. The sky had changed from the cold, bleak blue-green Rainbow had seen when she entered the Underworld to a dark, empty bluish-black. Only it wasn’t completely empty. The same radiant white orbs that poured out of the soul-eating monster’s wounds when Rainbow fought it now merged into rivulets of glowing white light that streamed across the sky and wound around the city spires. And as Rainbow scanned the skyline, she spotted several clusters of dots in the horizon, each individual dot growing bigger as they seemed to approach. She noticed movement below her as well, and watched as creatures emerged from the crevices in the ground to pursue her.

“That explosion must have drawn the Underworld Army’s attention,” Luna said.

“She’s right,” Celestia said. “I see signs of a significant Underworld troop presence converging on you. Keep moving, and be prepared to battle. You’re almost there.”

“Got it,” Rainbow said. Three Syrens circled around her like vultures around their prey while two Petribombers flew up toward her from below. Rainbow shot the two Petribombers with a blast from her claws and fired a stream of talons at the Syrens one by one. A Fort Oink rose up from below, surrounded by three Komaytos orbiting it in a protective circle. Rainbow charged at one of the Komaytos, slashing through its gelatinous body before flying after the next.

“Do you think Discord was telling the truth about molding souls into other forms?” Luna asked.

There was a pause as the three mares pondered Luna’s question. To Rainbow, the question didn’t make much sense. Souls were just little balls of light that every creature had inside them. She could barely wrap her head around the fact that some creatures ate them. So what was the point of trying to shape them into anything?

“That would explain his endless supply of troops,” Celestia answered. “He’s making them from souls!”

The slow clap of Discord’s talon and paw could be heard through the telepathic void. “Well done, Celestia!” Discord jeered. “At least someone figured it out!”

Rainbow froze in midaim. She stared in horror at a group of Miks and Daphnes as the three gods’ words sunk into her head: each of those monsters was the soul of a once-living pony.

“That’s why you were trying to stop us from attacking Celestia’s temple!” another familiar female voice cut in.

“Wait,” Rainbow Dash said, “aren’t you one of the Lightning Chariot twins? What are you doing here?”

“As long as Celestia was under the Chaos Kin’s control, she was still attacking earth ponies,” Twilight continued. “That’s why you didn’t want anypony using the Lightning Chariot. You were using her to harvest souls!”

“Two for two, I’m impressed!” Discord said. “You ladies finally found a pony with a brain in her little head.”

“W-Wait…” Luna said. “So then every creature who dies…”

“Goes to building up my army!” Discord said.

‘Wait…’ Rainbow thought to herself.

“In that case…” Luna murmured hopelessly. “There is no way the Underworld Army could ever lose.”

“Hey, spoilers!” Discord shouted back. But a second later, his voice rose up with excitement and glee. “It’s true, though. And the more fighting there is, the bigger my army gets! MY GOODNESS, does it feel good to be on the winning team!”

“Hold on a sec,” Rainbow Dash cut in. “Your math is a little off. Might wanna break out the Brain Age, pal.”

“What is this ‘Brain Age’ of which you speak?” Luna asked.

“And what does it have to with any of our current crises?” Celestia added flatly.

Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes. She swerved as a pair of Splins spun at her and rolled to dodge a blast from a Paramush. “Think of all the ponies who died in this war between the gods,” Rainbow said. “If what Discord says is true, then the Underworld would be way more crowded with monsters.”

“And that’s just counting ponies, right?” Twilight added. “If we consider other races of creatures such as zebras, buffalo, minotaurs, or griffons, he should have a lot more souls at his disposal.”

“She’s right,” Luna said. “Even if you only count creatures who die natural deaths, Discord’s armies are far smaller than they should be.”

“Then one fallen pony, or one fallen creature, doesn’t equal one new Underworld monster,” Celestia thought aloud. “After all, creating something as corporeal as a monster would take…”

“Dozens, even hundreds of souls!” Luna said. “But that’s a tremendous waste! It’s… an abomination!”

“Yeah, that’s just about the sickest thing I’ve ever heard,” Rainbow muttered. “And after today, that’s saying something. We have to stop him.”

Discord rose up from the cracks in the earth and peered down at Rainbow Dash, looming over her and the entire City of Souls all at once with a maniacal grin. “You poor, deluded things will never stop me!” he bellowed. He raised the eagle talon on his left arm and swung at Rainbow Dash with a backhand chop. “Not in my realm!”

Rainbow Dash yelped as she veered into a dive-roll to dodge Discord’s swipe. She narrowly avoided a direct hit as his talon sailed over her, but the force of his swing knocked her out of her flight and sent her tumbling through the air. Regaining control, Rainbow righted herself, and with a few powerful flaps of her wings, she was flying again. Toward her left, she caught a glimpse of a spire crumbling to the ground after Discord’s talon had cut clean through it.

“Watch yourself, Dashie,” Discord sneered. “You’re in my world.”

“Yeah, well I’ve got enough firepower behind me to bring your world crashing down on you!” she shot back. “So what’s your point?!”

“Rainbow, calm down,” Celestia said. “Don’t let him get to you.”

“Not a problem!” The power of flight flared across Rainbow’s wings, and she charged at Discord. The magic radiated from her wings and coursed through the rest of her body as she stretched out her hooves, her wings rapidly accelerating her to speeds beyond anything any other pegasus had ever flown. An explosion of light and sound erupted, followed by a massive rainbow shockwave as she left the sound barrier shattered in her wake and a solid rainbow contrail followed behind her.

The power of flight, already flowing through Rainbow, now shot through her body like an electric current as she felt the rush of adrenaline pumping through her. The electricity worked its way through her forelegs and into the Pandora Claws, and she stretched out her hooves to her sides. She corkscrewed through the air, her claws shredding through the skies in a flurry of speed and raw magic while the rainbow contrail spiraled behind her as she spun wildly.

Rainbow exited her corkscrew and slowed down, the immense magic power finally running its course. Slowing to a stop, she looked around. The blue-white spires that made up the City of Souls were nowhere to be found. The cracked, desolate landscape was gone as well, leaving Rainbow Dash in a bluish-purple void. Discord’s cold, sadistic laughter echoed all around her, sparking her temper and sending a chill through her very core as she searched left and right. Behind her, thousands of tiny purple wisps of smoke rose from the direction she had flown – the remnants of the Underworld monsters that were in her path – before dissolving into nothing.

After a while, Rainbow noticed something else. Several streams of glowing, glittery white light flowed across the void all around her. She’d seen them earlier, back in the City of Souls after slaying the soul-eating monster, but there were more of them now and they were all flowing past her in the same direction. When she gazed forward again, she saw the streams converge and swirl around a great, spiraling funnel of that same glittering white light.

Rainbow stared in awe, speechless as the funnel’s soft yet brilliant light reflected off her eyes and illuminated the void all at once. She drifted toward one of the streams that fed the column, where she saw several orbs of glowing white light flowing at a time. Some of the orbs were featureless, apart from the iridescent streaks that occasionally swam under their surfaces. But many had images floating in the center: a quill and paper, a tree, a gust of wind with a snowflake, a telescope and stars, a lightning bolt and raindrops, an apple, and so many others. They were cutie marks, Rainbow Dash realized.

“Are these… souls?” Rainbow asked.

“Yes,” Celestia said, her voice taking on a dark, sober tone. “This used to be a stream of souls. But so many lives have been lost that it’s now become a torrent. All souls need to find their final resting place down here so that life may spring anew. That’s part of the natural cycle of life. But Discord keeps playing with souls; he won’t let them rest. His greed has thrown everything off balance.”

“It’s like the earth ponies disrupting the balance on Earth!” Luna said. “It’s unforgivable!”

Rainbow’s eye twitched. She felt her jaw clench at Luna’s words, and a scowl spread across her face. “You’ve got to be joking!” she shouted. “All you gods and your stupid wars are the ones throwing everything off balance!”

“You worthless, insignificant little gnat!” Luna seethed. “How dare you?!”

“No, how dare you!” Rainbow shot back. “You want to talk about who’s throwing off the balance?! Why don’t we start with that Reset Bomb you dropped? Or your war on the earth ponies? A bunch of these souls are down here because of the earth ponies you killed! You’re supposed to be the Goddess of Nature, but instead you’re doing Discord’s dirty work for him, and if he wasn’t already the biggest monster in the universe, I would hunt you down, take my Dark Pit Staff, shove it in your-”

“Rainbow Dash!” Celestia shouted, trying to cut her off to no avail.

“And fire off a charge shot! And don’t get me started on you, Goddess of Light,” Rainbow said, venom dripping from her voice at the mention of Celestia’s title. “What was your job again? Protecting earth ponies? Stopping the Underworld from going to war with the living? Then maybe you can tell how many earth ponies you actually bothered to save?”

“What are you talking about?” Celestia asked. “Fluttershy and I have saved countless ponies from the Underworld. We protected them from the Forces of Nature and the Parasprites, and from any gods who would do them harm.”

“Yeah, after Nightmare Moon showed up!” Rainbow said. “But what about the earth ponies who died before she came back? The Underworld Army didn’t just start attacking when Nightmare Moon or Discord showed up. They’ve been killing ponies this whole time, only you never did anything about it! All these souls are down here because you couldn’t be bothered to get off your fat white flank and do your job!”

“Now wait just a minute,” Twilight intejected. “Princess Celestia does a lot more…”

The voices of Twilight Sparkle, Rainbow Dash, and Luna faded into the background of Celestia’s mind. Her conscience weighed on her, pushing itself to the forefront of her thoughts. Could what Rainbow said about her be true? She had ignored the Underworld before Nightmare Moon’s return, but that was only because they weren’t a priority. There were other gods threatening the earth ponies, and without an evil god to lead them, the Underworld wasn’t as great a threat. Even if they staged attacks on the earth ponies from time to time…

“Hey, if you’re chattin’ with your precious goddess, give her a message from me. Tell her she’s been sleepin’ on the job! My world is on the edge of collapse!”

Only that wasn’t true, and deep down she knew it. The Underworld was always active, raiding earth pony cities and claiming souls even without a god to command them. Ponies like Applejack, whose family was wiped out in one of their attacks, or the former Dark Lord Pinkamena, who was turned into one of the Underworld commanders, were living proof that they were a threat even years before Nightmare Moon’s return. Perhaps the Underworld was preparing for her revival, Celestia wondered. Or perhaps they were preparing for Discord’s uprising.

“Those earth ponies were at war with one another,” Luna said. “They were slaughtering each other over a ‘wish seed.’ So don’t condemn me for taking their lives! They were already dead.”

Celestia could hear Luna and Rainbow Dash bickering in the background of her inner thoughts. Twilight Sparkle would occasionally cut in, but only in Celestia’s defense. Celestia was beginning to wonder if she even deserved such a defense. Hundreds, maybe thousands of ponies must have died over the years because she gave the Underworld a pass for so long.

The revelation made Celestia think of Rainbow Dash in a different light. When they first found her, she was just a spiteful, angry pegasus who lashed out at anything and anyone. In a lot of ways, Rainbow was still just that, and for so long Celestia had dismissed her as a malformed product of the Mirror of Truth’s magic. Until now, it had never occurred to her that Rainbow’s loathing for her had some merit.

“Don’t say that. Everyone loves the goddess of light. You know that. And I’m sure you try your best.”

Fluttershy’s words echoed in Celestia’s thoughts. Fluttershy had always had the utmost faith in her. She always tried her best, no matter what Celestia asked of her or how terrified she was. It was hard to believe that Rainbow Dash was a manifestation of Fluttershy’s inner darkness, because it sometimes seemed like Fluttershy didn’t have any darkness in her.

“If it were not for my Reset Bomb, the earth ponies would still be at war with each other,” Luna said. “I put an end to that! I saved them!”

“So what?!” Rainbow shot back. “That makes you their hero now?”

And yet how many times had Celestia seen Fluttershy peering over the edge of one of Skyworld’s many islands in her youth, watching silently and intently at the earth below? Whenever somepony asked, Fluttershy would always answer that she was looking at the ponies down below, or that she was looking at the animals below. Was she watching the Underworld’s attacks on them?

The more Celestia thought about it, the more it made sense. Fluttershy had fought and trained for much of her young life, far more than any filly or colt in Skyworld. She had learned to fight with nearly any kind of weapon, become adept at combat, and over time become the finest soldier Celestia had ever seen. Deep down, Fluttershy wanted to help, even if helping went against every instinct she had.

“The Mirror of Truth is just that. It reflects the truth!”

There lie the answer. Rainbow Dash’s fiery determination. Her drive to help ponies in need. Her will to fight back. They had been a part of Fluttershy for years, and they compelled her to become the soldier she was. But there was more. Fluttershy was always much happier tending to her animals, and Celestia couldn’t deny that she wanted no part in any of these wars. She resented fighting, and even if she could never admit to it, she must have resented Celestia too. Not just for failing to stop the Underworld, but for putting her in harm’s way time and again.

The Mirror of Truth brought all of it to the surface when it created Rainbow Dash…

“When I get my hooves on you…” Luna seethed.

“Go ahead and try!” Rainbow Dash shouted.

“BOTH OF YOU! ENOUGH!”

Rainbow and Luna fell silent. Rainbow’s eyes shifted anxiously from left to right, and she rubbed her foreleg with her hoof. Celestia’s voiced still boomed in her ears, and not even Luna nor Twilight Sparkle dared speak.

Celestia took a breath. “Rainbow Dash has a point,” Celestia said. “We have the Underworld Army out to hoard souls. We have the Forces of Nature trying to wipe out the earth ponies. We have the earth ponies continuing to exploit nature and each other. And we have us — gods — who drag all of ponykind into our power struggles.

“But it doesn’t matter how this all started,” Celestia continued. “Now we know who’s profiting from it.”

“Discord!” Luna said. “Left unchecked, he threatens us all.”

“Then we’ve got to take him out,” Rainbow said.

“But to do that, we need Fluttershy’s help,” Luna said.

“Right,” Rainbow said. She took off, veering past one of the rivulets as she made her way around the torrent of souls. With each passing second, the skies grew blacker, the void more all-consuming as she put the torrent of souls and its light behind her. But it didn’t matter. She was heading in the right direction. She was almost there, wherever ‘there’ was.

“I’m glad we are all in agreement,” Celestia said. “But there is one last thing, Rainbow Dash.”

“Yeah, what?”

“When you learned that Discord was molding souls to create his troops, you hesitated to attack them.”

“Uh, yeah,” Rainbow said anxiously. “But what am I supposed to do? I can’t just wipe out their souls.”

“Defeating an Underworld enemy won’t destroy the souls used to make it,” Celestia said. “Those souls are already lost, I’m afraid. Some of their souls may still be salvageable, depending on how long the monster’s form has had to solidify. But the only way to do that is to slay the monster.”

“Okay, so taking them out is still a good thing?” Rainbow said. “Got it.”

A single, solitary white pillar came into view in the distance, rising from the abyss below and standing out in the darkness as if illuminated by its own light. As Rainbow made her approach, the pillar towered above her, and she began to pick up altitude. A circular platform sat at the very top of the pillar, and an ornate piece of the structure extended down from the platform and wove its way around the pillar in a flourish, giving it the appearance of a flower’s stem.

“Up ahead is the Rewind Spring,” Celestia said. “That’s where you need to go.”

Before long, Rainbow soared above the platform and began to circle around, scanning both the platform and the surrounding skies for any threats. Sure enough, a circular pool of water rested in the center of the platform. It wasn’t what Rainbow was expecting at all – a fountain in the deepest depths of the Underworld – but at least it sounded promising.

“As the name implies, the Rewind Spring can return things to their original states,” Luna said. “But take heed, the Rewind Spring’s waters are very powerful, and… well, suffice it to say, there have been accidents.”

Rainbow raised an eyebrow, but she shrugged it off. They only needed the Rewind Spring to save Fluttershy’s life. No matter how dangerous it was, all they had to do was restore Fluttershy’s wings and get out. Confident, Rainbow banked and began her descent, making a beeline for the fountain.

* * * * * * * * * *

Rainbow Dash’s hooves touched down on the surface of the platform, the aura around her wings vanishing as she folded them at her sides and broke into a short sprint. She stopped at the edge of the Rewind Spring and began to peer into the water. Without any wind blowing this deep in the Underworld, the water was still, and the spring was clear enough to see the bottom. Rainbow turned away and looked out to the rest of the platform. If the Rewind Spring could heal Fluttershy, she thought, then she just had to wait for Celestia to teleport Fluttershy here.

Something didn’t feel right to Rainbow Dash. Gravity seemed to shift, and for a moment, she felt her head, her legs, and her barrel swing toward the Rewind Spring. A jolt passed through her wings, causing them to unfurl. The sensation grew more intense, more painful as it moved from the rest of her body to her wings, and she rose into the air screaming as fire and electricity seemed to sear through her wings.

“What is happening?!” Luna said.

“Oh no,” Celestia said.

A green aura surged through Rainbow’s wings for a brief moment before breaking away from them, forming four fiery green orbs that hurtled into the Rewind Spring. The screaming stopped, and Rainbow Dash collapsed at the foot of the spring. A black figure emerged from the center of the spring, soaring over Rainbow as she attempted to get up, and landed right behind her.

“Well, that worked out nicely.”

Rainbow managed to get her legs under her before turning her head back. Looming over her was the form of a equine figure covered from head to hoof in a buglike exoskeleton. Rainbow recognized the creature all too well, and as she moved to stand on one of her hooves, she groaned in more than just fatigue. “Chrysalis.”

Malice seeped into the already mocking grin on Chrysalis’ face as a green aura flared throughout her horn. The aura changed to a fiery red orange as she lowered her head, aiming her horn at Rainbow Dash and firing a surge of magic. Rainbow Dash rolled out of the way as the blast scorched the ground and made its way to the edge of the spring. She stood up again, aiming one of her claws at Chrysalis, whose eyes had changed from green to orange and whose black, chitinous body had developed an orange tint.

Chrysalis’ magic engulfed her entire form, and she sunk into the floor, leaving behind a circle of magical flames that made its way toward Rainbow. Rainbow stepped back, bracing herself as Chrysalis drew closer. She leapt back, firing both claws at the ground in front of her as she backflipped away. The blast from the Pandora Claws swirled around Chrysalis’ magic, consuming her in a raging reddish-black inferno. Chrysalis rose from the flames, her godly equine body reforming as Rainbow’s attack was dispersed in a show of force. Seething in rage, and with her chitinous body singed, Chrysalis fired a powerful bolt of magic at Rainbow Dash. Rainbow jumped to the side to dodge, performing a flip in midair and firing back with two small bluish-black fireballs from her claws. Chrysalis fired two bolts of magic from her horn, nullifying Rainbow’s counterattack in midair.

“Is that Chrysalis, the goddess of disaster and calamity?” Luna asked. “I heard she was dead.”

“Yes, I was dead,” Chrysalis said. “You can thank Dark Shy for bringing me to the Rewind Spring,” The aura around her horn pulsed, and three black, spherical bombs materialized around the edge of the spring. “She was a rebellious servant, though it seems she still served my purposes in the end.” Chrysalis’ magic flared again, and she launched a barrage of orange fireballs at Rainbow Dash. “But that little parasite did steal my powers. And for that she must pay!”

Rainbow galloped across the island, sidestepping each of Chrysalis’ fireballs. She leapt, turning around and flipping on her side in midair, then fired a bluish-black fireball from her claws. Her attack intercepted another one of Chrysalis’ fireballs, canceling each other out.

“Oh yeah?” Rainbow said. “Well maybe I’ll just beat you again and steal your powers back. It worked out great last time.”

“Over my dead body, you little worm!” Chrysalis said. Her aura flared again, and the ground around Rainbow Dash burst into flame.

Rainbow jumped forward, flipping over the flames before they could surround her and firing back with another blast from her claws. “That’s the whole point, you know!” she shot back.

“What just happened?” Luna said. “Celestia, explain.”

“Rainbow Dash was created by Chrysalis to serve the Underworld,” Celestia said. “She was made using Fluttershy and the magic of the Mirror of Truth. But Rainbow turned on Chrysalis and stole her magic. She has been using it to power her wings ever since.”

“Until we foolishly brought her to the Rewind Spring and resurrected her,” Luna realized. “Didn’t you know this could happen?”

“It never occurred to me!” Celestia said. “But this poses another problem. We need Rainbow Dash to dip Fluttershy into the Rewind Spring. But if Rainbow steals Chrysalis’ power again, then Chrysalis will use the Rewind Spring to revive herself.”

“And if Rainbow Dash is wounded, she can just use the Rewind Spring to reverse her injuries,” Luna added. “This could go on forever.”

“All while Fluttershy’s life hangs in the balance,” Celestia said.

“Does it truly matter if Fluttershy dies?” Luna asked. “As long as her body remains, the Rewind Spring should reverse her death and bring her back to life.”

“But if she dies, then her soul will depart her body,” Celestia said. “If she is revived without her soul… I don’t know what will become of her.”

Rainbow Dash swiped at one of the bombs surrounding the spring with her claws, tossing it into the air before batting it at Chrysalis with another strike. Chrysalis fired a beam of magic, exploding the bomb in midair, and fired at Rainbow as the pegasus rushed her at full speed. Rainbow jumped, flipping over the beam of magic as it passed underneath, and landed to the right of it. She steered right, evading the beam of magic as Chrysalis followed her with her horn while running at the goddess at full gallop.

Chrysalis grasped another bomb at the far edge of the spring with her magic, picking it up and hurling it at Rainbow from behind. But Rainbow’s eyes were on Chrysalis, reading her as she tilted her head to pick up the bomb. She leapt over Chrysalis’ magic again, barely dodging an explosion as the bomb hit the ground where she had just been and landing safely on her hooves, and bounded at Chrysalis with her claw outstretched.

Rainbow’s body froze in midair, her momentum cut short mere inches from Chrysalis. She tried to move her right foreleg, but it too was stuck in an aura of orange magic. She looked at Chrysalis, whose expression changed from frustration to one of scorn as her horn flared with magic.

Rainbow’s right foreleg struggled against the magical grip, but to no avail. She tried the other foreleg, and was surprised to find she could still move it somewhat. Aiming her left hoof, she fired a charge shot at Chrysalis with her other claw. Chrysalis yelled and stumbled back as the blast hit her in the face. Her magic faltered, and Rainbow landed on her hooves before lunging at Chrysalis with a swipe her claws. The Pandora Claws cut into Chrysalis’ black, hole-ridden foreleg, causing her to fall to her knee as Rainbow delivered a left uppercut across her chest. Rainbow then leapt back and fired, letting loose a reddish-black inferno from the Pandora Claws.

As the flames engulfed Chrysalis, Rainbow turned and galloped in the other direction. She reached the last bomb at the edge of the spring, jumped over it, and planted her front hooves on the ground as she landed before bucking with her hind legs. The bomb sailed through the air with the strength of Rainbow’s kick, crashing into Chrysalis as the flames of the Pandora Claws subsided and exploding on impact. The force of the blast threw Chrysalis back as Rainbow turned back around, aimed her Pandora Claws, and shot a bluish-black fireball. Chrysalis went back further as Rainbow’s attack hit her, sliding towards the edge of the platform. Her back hoof fell off the edge, and she stumbled to lift her hoof back and regain her footing before she could lose her balance and fall with it.

Rainbow watched as Chrysalis threw an anxious glance at her back hooves. She noticed the sudden movements of Chrysalis back hoof, and her expression shifted. “Hey, where do you think you’re going?” she called out. “You can fall to your death after I steal back your power! You got that?”

Chrysalis seethed as she shifted her gaze from her back hooves to Rainbow Dash. Her foreleg was scarred, her exoskeleton cracked and her chest scorched. But the nerve of the arrogant blue pegasus before her stung worse than any of her injuries. That she created her, and Rainbow repaid her by betraying her, stealing her power, and rubbing her nose in it. That she could not allow. “Irritating little pest,” she hissed. “Time to exterminate you!”

With her wings spread out, Chrysalis took to the air and flew toward Rainbow Dash. Rainbow fired with another charge shot, but Chrysalis soared higher, evading the fireball. Her weapon hoof lowering and her eyes tracking her target, she could only turn and watch as Chrysalis soared above her and dove straight for the center of the Rewind Spring.

Ripples and waves flowed across the surface of the Rewind Spring for the first time in a very long time, bashing against the edge of the fountain and flooding the center of the platform. Rainbow took a step back as some of the water approached her hooves. But something else happened. Before her very eyes, the water vanished from the surface of the platform. Rainbow did a double take and scanned the island. She wasn’t sure if the water had just evaporated very fast or if it had been sucked into the ground itself. All she knew was that the ground was dry again, and the Rewind Spring was completely still.

Rainbow Dash stepped forward and lifted her foreleg, aiming at the water. Seconds ticked away, but the Rewind Spring stayed completely still. Her aim was still trained on the water, but her leg began to twitch, and she grew impatient. Seconds seemed to turn to minutes. Not even Celestia or Luna said a word, which was a rarity as long as she had known either of them. Perhaps they too were waiting in anticipation for what would emerge. They had said that the Rewind Spring’s waters were dangerous if used for too long, and from what Rainbow could guess, that meant turning things back too far. But how far back was Chrysalis trying to turn herself?

After what felt like an eternity, something splashed out of the center of the Rewind Spring and hovered above, but it was not Chrysalis. A pair of pink, feathery pony wings kept the tall, slender equine creature airborne, matched by a long, spiraling horn and a coat with the same pink color. A long, flowing mane and tail parted in the colors white, lavender and rose adorned the creature, and a pair of lavender eyes gazed out with a look of content. The most shocking feature of all was the symbol that adorned her flanks: a heart carved from light blue crystal resting on a golden frame.

“What?!” Celestia and Luna exclaimed in unison.

Rainbow herself stared with mouth agape. What came out of the Rewind Spring wasn’t Chrysalis. It was a pony – an alicorn mare, no less. “Who is that?” Rainbow asked.

The pink alicorn smiled back. “It’s the new, improved me,” she said. With little effort, she bounded from the center of the spring and landed gracefully on the platform. A spark of blue light shone next to her, bathed in a light blue aura as it split into three smaller lights and traced three separate yet converging paths in front of her. When the lights disappeared, they revealed a blue double helical sword with a hilt guard that formed a ring around the hilt. The pink alicorn held the hilt idly in the light blue aura of her magic as she flexed her wings and lifted a hoof to examine her foreleg. “Ahh, it’s been so long since I’ve had this body! Eat your hearts out, ladies!”

The aura around the pink alicorn’s horn pulsed. She lowered her head, aiming at Rainbow Dash, and launched a glowing blue outline of a heart at her. Rainbow jumped aside, dodging the magical heart, and broke into a gallop. The pink alicorn fired another blue heart after another at Rainbow Dash, even as Rainbow stepped around them and continued after her.

“I don’t believe it,” Luna said. “That is Chrysalis?! I never knew she looked like… like this.”

“Neither did I,” Celestia muttered. “Personally, I think I preferred her when she looked like rancid Swiss cheese.”

“Now now, be nice, Celestia,” Luna said. “She’s still the same Chrysalis she was before. She just has a better mane… and better wings… and a nicer figure.”

Rainbow Dash sidestepped another blue heart and jumped at the pink alicorn with her foreleg outstretched. Blue light surrounded the pink alicorn’s body, and she disappeared a second later before Rainbow could slash with her claws. “We get it, she’s hot,” Rainbow said, rolling her eyes. “She won’t be when I’m done with her!”

Light flashed behind Rainbow, and she spun around and raised a claw to block a sword swing. The sword pulled back as the alicorn focused her magic and went for another swing at Rainbow, but Rainbow caught it between the talons of her claw. Seeing an opening, Rainbow twisted and yanked her weapon hoof, pulling the sword aside, stepped around the pink alicorn, and plunged her claws into her left wing. She pulled on the pink alicorn’s wing, unfurling it and further tearing into feather and flesh as the goddess cried out in pain.

“Ahh! What are you doing?!”

“Leveling the playing field,” Rainbow said. She jumped up, hoisting herself onto the alicorn’s back, and went after the other wing. She stabbed into the partly unfolded wing, fired a charge shot at point-blank range, and jumped off. “If I can’t fly anymore, then you can’t either!”

The alicorn stumbled in pain. Her sword seemed to fall as the magic keeping it afloat flickered. But she still managed to send a murderous glare at the blue pegasus. “You spiteful little monster!” she said. “I can’t believe I created you.”

Rainbow charged at the pink alicorn again. “Hey, you wanted an evil Fluttershy and you got me,” she said. “What did you expect?”

“What I wanted was a loyal servant of the Underworld who could beat Celestia’s pet soldier,” the alicorn said as she swung her sword at Rainbow.

“At the very least, this solves one problem,” Luna said quietly as she and Celestia continued to watch the ensuing battle. “Rainbow won’t be able to steal Chrysalis’ power in this form. Though she isn’t taking the news very well.”

“I’m not so sure,” Celestia said. “Rainbow may be more stubborn than we give her credit for. And this poses another problem. Chrysalis must have turned back centuries to restore herself to this body. But Rainbow doesn’t have centuries. She was created from the Mirror of Truth just three years ago. If she falls into the Rewind Spring, it will unmake her.”

“Hey, don’t give her ideas!” Rainbow said.

“That’s actually a good idea,” the pink alicorn said with a smirk. With a subtle flicker of her horn’s aura, her magic enveloped Rainbow’s body and tossed her across the platform.

Rainbow yelped as she hurtled toward the fountain. She reached for the ground with a hoof in a panic, her claw extending to make contact with the stone beneath her. Her claw caught the surface of the ground, digging into the stone and slowing her down. She finally came to a stop, and all four hooves touched the ground a few inches from the foot of the Rewind Spring.

Letting out a quick sigh of relief, Rainbow Dash lifted a hoof and fired back at the pink alicorn. Her charge shot struck the alicorn in the chest and neck, throwing her back and knocking her to the ground. Rainbow took it as an opening and rushed at the goddess again, ready to bring the coup de grâce. She couldn’t see the glint in the alicorn’s eyes, much less the look in them as she listened for Rainbow’s hoofbeats and waited for the right moment.

Before Rainbow Dash knew what was happening, the pink alicorn teleported from the ground, standing on all four hoofs when she reappeared and training her horn on Rainbow. A barrage of blue magical hearts fired from her horn in Rainbow’s direction. Rainbow’s eyes went wide, and she skidded on her hooves to try to stop. She hopped to the side to evade one heart, but couldn’t react in time before another heart hit her in the shoulder. Rainbow winced from the resulting magical burn, but another sensation flowed from her shoulder and coursed through the rest of her body. Strangely, her body felt softer, more tender.

Rainbow’s suspicions were confirmed when another heart smacked into the right side of her barrel. She felt it burn twice as much as the first heart did, and the impact knocked her down and sent her body sliding. As Rainbow rose to her hooves, the pink alicorn lifted a few drops of the Rewind Spring’s water with her magic. The goddess brought the droplets toward her wings and smeared them across her wounds. Rainbow could only watch in dismay as the wounds she inflicted vanished without a trace.

And it only got worse.

“There you are!” Discord exclaimed. “I finally tracked you down! You ponies are a stealthy bunch, traveling to the depths of my realm without me noticing.”

“Then my cloaking spell worked perfectly,” Celestia said.

“You have a cloaking spell?” Luna deadpanned. “Since when?”

“I’ve been working on it for some time,” Celestia replied. “I only recently perfected it.”

“You were possessed by a demonic unicorn for the last three years,” Luna said. “When did you have time to learn a cloaking spell?”

“If you had a cloaking spell, I wouldn’t have had to fight my way through half the Underworld just to get here,” Rainbow said as she leapt out of the way of a blue heart. “I bet Discord just got lost and wouldn’t ask for directions.”

“Excuse me? I’ll have you know that’s an unfair male stereotype,” Discord groused. “I would resent it if it weren’t so beneath me.”

“It’s been a long time, Discord,” the pink alicorn said.

“And you are…?” Discord asked.

The pink alicorn frowned even as her magic conjured two treasure chests around the edge of the fountain. “Don’t tell me you’ve forgotten your old friend Cadance,” she said.

“Hmm… nope, doesn't ring a bell,” Discord said. “But I can’t help but notice the absence of godly magic in Rainbow Dash’s win— Chrysalis?!”

“I go by Cadance now,” she said.

“I don’t remember you being so… colorful,” Discord said. “If the Rewind Spring did this to Chrysalis, I shudder to think what it could do to Fluttershy. No one wants to see her alive! I’d better destroy it.”

“No, wait! You can’t do that!” Celestia said. “Rainbow Dash, you have to end this now!”

Rainbow froze. She gritted her teeth in frustration, even as her foreleg was ready to take another shot at Cadance. If she defeated Cadance now, she wouldn’t be able to take her power. She would never be able to fly on her own again. And then what would she do? Either she would have to find another god to help her fly or stay grounded. Rainbow hated both options. She’d burned too many bridges already, and even if she hadn’t, the idea of serving one of these gods or goddesses disgusted her.

And above all, she was going to miss it. She would miss the freedom of it all. Not just freedom from the gods, but soaring through the open skies, the wind at her mane as her wings cut through the air and every force that kept everything else grounded, and the sheer power of it all

Rainbow glanced at Cadance from across the platform. She couldn’t even steal Cadance’s power anymore, at least not in that body. But she could figure out a way. She knew it. All Rainbow had to do was turn Cadance back into Chrysalis. She just needed time to…

Rainbow’s mind stopped on that last thought. She didn’t have time. None of them did. Fluttershy was going to die soon, and Discord was about to destroy the only thing that could bring her back. Rainbow squeezed her eyes shut and groaned. ‘Fluttershy, if you didn’t almost get yourself killed for me, you would so owe me right now!’ she thought to herself.

Rainbow rolled to dodge another blue magical heart. She raised her foreleg, aiming her Pandora Claws at Cadance’s head, and fired back. Seeing the bluish-black fireball coming toward her, Cadance tilted her head up, her magic flicking off the tip of her horn, and conjured a thin heart-shaped wall in front of her. The fireball bounced off the heart and shot back at Rainbow, forcing her to perform a side flip to dodge. She raised her hoof again, aiming at Cadance in spite of the heart-shaped barrier.

“Be careful with that crystal barrier,” Celestia said. “It-”

“It reflects my shots back at me, right?” Rainbow asked.

“Well… yes,” Celestia said. “You can-”

“Smash it with a melee attack?” Rainbow cut in again.

“Yes, but-” Celestia started to say.

“Then stop telling me what to do!” Rainbow snapped. She bolted toward Cadance, the magic from the Pandora Claws surging through her legs as she moved at inequine speed. She leapt out with her claws and shattered the heart-shaped barrier, then lunged again at Cadance. Cadance spread her wings and flew back from Rainbow, yet the glow around her horn remained the same. Rainbow moved to take a swipe at her, but she heard something click nearby. A treasure chest next to her opened. A blue glow radiated from inside, and a volley of blue magical orbs burst from the opened chest and flew out in every direction.

Rainbow Dash landed on her left hoof, pivoted to swing her body around, and dodged one of the orbs. She jumped back as another orb zigzagged toward her, then backflipped to dodge a third. She side-hopped to dodge a fourth one as the last of the orbs flew past, then lunged forward to charge at Cadance again, but something stopped her. Her back right hoof wouldn’t budge, and when she looked back, she found it stuck in the center of a circular trap on the ground.

A light blue flash shone from across the fountain, and Cadance appeared in its place. She aimed her horn at Rainbow and fired one blue magical heart after another. Rainbow fired back with a charge shot from her Pandora Claws, hitting the first heart, but the heart flickered in midair and continued on its path. Rainbow hopped to the side, her leg still stuck in the trap as she tried to dodge the first heart. The second heart swerved toward Rainbow, and she spun around, swinging her body around her trapped leg to evade the attack. The third heart sailed high, and Rainbow ducked underneath.

As the fourth heart hovered toward her, Rainbow reared up on her hind legs. Her Pandora Claws extended, and she plunged her weapon into the trap and fired another blast into it. The trap broke apart, her back hoof was free, and she hopped to the right, dodge-rolling away from the fourth heart. Her attention turned to the fifth and last heart as she worked out how to outmaneuver it. She barely noticed the light blue flash next to her as Cadance teleported nearby, or Cadance’s sword raised over her.

The blade swung before Rainbow could react, slicing a deep gash into her right wing and lifting her off the ground. Cadance wheeled around and followed with a sharp buck to Rainbow’s chest, throwing her across the platform. Rainbow tumbled across the platform before coming to a stop, wincing and groaning at the pain of her newest injuries. Her damaged wing felt like it was tearing apart as she flexed it, and she opened her eyes to inspect the damage. Her eyes widened in alarm, and she lifted a foreleg, catching Cadance’s sword between the talons of her Pandora Claws.

Cadance concentrated her magic into her sword, pushing down on Rainbow Dash as she stood over the struggling pegasus’ body. She lifted a hoof and delivered a brutal stomp to Rainbow’s chest. Rainbow let out a sharp gasp. Her foreleg buckled against the strain of Cadance’s sword, and she was nearly eye to eye with its curved, deadly blade. She lifted her other foreleg, moving it toward the blade of Cadance’s weapon.

But she wasn’t reaching for Cadance’s weapon. Instead Rainbow aimed upward, directly at Cadance’s head, and fired point-blank at her face. Cadance staggered back, reeling in pain as Rainbow’s blast seared her face. No longer pinned down, Rainbow Dash knocked the sword away with her claws and rolled out from under Cadance. She stumbled as she tried to stand back up, wincing as her injured wing protested her movement. Shrugging off the pain as best as she could, Rainbow looked up at Cadance. The sword had long since clattered to the ground, no longer in the grip of Cadance’s magic, and Cadance herself was rubbing her face and eyes with a hoof. Rainbow could see several burn marks around Cadance’s eyes. Cadance was blinded.

Rainbow saw her opening, and she lunged forward. In spite of her pain, Cadance heard the pounding of hoofbeats against the ground coming toward her. Reaching with her horn’s magic, she lifted her sword and swung at her attacker. Rainbow Dash jumped, catching the side of the blade with a back hoof and bounding off of it into a midair somersault. Just as she was falling back down, Rainbow fired another blast from her Pandora Claws. The blast went wide, but purposefully so, and curved toward Cadance with its homing properties, striking her side and searing her left wing.

Once Rainbow’s hooves hit the ground, she darted after Cadance again. Her right claw swung diagonally down, slashing into Cadance’s chest and right foreleg. Her left claw swung horizontally, slicing Cadance’s forelegs and causing her to fall to the ground. Rainbow leapt off of her front legs and delivered an uppercut with her right hoof, piercing Cadance’s chest and throwing her onto her back hooves. Rainbow then turned around, landing on her front hoofs and delivering a sharp buck to Cadance’s chest.

Cadance stumbled back on her hind legs, treading closer to the edge of the platform, as she tried to keep balance. Rainbow never gave her the chance. She spun back around, aimed her Pandora Claws, and fired. The fireball struck Cadance just beneath her wings, tossing her off of her back hooves and sending her off the edge of the platform and into the abyss below.

Silence descended over the Rewind Spring and the surrounding airspace. The adrenaline coursing through Rainbow began to wear off, and she lowered her weapon hoof to the ground, but a sharp pain flashed through her right wing. Wincing, she flexed her wing open and looked over her injury. Blood dripped from her wound and soaked the surrounding plumage. The gash extended from the top of her wing to the bottom and looked deep enough to cut into the bone, though Rainbow couldn’t see any wing bones at first glance. Then again, she didn’t want to find out either.

Groaning, Rainbow turned around and approached the edge of the Rewind Spring. She flexed her wing gingerly, extending it in front of her, and grazed it against the water’s surface. Wary of the Rewind Spring’s power, she pulled her wing back after a split second and looked over her wound. The water rested on her feathers for a moment before a white glow spread across her wing. The gash contracted in both length and depth until it disappeared entirely, and her blood-stained feathers returned to their natural sky blue. Rainbow gave a sigh of relief and even smiled as the waters even left her wing perfectly preened.

A ray of yellow light shone on the ground next to Rainbow, and Fluttershy’s body appeared in the center. Rainbow took Fluttershy into her hooves, lifting the comatose pegasus to a sitting position, and pulled her closer to the spring’s edge. She leaned Fluttershy gently back, pulling her long pink mane away from water as she submerged the bandaged stubs of her wings into the spring before pulling her back a second later.

Drops of water ran down Fluttershy’s back and dripped from the remains of her wings for a moment before they began to glow. Orbs of glowing white light gathered around Fluttershy’s sides, pooling around the remains of her wings before flaring out in either direction. When the light subsided, two healthy, feathery yellow pegasus wings stood fully spread out, and Fluttershy’s eyes fluttered open.

“I’m alive?” Fluttershy said. She looked down at her front hooves and gazed in wonder at her newly restored wings. “I’m alive…” she said again, a mixture of shock and relief. She sprung to her hooves. “I’m alive! I…” Fluttershy paused when she noticed her surroundings. “... have no idea where I am.” She paused when she saw Rainbow looking back at her. “Rainbow Dash?”

Without saying a word, Rainbow turned and headed toward the edge of the platform. Spreading her wings, she leapt off the edge and gave a powerful beat of her wings… and plummeted like a stone. Rainbow yelped and flapped her wings, but to no avail.

Fluttershy blinked, looking on in a mixture of confusion and concern.

“She can’t fly anymore,” Celestia stated.

A shaft of blue light shone down on Rainbow Dash. Leaves and vines swirled around her, and for a moment she lay suspended in the air. “Fine,” Luna said. “I’ll retrieve her.” A second later, Rainbow vanished.

Fluttershy’s ears perked, and she looked up at the skies in hope. “Princess Celestia?” she asked. “Is that you?”

“I’m here, Fluttershy,” Celestia said. “Welcome back.”

A ray of golden light shone on Fluttershy from above, and a sense of weightlessness overtook her as she floated off the ground. “I’ve missed you so much,” Fluttershy said, elated.

“I missed you too,” Celestia said. “Let’s get you home.” Lifted by Celestia’s magic, Fluttershy soared into the ray of light before vanishing, and the light faded away soon after.

Silence returned to the Rewind Spring. No Underworld monsters lurked around the vicinity, and the last pony had just left, leaving the spring and the surrounding City of Souls at relative peace. Even the waters of the Rewind Spring had become still, without so much as the occasional air current to blow ripples across its surface.

That peace came to an end as a disturbance shook the air and a distant shout echoed in the darkness. The shout grew louder, until a giant lion’s paw crashed into the fountain of the Rewind Spring. The platform fractured in two, sending the spring’s enchanted water splashing and cascading down into the depths below.

Discord lifted his paw back and twisted it in the air for a moment, looking it over before shaking off the water. “There should be ponies screaming and falling to their deaths,” he thought aloud. “I guess they’ve already left. Oh well, you win some, you lose some.” He cracked the joints in his paw, and then did the same in his talon. “They’ll be back soon anyway, and then the real fun can begin.”

* * * * * * * * * *

The blue light that surrounded Rainbow Dash disappeared from her as her hooves touched down on the ground. Confused, she looked around and began to take in her surroundings. The full moon shone through an opening in the massive chamber she now stood in, bathing the roots and vines that covered the walls with its soft, white light. A network of roots led up a series of steps to a great tree that towered above the chamber. The base of the tree’s trunk had twisted and woven itself into an ancient-looking throne. Rainbow noticed the figure sitting in the throne, and a righteous glare flashed across her face.

“You!” Rainbow snarled.

Luna’s gaze hardened as she squinted down at Rainbow from her throne. Watching as Rainbow charged at her throne from the bottom of the stairs, she focused her magic through her horn. Thick vines and bramble rose from the ground, aglow with the blue aura of Luna’s magic, and moved after Rainbow Dash. Rainbow jumped forward, slashing through one thick vine and sidestepping several more. A large root extended from the base of Luna’s throne and lunged at her, but she leapt onto it and bounded off before firing a blast from her claws.

Luna’s head jerked to the side as the shot exploded behind her. She glanced back in alarm at where the shot hit her throne, taking her eyes off of Rainbow for a second. It gave Rainbow enough time to reach Luna, pull the Dark Pit Staff from her tunic, and shove the muzzle of the weapon into Luna’s mouth. Rainbow tightened her grip on the staff as she gazed up at Luna, ready to fire a charge shot through the back of the goddess’ head. But before she could, the staff disappeared in a flash of blue light.

Rainbow blinked. By the time she heard the staff clattering on the ground nearby, a wave of blue magic issued from an irate Luna’s horn, hurling her across the room. Rainbow’s body slammed against the far wall, eliciting a pained grunt from her, and a series of vines wrapped around her legs and barrel.

Rainbow pulled against the vines, trying to wrest a hoof free from them even as Luna teleported in front of her in a bright blue flash. “Let me go!” Rainbow demanded. “I took down another alicorn goddess on her home turf. Don’t think I can’t do the same to you!”

“Somehow I don’t doubt that,” Luna replied. “Which is why I am not giving you the chance.” She turned her attention to a pony who had just entered the chamber. “Search her thoroughly.”

Luna’s ear perked, and a look of surprise flashed across her face for a moment. The blue aura around her horn flickered, and she muttered under her breath while stepping away from Rainbow. Rainbow would have listened in, but a jolt of electricity shot through both of her forelegs. She turned to look at the other pony as she walked over, a familiar white unicorn with a coiffed purple mane and blue lightning sparking through her horn. Another jolt of electricity passed through Rainbow’s forelegs, latching onto her Pandora Claws and pulling them from the sleeves of her tunic.

“Hey!” Rainbow yelped. “What do you think you’re doing?!”

“What does it look like, dear?” Rarity said. Her magic ensnared the Paw Pad Orbitar hanging from Rainbow’s side, as well as the First Blade hidden in her tunic. “I’m disarming you. We can’t have you running loose in Mistress Luna’s domain with all of your weapons, now can we?”

“I understand, Celestia, but she attacked me,” Luna said as she walked back toward Rainbow and Rarity, her horn still aglow. “I can’t let that go unanswered, much less allow her to roam my halls freely.”

Another jolt of Rarity’s magic ran through Rainbow Dash’s body before reaching her foreleg, where she kept the separated blades of her Silver Bow. The blades broke away from Rainbow and hovered toward the rest of Rainbow’s weapons, which Rarity lined up in front of Luna with a confident smile. Luna’s gaze shifted from Rainbow Dash as she looked over each weapon, stopping at the single Paw Pad Orbitar.

“These come in pairs,” Luna said. “Where is the other one?” Rarity’s smile vanished instantly. She opened her mouth to speak, but no words came. Luna ignored her, instead turning to Rainbow Dash with a cold, hard stare. “Well?”

“Either mind your business or ask somepony else,” Rainbow shot back. “I’m not telling you anything.”

Luna glared at Rainbow for a moment, and then turned back to Rarity. “Search her again.”

“I already searched her for weapons,” Rarity stammered. “If she had any left, my magic would have found them.”

“And I told you to search her thoroughly,” Luna said.

Rarity winced. Reluctantly, she turned back to Rainbow, who kept up her defiant scowl. “You know, you could make this easier by telling us where the other orbitar is,” she said.

“Or what?” Rainbow asked.

Rarity’s expression turned serious. She closed her eyes for a moment, and lightning crackled across the length of her horn. “Or I will have to make this unpleasant for you,” Rarity answered.

For a while, the two ponies stared at each other. A bead of sweat traced its way down the side of Rainbow’s head, but she maintained her gaze as if daring Rarity to carry out her threat. Rarity looked on more calmly, seemingly biding her time. It was hard to tell if she was waiting for Rainbow to confess on her own or just trying to decide where to start.

“Stop!” Luna ordered. The lightning around Rarity’s horn subsided, and both she and Rainbow Dash looked at the Goddess of Nature. Luna’s magic flickered, and the vines around Rainbow’s body set her down and began to recede. With her hooves free and back on the ground, Rainbow gave each of her limbs a quick stretch, while Rarity looked at Luna in confusion. “The Goddess of Light has asked me to spare you, so for now you are free to go. You are also welcome to stay with us for the time being.”

“Sure,” Rainbow muttered. “Thanks, I guess.” She started to walk off, but one of Luna’s forelegs pressed against her chest and stopped her in her tracks. She looked up at Luna and was met with another hard look.

“The only reason I’m letting you go is because Celestia asked,” Luna said, “and the only reason I agreed is because Discord is still the greater threat. I will return your weapons when you leave, but I will not let you loose in my domain with them, and if you do anything to wreak havoc in my realm, I will strike you down.”

“Fine,” Rainbow muttered. “You done?”

“For now, yes,” Luna answered. She motioned with a flick of her head. “They will show you around.”

As Luna walked away, Rainbow spotted Twilight Sparkle and Shining Armor standing off to the side of the room. She started toward them but was interrupted once again, this time by a white hoof on her shoulder.

“I hope you don’t take what happened too personally, Rainbow dear,” Rarity implored. “The whole matter just went out of hoof so quickly.”

“Yeah, I get it,” Rainbow said. “Following orders, right?”

“Yes, of course,” Rarity said uncomfortably. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen a pony get under Mistress Luna’s skin the way you did. I understand you have differences of opinion, but…”

“You seem to have a gift for it,” Twilight said as she and Shining Armor approached. “Rainbow Dash, right? I don’t know if you remember us, but—”

“Yeah, I know you,” Rainbow cut in. “You’re the Lightning Chariot twins.”

“We’re not twins, actually,” Twilight said. “Shining Armor’s older.”

“I’m surprised you remember us,” Shining Armor said. “We only met you in Skyworld when you… almost killed us.”

Rainbow’s ear fell flat. “Oh yeah,” she said, scuffing her hoof against the floor. “Sorry about that.”

“Don’t be,” Twilight said. “If it wasn’t for you, Princess Celestia would’ve been taken by the Chaos Kin. You really pulled through back there, at least more than Fluttershy ever did.” Her voice gained a bitter edge at Fluttershy’s mention.

“Hey, lay off of Fluttershy,” Rainbow said, giving Twilight a dirty look.

“Is she a friend of yours?” Shining Armor asked. “After everything that’s happened today, I wasn’t sure she had friends, let alone one who would kick down the doors to the Underworld just to save her.”

“Something like that,” Rainbow said, still glaring at Twilight. “And if you’ve got a problem with her, you’re gonna have to deal with me.” Twilight seemed to step back, her mouth slightly agape and at a loss for words.

“Be that as it may,” Rarity interjected, “Mistress Luna has offered to let the three of you stay in her domain for the time, including Rainbow Dash. She has asked that the two of you show her to her accommodations.”

“We can do that,” Shining Armor nodded. “This way, Rainbow Dash.” He turned and approached the closest hallway, with Twilight following after.

Rainbow Dash took a step toward the two unicorns, but she stopped when a familiar voice echoed in her ear. “You seem to have made quite an impression on them, Rainbow Dash.”

“Celestia,” Rainbow said coolly. “What do you want?”

“Just to talk,” Celestia replied. “Before Sombra appeared, Luna and I called a truce and put aside our differences to deal with Discord. He is a formidable enemy, and one we cannot defeat if we are busy fighting one another. I asked Luna to spare you for the same reason, because I believe you could be a valuable ally in the coming war. I only ask that you agree to do the same.”

“Fine,” Rainbow said. “I’ll help you out. But only until this is all over.”

“There’s one other thing,” Celestia said. “I want to thank you for what you did today.”

“If this is about Fluttershy, I didn’t do it for you,” Rainbow said.

“No, not just that,” Celestia said, her voice tinged with regret. “What you said to me and Luna at the torrent of souls, about me neglecting my duties, it made me confront some harsh truths that I’ve been denying for too long.”

“Like what?”

“Well let me be clear,” Celestia continued. “Protecting ponykind is about far more than just going to war with other gods. There is so much more that I do than you know. But you were right about the Underworld. I allowed them to go unchecked for too long, and I fear that too many have paid the price, including Fluttershy.”

Rainbow paused for a moment. Her eyes widened, and her mouth hung slightly open in surprise. “Whoa. I never would’ve thought that you’d own up to that.” Her demeanor shifted subtly again, the look in her eyes hardening and her expression becoming more guarded. “But that doesn’t mean things are gonna be different between us.”

“I thought it wouldn’t,” Celestia said.

The echo of Celestia’s voice subsided from the inside of Rainbow’s ear, but her last few words stayed with Rainbow, solemn yet stern as they were. Nothing had changed between the two of them, and she knew that. She even admitted it, but hearing Celestia say it made it more unsettling. She felt isolated. She felt trapped. And even though she felt like she knew why, she couldn’t put her hoof on it. Suddenly her wing twitched, reminding her that it was there, and then she understood why. She flexed her wings and looked up at her surroundings as it dawned on her, and she definitely understood why.

“Earth to Rainbow Dash!” Twilight shouted.

“Are you coming or not?” Shining Armor added.

Rainbow was snapped out of her thoughts, and she looked up to find the two unicorns down the hall, already far ahead of her. “I’ll be right there!” she called back. Her mind somewhat more at ease, she trotted after them.

Comments

[Nova Blaze]

Glad to see this come back.

[DryvernX]

Cool chapter. Good thing it's back on.

Wish what Rainbow said, is what Dark Pit also said in Kid Icarus Uprising.

[Phazon]

8340931

Unfortunately, I can't confirm that this is back yet. I'm planning a blog post in a few days about the status of the story and an overview of the newest chapter, so I'll explain more in that.

8340951

To be honest, I wasn't exactly sure what you meant by that. For a while, I thought you meant that you would've wanted me to retain the original Dark Pit lines from KI:U. Either way, my headcanon for Dark Pit always had two different elements to his character: one part rivalry with the protagonist, and one part rage against the gods. With Rainbow Dash, I've been trying to develop the 'rage against the gods' part, but this is something I'll go more into in the next blog post.

[DryvernX]

8343807 I meant the pep talk Rainbow did to Luna. It sounded something that Kid Icarus Uprising should've added. It's great.

[Phazon]

8345386

pep talk

You lost me.

[DryvernX]

8345403 Just saying that the whole talk about Rainbow's opinion on the goddesses poor work was great.

[Phazon]

8345406

Oh yeah, that! I thought that was what you meant, though I wouldn't call it a pep talk. Pep talks are meant to provide encouragement, whereas what Rainbow said to Celestia and Luna was more of a "the reason you suck" speech.

That said, that was also one of my favorite parts of this chapter, but it's also one that I wanted to put the most time and care into. After all, the KI:U version of Scorched Feathers is what made Dark Pit my favorite character in the game. Ostensibly, he's supposed to be an evil clone of Pit, but turns out to be neither totally good nor really evil because the Mirror or Truth couldn't finish its work. And yet based on this chapter, he actually has some perfectly good, logical reasons not to serve any of the gods and to do things his way instead. So with the Filly Fluttershy version, I wanted to take Dark Pit's accusation that the gods were causing all the chaos and delve into it more. You see that with Rainbow's verbal feud with Luna (where she tells Luna off for doing more harm than good, and yet Luna refuses to bear any responsibility), but also with Celestia. After all, the first chapter in the game is called The Return of Palutena, where Pit and Palutena suddenly come to humanity's aid after Medusa and the Underworld resurface. But there are plenty of clues in later chapters that suggest the Underworld has been terrorizing humanity all this time, and that Palutena has either done too little or nothing at all. Admittedly, this is all headcanon, but it seemed perfect for Rainbow Dash and it seemed like a great way to flesh out Dark Pit's accusation to the goddesses.

[GamePlayer64]

Hey is Dyntos' part will be played by Tirek? Because if its Starswirl, there's two problems with that; body strength & Fingers.

[Phazon]

8370897

Tirek as Dyntos? Unless there's something I missed by not seeing last week's episode, hell no! Though I don't think I ever considered Star Swirl either. Not that Star Swirl couldn't be a good choice for Dyntos; the show's lore depicts him as one of the greatest unicorn sorcerers in Equestrian history, so I think physical strength and digits aren't really necessary. Regardless, I already have someone in mind for Dyntos, albeit someone rather unorthodox.