I'll Bring You Home

by Kodeake

Chapter Nine; Escape the Halls

I’ll Bring You Home

Chapter Nine; Escape the Halls

“I thought the Keepers didn’t come up here!” Rainbow whisper shouted, putting herself between it and Twilight.

“They don’t! That’s-”

“Rainbow Dash? Twilight?”

They both gasped in unison. “Clover!?”

From the staircase the light green unicorn emerged, quickly setting her lantern aside and rushing over to them. “Oh my gosh! You’re okay! I… I found a bunch of shattered lanterns and… and I thought you might have…” she trailed off and shook her head, running up and wrapping each of them in a hug in turn. “What happened to you two?”

Rainbow grimaced. “Long story.”

“Well, at least you both got out. When you ran off ahead and the halls shifted-”

“Wait,” Twilight interrupted, looking between them. “You know each other?”

Clover blinked. “Well… yeah; how do you think she found you? I ran into her and showed her where you were.”

“Huh. She never mentioned it.”

Rolling her eyes, Rainbow made a vague gesture with her hoof. “With all of… that going on? It didn’t exactly come up.”

“Yeah, I suppose we didn’t exactly have a lot of down time.” Twilight shrugged her shoulders, smiling. “Still, even you have to admit, Rainbow; it’s pretty ‘cool’ to meet Clover the Clever.”

Rainbow’s eyes grew wide. “Clover the Clever?” She gasped, glancing back and forth between the two unicorns. “I didn’t know you were Clover the Clever!”

There was a momentary pause before both mares broke down laughing. “You didn’t know?” Twilight asked through her giggles. “I thought it would have been obvious. I mean, she looks exactly like all the descriptions of her.”

“You know I don’t read that stuff, Twi,” Rainbow muttered, before shaking her head firmly. “Not the point. If you’re that Clover, then…” she trailed off, and dots started connecting in her head. Dots she really didn't want to connect. “How… long have you been here?”

Clover’s laughter tapered off, and her eyes trailed around the shelves. “Pretty well since I died,” she said with a noncommittal shrug. “Don’t really know how long it’s been, though. Hard to keep track, you know?”

“And you’ve never left?” Rainbow’s eyes narrowed, and a ball formed in the pit of her stomach. “Not since you died?”

“Why would I? No reason to, as far as I can see. Not like I need to eat or anything, and there’s so much knowledge down here that I could-”

“And what about Gale?”

Clover’s words stopped dead, jaw hanging open. A small flash of recognition gleamed in her eyes. “G-gale?” She repeated, the name felt unfamiliar on her tongue.

“Gale?” Twilight asked, raising an eyebrow. “Who’s Gale?”

Rainbow watched as realization dawned on the green unicorn, tears beading in her eyes. “Commander Hurricane Gale,” she said, crossing her hooves. “I met her in Elysium. She said a lot of ponies had come down here and never come back, but…”

“Oh!” Twilight slapped a hoof to her forehead. “Commander Hurricane! I remember reading about her; weren’t you two… married… oh… oh my gosh…” She covered her mouth with a hoof, having finally caught up to Rainbow’s thinking.

Clover’s tears dripped off the end of her muzzle, holding her head in her hooves. “Gale… I… It’s been so long…” she choked back a sob, not even bothering to wipe away her tears. “W-when I got here I just - I told myself I’d just wait for her. Pass the time in the Halls. But then… then I just kept reading and it’s like…” Shaking her head, Clover struggled to take a full breath. “It’s like I forgot all about her. I… I never even thought about her…”

“You haven’t seen her since you died?” Rainbow asked incredulously. She’d figured it had been a while, but to find it had been that long. “Clover-”

“I know!” She stomped her hoof angrily, clenching her eyes shut. “I know! I… the curse it… it’s had me for so long. It wouldn’t let me think about anything that would make me want to leave.” Tapping her hoof against her head, she shuddered. “I can feel it even now. It’s trying to take her from me again.”

“Come with us,” Rainbow urged gently, grabbing Clover by the shoulders. “Gale’s waiting for me up top. Come with us and we can all get out of here. You’ve made her wait long enough.”

Nodding rapidly, Clover rubbed at her eyes. “Of course! I… I have to get out of here, have to…” she trailed off, her gaze growing distant as she pulled away from the pegasus’s hooves. “I have to… stay here…”

“What? Clover-”

“It’s the curse, Rainbow,” Twilight interrupted, carefully approaching and putting a hoof on the unicorn’s shoulder. “She hasn’t even been able to think about leaving in centuries. For her to leave now…” she shook her head. “It’s hard enough for me to stay focused on getting out, and I’ve only been here a fraction of what she has. Clover-”

Clover wiped the tears from her cheeks, regarding the damp spot on her leg curiously. “Sorry, what were we talking about?”

“You were going to come with us to the upper layers, remember?” Twilight smiled gently, urging them down the hall. “Show us how to get there; I don’t remember the upper floors very well.”

“Right… yes of course!” Clover giggled behind a hoof. “Sorry, I get distracted sometimes. Follow me!” She marched off ahead of them, and Rainbow tilted her head.

Rainbow watched her cautiously. “What the heck was up with that?”

Twilight leaned in and whispered; “As long as she doesn’t think about leaving, she’ll be fine to come with us to the exit. Once we’re there… we might have to drag her out ourselves. But… I don’t know. There are stories of ponies who went mad trying to leave this place. I don’t know if we should.”

Watching the mare ahead of them trot happily down the hall, as though nothing in the world was wrong, struck a chord in Rainbow. She recalled the pained look on Hurricane’s face whenever she spoke of the library’s curse. “We’ll have to figure something out. We can’t just leave her down here.”

“That’s not going to be our only problem, though.” Twilight glanced behind them and shuddered, forcing herself to look ahead. “It’s getting harder and harder for me to focus on getting out myself.”

Rainbow nodded her head with a grim frown. “If it comes down to it I’ll carry you both out myself.”

Despite the implications Twilight chuckled. “I don’t doubt it for a second…” she glanced back again. “Hey, Rainbow? Can I… ask you some questions?”

“Shoot.”

Twilight shifted awkwardly. “How… how long have I been here? It’s hard to keep track of time without needing to sleep.”

“One year, one month, and… thirteen or fourteen days. Depends how long I’ve been down here,” Rainbow answered automatically. She felt the unicorn’s eyes on her. “What? What happened… it’s not something I’m gonna forget. You tend to remember what day it was.”

“I’m sorry,” Twilight apologized almost on reflex.

Rainbow waved her hoof dismissively. “Not your fault, Twi; you saved us. All of us. All of Equestria, even. I can’t hold what you did against you.”

“I should have taken the deal,” she muttered to herself, head hanging low. “Should have given Tirek what he wanted. We’d have found another way to stop him. Together. Like we should have been from the beginning.”

There was a pause, and Twilight looked up to see Rainbow glaring at her. “And give that maniac the power of four alicorns?” She shook her head. “He could have done so much more damage. How could we have stopped him without our magic?”

“I don’t know,” Twilight admitted with a heavy sigh. “I just… I get the feeling that’s not how it was supposed to happen.”

Rainbow snorted. “Of course it wasn’t how it was supposed to happen. Discord was supposed to have stopped him.” She spat the name like it was poison on her tongue. “Or Celestia should have done something. There are so many things that went wrong that day.”

“I guess…” Twilight frowned, but shrugged it off after a moment. “How are the girls doing? Do they know you’re here?”

“Kinda?” She rubbed the back of her neck awkwardly. “I told ‘em what I was doing, but they didn’t believe me. As for how they’re doing… I don’t really know.” Rainbow grimaced guiltily. “Didn’t spend much time back in Ponyville after everything that happened. Couldn’t bare to be there anymore. Then I was travelling around the world, looking for a way to bring you back.” Her eyes lit up suddenly. “You shoulda seen it, Twi; some of the places I went. The magic I saw. Like, did you know the dragons-”

“Hey, slowpokes!” Clover shouted, the gap between them having grown. “You coming or what? Staircase is over here!”

Twilight placed a hoof on Rainbow’s shoulder, and they paused for just a moment. “You’ll have plenty of time to tell me all about it.” She smiled. “When we get home.”

---

It was almost another two hours before they climbed the final staircase and exited out onto the topmost floor. Rainbow Dash eagerly took the opportunity to stretch out her wings under the large, vaulted ceiling as she took to the air. She scanned out above the shelves, looking off to the distance.

“See anything!?” Twilight shouted through cupped hooves. Rainbow came back down, shaking her head.

“Nah; this place is huge. It’s this way, though-” she pointed ahead “-it’s the only way I don’t see a wall.”

Twilight nodded. “Well, let’s-”

“You guys should be good from here,” Clover said, fidgeting slightly and inching closer to the stairs. “I’m gonna head back down.”

“Yeah, I think…” Twilight groaned, holding a hoof to her head. “I think I’m gonna…”

Rainbow bit her lip anxiously. “Oh no. Stay with me guys-” she rushed over and grabbed Twilight’s cheeks, forcing their eyes to meet. “You’re coming back with me, remember?”

Twilight blinked at her a moment before grimacing. “Yeah, yeah I… I remember.” She shook her head forcefully, knocking Rainbow’s hooves away. Her thoughts were muddled and slow, but they were her own. “I’ve really gotta get out of here.”

Rainbow nodded. “Atta girl, Twi.” She turned her attention to the other unicorn, already standing on the stairs. “Clover! You gotta come with us. Gale’s waiting for you.”

The unicorn jolted, snapping around at the name. “Gale?” Tears beaded in the corner of her eyes, but there was confusion on her face. “Who’s Gale?” She blinked and the tears fell. “Sorry, I’ve gotta get back down. We’re working on mapping out the lower floors, and I took one of our lanterns.”

“Come on, Clover. You gotta focus.” Rainbow urged, glancing over at Twilight with a pleading look. The unicorn, however, seemed too distracted keeping a hold on herself to be of any assistance. “I know you remember her.”

Clover’s eyes switched between the stairs leading down and Rainbow. “I… I don’t know. I’m sorry, I really have to-” she was cut off as her eyelids fluttered and she fell to the ground. Rainbow ran forward in surprise and grabbed her before she could start rolling down the stairs. Looking up, she saw faint wisps of magic dissipating from Twilight’s horn.

“She’s just asleep,” Twilight groaned out through clenched teeth, panting raggedly. “It’s... really strong up here; it won’t even let her remember anything that would make her want to leave. I think this will be easiest.”

Rainbow nodded, hauling the unconscious unicorn onto her back before going to Twilight’s side. “Are you going to be okay? Do you want me to carry you, too?”

Shaking her head, Twilight started forward. “I’ll be… fine.” She winced and staggered. “Just gotta focus.”

“If you’re sure…” Rainbow watched her carefully, making sure to match the unicorn’s slowed pace. She was glad she did when she had to catch her after a particularly bad stumble. “Twi-”

“Can you feel it at all?”

“A bit. Feels kinda… foggy, I guess?” She glanced to the mare on her back, then to Twilight. “Nowhere near as bad as you two though.”

Twilight tripped again, and when Dash caught her she took a moment to rest against the pegasus. “I’ve only been here a year… I can’t imagine how bad Clover would have it if she tried to fight through it like this…”

“Are you sure you don’t want me to-”

“I’m fine,” Twilight insisted sharply. “If… If I can’t even do this, there’s no way I’ll be able to make it back home with you. I have to be able to do this.”

Rainbow stepped ahead and extended her wing, blocking Twilight’s path. “You don’t have to do it alone. Let me help you.”

“You already have to carry Clover, I couldn’t ask you to-”

“I already told you,” Rainbow insisted, gently lowering Clover from her back. “I’d carry you both out myself if I had to. At this rate, I’ll have to; I can fly us all out of here faster than we could walk through this place. Even if you weren’t falling over yourself every other step.”

Twilight sighed, but nodded begrudgingly. “I… thank you. How did you-”

“Hop on.” Rainbow was already crouched low, motioning to her back. “It’ll be easier to carry her than have her on my back while I’m flying. You at least can hang on.”

Hesitantly, and careful to avoid her wings, Twilight clambered onto Rainbow’s back, wrapping her hooves around the pegasus’s neck. “I’m sorry.”

Rainbow grunted, shifting a moment before flapping her wings and hovering just above the ground. “Nothin’ to be sorry about.” She reached down and picked up Clover’s limp body, huffing slightly as she carried them into the air. “Jeeze, one of you two needs to eat a few more salads.”

“I’m going to make you sorry for that one,” Twilight muttered, burying her muzzle into the back of Rainbow’s neck. Her head felt like she’d used it to smash down a brick wall, and even the small amount of magic she’d used to put Clover to sleep left a stinging sensation that still lingered in her horn. Beneath it all, she could feel the pull of the Hall’s curse. Part of her knew that if it wasn’t for Rainbow being right there in front of her, she’d never have been able to fight it off.

Rainbow felt the hooves tighten around her neck. “You okay back there?”

The unicorn nodded slightly. “I’ll be okay. How’s Clover?”

“Seems fine,” Rainbow grunted back, looking down. “I mean, she’s not exactly helping-” she shifted her hooves, struggling to get a better grip “-but I’m not gonna drop her or anything. You think she’ll be okay? When we get out of here, I mean?”

“Honestly? I don’t know. The curse has been working its way into her mind for hundreds of years, now. Like a sponge pulled to the bottom of a pool. Now it’s like that sponge is being crushed, forcing the curse from it, and there’s no way to know what kind of effect it’ll have on her. But…” she trailed off, remembered the look on Clover’s face. Remembered how the mare didn’t even remember her own wife. “We have to get her out of here.”

Rainbow didn’t respond immediately, a pensive frown pulling at her lips. “Hey, Twi?” She felt Twilight cling a little closer to her.

“I don’t know.”

“Huh?”

Taking a slow, shuddering breath, Twilight shook her head. “I don’t know if I’d have been able to come out when you girls… came here. That’s what you were going to ask, right? If I’d have ended up like Clover?” She closed her eyes, trying to force back the pounding in her head. “I don’t know. I didn’t know about the curse when I first came here. I just knew it was a library rumoured to contain all the knowledge in the world. When I found out… it was too late. That alone wasn’t a good enough reason for me to leave anymore; I’d already been in here too long when I met Clover and she explained everything to me. It was just… the price I had to pay for the knowledge I gained.

“But it’s too high. Nothing is worth being trapped here forever. I… I’d have never seen you girls again. I couldn’t… wouldn’t....” she trailed off, and Rainbow felt a dampness on the back of her neck.

“Hey, none of that; tissues are not complementary.” She chuckled weakly at her own attempt to lighten the mood, and to her relief she felt Twilight giggle a little. “It’s okay, Twi; we’ll get out of here.” Ahead, the wooden balcony of the first room Rainbow had entered came into view. She grinned. “Sooner than later.”

Twilight lifted her head, peering over the pegasus’s shoulder. “Do you know how to get out from here?”

“The door?” Rainbow offered, raising an eyebrow. Although… thinking back, the door hadn’t been there on the inside. She’d just kinda been… dumped there after walking in. “You’re kidding me, right? Do you know?”

“I was hoping you would…”

Rainbow groaned. “Of all the things to not tell me, Gale, why’d you have to leave this one out? I know it’s possible.”

“Of course it’s possible.” Twilight looked around as they landed on the balcony. The room was the same way she remembered it; relatively small and square, lined by shelves with a wooden balcony wrapping all the way around. Small stone archways lead into different halls on the ground floor. However, there was the distinct lack of an exit. “But I don’t know how.”

Gently setting Cover on the floor, Rainbow felt Twilight slide from her back as well. “Well, to get in you had to read a book. So, do the opposite?”

Twilight looked at her. “And what’s the opposite of reading a book? Writing one?”

“Burning one,” Rainbow offered flatly.

“Rainbow!” Twilight’s glare lasted a few moments before she sighed and shook her head. “There might be a clue or something. Come on; help me start looking.” Already the unicorn was at a bookshelf, scanning along the spines.

Glancing at the unconscious unicorn on the floor, Rainbow hesitated. “Is she gonna be okay?”

“Hmm?” Twilight looked up. “Oh! Yeah, she’ll be fine; the spell should last an hour at least. We have time.” She quickly went back to her task. Rainbow rolled her eyes, but followed the mare’s lead and started looking for some kind of clue to an exit. The room was as she remembered it; simple, small, and covered in shelves coated in books.

Without much direction, Rainbow flew idly around the room, eyes trailing across the upper shelves. Some titles she could read, others were in languages she couldn’t begin to decipher. All of them were equally unhelpful.

“You’ve got to be kidding me,” she muttered to herself. “This is what’s stopping me? Finding a stupid door?”

“You say something?”

Rainbow jolted, looking down at Twilight. She blushed. “N-no, just… talking to myself.” She lowered herself a little so she didn’t have to shout to be heard. “Not really used to having somepony with me…”

Twilight’s eyes widened. “Oh… how, um, long has it been?”

“Spent maybe… three days before I met Gale?” Rainbow scratched at her head. Time was so hard to judge when she had only her sleep cycle to count the days, and she knew for a fact she’d spent far too much time flying and not enough time sleeping. “I was only with Gale until I got here, then… I dunno. Another day or two before I ran into Clover?” She sighed. “Not very long, I guess, but I got used to it. Honestly, hardest part was how… quiet it was.”

Rainbow shuddered. “It was so quiet. Not, like, a calm kinda quiet, either. A really… heavy quiet, I guess? I don’t know how do describe it.”

“Oppressive?” Twilight offered quietly. She frowned. “I’m sorry, you-”

“Enough with the apologizing, Twi.” The pegasus turned away. “What happened wasn’t your fault. And what I had to do to get here sure as heck isn’t your fault either. I’m just too stubborn to let things go.” She flashed an obviously fake smile that didn’t even fool herself.

There was a pause, and Rainbow nodded to herself approvingly, happy to put the notion to bed. Until Twilight spoke up; “It’s not your fault, either.” Rainbow froze, one hoof pressed against a book as her wings flapped idly behind her. “It’s not your fault,” Twilight repeated, and she saw the pegasus bite her tongue. “Rainbow-”

“You already said that,” Rainbow said in barely a whisper. Her hoof fell and she lowered herself gently to the ground.

Twilight’s gaze hardened. “You don’t believe me, do you?”

“Sure I do, Twi,” she gave her that same false smile. “It’s… it’s not my fault. Like you said.”

“Rainbow Dash, I know when you’re lying.”

Rainbow chewed her lip, unable to look away from her own two hooves. “Twi-”

“What could you have done? It was-”

“Something!” She slammed her hoof against the wooden floor. “I could have done something.” Rainbow closed her eyes and took a few deep breaths. “I should have known something was up with you. I could have come with you. I could have seen through Discord and stopped him from trapping us. I could have just been there. You shouldn’t have had to face Tirek alone, Twilight. There are so many things I could have done. I just didn’t.

“Damn it, it’s my fault you died - it’s all our fault you died. Me, the girls, Celestia - we should have helped you. The girls and I just… we just let you go off on your own, even when we knew something was wrong. We just walked into Discord’s trap. Celestia just pumped all her magic into you and then sat there and waited for Tirek. What was even her plan? Hope he never found you and let him take all the magic from the rest of Equestria?”

Rainbow was panting, her hooves shaking. Twilight opened her mouth to say something, but the pegasus cut her off again. “I didn’t just leave Ponyville because of what happened to you. I left because I couldn’t stand to be there, knowing what I’d - what we’d done to you. Whenever I saw any of the girls all I could think about was how we all just… let you go. We just abandoned you on your own. We let you die, Twilight. I was so… angry. Angry at myself, but at them, too- they were just as responsible as me.

“And instead of trying to do anything about it they were content to just sit around and ‘heal’.” She scoffed, shaking her head. “As if. Life could never just go back to the way it was before. I could never just… move on. Not without you. If… if I couldn’t find a way to bring you back… I didn’t… couldn’t-” her words hitched. “I didn’t want to keep going without you. I would’ve-”

Twilight practically fell on the pegasus, wrapping her in a hug so tight it seemed to squeeze the tears out of her, and Rainbow broke down sobbing. “It’s okay, Rainbow,” Twilight whispered gently, a few tears of her own running down her cheeks. “I forgive you.”

Rainbow Dash lost control entirely as those words reached her. She could hear the sincerity in the unicorn’s voice and she couldn’t stop herself as the dams inside her crumbled. There was nothing left to hold back the oceans of emotion that had only grown deeper since she’d finally found her. The guilt she felt, the fear that Twilight would hate her for what she’d done. It was all released at once and Rainbow lost herself in the tidal wave, clinging desperately to the mare that had started it all.

“It’s okay…” Twilight held her friend close, providing what little comfort she could. Her head still pounded painfully and her vision had started to swim but none of that mattered. “I forgive you,” she said again, and felt as Rainbow squeezed her tighter. She’d never once blamed her - or any of their friends - for what had happened, but that wasn’t what the pegasus needed to hear.

It was a long time before any more words were spoken. When the tears stopped is wan’t from a lack of emotion but rather simply not having enough energy to cry anymore.

“T-Twilight, I-” Rainbow took a slow, shuddering breath, burying her muzzle into the unicorn’s chest. “I… I l-lo-” she bit her tongue. Cursed herself. She’d promised. She needed to tell Twilight the truth. How she felt. “Twilight.” Her tears had stopped but her breathing was still uneven and hitched on every inhale. “I… I need to tell you something.”

Twilight’s ears were ringing, and she winced as her head gave a particularly painful throb. She couldn’t even hear the pegasus any more, only feel her shaking in her arms. Actually, as her eyes idly trailed along the shelves, she noticed that her head hurt the most when she looked at a specific section of books. “Hey, Rainbow?” She looked down, saw the pegasus looking up at her with bloodshot and puffy eyes. “Are you okay?”

“Y-yeah,” Rainbow blew out slowly, looking away and pulling out of the embrace. She berated herself for missing her chance. “S-sorry. That… really wasn’t cool.” She rubbed at her face. “I… uh… guess I needed that, though.”

“It’s been more than a year.” Twilight smiled ruefully. “You’ve been carrying all of that with you since… what happened. Knowing you, you probably didn’t talk to anypony else about it, either. Just bottled it up and tried to forget about it.”

Rainbow chuckled weakly. “Yeah, that sounds like me, but-” her eyes hardened “-I never tried to forget about it. That… there was no way I was going to forget about what I did to you. What we did to you.”

“Rainbow…” Twilight sighed, then just shook her head. She winced as the motion made the room spin, and she remembered why she’d spoken up. “I think I found the exit.”

The pegasus’s eyes lit up. “You did!?”

“I think,” Twilight stressed, pointing towards a seemingly innocuous shelf that, nonetheless, seemed to strengthen the curse’s effects whenever she looked directly at it.

Rainbow followed her hoof, eyes landing on the wall. She raised an eyebrow. “What?”

“Don’t you feel it?” Twilight asked, trotting forward until she was in front of it. “Look away, and then look back at this spot and focus on the curse.”

“Okay…” Rainbow did as she was instructed an turned her head to the left. She furrowed her brow, paying attention to the slight fog that had seemed to coat her mind since they came up to the first floor. When she looked at the indicated shelf, the fog grew thicker and she could feel the urge to turn away. “It’s… it’s like the curse doesn’t want me to see it…”

Twilight nodded, running her hoof along the wood. “Exactly. And since the curse is designed to try and keep us here, anything that it doesn’t want us to see must be- whoa!” She stumbled forward as her foreleg passed straight through the wall, the books rippling in a wave like water. “I think I found it!”

“Awesome, Twi!” Rainbow rushed over and stuck her hoof out, watching as it disappeared through the shelf like it wasn’t there at all. “Just lemme go grab Clover and- Twilight!” She rushed forward and caught the unicorn just as she collapsed. “Twi, you okay? What’s wrong?”

Groaning, the unicorn held a hoof to her head. “Yeah, yeah; fine. Just… really hard to stay focused. I’ll be fine; go get Clover. The sooner we get out of here the better.”

Rainbow hesitated, but eventually relented when Twilight was able to pushed herself upright again. In a flash she flew over to where she’d set Clover down and returned with the sleeping mare across her back. “C’mon; let’s go.”

Together they stepped through the false shelf, coming out the other side into a inky blackness that seemed to go on forever. Rainbow recognized it from when she’d first entered the Halls. “Straight ahead,” she said, glancing over to where she thought Twilight was. “You good?”

The unicorn grunted. “You mean aside from not being able to see a thing and feeling like someone's trying to pick out my brain with an icepick?”

“Fair enough. It’s not that far; you want me to carry you?” Rainbow asked, stepping a little closer to where Twilight’s voice had come from.

Twilight rolled her eyes - and sincerely hoped that Rainbow picked up on it. “I’ll be fine. I think… it’s getting easier. We’re almost-” she was cut off as they were both overtaken by a bout of vertigo, throwing them off balance. It lasted a few, long seconds, and when it stopped they looked up to see a grand wooden door stood in the middle of a black void.

Looking at each other, neither mare hesitated as they ran forward, pushing open the doors together and bursting out into a light bright enough to momentarily blind both of them. Blinking hard, Rainbow’s eyes slowly adjusted and she looked out across a grassy field. She pushed forward, feeling the sun hit her coat for the first time in days, took a deep breath of fresh air that didn’t smell like musty books.

“Rainbow!” She looked up when her name was called, and grinned as she saw the silhouette of a pegasus approaching. Rainbow waved, then glanced to make sure Twilight was with her. The unicorn seemed to be having a harder time adjusting to the light, but she looked okay.

“C’mon, Twi,” Rainbow urged gently, wrapping her wing around Twilight’s shoulder and guiding the mostly-blind unicorn beyond the doors. As they stepped out from the shadow of the entrance, Rainbow heard Gale touch down in front of them.

Hurricane stood tall, a grin stretched across her muzzle. “Took you long enough. I was starting to wonder if you were ever gonna come out, or if you were just gonna hunker down and read with this Twilight of yours. Speaking of-” she looked to the lavender mare next to Rainbow, and smirked. “What was all that nonsense about her being an alicorn?”

Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes. “Long story. I’ll tell you later. For now, I’ve got something for you.”

“Oh?” Hurricane lifted her brow, crossing her hooves. “If you brought me back a book I’m gonna-” the air was sucked from her lungs as Rainbow turned and her eyes fell on the light green unicorn sprawled across the pegasus’s back.

Rainbow smiled gently, nodding. “I think she belongs to you.”

“C-clover?” Gale froze, hoof frozen in a half-step towards them. “Y-you… you found her?”

“She’s fine, by the way; just sleeping. She should be up soon,” Rainbow explained, about to lower the mare from her back when she felt herself get tackled into a fierce hug.

Gale squeezed the pegasus tightly. “Thank you… I… it’s been so long I… thank you. So much.” She let Rainbow go and took Clover into her own hooves, smiling down at the mare’s peacefully closed eyes. A faint purple glow passed over Clover’s head, and after a moment her eyes fluttered open. She blinked as her vision was filled by a cyan face.

“Gale?” She asked groggily, looking around. “I… where am I? I was… in the library when I…” Her eyes snapped wide open. “Gale!?”

Hurricane nodded, shaking loose a few tears. “Yeah, Clover; it’s me.”

“Gale I… I’m so sorry. I-” she was cut off as the pegasus leaned down and their lips met for the first time in a thousand years.

Rainbow watched them a moment before looking away, and her eyes met Twilight’s. The unicorn was smiling at her. She blushed, rubbing the back of her neck. “What?”

“Nothing.” Twilight shook her head, sighing as she looked up to the bright blue sky. “It’s… thank you, Rainbow. If it weren’t for you… I don’t know if I’d have ever left.”

“Nah.”

Twilight tilter her head. “What’s that?”

Shrugging her shoulders, Rainbow playfully bumped their flanks together. “Even if I didn’t come here to take you back home, when I got here… naturally… I’d have come and gotten you anyway. Ain’t no way I’d leave you down there.”

Twilight couldn’t help but to laugh, smiling brightly as she dragged Rainbow into a hug. “Yeah, that sounds about right.”

“Hey! If you two lovebirds are done we should get going; I found that flower you were talking about!”

Rainbow blushed brightly, worming out of Twilight’s hooves and rushing over to Hurricane. “Listen, I know I promised, but stuff happened - I haven’t told her yet,” she said in a hushed whisper, glancing over her shoulder at the confused unicorn watching them. “I will, just… keep it quiet for now, okay?”

“You’ve got to be kidding me…” Hurricane rubbed the bridge of her muzzle. “Fine. You…” she looked over at Clover, practically glued to her side with a blue wing around the unicorn’s back. “I owe you, so I’ll do it. But you gotta tell her, kid.”

“Thank you.” She waved Twilight over. “So, where’s this flower thing I need?”

Gale sighed. “Come on back to town with us; I found where the flower is, but… well, it’s not gonna be easy.”

Author's Note:

Whew! That was one hell of an arc, wasn't it ladies and gents? Well, it's over now; arc three is finished with this chapter. Our heroes are together, and they've gained some new friends along the way.

So yes; progress. I felt the Halls of Knowledge dragged a bit, so I'm gonna try and make the next part a little shorter. If my estimates are right, in terms of word count we've hit the halfway point for this story. And we're just passed 50K words, too! My initial thought was 80K words for this fic, but... well things happened. This is where I would have had an advantage if I wrote this out before starting to post it; I could have gone back and cut some scenes/made changes to reduce the length a bit. Ah well; live and learn, right?

Having escaped the Halls, only two more tasks remain ahead of our dear Rainbow Dash; obtaining the Poppy of the Soul, and the Fruit of Life. Let's hope those go smoothly, eh?

Muahahahaahahaahah.

Comments? Thoughts? Predictions? Post 'em below! I do so love feedback.

As always, I'll see you all again in two weeks! (Side note; these chapters have managed to coincide with my paychecks. I now have two reasons to look forward to them!)

Comments

[TheAncientPolitzanian]

And so, our intrepid heroes escape the halls of the library, and move on to the next stage of their quest.

Will they find the ingredients they need?

What other dangers will they encounter in this hostile paradise?

Will Rainbow tell Twilight her true feelings?

And, most importantly, will Rainbow bring Twilight home?

All these questions—and more—will be answered in the time to come. Tune in two weeks from now to find out what happens next!

Same Bat-Time, same Bat-Channel!

...

...

...Wait a second.

[Digital Seapony]

That sleep spell was great thinking on Twilight's part. I was almost certain Clover would end up staying behind, with the curse causing her to actively put up a fight against Rainbow's attempts to bring her out. I should've known better - Twilight won't have any of that on her watch!

The Dorky Duo is lucky to have Gale as their faithful escort. They still have two more errands to run in the Land of the Dead, and now that Twilight is right there, the Lover's Guide is probably as good as useless in Rainbow's hooves. (It can definitely come in handy if the two ever get separated, though.)

Also, I can definitely see why Rainbow didn't find it in herself to confess her feelings when she was still coming to terms with being forgiven. Still, I hope she realizes that between her sleep-talking, her newfound habit of thinking out loud, and Gale trying to play matchmaker, Twilight is bound to find out eventually.

[Kodeake]

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This chapter went through multiple versions in my head before I decided on having Twilight put Clover to sleep. Well, to be brutally honest this entire arc went through multiple versions during my planning (Clover was originally supposed to be Starswirl, but that was scrapped pretty early when I decided to have the Hurricane/Clover thing). Anyway, point being I had considered having Clover fight tooth and nail to stay, among other options that would have had this chapter end very differently, but in the end I think the version I went with lends itself best to the upcoming arc. I don't mind sharing that one of those plans was for Rainbow to be wrestling Clover out of the library and have Twilight finally succumb to the curse and start to wander back inside, forcing Rainbow to reveal certain... feelings that would snap her out of it. I hovered on that option for a while before deciding to draw that part of the story out a bit more.

And yes, the Dragon King's Compass will most certainly be returning. Although, perhaps not in the way many expect.

Indeed, it seems as though Rainbow's secret may not stay a secret for long. We'll have to wait and see, though.

(Did I mention I love teasing things? Because I love teasing things.)