II.13 - Reflections
A storm cloud had gathered over the Everfree, rising up like a mountain of unbridled black fury and thunderous rage. Lightning roiled through the titan clouds like a web of celestial spiders seething with unimaginable power. A merciless wall of rain and hail drove against her tormented body as she rode across the sky on a prismatic wave.
She was not fast enough! She could never be fast enough!
Tears streamed down her frozen face as she grit her teeth and pulled upwards through the roaring thunderstorm. The storm was too much, she had to go higher, had to reach the calm above the clouds. Her hair and feathers sizzled with energy as she raced between flashes of lightning, unable to see anything but the bright, searing lights. Perhaps she would never see again, perhaps she would be struck blind and live in eternal darkness … for the last few seconds she had left in this world of pain.
And then the hail and rain stopped. She was out, bursting into the open sky high above the world. The light slowly dimmed from pure white to dark red. She could see again. She was out, streaking across the clear sky like a multicolored bolt of lightning. The sky was bleeding with the scarlet drops of the setting sun. Ahead of her was her own trail, around and around … like the snake of legend biting its own tail.
She had to go faster!
Below her the storm raged on like some unstoppable beast of legend, a great black tornado swirling around the old castle. A black chasm of doom, and in its center glowed a cyan heart, a great dome of flickering blue light, like a blue moon fallen to Earth. Black streaks and roaring flames assaulted the great dome and were shot down by flashes of deathly pale white.
The dome was faltering, flickering under the force of a persistent assault. Great black holes were forming in the glowing pale blue. Dash stared in abject horror as the shield flickered one last time and collapsed. A scream rose up from deep below as bolts of black flames struck at the ground.
A second wave of light flashed into existence, a weak purple flicker against the onslaught of darkness. A tiny lavender dot raced across the ground, speeding towards the dying embers of blue. A great flash streaked towards it …
In a second it would kill her. Her shield would shatter at the blow.
“TWI!”
Dash screamed and abandoned her trail, abandoned Death and Destiny. She spun into a downward flash straight at the ground, straight at the last flickering light of Twilight's life. She would not make it, there was no way she could ever make it, but she had to! She screamed at the top of her lungs and closed her eyes tight. Her body was frozen, she couldn't feel a thing, but a single thought drove her on …
A prismatic circlet of light burned around her head as she plummeted to her final fate, too fast to stop, too numb to feel, too desperate to think. And then the world lit up, brighter than ever before, in colors more brilliant and pure then eyes had ever before witnessed.
And her heart beat once …
“NO!”
***
“TWI! NO!”
Dash jerked her head up, her breath frantic and eyes staring in wide horror at the great dusty library of Canterlot. Tears soaked her face as well as the desk she had fallen asleep over, and her whole body trembled. It took her several seconds to calm down enough for her mind to register the pony holding her and speaking softly to her.
“… just a dream … don't worry, it was just a dream. You're safe, nothing's gonna happen.”
Dash spun around and hugged a surprised Twilight, holding her tight while crying.
“Whoa … um,” Twilight said and patted her back a little awkwardly, like she wasn't quite sure what to do or say. “There there.”
It took several additional seconds before she slowly became conscious of herself. Feeling suddenly quite embarrassed, she let go of Twilight and coughed, trying to look cool. It was very hard. “Um, heh … sorry, I-I got a little rattled. Bad dream, heh.” She looked down. “Please don't tell anypony.”
Twilight smiled. “It's alright Dash. I'm your friend, I understand.” She looked a little more serious and gazed into Dash's eyes, which only made Dash feel more awkward. “What was the dream about?”
Dash wiped her face and the old wooden desk, trying to sober up enough to not look completely pathetic. “I … I really don't think I want to remember it, if you don't mind, Twilight.”
“Please try, while you still can remember it,” Twilight persisted, looking concerned. “It might be important. Was it a memory, do you think? Something about what happened to you?”
“No, not anything that happened,” Dash said and looked around at the library, trying to find a clock or a window so she could figure out how long they had spent here, looking through old, dusty books. No wonder she had fallen asleep. Probably no wonder she had had a nightmare either, being surrounded by so much concentrated boredom. “Just a silly nightmare.”
Twilight didn't give up. “Please … for me?”
Dash looked at Twilight and sighed. She couldn't say no to those purple eyes, so full of concern and caring. “Well …” she muttered and rubbed her face, trying to remember the start of the dream and all the little details that followed. Twilight listened and took careful notes as Dash recounted the dream.
***
Dash held back a groan as Twilight loaded another stack of books on her already overloaded back. Who knew a bunch of stupid books could be so damn heavy? Were the pages made of gold? Some of them did have gold leaf on the edges, maybe someone long ago had decided golden edges weren't gold enough.
Twilight paused and looked at her for the hundredth time at least. Dash knew the look. “Are you sure it's not a problem? They are quite heavy. I'm not overburdening you, am I?”
“Seriously, Twi?” Dash grinned proudly. “Who's the Iron Pony here? I could carry a hundred more books at least,” she said, punctuating it with a light snap of her tail. “No problem!”
Twilight smiled. “If you're sure. I just wanted to make certain.”
Dash watched her trot off and disappear among the rows of ancient books and scrolls … again. She allowed herself a little groan as she shifted a little under the load. “My big blabbering mouth …” she muttered, too quiet to be heard.
Twilight was still a little weak after the poison and needed to relax to recover fully. Of course, Dash supposedly needed to take it easy too, but she felt alright and not dizzy or anything at all, so why worry? Her wings still ached, but they had done that before, she just needed to fly that off as she always did. No big deal. If her friend needed her, Dash wasn't about to let her down, so of course she had offered to carry Twilight's books for her. In fact she had insisted, to spare Twilight.
Minutes drifted by. If it wasn't for the load on her back, Dash might have closed her eyes for a moment. At last Twilight returned, carrying a few more books and a box of scrolls. “Alright, this will have to do for now,” she said and looked up at Dash. She stopped and considered her friend. “I think I can carry these,” she said with a smile.
“Just load 'em on me, Twi,” Dash said. “I might as well take 'em all.”
“You don't have to, Dash. I know you could, you don't have to prove it to me,” she said, then levitated a few books off of Dash's back. “Look, I'll take these too. Fair's fair.”
“Alright, fine,” Dash rolled her eyes. She didn't actually mind, but she tried not to show it too much. “So can we leave now?”
“Yes, I wouldn't mind getting back to my bed at the castle. I'm exhausted.” Twilight stacked her books and placed them in her saddlebags, then trotted around and out the door, followed more slowly by Dash. They walked down the halls of the Canterlot archive towards the streets from which Twilight would teleport them back to Gloaming. Dash hoped doing so was not too much of a strain for her friend, but Twilight had assured her that she felt up to it.
Dash was wandering in her own thoughts, trying to not tip over with all the books, when Twilight suddenly stopped and lifted a hoof to her face, looking briefly like she was going to be sick again. Dash hurried as best she could to Twilight's side, offering her someone to lean against. “Whoa, are you alright? What was that?”
Twilight blinked a few times and rubbed her head. “I-I'm fine, something's—” She looked back up and listened as a distant rumble shook the walls of the archive. Twilight spun around and darted down the hall to the nearest window.
“Wait for me!” Dash called and wobbled briefly. She managed to avoid a catastrophe with the books and hurried after Twilight. “What's wrong? What is it?”
Twilight was standing with her hooves in the window, staring out at the sky. “Nonononono, this is not good! This is all wrong!” she rambled.
Dash pulled herself up to the window and peered out. The sun had set, probably no more than an hour or two ago. No surprise there, the bigger surprise was that Twilight hadn't spent all night in the archive. It was unusually bright, though … Dash blinked, then stared. “I'm seeing double. Tell me I'm seeing double, Twi. I knew there was something in that tea!”
“We have to find Luna!” Twilight said and rushed down the hall. “Come on.”
Dash stared at the two glowing orbs in the sky. “It's got to be the tea, r-right?” she asked and realized that Twilight was already far down the hall, calling for her. Dash blinked one last time at the two moons, then hurried after Twilight.
***
A storm cloud had gathered over the old castle.
“Princess!”
Twilight rushed through the doors of the grand hall. Dash followed much more slowly and practically tipped over inside the door, throwing all the books off her on the ground. “Ugh, this is not light reading!” she groaned and ruffled her wings as she stood back up and rushed after Twilight, now finally free to move at a good, proper speed.
They found Luna in the throne room, looking like a thunderstorm barely contained within a brittle glass. “What do you mean, nothing?!” she roared at a young guard who had been so unfortunate as to become the focus of her ire—probably because all the older guards knew when to send the young one to be the messenger.
“H-he still hasn't told us anything, Y-your Majesty,” the guard said, bravely holding on to his nerves and trying to stay cool. “But,” he added quickly and with surprising guts, “we are still working on it, as you ordered, Your Highness.”
Luna looked up and saw Twilight and Dash enter. She waved a dismissive hoof at the guard. “Bring him before Us. We shall deal with him!”
“As you command, Princess.” The guard bowed deep and galloped off past Twilight and Dash.
“Princess?” Twilight looked at the princess and decided it was wise to bow. Dash followed suit, kneeling down on the polished stone floor.
“The insolence!” Luna said, apparently not at them, and spun around. Her eyes, gleaming with bright rage, narrowed as she gazed out a tall window at the offending object in the sky. “The night sky belongs to me! It is my gift to the world, and I will not have it sullied by this … this gaudy bead! Have you seen that thing? It's an outrage!”
Twilight stood up slowly. “Princess, perhaps if you calm down—” Luna turned to glare at them. Twilight shrank a back, but continued “—and tell us what is going on, and what we can do?”
Luna's eyes flashed dangerously for a second, then she closed them and trotted back to the grand obsidian throne. She sat down heavily. “This is Eden's work, depend upon it, Twilight Sparkle,” she said darkly. “I can not begin to imagine why she disgraces my beautiful night like this, but I very well intend to find out! I demand answers for this!”
“What were you talking with the guard about just now?” Twilight continued, daring to move a little closer to the throne.
“We arrested one of the Shadowbolts earlier,” the princess said and glanced back out the window. “Because of your earlier suspicions, as well as the attack on you, we have kept him under charges of being a changeling and attempting assassination. Foolish of him to stick around.” She turned around again, and her eyes fell on Dash. “My sister's guards sent word that they caught a changeling pretending to be you and snooping around in Ponyville, along with another Shadowbolt who unfortunately escaped. Your dopplegänger, no doubt. I sent orders to have her brought here, it should have reached them now.”
Twilight bit her lip. “What are we going to do, Princess?”
Luna looked up, her eyes intense. “We make him talk.” There was a knock on the door. The princess stood up and regarded the entrance with a cool stare. “Enter!”
The heavy doors swung open and four armed guards trotted in, leading a Shadowbolt in chains between them. Twilight and Dash stepped aside to let them pass. The prisoner glanced up at them as he was lead down the grand hall before the princess. Two more guards entered and closed the doors before standing to attention beside the entrance.
The Shadowbolt stood straight up before the princess, awaiting what was to happen. Luna regarded him for a time before speaking. “My trusted guard tells me that you recited the sworn oath of the Shadowbolts flawlessly,” Luna began, her piercing blue eyes never leaving the chained pony. “Even the three secret lines at the end that I provided my General in a sealed envelope. It would seem you are who you claim and we owe you an apology, mister Blaze.”
Blaze said nothing, standing at attention and staring straight ahead.
“So perhaps you would like to explain the blood sample that was taken from you.” Luna's expression remained blank. “A rare blood condition, perhaps?”
Blaze still did not move. “I can not explain that, Your Highness.”
“Very unfortunate. What is your name, changeling?”
“Blaze, Your Highness.”
“And your real name?”
“It is the only name that I desire to give, Your Highness.”
“I see.” Luna sat down on the throne and regarded him for a long time. “Then perhaps you wish to tell us how you know the secret lines that only I and the real Shadowbolts should have known? Did you perhaps torture it out of them?”
Blaze remained silent, staring straight ahead.
“You have been informed that you stand accused of espionage, kidnapping, impersonation and attempted assassination of the royal protégé and her friend, as well as the intention to assassinate others? You are aware that for these crimes you face death?”
“I have been informed of this,” Blaze said solemnly. “I plea innocent of these charges. I wish no harm upon anypony.”
Luna watched him for several more seconds in silence. “And what proof do you—” She paused and glanced up slightly. A faint commotion was heard through the heavy doors at the other end of the room. “—have of your innocence?” she continued as she stood up, watching the doors intently.
Blaze glanced around as well. “Only my word, Your Highness.”
Luna made a gesture for the guards, who moved to stand by the door, except the two holding Blaze. “The honor of a changeling, is it?” she said to Blaze.
The commotion was getting closer. Dash could hear muffled yelling, then the doors burst open and a light blue pegasus in Shadowbolts uniform landed on the floor with several guards on top. “He didn't do it!” she yelled and tried to struggle free of the guards. “Ungh!” she groaned as the guards managed to get a hold of her and lock her hooves.
Luna gave the mare an unreadable look. “I see. Perhaps you wish to save us some time and confess, then? I notice you forgot your beautiful Northern accent, miss Frostfell.”
“I see no, ngh, reason to keep it up now,” she said as the guards chained her and pulled her back up.
Luna nodded. “Wise, and so refreshing. What is your name, then?”
“Flix, Your Highness.” She stopped next to Blaze, giving him an apologetic look. “And my brother and I never meant anypony any harm, I swear it.” She glanced around at Dash and Twilight. “I also know who was trying to kill you.”
“Flix it is then …” Luna sat back down as the doors were closed again and calm returned to the throne room. “And who was this, if not you or … your brother, is it?”
“Yes, Your Highness.” Flix returned her attention to Luna. “It was another changeling, but she is dead now.” She looked down. “I can show you where I buried her only hours ago.”
Luna's brow furrowed as she watched Flix and her brother. “Let me get this right, you claim that you killed the changeling who tried to poison Twilight and her friend?”
“I … I did, Your Highness,” Flix said. She looked around, her eyes briefly lingering on Dash before she continued. “She tried to hurt … somepony. I had no other choice. She had her saddlebag full of poison and pictures of Twilight and her friends.”
Dash watched intently. It was impossible to tell what the princess was thinking, but Dash got the impression that Luna had already guessed most of the answers and just wanted to hear it confirmed.
“She tried to kill … somepony? What pony was this, miss Flix?”
Flix's wing twitched slightly. She glanced around again. “Rainbow Dash, Your Highness.”
“We are talking about miss Dash's double, I presume?”
“Yes, Your Highness.” Flix straightened herself up a bit, seemingly deciding that the cat was out of the box now, so she might as well talk. Blaze was staring at the floor next to her. “She was with me in the forest. We were gathering herbs to fix her broken leg. She ran into the other changeling who tried to stab her, and so I killed her. The changeling, that is.”
Luna nodded a little. “I see. So where is the other Rainbow Dash now?”
“I told her to return to where she has been staying,” Flix said evasively. “After I got her out of Ponyville,” she added.
There were a few glances among the guards. The princess remained unreadable. “Ponyville?”
“Yes. When she saw the pictures and the poison she rushed off to warn her friends and ran into royal guards who thought she was a changeling. I do apologize for knocking out one of your sister's corporals, but I had no choice.”
“Why?”
“To protect her, Your Highness. They can not meet, or they will die. Or so I understand it. They must be kept apart until they can safely be reunited.”
Dash blinked and looked at Twilight. Her friend shrugged, looking no less surprised.
Luna's eyes still revealed none of her thoughts. If she was surprised, she didn't show it. “And then you told her to return to where you have been secretly keeping her? Unescorted?”
Flix nodded. “Yes, Your Highness. We do not keep her against her will.”
“And where do you keep her?” Flix said nothing. Luna waited several seconds before continuing. “You will not tell, is that it?”
Flix looked straight at Luna. “I will not betray my Queen, Your Highness.”
“Eden, I presume?”
Flix nodded once. “I will not betray my Queen,” she repeated. Dash thought she detected a tiny glimmer of a smile on her lips, like she was planning something. “But I will show you to the body of the assassin, and if you let my brother and I go free, then I shall arrange a meeting with her there.”
Luna narrowed her eyes, and the silence of the room grew tense. Finally she said, “Show us to the assassin. We make no further promises.”
Stats
Page generated in 0.026 seconds
Total duration
992 users online
2,263,316 hits today, 2,561,572 yesterday
FIMFiction
My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic Fanfiction
Designed and coded by knighty & Xaquseg - © 2011-2024
Follow & Support Us
Support us
SubStar
Chat!
Discord
Follow us
Twitter
MLP: Friendship is Magic® - © 2024 Hasbro Inc.®
Fimfiction is in no way affiliated with or endorsed by Hasbro Inc.®
Duuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuude!! Epic. Man Flix and Blaze are ina pickle. I am liking them a whole lot.
1751424
I'm glad to hear that
I try to make them likable and down-to-earth. OCs are always tricky business
I applaud you simply because. I can see these two changeling becoming more then just side characters. Again thanks!
I have no idea what to say to this
1751862
Is that good or bad?
1751997 the first
Kill them.
Oooh, interesting. On a random note, this line really stuck out (in a good way) to me:
Its really descriptive, and quite inventive. It just conjures up such a cool image.
And two moons? Shenanigans, I say! I'd be a bit peeved if I were Luna, too. I still don't know how to feel about Eden. Her whole puppeteer act rubs me the wrong way, but I still kind of like her despite it. Or maybe because of it. Hard to say. And yay, Flix to the rescue! Its too bad the Dashes can't meet (for now) - that has the potential for some really awkward conversations.
Dash #2: "Oh hey, I kinda banged a changeling. His name is Doodle."
Dash #1: "What! Oh, well, I think I have a crush on Twilight."
Dash #2: "Huh...this could be potentially problematic. Should we go save the world now?"
Dash #1: "Yeah, probably."
*Cue epic Double Rainbow attack*
Yeah, so my random rambling aside, still really loving this, and looking forward to more whenever its available
1768122
Someone probably forgot to inform them about the doppleganger, so they knew RD was in Canterlot with Twilight and probably felt entirely certain that the one snooping around in Ponyville couldn't possibly be the real one. No need for questions, then
1768194
Thanks!
Heh. We'll just have to see how these things go.