What Could've Been

by Centurion Pike-Wall

Prelude~A Bridge between Worlds

3094 Imperial Calender, 9 years after the end of The Broken and the Damned

Rainbow Dash landed on the deck of the Pryhan ship Obstinata, a group of sailors stopping their tasks to salute her. She headed along the length of the deck, careful to push past the crewers of the ship. She climbed the stairs to the helm, being greeted by the Captain of the ship. "Ave, Praetor. Sorry if I was interrupting anything"

"Ave, Captain", Rainbow replied. "No, you weren't. Just going over some paperwork and... personal stuff from Equestria. Anyway, what're we dealing with?"

"We don't actually know, ma'am", the Captain said. He led her over to the back of the helm, gesturing out into the water. Just at the entrance of the Strait of Beccus, a half-mile beyond the Pillars, a massive yellow ball of energy swelled just below the waterline. "It just showed up about an hour ago. Scared the hells out of one of our Patrol Craft. We're keeping our distance until we can get a team with the Runic Guild up here."

Rainbow nodded slightly, glaring at the ball. She had limited experience with powerful magic; that was Twilight's job back when she lived in Equestria. Magic, outside of a few basic runes, wasn't all that common in everyday Pryha, so something like this never really came up.

Strangely, the more she stared at it, the more she got this weird nagging feeling. Ponies had the innate ability to detect magic. It wasn't perfect, and it certainly wasn't that powerful among non-unicorns. However, she had the basic idea of the magic being put into this spell. Which worried her, as the magic for some reason felt... familiar.

+++++~+++++

1021 ANM, 1 year since Luster Dawn arrived in Ponyville

Luster smiled, looking up at the familiar sight of Canterlot Castle. After her year in Ponyville, she had gotten tickets to the Grand Galloping Gala. Along with her new friends, they had just been waved through the security station and into the main ballroom.

"So this is Canterlot Castle, eh?", Giselle asked, eyeing the ponies and various other creatures that had already arrived. "Honestly, I was expecting... more gold?"

"Is that just the Griffon speaking?", Yasmin asked.

Giselle shook her head, "No. Well, not fully. Just, thought that because this is the center of Equestria."

"Alright then", Luster said. "You all can go have fun and... I don't know. I'm going to go see the Princess."

"Well, in that case", Golden Crust said, "There is a large amount of food that is begging for me."

The stallion, true to his claims, made a b-line for the buffet table. River Song groaned, before saying, "I should go make sure my coltfriend doesn't eat himself under a table here of all places. You go see the Princess."

"Guess we'll go snoop around", Giselle added. "Good luck with that... whatever it was you were working on."

As her friends split off, Luster made her way through the steadily growing crowd of Ponies. She scanned the crowd, finally spotting her teacher towards the back. She finally got clear of the mingling creatures, spotting Princess Twilight talking with Ms. Fluttershy.

"Discord will be joining us", Fluttershy said. "He just needed to finish up a few things at home. You know how much trouble Engima can be."

"Oh, it's not a major issue", Princess Twilight said. "I just hope he doesn't bring any uninvited guests like last time."

"Princess!", Luster said, seeing her opportunity to enter the conversation.

Twilight turned to her, a warm smile on her lips. "Oh, Luster! Glad you could make it. How has Ponyville been?"

"Wonderful, Princess", Luster said, coming to a stop just in front of her. "I know you probably get tired of hearing this, but you were right. I've had a lot of fun with my friends, and I still was able to work on my studies. I even learned a new spell!"

Twilight kept her smile, but cocked an eyebrow. "A new spell? From where?"

"I found it in the library of your School", Luster said. "It was on a manuscript in the back."

"Huh", Spike said, arriving with a small plate of gems in his hand. "I didn't know there were any like that at the School."

"Me neither", Twilight said. "Maybe Starlight put it in after she became headmare." Twilight rubbed a hoof along her chin, thoughts racing through her mind. "Would you mind showing us, Luster?"

"Of course!", Luster said. She lit up her horn, recalling the exact way to weave the spell that the manuscript instructed. A massive well of golden light arced up and down the bony limb, growing in size and intensity.

+++++~+++++

"I want a closer look", Rainbow said, surprising the Captain.

He asked, "Are you sure, Praetor? I mean, you know the protocol when it comes to this kind of thing just as well as I do, so-"

"I am well aware, Captain", Rainbow said, shifting on her talons. "But, something about this... I can't really explain it to a non-pony, but It feels familiar somehow."

The Captain nodded. "My half-brothers' uncles sisters coltfriend is apart of the Runic Guild, so I know something of what you're talking about. Still, I don't feel entirely comfortable with this."

"I don't either, Captain", Rainbow admitted. "Still, I want to take a look."

She spread her wings, taking off from the deck of the ship. She hovered over the orb, making sure to stay just high enough above the water to avoid the occasional arcs of magic energy it gave off. Much closer now, she was defiantly right about it being somehow familiar. That faint feeling was much stronger, albeit still not much. She lowered herself just a little bit more, close enough to see something through the orb. It was a yellow-tinted picture of... were those the Canterlot Gardens?

She lowered just a little bit more, almost unconscious of the shift in altitude. That few inches, however, was seemingly enough for the magic. An arc, bigger and thicker than the others, shot out of the water and latched onto her waist. Rainbow flailed in alarm, trying in vain to reach for her swords. Loud shouting and mechanical clicking came from the ship, the crew racing to bring its mounted ballista to bear. However, they were too slow, as she was sucked down into the orb.

+++++~+++++

Rainbow spilled onto, surprisingly, soft grass, splaying out like a crushed grape. She groaned, lifting her head off the ground. As soon as her sense recovered, she began to look around.

Sure enough, she was indeed in the Canterlot Gardens. Several large trees formed a grove, a path lined with bushes leading both towards the palace and the hedge maze. Speaking of the palace, the towering structure dominated most of the right-side of her vision, reaching up seemingly into the heavens. Music, muffled from distance, reached her ears; a soft, melodious orchestral number.

Rainbow got to her hooves, pulling up her neck gaiter and pulling down her goggles. Even though this appeared to be Canterlot, there was still a lot of unknowns. There was no real explanation of how she got here. Beyond that, there was another nagging feeling that replaced her earlier one. This one being that something... just wasn't right.

"Oh?", a voice behind her said. One that, even though it had been almost two decades, she recognized instantly. "What do we have here?"

Rainbow tilted her head slightly, glaring around the goggle lens. Just past the golden frame, she was able to spot the creature that was floating behind her. As she suspected, the voice belonged to none other than the Chaos-Bringer himself; Discord.

Rainbow grit her teeth, slowly reaching for a pistol tucked at her side.

+++++~+++++

Luster sighed, the magic fading from her horn. Her eyelids, clenched shut in concentration and exertion, slacked so that she was merely keeping her eyes closed. She opened them to look at her teacher, who was watching her with a calm expression.

"Nice light show, kid!", another voice called. Rainbow Dash and Applejack pushed their way to them, both mares flashing friendly smiles.

Luster lowered her head, only for Princess Twilight to put a hoof on her shoulder. "It's ok, Luster. Trust me, I know the feeling when a spell you worked hard on simply doesn't work. Sometimes, magic just doesn't-"

*CRACK-BOOM!!*

Everything seemed to stop from the massive blast of noise. The orchestra ground to a halt, conversations ceased, and all eyes turned to the fading echos that came from the Gardens. Twilights eyes narrowed, before her own horn lit. After a small flash of magic, herself, Luster, Rainbow, Applejack, Spike, and Fluttershy were all in the gardens.

All ponies froze in shock at the sight before them. A clearing wall of smoke showed a fight going on. Discord was one of the combatants, although it was apparent he was mostly running away. His pursuer was the one drawing most of their attention. She was a mare clad in white armor, along with a plumed helmet and fur cloak. She was carrying a pair of swords, and trying almost desperately to try and hack Discord to pieces. As he rolled, flicked around like a whip, and teleported short distances, she kept up with him in a blur of speed, swords arcing like twin slivers of moonlight.

Rainbow Dash was the first to overcome her stupefaction. She sprang off the ground tackling the armored mare as she was trying to impale the Draconequus. Caught off-guard by the sudden move, the mare was sent flying back, while Discord teleported over to Fluttershy. "Oh, dear!", Fluttershy said, grabbing his neck. "Are you hurt?"

"A few cuts, but nothing bad", he said.

Everyone's attention was drawn back to the armored mare. She had stopped herself by digging her swords into the ground, and now glared at them. However, instead of attacking again, she seemed to go rigid. "Quid in*...", she said, her voice containing an accent Luster had never heard before.

The Princess was the next to react, stepping forward and igniting her horn. Luster could feel the power behind the prepared spell as she came to a stop behind Rainbow Dash, the mare crouched down like a panther ready to pounce. "I am Princess Twilight Sparkle of Equestria. Who are you?"

Surprisingly, the other mare laughed. It was, without a doubt, the strangest laugh that Luster had ever heard; both good-natured and somewhat sinister at the same time, complimented by that strange accent. "Well, this is certainly not how I expected this to go."

"The hay does that mean?", Rainbow Dash snarled.

"It means", the other mare said, removing a limb (Luster realized with horror that she apparently had a pair of prosthetics) from her sword hilt and bringing it to her just behind her shoulder. "That I have a feeling I'm not really in the know of how things are here."

With that, she brought the talon back, holding something. At first, Luster was worried that it might be another weapon. However, this worry was replaced by confusion when her grip slacked, allowing the grabbed braid to hang limply across her shoulder. That confusion turned to shock when she recognized the colors; a somewhat dazzling mix of all the colors of the Rainbow.

Author's Note:

For those of you wondering, Giselle, Yasmin, Golden Crust, and River Song are my names for Luster Dawns' friends.

*-What in the...

Comments

[Skyblazer9]

A very good start, I'm looking forward to more.

[sykko]

Wow, interdimensional travel duplicates!

[WhitewolfStormrunner]

Well, this'll be interesting, to say the least.

Looking forward to more cross-dimensional shenanigans.

[THERDSTORYWHISPERER]

Great chapter!

If you don’t mind me asking, when will we expect new chapters to come out?

[OP Omni God-Emperor Doom]

So, Our Praetor Rainbow Dash from The Broken and the Damn meets her Canon Show Counterpart that Still has her Friends??!!

OH BOY!!!!

:-[

They are gonna be So Traumatized and Heartbroken over our Rainbow's F***** Up Life. Especially NOT Forgiving Most of her Friends. And the Missing Limbs and the Torture/Rape Part!!!!

[BleuBlooms]

10665156
Traumatized

[BleuBlooms]

I have read this and though I have read your other story. I have a feeling I will enjoy this story more then your other. Even if to exist you had to write the other.

Im curious will you tackle, luster dawn, at all?

After all its still a unicorn, not a changeling, earth pony, or a....pegasus? Im just throwing ideas? What do you think?

Ps. This something that might be interesting from a narrative point of view, Celestia of the other world meets this worlds Celestia?

Pps. You will include that moment with Dashes hero worship and Mare Do Well? The way they tore her down after she had saved people and then instead of coming to her...

Further well I was going to suggest more. But I realized I have said enough. If your curious I do have some more ideas. Any way I just want to say thank you for this chapter and have nice afternoon.

[OP Omni God-Emperor Doom]

10665809

Thanks. I have some Stupid "Spelling Correcting" thing in my Tablet that keeps giving me some wrong misspelling.

[MosAnted]

I'm curious, is this canon to Youngblood?

[Moonlight Tome]

Oh. This is gonna be fun to talk about...