Legends of the Past

by TwilightVanguard58

A Talk with Apples and Giants

Fluttershy let out a defeated sigh. She may have been determined to find Rainbow Dash and make things right but the others had insisted that they properly attend to her wing. She agreed, though reluctantly, and Rarity volunteered to help her. So while they were taking care of that Twilight and Spike were taking the opportunity to properly introduce themselves to Terra, considering the previous circumstances were a bit less opportune.

“So, you’re Terra?” Spike asked while looking up at the titan. It had been a good long while since he met someone he even had to look up to, and Terra had nearly a full two feet on him. It almost reminded Spike of his days with Twilight in Canterlot and having to be on Twilight’s back to look anypony in the eye.

“Yep, and I’m assuming you must be Spike. No one ever mentioned you were a dragon.” Terra greeted, though the last statement caused Spike to narrow his eyes.

“That’s not going to be a problem, is it?” he asked, a venomous edge to his voice. Terra, however, simply laughed it off.

“Of course not, I just meant that I was expecting another pony. I’ve got no problems with dragons, I’d be kind of a hypocrite if I did.” He reassured the young drake. It seemed to work, though there was something Spike wasn’t sold on.

“Wait, why would that make you a hypocrite? It’s not like you’re a dragon.”

“I’m not exactly a pony either.”

“Ok, fair point.” Spike said and then gestured to Twilight. “Now allow me to introduce the Princess of Friendship, Element of Magic, Fourth Ruler of Equestria and my sister; Twilight Sparkle!”

He said this all in an overly pompous fashion, Terra swore he could even hear trumpets playing from somewhere. All the while Twilight was giving her little brother the kind of annoyed look only an embarrassed sister could give. It didn’t take Spike long to break down in laughter at the sight, causing Twilight to release an exasperated sigh.

“Ugh, Spike! You know I hate it when you use all those titles.” she said before shaking her head and looking back at Terra, “Please, just call me Twilight.”

“If that is what you prefer.” Terra said, letting out a few chuckles himself. Something about the two sibling’s interaction felt comfortingly familiar, and then something connected, “Wait, did you say ‘sister’?”

This caused Twilight to smile widely, “He sure did! Spike here is my favorite little brother and the best advisor I could ask for.”

“I’m your only little brother.” Spike deadpanned.

“Hush you.”

Terra chuckled once more at their playful bickering. He then took the opportunity to take a closer look at the two.

Spike was tall and Terra could see the tight, lean muscles on him, giving him an almost cat-like appearance. The cat theme was only enhanced by his slit-pupiled, emerald eyes. He had a long tail like Terra but, while Terra's started thick at the base and gradually tapered out into a whip-like point, Spike's was a more uniform thickness and ended in an arrowhead. Terra was then drawn to his massive bat-like wings that seemed proportionally larger than even Twilight’s alicorn wings. The last thing Terra took note of was the purple dragon’s teeth which, while noticeably sharp, were also thick and chisel-like.

He then looked over at Twilight. She was about 5’10, as tall as Silver and noticeably taller than the rest of the mares while still being shorter than Spike. Unlike Silver, who was statuesque with her toned muscles, Twilight was much more obviously slender, so much so that Terra was actually a little worried she didn’t eat enough. Her coat was a pleasant shade of lavender, the same as her eyes, while her mane and tail were navy blue with two streaks of magenta and lavender. Her cutie mark was two six-pointed stars, a magenta one on top of a white one, surrounded by five smaller stars.

As Terra was observing Twilight and Spike, Twilight was doing the same to him while trying to contain her excitement. Like her friends had told her he truly was like nothing she had ever seen before and the prospect of a new discovery was making her a bit giddy. However, another thing she was checking out was his feet. While she felt like she could trust him, the destroyed village was still relatively fresh in her mind and, more specifically, the large footprint they found at the site. She took a mental sigh of relief when neither his fleshy, clawless front feet nor his thick-clawed back feet matched the large, three-toed footprint at the destroyed town. Though there was still a nagging voice in the back of her head that was saying that his sudden appearance couldn’t be a coincidence.

“Ahem!”

Twilight was brought out of her thoughts by Spike loudly clearing his throat. She looked up to find that Fluttershy and Rarity had joined them, Fluttershy having fresh wrapping on her wing. She also found them, as well as Spike, giving her a knowing look while Terra just seemed confused. Twilight felt her cheeks heat up as she laughed nervously.

“I zoned out, didn’t I?” she asked.

“In the wise words of a big red farm pony, ‘Eyup’.” Spike said in an exaggerated southern drawl, causing the mares to burst into laughter.

Terra, an amused smile on his face, leaned over to Spike and whispered, “Does she do that often?”

“Does the sun rise in the morning?” Spike whispered back in a sarcastic manner. The two guys then joined the mares in their mirth.

After their laughter died down they then moved on to finding Rainbow Dash. After some discussion they decided that Fluttershy and Twilight would go search for their friend while Terra, Rarity and Spike stayed behind at the cottage, reasoning that they still couldn’t risk bringing their new giant friend into Ponyville and Rarity and Spike deciding to stay and keep him company.

Once they had a plan of action Fluttershy and Twilight took their leave, saying they would bring Rainbow back with them once they found her. As the door shut, the three that were left behind looked at each other in a somewhat awkward silence. A silence that was broken by all three stomachs rumbling. Spike looked at his stomach, then to the other two, then to the kitchen, then back to the other two.

“Snacks?”

---

Whack

Thump Thump Thump

A large red earth pony stallion wiped his brow, pushing some of his orange mane out of his eyes, and smiled at his hard work.

Just one buck, he thought to himself Ah still got it.

This massive, 6’2 stallion was Big Macintosh Apple, and he was doing what he did best; bucking apples.

He had already been awake for a couple hours, rising with the sun itself, and had spent the majority of that time harvesting the orchard. Usually he would have help from his sisters but right now Applejack was in the Crystal Empire on a mission from the Princess while Applebloom was in town taking care of the stall. This left the eldest Apple sibling all alone to take care of the orchard, but he didn’t mind the extra work.

Truth be told, Big Mac actually found work like this quite therapeutic. He was by no means a workaholic like his sister could be, he knew what his limits were and respected them, but there just wasn’t much of anything quite as satisfying as a job well done and that was something he reveled in. However, this was the last tree he had to take care of before he took a lunch break, and he was really looking forward to the apple fritters he'd been saving.

Licking his lips at the thought of the sugary apple treats, he went to collect the baskets full of apples but that’s when he saw something out of the corner of his eye. Looking over and taking a closer look it was impossible not to see the rainbow colored tail hanging from the branches of one of the trees. He rolled his eyes, the smile adorning his face.

Guess she decided it was nap time.

He shook his head in good humor, he was used to the athletic mare taking ‘siestas’, as she called them, and wasn’t bothered by her presence. Out of all of Applejack’s friends Big Mac probably talked the most with Rainbow for the simple fact that she was on the farm more often than the rest of them, even if most of that time was spent sleeping in trees. He silently chuckled at the thought. He would usually be fine letting her sleep, but it was starting to get pretty hot out and he didn’t think she would much like waking up covered in sweat.

He set the baskets down and started to make his way to the tree he saw the rainbow-hued tail hanging out of. However, as he approached his ears picked up a new sound that made him stop in confusion. It was soft and almost imperceptible, the only reason he heard it at all was because of how quiet everything else was at the moment, but it was also unmistakable. He'd heard the sound of whimpers far too much in his life to not recognize it. He flicked his ears around for a second to make sure it was coming from where he thought it was and his confusion turned to worry once his suspicions were confirmed.

What in tarnation?

He made his way quickly to the tree and looked up to see Rainbow Dash. While she was somewhat obscured by the leaves, he could see that she was shivering as if caught in a snowstorm.

“Miss Dash, is everything alright?” he asked, his deep voice laced with worry.

Rainbow was obviously not expecting anypony at the moment and let out a surprised, high-pitched squeak at the sound of the large stallion’s voice and promptly fell out of the tree. Big Mac probably would’ve found the squeak cute, if not for how out of character it was. He took a worried step forward, only to be stopped by the mare.

“No! Stay back!”

Her voice was extremely hoarse and even raspier than usual showing the strain that had been put on her throat. Big Mac, even more worried now, shook his head and pushed on.

“Now hold on a sec,” he started in as comforting of a voice as he could muster, “Ah ain’t gonna hurt ya none, Ah just want to make sure-” he froze in his tracks when he finally got a good look at the mare.

She was covered with bruises and scratches and he could see the traces of dried blood in some spots, including the corner of her mouth and nose, and frazzled didn’t even begin to describe the state of her mane and coat. One of her eyes was red and puffy, obviously from crying, but the other one was the one that caught his attention as it was black and grossly swollen. He had seen her get into some pretty bad training accidents before but this was something else entirely.

“Sweet Celestia’s flank, what happened?!” he yelled out, which only managed to cause the small mare to shrink back and tremble even more violently. The only thing preventing her from flying away then and there was her lack of energy.

“I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I’m sorry…” she started to repeat like a broken record. Big Mac grimaced at the sight, realizing what he had unintentionally done, and immediately softened his voice.

“Sorry, that was thick-headed of me. Ah didn’t mean to scare ya.” he said while slowly making his way toward her. Once he was close enough he knelt down so that he didn’t seem so intimidating and looked her in the eye.

“Miss Da- Dashie, what happened?” he said, deciding to use her nickname as he thought it would help to calm her.

It seemed to have the desired effect as she slowly looked up into the stallion's eyes. What she could see in the oceans of green was care and worry. That worry was increased when he noticed her trembling worsened. He was then surprised and knocked back, literally, when she slammed into him, curling up and burying her face into his chest as her tears began anew.

“I-I-I m-messed up, Mac. *sniffle* I-I messed up and s-somepony got h-hurt.” she was able to stutter out. Big Mac was about to ask for her to elaborate but a combination of her trembling and his now thoroughly soaked chest caused him to save his questions.

“Save your words for later, right now just let it out.” he said in a soothing voice as she did just that. The red stallion wasn’t what one would call an emotional pony, unless it was with his sisters, so it was safe to say that he wasn’t exactly in his element at the moment. It really didn’t help that Rainbow Dash was an attractive mare and he thanked the stars nobody was around to take this out of context. Out of his element or not though, he had to do more than just sit there like a dumb lump of meat. He decided to do what he would do with his sisters when they were in this state.

He slowly and gently embraced the distressed mare and then started methodically petting her mane in a calming manner. Any other day Rainbow would have bucked a stallion where Celestia don’t shine for doing something like that but after what she had gone through that day she fully welcomed the gentle touch.

After a couple minutes of weeping and calming pets, her tears and trembling both subsided. She separated from the large stallion and looked up at him, a small smile finally gracing her muzzle.

“Thanks, I needed that.” she said, earning a friendly nod from the farm pony. “So, you want me to tell you what happened now?”

“Nope.”

Before she could react, Rainbow found herself on the large stallion’s back and he started trotting towards the house.

“Hey, what are you doing?!” she demanded, her initial shock subsiding.

“Gonna fix ya up while you tell me what happened.” he said matter-of-factly.

“B-but, what about your work? Shouldn’t you take care of that first?” she countered, a hint of pink on her cheeks.

“Nope.”

“Come on, I’m fine! I don’t need help, honestly… it’s not like I’m worth as much as these apples anyway…” she said the last part in barely a whisper, the memories of earlier still in her mind.

Big Mac, however, heard the comment and stopped dead in his tracks, confusing the mare until what he said made her eyes widen.

“You’re right, you ain’t worth as much as these apples. You’re worth far more.” he said before moving again. His words were laced with an honesty that only the Apple family could produce. If he had looked at the mare behind him for even a second he would have seen the effect they had on her. Rainbow’s face was lit up a bright red and for a while no words would escape her mouth. She turned her head to the side and with a small smile she was able to utter two simple words.

“Thank you.”

He may not have been able to see her face but the words still brought a smile to his face. They continued through the rest of the orchard in silence, one because that was their default state of being and the other because they just didn’t know what to say. It didn’t take too much longer until they came to a familiar farmhouse. And sitting on the porch of that farmhouse was an elderly earth pony mare with a coat as green as her namesake.

Granny Smith raised a brow seeing Big Mac walking up to the house with his hooves apparently empty. Not noticing the small, beat up mare on his back, she furrowed her brow.

“Big Mac? What’re you doin back here without your haul? You best not be slackin.”

“Sorry Granny, but something came up."

He moved his head to the side and revealed the bundle of cyan and rainbow resting on his back. Rainbow gave the Apple elder the best smile she could muster.

"H-hey Granny Smith, thought I'd stop by for a visit. Hope you don't mind."

Upon seeing the cuts and bruises the pegasus was covered with Granny's face softened considerably and was replaced instead with a look of sadness and worry.

"Oh, you poor dear. Mac, go bring this little filly to the kitchen and start cleanin her up while I grab some bandages."

While it would have gone unnoticed by anybody else, Big Mac could hear the urgency in his grandmother’s voice. He gave a wordless nod and rushed into the house quickly, being sure not to jostle Rainbow around too much. With the clopping of large hooves against the hardwood floor he made it to the kitchen and gently set the cyan mare down on a chair.

Rainbow watched as the large stallion grabbed a clean rag and some cleaning alcohol. He walked over to the mare with both products before sitting down in front of her. Even sitting down he was still slightly taller than the mare that was staring up at him in a shrinking manner that was uncharacteristic of the usually bombastic pegasus. He gave her a reassuring smile before dabbing a bit of the peroxide onto the rag.

“Sorry, this is gonna sting a bit.”

Big Mac began cleaning the dirt and dried blood out of Rainbow’s cuts and caused her to wince a bit. True to his word the alcohol stung at her a little, though she couldn’t complain about the pain. The small amount of stinging pain was nothing compared to the pain she went through earlier. Slumping a bit from the memory, but was surprised when she felt a large hoof under her chin which proceeded to lift her head up. She quickly found herself looking into pools of emerald and her ears were greeted with a deep, soothing voice.

“Don’t worry, we’ll get ya fixed up and whatever happened, even if it was as bad as you’ve been alluding to, I’m sure you’ll figure it out.”

The reassurance caused a small smile to appear on Rainbow’s face, but it quickly fell and she averted her eyes from the stallion.

“I don’t think it’ll be that easy this time, Mac. It’s a complicated situation.”

“Well then, how about you tell me about it? I’ve been told I'm a good listener.”

“I’d like to know exactly what happened myself.”

Big Mac and Rainbow shot their heads over to see Granny Smith standing in the doorway with bandages and a bottle of ointment on her back. She made her way over to the duo and Rainbow could now make out that the ointment was to reduce bruising. As the elderly earth pony started applying the ointment and bandages Rainbow closed her eyes and took a deep breath.

“Yeah, I do kind of owe you guys an explanation.”

Big Mac gave Rainbow his full attention and even though Granny Smith was still busy applying bandages, it was obvious she was listening just as attentively.

“So there was this thing at Fluttershy’s place that I got into a fight with. Let me tell you, this guy was like nothing I’d ever seen in my life, like some weird mix of a dragon, a pony, and an elephant and all with this super long whip tail. That's not even mentioning the fact this guy was taller than the Princesses and beefier than Bulk Biceps.”

Rainbow found herself cut off by a confused and slightly worried Granny Smith, while Big Mac had a similar look on his face.

“Now hold on a sec, this critter sounds right dangerous. Not to make light of what you’ve been through, but by what ya described you should be needing more than just a few bandages.”

“Eeyup.”

Rainbow’s expression dropped at the comment and her eyes suddenly became very interested in the floor. This only proved to increase the worry of the two Apples but before either of them had the opportunity to question it, Rainbow continued her story. Though now her voice took on a noticeably shakier quality.

“You’re right. I should honestly be barely breathing after fighting that thing, but it almost completely refused to fight back. It even tried to talk me down for Celestia’s sake! And that’s where I screwed up.”

She had to stop and take a breath to calm herself.

“I wouldn’t stop. I couldn’t stop. I was just so angry, a-and I don’t even know why. I keep trying to remember what happened before I got there hoping to get some sort of clarity as to why I got pushed into a blind rage, but every time I try I’m hit with a splitting headache.”

She shook her head to rid herself of one of said headaches popping up. She looked up to see Big Mac and Granny Smith, who had finished wrapping the bandages and was now sitting next to her grandson, still listening attentively. While their expressions were neutral, Rainbow couldn’t sense any malice so she proceeded.

“To make a long story short, I kept fighting him and eventually Fluttershy, Twilight, Rarity and Spike showed up. Unfortunately, I decided to hit this guy with a rainboom powered blitz before noticing the others arriving and Fluttershy got in the middle of us. The blast must have been strong enough to knock me out because the next thing I remember is waking up in pain, surrounded by a freaking warzone, the guy collapsed on the ground bleeding and Fluttershy covered in blood and a broken wing. As it turns out, that guy I was fighting was a friend of hers and I can honestly say I’ve never seen Fluttershy so furious in my life. She completely ripped me apart and made quite a few things about me apparent.”

Rainbow muttered out the last sentence. Big Mac stood up and was about to say something when he was sent reeling back. Rainbow Dash had suddenly shot her head up and was now leveling a seething glare at him with her good eye while pointing at the bandaged one with her hoof. Rainbow’s voice was laced with venom directed only at herself.

“Fluttershy did this. Do you know how bad you have to screw up to get Fluttershy to deck you in the face?! I didn’t even defend myself, I just flew away! So tell me Mac, do you still think I’ll be able to just fix this one?”

Rainbow was practically screaming now, all the while she had gotten out of her chair and angrily approached the larger stallion. Even though the small mare barely came up to his chest, she was still managing to press Big Mac against the wall. Once stopped she just glared at him, demanding an answer.

Big Mac, already a quiet stallion in the best of circumstances, was at a complete loss for words. He glanced over at his grandmother, who had been watching the whole interaction, and was a bit shocked when instead of being shocked she was completely calm. If anything she looked more sad. Granny Smith then looked at Big Mac and pointed at her own right eye. Big Mac, slightly confused, looked back at the irate pegasus and immediately saw what the green mare was trying to tell him.

While Rainbow’s body language and voice was filled with a sad, demanding anger, her eye was telling a very different story. Big Mac looked into the pool of glistening magenta and all he could see was anguish and self-loathing. She wasn’t demanding an answer, she was pleading for one. And he had one.

“Eeyup.”

Big Mac stood tall and confident, making Rainbow back up slightly but she stubbornly held her glare. Big Mac, while not returning the glare, still locked gazes with her. The mare’s voice still had sharpness to it, but it wasn’t as confident as before.

“What? H-how could you know?”

“‘Cause I may not know about the thing you tussled with or what got y’all all riled up, but I do know Rainbow Dash. The fastest mare in Equestria, the Element of Loyalty who has saved us more times than I can count. The mare who may have an ego the size of a whale but never gives up. You’ll figure it out because you. Are. Rainbow Dash!”

Rainbow could only blink at Big Mac’s outburst/pep-talk before his hard look softened considerably and he put a hoof on her withers.

“I may not rightly approve of you and Miss Fluttershy’s actions, but it was a mistake. Mistakes can be forgiven, but only when you take responsibility for them. I know you’ll figure it out because when push comes to shove Rainbow Dash always comes through.”

Rainbow felt another hoof on her withers and looked over to see Granny Smith with a warm smile on her face.

“Mac’s right little filly, you can make this right by just being you and owning up to your actions. In fact, I’m willing to bet that shy friend of yours feels down right rotten for what she did and is looking for you as we speak.”

“Heh, that does sound like Fluttershy.”

“And the rest of your little friends are probably worried something fierce.”

Rainbow, taking the words to heart, sat in contemplation. The first thought that came to her was how all her friends looked before she flew off. None of them looked angry, only worried or, in Fluttershy’s case, guilty. Even the guy she'd injured, the one who had the most reason to be furious, only had a look of sadness on his face. It was that moment where Big Mac’s words finally hit and her face hardened with resolve. Rainbow Dash does not run away.

She started making her way to the door.

“So where you headin now missy?” Granny asked, already knowing the answer.

Rainbow turned to face them and for the first time since she arrived at Sweet Apple Acres had a large, genuine smile on her face.

“I’m going to make up for my mistakes.”

The two Apples gave her a smile, happy to see the old Rainbow Dash coming back. Rainbow got to the door but right before she opened it she turned around and zoomed back, surprising Big Mac with a tight hug. It only lasted a second before Rainbow broke the embrace.

“T-thanks again, Mac.”

Rainbow muttered out quickly, her cheeks a luminescent red, before darting out the door so fast that the stallion was unable to respond. He could only stand there blinking as Granny was cackling like a madmare. Eventually Big Mac collected his thoughts and smiled. It was then that he noticed that something fell off the rushing mare. With a raised brow he approached the tiny object and was even more confused to see that it was a woodchip. At first thinking it was from her brief stay in the apple tree earlier, he decided to take a closer look. He was surprised to find that it wasn’t apple wood but was instead oak.

Strange, only oaks around these parts are in the Everfree and by Miss Fluttershy’s…

His eyes widened slightly, remembering that there was one detail that Rainbow left out of her explanation.

Dash never did say how exactly she got hurt during that fight.

---

Fluttershy’s Cottage

“YOU HIT RAINBOW DASH WITH A TREE!?”

Terra, who had been retelling the events that took place before everyone else arrived and had just gotten to the part about his improvised weapon, flinched back at Rarity’s admittedly unsurprising response. He nervously gulped before answering.

“Yes, but in my defense she was coming at me too fast to catch and wasn’t listening to reason.”

“So you thought hitting her upside the head with a tree was a good idea?!”

“I panicked!”

Rarity face-hoofed before giving an exasperated look at Spike, hoping he would back her up. Spike, meanwhile, had been sitting there calmly snacking on veggie chips. He swallowed the carrot flavored chip he was chewing on before giving his input.

“I don’t think you should be so hard on him Rarity, I mean with what Twilight told us about that rage spell it sounds like that may have been the only way to even slow her down. Also, to be fair, Rainbow did hit him with a small, weaponized rainboom.”

“...oh, right.”

The alabaster mare took a couple of calming breaths and straightened out her mane. She looked back up at Terra with a slightly embarrassed grin.

“Terribly sorry for exploding on you like that, darling, but you must understand that Rainbow Dash is a very dear friend of mine and I can be a tad bit protective.”

Spike let out a snort of smoke and rolled his eyes.

“Oh yeah, you think she’s bad now you should’ve seen her and Silver during the Hoofington Incident.”

“Hoofington Incident?”

Rarity glared at Spike, causing him to freeze up at her intense gaze.

“We do not speak of that incident, and I suggest you refrain from bringing it up again if you do not wish to be turned into a lovely purse.”

Spike frantically nodded his head, the image of him being a mare’s accessory more than enough to make him sweat. Rarity looked away with a nod and a huff before muttering to herself.

“Where does one even find that much peanut butter?”

Terra, more confused than ever, stared blankly at the unicorn and dragon. He had several questions but, also fearful of becoming a designer bag, decided it would be safer to just keep them to himself. Unfortunately, him deciding to not speak meant there was a short, awkward silence. The silence was thankfully broken when Rarity, ever the personable pony, decided to change the topic and she had a decent idea for the next conversation. It may be pointless to ask him about his life at the moment but that didn’t mean he didn’t have questions about their lives.

“So moving on from inventive uses for trees and rainbow hued weapons of mass destruction, I don’t think you’ve asked anything about us since you arrived. Why don’t we rectify that? It may just be me and Spike here at the moment but we would still be happy to answer some questions for you.”

As Rarity spoke in a chipper tone, Spike made his way next to her. His bright smile mirrored Rarity’s tone and he spoke in an equally friendly voice.

“Ask away big guy, we’re happy to answer what we can.”

Terra stood in contemplation for a second. While he'd been able to make a few observations about the place he was in as well as the beings that were inhabiting it he would be lying if he wasn’t curious about a few things. He also had to admit that he wanted to know more about these ponies that had shown him such kindness, but now that he was put on the spot he couldn’t decide what question to start with. After a moment of thinking, he glanced at Spike and remembered something that the purple drake mentioned earlier that he wanted some clarification on.

“So Spike, I know you said you were Twilight’s brother, which I’m still curious how exactly that works, but what exactly do you do? I can’t imagine much for a dragon to do in a society apparently made up of ponies.”

Spike rolled his eyes in good humor, letting out a small chuckle. Unknown to Terra, Spike had been receiving that exact question a lot recently, though usually not as nicely as Terra had asked. His growth spurt had some drawbacks concerning some ponies. He motioned for Terra to sit down.

“You wouldn’t be wrong. Dragons aren’t exactly common here and the ones that do show up don’t tend to be here for a good reason, but I’m a bit of a special case. When Twilight was just a filly she had to hatch my egg in order to pass a test to get into Celestia’s School for Gifted Unicorns. Since I’m standing here, you can probably guess that she passed that test with flying colors.”

Spike took a moment, remembering the day he first saw light and the little purple unicorn jumping around in joy. He didn’t know it at the time, being a newborn, but that would be one of the most important events of his life. He didn’t realize he had gotten lost in his memories until he felt a nudge from Rarity and he remembered he still hadn’t answered Terra’s question. He cleared his throat with an embarrassed grin.

“Sorry about that. Anyway, Twilight passed her test and became Celestia’s personnel student.” Spike’s voice took on a more somber tone, “And that's where the problems began. You see, back then dragons had an even worse reputation than they do now and when ponies found out that a baby had been born in the capitol many were in an uproar. Most were just suggesting that I be sent back to the Dragonlands but there was a very small minority, mostly nobles, that demanded more… drastic measures.”

Spike went quiet at that last statement, but Terra didn’t have to be a genius to figure out what the young drake was alluding to. The disgusted sneer from Rarity only confirmed his suspicions. Terra also couldn’t help but feel something within him resonating with Spike’s story. Once he got his bearings back Spike spoke up once again, this time with a small grin on his face.

“Thankfully for me, a certain purple filly had different ideas. Twilight almost immediately became attached to me and practically begged her parents to have me stay with them. They talked with the Princess, who was more than happy with the idea, and with a little bit of paperwork I was adopted into the family as Spike Ignatius Sparkle. And as soon as I was able to walk on my own I also acted as Twilight’s #1 assistant, making sure she had supplies, taking notes and letters for her and making sure she took care of herself. Then, once Twilight became a Princess, I officially became her advisor as well as head of the castle staff.”

Spike wore a beaming smile on his face after his story, one that was shared by Rarity who was proud of what the tiny baby dragon she once knew had grown into. Terra also couldn’t stop a smile from forming on his face. While the idea of even a small number of these ponies willing to take such drastic measures against a newborn out of fear disturbed him greatly, that was overshadowed by the growing respect he had for Twilight and her kindness. He didn't know much about the young Princess but based on what she did for Spike as just a filly and the good feeling he got from speaking with her he could already tell they were going to get along great.

It was weird though, something about Twilight and Spike's relationship felt… familiar. He shook his head to clear the feeling, it was probably nothing anyway, before looking back at Spike and Rarity.

"It sounds like you do quite a bit around here, I'm sure the Princess is proud of what her little brother has accomplished."

"Oh, Twilight isn't the only one proud of little Spikey Wikey here~" Rarity chimed in with a singing voice while also bumping her hip against Spike. Terra raised a brow.

Spikey Wikey?

Spike meanwhile just rolled his eyes in slight annoyance, "Come on Rares, I'm more than a full head taller than you now. I'm not exactly little anymore."

"You may have gotten bigger, darling, but you're still the most precious little dragon I know."

As Rarity continued to baby talk the annoyed drake, who just sat there with a deadpan look on his face, Terra was sitting there with a different observation running through his mind.

Spikey Wikey? Rares? Wait a minute. Pet names, close contact, playful teasing, I wonder…

Terra's eyes shot wide open and he asked a question that bathed the room in silence.

"Are you two together?"

The deathly silence persisted for a second until the questioned duo burst into uproarious laughter. Terra, not understanding what was so funny about what he thought was an innocent question, simply raised a brow and waited patiently for the laughter to die down. Once they were able to breathe steadily again it was Rarity who spoke up first.

“Nonononono, me and Spike are just close friends now, though I can see why you would ask. We had a bit of a courtship a few years back, but we ended up deciding we worked better as friends.”

Spike, his chuckles still somewhat lingering, bumped into Rarity playfully before looking up at Terra.

“Yeah, it was a bit ironic actually. When I first got to Ponyville I had the biggest crush on Rarity and when I finally worked up the nerve to ask her out and she said yes it was the happiest day of my life. But as time went on, I realized it wasn’t quite what I thought it would be.”

“Now don’t misunderstand us. We had a wonderful time while together. We never fought and we made each other very happy, but we just didn’t quite meld romantically.” Rarity chimed in as she noticed a concerned look appear on Terra’s face. Spike gave her a nod in agreement.

“After a few months of dating we figured it wasn’t going anywhere and mutually cut it off with no bad blood. To this day I still consider Rarity one of my best friends and I go to her almost as much as I go to Twilight.”

Rarity had a big smile on her face as she nodded in agreement, feeling the same way. Truth be told, aside from maybe Fluttershy, Rarity didn’t have a closer friend than the purple drake and she was more than happy that even though they couldn’t work out a romantic relationship they still had a platonic one stronger than any steel.

"Well I'm glad things worked out and you remained friends. Sorry if my question was a bit personal."

Terra said a bit sheepishly. While he was glad that he hadn't accidentally offended either of them, he felt a bit embarrassed about jumping to conclusions. Rarity was quick to dismiss his fears.

"Don't worry, darling. We did say we would answer any question you had after all, did we not?" Rarity said with a knowing smirk.

"Right." Terra answered.

The red giant stood there for a second to think of his next inquiry, but it didn't take long as he figured he would stick with the theme of what he asked Spike. He had been curious as to what Rarity did since he met her.

"I guess we should get back on track then. I asked what Spike did around here but what about you, Rarity? What talents do you bless everyone here with?"

Terra couldn't have known, but that was the exact question Rarity had been waiting for the entire time. The grin that creased across her face was almost sinister and sent a cold chill down Terra's spine. Spike, knowing exactly what that smile entailed, could only mutter two words.

"Oh no."

The words caused Terra to snap his head to face the drake, where he could see Spike giving him a look of pity. This did nothing to help Terra's nerves.

"'Oh no'? What do you mean 'oh no'?! What's goin-"

Terra's questioning was cut off by his own jaw going slack. He stared with wide eyes as, in what he would later decide was an act of some crazy fashion goddess, Rarity now had in her magical field multiple sewing needles, measuring tape and lengths of fabric in a rainbow of colors. Terra's calm facade shattered.

"Where did those come from?!"

"Don't ask questions you don't want to know the answer to, darling~" Rarity sang in a decidedly creepy tone.

DON'T LIKE THAT.

Terra screamed internally as he, the one who had faced down a raging hydra without batting an eye, was backing away from a mare a quarter his weight in fear. He looked at Spike, hoping for some sort of help, but all hope of assistance was shattered when Spike just looked away.

Traitor!

He stopped backing away and looked down at the shorter mare. She looked back up at him with half-lidded eyes and a smirk, stretching out her measuring tape.

"Time to show you what I do."

Terra took a nervous gulp.

---

Fluttershy was pacing around in what could only be determined as a resigned panic. The very first destination she and Twilight decided to go in their search for Rainbow Dash was the prismatic mare’s cloud home. Unfortunately, due to her freshly rebroken wing, Fluttershy was down pacing on the ground while Twilight flew up to check for Rainbow. While Twilight had only been gone for a minute, it felt like hours to the shy pegasus. It only took a couple more agonizingly long minutes before she could hear the flapping of large wings. Fluttershy perked up and looked toward the descending Twilight with hope filled eyes. That hope died down when she noticed the lack of another pony next to Twilight and the disappointed look on the lavender alicorn’s face. Fluttershy’s shoulder’s went slack and her voice came out in a quiet whisper.

“She wasn’t there, was she?”

Even though she already knew the answer Fluttershy still felt herself deflate a bit when Twilight shook her head.

“I’m sorry, Fluttershy.” Twilight said in a dejected voice.

Fluttershy wasn’t doing too well. Whatever facade of confidence she put on when leaving had completely left her now. It wouldn’t have been so bad if it was just the fact that they didn’t find Rainbow at her home, it was only the first place they checked after all, but since they had to get there by hoof they also took the opportunity to ask any ponies they came across if they had seen their friend. Unfortunately, they had only been met with negative responses. Even though Rainbow was anything but subtle, not a single pony had seen her which was a fact that caused Fluttershy’s worry and guilt to skyrocket.

Guilt. Now there was a feeling she had in spades at the moment. Even on a good day Fluttershy felt like a bother to those around her, only the reassurances of her friends and effort on her own part shoving that feeling to the back of her mind, but today was not a good day. Today the guilt she felt was overbearing. Guilt from leaving Terra alone. Guilt from not being able to stop their fight. Guilt at losing control of her emotions.

Guilt from striking her friend and making her cry.

It was that last one that hit Fluttershy the hardest. Twilight may have said that it wasn’t her fault, that she was under some sort of spell that brought out her anger, but that didn’t matter to Fluttershy. Spell or no spell, it was her hoof that hit Rainbow Dash. It was her that caused her friend pain, and she couldn’t handle it. She could feel the corners of her eyes moisten up but before the dam could break she felt a comforting wing lay itself across her withers. Looking up, she could see Twilight smiling down at her. There was still sadness in both her eyes and voice, but the smile said something completely different.

“Don’t worry, Fluttershy. We’ll find her.”

The warmth from Twilight’s voice and smile did very little to comfort Fluttershy.

“But… what if she doesn’t want to be found.” the shy pegasus said, her voice having a slight quiver to it. Twilight just raised a brow at the statement.

"Why would she not want to be found?"

"After what I did? I wouldn't be surprised."

Twilight's brow lowered and her face morphed into one of sadness and pity, "Fluttershy-"

Before Twilight could finish her thought, Fluttershy shot her a look that was half glare and half pleading.

"I know what you're going to say. 'It's not your fault' and 'you were under a spell's influence' but it was my fault! I'm the one that hurt her, said all of those terrible things, and practically ran her off. You told us that the spell could only take hold if anger was present, which means if I had just kept my emotions under control none of this would have happened."

Fluttershy slumped after her tirade, her face hidden behind her mane. Twilight looked at her defeated friend with a sad frown, being able to hear some quiet sniffles.

The Princess of Friendship was one of if not the most intelligent pony in all of Equestria so she was well aware just how fragile this entire situation was. She also knew her two friends well, Rainbow Dash was well known for her stubbornness but she had come to realize over the years that Fluttershy could be just as if not more stubborn than their rainbow hued friend. Especially when it came to her taking blame for something. Twilight closed her eyes and took a deep breath before opening them again and reaching out to gently raise Fluttershy's head to face her.

"Fluttershy, I need you to listen to me."

Fluttershy was brought in by her friend's firm yet gentle voice. She looked into her lavender eyes and could see a storm of emotions that the alicorn was hiding behind a calm facade. Seeing that she had the pegasus's attention, Twilight continued.

"I'm not going to lie to you, this isn't a great situation we're in at the moment. Like Terra said earlier, both you and Rainbow Dash made some mistakes, saying and doing things that I'm sure you're not proud of." Fluttershy tried to look away in shame but Twilight was having none of it, "But let me ask you this. Would you have done any of that without being influenced? Could you bring yourself to harm somepony you cared for all on your own?"

That question caught Fluttershy's attention and she looked at Twilight with an almost appalled face. "Of course not!"

Twilight felt a small smile form, "Exactly. You're a kind soul Fluttershy and I know you would never hurt a friend on purpose. Rainbow knows that too, just like you know that she would never go as far as she did without either having good reason or not being in control of herself."

Fluttershy had to mull over Twilight's words a bit. She still felt guilty for her actions, something that likely wouldn't subside for some time, but she had to admit to the truth in the alicorn's words. Even if she was still a bit wet in the eyes, Fluttershy felt the corners of her mouth curl up in a small grin.

"You're right, Twilight. I still feel bad for what happened but nothing will get better if I just sit here and wallow in self-pity. I need to make up for my mistakes and I can only do that by taking responsibility for them."

Twilight smiled at the change in attitude, even if it was only a small change.

"Glad to hear it. Now let's get back to finding Rainbow, where should we look for her next?"

"You could try looking behind you."

Hearing the raspy voice, the two mare's eyes shot open and they spun around to face the source. Standing sheepishly in front of them was Rainbow Dash. They were quick to notice the new bandages, Fluttershy flinching slightly at the sight of the large bandage completely covering her left eye.

"Rainbow Dash?!" they screamed out in unison, both in surprise and glee.

"H-hey girls. I saw you two while flying back to the cottage and, since I was looking for you anyway, I thought I'd just-"

Rainbow Dash was cut off when she was suddenly embraced by a deceptively strong canary pegasus. Fluttershy buried her face in the smaller mare's chest as she wept out apologies.

"I'm s-so sorry Dashie! You're not stupid, you're one of the best mare's I know and I shouldn't have hit you. Can you ever forgive me?"

Rainbow was caught off guard at first, having not expected to be the one receiving an apology, but upon seeing one of her oldest friends weeping into her chest she returned the embrace.

"Shouldn't it be me making the apologies right now? You were right, Shy, I was reckless. I rushed into an unnecessary fight and nearly destroyed your home. Not to mention I nearly…"

Rainbow had to shake her head to prevent herself from falling back into that mindset. Remembering the words of a certain stubborn farm stallion helped.

"What I'm trying to say is, of course I forgive you. But can you possibly forgive me?"

Fluttershy didn't even need to think about her answer, "I've already forgiven you."

Rainbow felt herself release a breath she didn't realize she was holding before tightening the hug and letting a stream of happy tears flow down her face. As the two pegasi released themselves from guilt's tight grip, Twilight sat to the side watching with a proud smile. She still had a couple of questions, specifically for Rainbow Dash, but right now she was content to watch her two friends overcome their mistakes and strengthen their friendship.

Rainbow, Fluttershy and Twilight took some time just making sure everything was straightened out between them before making their way back to Fluttershy's cottage. Rainbow explained her desire to actually meet Terra and apologize for her actions, something that Fluttershy and Twilight were more than happy to make happen.

As they made their way back they decided to make conversation, starting with Twilight explaining her theory about the rage spell. Rainbow was more than a little confused.

"Hold on a minute, so you think somepony messed with my brain and that's why I went batshi-"

"Language!" Fluttershy scolded.

"Sorry. That's why I went nuts on Terra?" Rainbow asked almost incredulously.

"That's the theory anyway. I actually wanted to ask if you could tell me about what happened right before the…incident."

Rainbow nodded to Twilight and tried to think about what she was doing before going into a blind rage, but every time she tried to bring up the memory she was greeted with red static and a mild headache. Confused and irritated, she looked back at Twilight.

"I wish I could Twi, but it's like something's blocking it."

That earned a raised brow from Twilight before her eyes widened slightly as another thought occurred to her. She quickly scanned Rainbow as the cyan mare continued in vain to remember what happened. After finishing her scan Twilight furrowed her brow. Her suspicions had been confirmed and she was not happy.

"Rainbow, stop. I got all the proof I need."

Both Rainbow and Fluttershy were shocked by Twilight's sudden shift in tone. Her voice was laced with venom and did little to mask how angry the lavender alicorn was.

"Twilight, what's wrong? What did you see?" Fluttershy asked even more timidly than usual. Twilight snorted in indignation before answering.

"What I saw is that apparently whoever cast the rage spell wanted to make sure they wouldn't be discovered because they also casted a memory trap."

"Memory trap?" Rainbow asked with a raised brow.

"A memory trap was something created by King Sombra's followers at the height of his power. Unlike the rage spell, which was created with at least some good intentions, memory traps were created for the sole purpose of torturing the ponies they were cast on. It's not only designed to block one's memory but to respond negatively when somepony aside from the caster tries to lift it."

Rainbow gulped nervously, "So what exactly would happen if you tried to break it?"

Twilight shot a serious look at Rainbow that caused a chill to go down the prismatic mare's spine.

"Simply put? If I tried to break it, it would immediately implode on itself and turn your mind to mush. By the end you would be in vegetative state. There's a good reason they're outlawed."

Rainbow and Fluttershy's response to this was appalled to say the least.

"And somepony did that to me?!"

"Who would do something so horrible?!"

"I don't know, but when I find out they're going to wish they were never born."

With that final statement they continued on their trek with the air a bit more tense. When said intensity started to get a bit uncomfortable, Fluttershy decided to try and change topics by finally giving Rainbow Dash the full story of her experience in the Everfree and how she met Terra.

Rainbow found herself completely enthralled with the story, even if it made a bit of her guilt return. A mysterious giant that could shake the very earth beneath it with just a step sounded like something ripped right out of a Daring Do book. It actually made the tomcolt a bit excited to meet the crimson colossus now that they were under calmer circumstances.

"Wow, I guess that means that I need to add thanking him for protecting you to the list of things I've got to do."

"I also need to ask him a few things now that the situation has calmed down a bit." Twilight chimed in.

"Well you two won't have to wait much longer."

As Fluttershy spoke the mares could see that they just rounded the corner leading to Fluttershy's cottage. Rainbow grimaced a bit seeing the destruction across the property.

"Jeez, sorry Shy. I really did a number on your place." Rainbow said with a little shame leaking out.

Fluttershy just shook her head with a smile before bumping shoulders with the smaller mare.

"Don't worry about it, just as long as you help clean up."

Rainbow returned the smile, "Yeah, I can do that."

"Actually, with everypony here we could probably take care of that after we take care of other business. That is, if you don't mind."

Fluttershy asked timidly but she was quickly greeted by approving nods from Twilight and Rainbow.

Twilight was still concerned about somepony in Ponyville having access to and using high level banned spells but knew there was little she could do about it at the moment. She also admittedly wanted an excuse to not have to go back to her research on the blood samples from Our Town, that whole experience still bothering her greatly.

As they made their way across Fluttershy's little bridge and to the door a thought occurred to Rainbow.

"Hey, weren't Spike and Rarity with you guys?"

"Yes, but they decided to stay behind and give Terra company." Fluttershy answered as she opened the door.

"Oh, neat. I wonder what they've been do-"

Rainbow, as well as Fluttershy and Twilight, were stopped in their tracks with an audible record scratch as they became witness to one of the strangest sights they'd seen in a while.

Somehow Rarity had managed to bring an entire stage into Fluttershy's living room and on said stage was a very nonplussed Terra being used as the world's largest mannequin. Rarity was tightening the neck of the suit that she had inexplicably managed to create in the short time that the others were away. A suit that seemed just a tad too snug on Terra's large frame. Spike was just sitting to the side giving Terra a look of pity.

The three mares could only stare blankly at the scene before them. Eventually Rarity, who was the only one who seemed ignorant of the strangeness of the situation, noticed the arrival of her friends and happily waved at them.

"Welcome back, darlings! I see your mission to find our dear Rainbow Dash was a success."

After another second of just staring dumbly at the disturbingly upbeat unicorn they shook away the daze and Twilight spoke up.

"Uh yeah… what exactly is going on here?"

Rarity gestured to Terra, who was still frozen in a thoroughly unamused stare, "Oh, this? Well our friend here asked what I did for a living and I thought why tell him when I could just show him!"

As she explained jubilantly Spike looked over at the three confused mares with a deadpan look.

"She just wanted an excuse to dress the big guy up."

"Details~" Rarity sang out.

As this was all happening Rainbow Dash walked up to the now very dapper looking giant. Whatever heartfelt, tear jerking apology she had cooked up on their walk here was completely forgotten due to the whiplash of seeing the stalwart titan who tanked her best hits now wearing a half finished suit and staring at Rarity like the eccentric seamstress was some sort of nightmare creature. It honestly put the cyan mare a bit at ease and she couldn't help but chuckle at the red giant as his eye twitched.

"You good there, dude?"

Terra didn't look at Rainbow when he answered, being in such a state that he didn't even realize that the others had returned, "I have come to the conclusion that I may not fear any beast, but that mare? She frightens me."

Rainbow let out an amused snort at his reaction, “Yeah, Rarity can get a bit weird when it comes to her job, but if you think she’s bad wait until you meet Pinkie Pie.”

Terra whipped his head around to face Rainbow with wide eyes, causing the cyan mare to jump a bit at the sudden movement.

“There’s another one!?”

Rainbow Dash lost the battle to keep her snickering under control and plopped down on her rump while laughing at the distressed titan in good humor. When Terra noticed the colorful mane of the pony before him, everything suddenly clicked and he finally realized that Twilight and Fluttershy had returned. He blinked a couple of times while taking in the sight of the laughing mare and noticed that she had been bandaged up and, more importantly, in a much better mood. The cyan mare's laughter was infectious and Terra, who also finally took in the absurdity of the current situation, began to let out his own deep chuckles. Neither one of them realized they had gained an audience.

"Well, this is already going much better than last time." Twilight said with a smile, a notion that was shared by Fluttershy and Spike. Rarity just flipped her mane with a satisfied smirk.

"Of course it would go well, fashion is always a wonderful conversation starter."

"Uh, Rares, I'm pretty sure they're conversation is less about your fashion and more about how crazy you are." Spike said with a raised brow.

"Details~"

Back with Terra and Rainbow, they were still laughing up a storm while being unaware of their audience. Rainbow was the first one to recover and looked up at the giant that towered over her. Her smile fell when she noticed the stitching on his side, the suit not able to completely hide it, and remembered who exactly was the cause. She took a nervous gulp before speaking.

"Hey, Terra right?"

Terra, picking up the change in the mare's tone, cut off his laughter and gave her a questioning look.

"Yes?"

"Listen, I know we don't know each other too well and I'm not great at this whole apologizing thing but I wanted to say I'm sorry for what I did to you. Not only did I rush in without thought and attack you unprovoked but I even ignored you when you tried to end it peacefully. Twilight told me how I was under some sort of spell or something but that doesn’t change the fact that you didn’t deserve any of this, especially after what Fluttershy explained what you did for her in the Everfree.”

Rainbow then did something that surprised everypony in the room. She bowed her head to the looming giant, squeezing her good eye shut in an attempt to mask both her great guilt and gratitude. Her voice was less successful at hiding such emotions.

“What I’m trying to say is that I’m sorry for attacking you and thank you for saving my friend's life.”

Her words were met with silence and after a few moments of contemplation she looked up to see Terra with a completely unreadable face. He was as stoic as a statue and Rainbow felt herself becoming more nervous by the second by his stony gaze. The others weren’t doing much better.

Spike was chewing his lip in anticipation while Rarity and Fluttershy were trading worried looks. The only one who didn’t seem bothered was Twilight, who actually seemed to have a bit of a small smirk on her face. She had an idea of what Terra was trying to do, considering she had seen her own brother do it hundreds of times.

So that’s what Silver meant.

Rainbow, in addition to being nervous, was starting to get a little freaked out by the stone-faced giant. She was pretty sure he hadn’t blinked yet. She jumped back a little when Terra bent his neck down so that he was at eye level with the nervous mare. Silver bore into magenta like a sword through flesh and it took everything within Rainbow not to look away. The tension in the air could be carved with a knife and Rainbow was about to beg for him to say something when she caught something out of the corner of her eye. She looked over and noticed something.

Is he… smiling?

She took a closer look and realized that, while barely noticeable, Terra was in fact smiling. She got more confirmation when he let out an amused snort.

"Apology accepted."

Everyone released the breaths they were holding in, except Twilight who was giggling. After recovering her nerve, Rainbow shot a playful glare at Terra.

"Sweet Celestia, you nearly gave me a heart attack."

"Sorry, I just wanted to make sure you were being genuine." he then shot the prismatic mare a smirk, "I also wanted to make you squirm a bit as some good-natured payback."

"Jerk." Rainbow said while playfully wapping Terra in the chest, only to forget how solidly built he was and getting a solid thump in return. The others walked over as this was happening and Twilight spoke up.

"I had a feeling that's what you were doing, my older brother would do something similar to me when we were younger. Especially when I would mess with his OnO figures." Twilight explained, causing Spike to snap his fingers in remembrance.

"Right, or that time you were hiding in Shining's closet to play a prank and accidentally caught him and Cadence-"

"That is a story that I don’t need to be reminded of." Twilight cut him off, a very noticeable blush on her face. The rest of the group snickered at Twilight's state before Terra looked down at Rainbow with an impressed smirk.

"Now that things have calmed down a bit, I actually have to commend you on your fighting ability, even if you were in a blind rage at the time. I’m still surprised that such a small mare can pack that big of a punch."

Rainbow perked up with a smile. She was always happy to receive praise, even if the circumstances behind this one were a bit darker. Fluttering up to be eye level with Terra, she flexed a little to show off the tight cords of muscle running across her body.

“You're looking at the fastest, most awesome mare in all of Equestria, of course someone as awesome as me would have taken some martial arts lessons at some point in her life.” She accentuated that last point by punching the air a few times. “It also helps that the Wonderbolts technically being a military branch meant that I had to get some combat training.”

As Rainbow continued punching the air as if it owed her bits, Terra had a look of confusion on his face.

"Uh, what's a Wonderbolt?"

Rainbow nearly fell out of the air in shock at his statement. After rebalancing herself, she shot toward the confused giant and grabbed his face while staring at him with wide eyes.

"You don't know who the Wonderbolts are?!"

All the others in the room either grimaced or face-hoofed at Rainbow's outburst. Terra could only blink in confusion at the mare who had suddenly gotten into his face.

"......no?"

The cyan pegasus released him so she could bring her hooves to her own head and looked at him as if he just admitted he kicked puppies as a hobby. Everypony else just groaned.

"They're just the fastest, coolest and most awesome flight team in all of Equestria! The others told me that you lost your memories but how could you forget the freaking Wonderbolts!? Like, what the actual f-"

"Language!" Fluttershy yelled out, causing Rainbow to cringe.

"Sorry."

Twilight walked up while rubbing her head, she could feel a headache coming on.

"You do know that, aside from amnesia, there's a decent possibility that Terra isn't even from Equestria right? Meaning even if he had his memories he still probably wouldn't know about the Wonderbolts." she said with a flat look.

Rainbow, realizing she may have overreacted a tad, rubbed the back of her neck with a sheepish smile and a hint of red on her cheeks

"Hehe, sorry about that. I get a bit passionate when it comes to the Wonderbolts." she explained to the still wide-eyed giant.

Terra had to blink a few times to regain his senses. He eventually shook his head before letting out an amused chuckle.

"No worries, it's good to have something you're passionate about. I'd be more than happy for you to tell me about them some time."

Rainbow let out an excited squeal which was all Terra needed to hear to know that she would make good on that request. As she made her way back to the ground, she looked back up at the crimson titan.

"Sounds like a deal!"

The cyan mare then seemed to become a bit more nervous and held her hoof out to Terra while looking into his eyes with an almost pleading look.

"So… friends?" she asked in a nervous tone.

Terra looked down at the mare. True, they didn't exactly have the best first meeting, though he couldn't fault her too much for that. However, now that he had the opportunity to actually meet and speak with her he found that he quite enjoyed her company. She may be a bit boastful and brash but she also had a lot of spunk, and considering how she moved when they fought her boasts didn't seem unfounded. He smiled down at the athletic mare and reached his foot, which was easily over twice the size of Rainbow's hoof, out to meet her in a hoof bump.

"Friends."

Rainbow sighed with relief and smiled while everyone else was beaming with joy. Fluttershy was especially happy to see everything work out and that after everything her oldest and newest friends were getting along. That joy was interrupted when they were all hit by a breeze coming through one of the many broken windows of the cottage, causing everypony to remember the state Fluttershy's home was in. Rarity cleared her throat to get everypony's attention.

"Well, now that there is no longer any bad blood between anypony, how about we help dear Fluttershy fix up her home. Any objections?" Rarity asked, earning shaking heads in response. Terra then looked down at the wardrobe he still had on.

"I should probably take this off."

As he started to flex himself and remove the suit Rarity's eyes widened.

"Wait!"

Riiiiiiiip

Rarity's attempted warning was too late. Terra flexing his massive frame was too much for the much too snug suit to handle and it was ripped to shreds. Everypony stared wide-eyed and Terra, having gone noticeably pale, looked over at Rarity. She seemed to be in utter shock and her left eye was twitching. Then in an instant her face shifted to one completely devoid of emotion and she looked at Spike.

"Spike."

"Y-yes, Rarity?"

"Catch me."

Rarity fainted.

---

After spending a couple of minutes bringing Rarity back to consciousness, the group went to work repairing the damage to Fluttershy's cottage. Even with all of them there working together, the mess was big enough that the task took them a couple of hours. Eventually, with Celestia's sun beginning to set in the horizon, they were finishing up by replacing Fluttershy's windows.

"I still can't believe Fluttershy had a spare for every single window." Terra mumbled as he finished replacing the last broken pane of glass. Spike, who was working with Terra at the moment, chuckled at the giant's confusion.

"Trust me, when you live in Ponyville long enough you'll learn to be prepared."

Terra decided to just nod and not question it. He saw a flash of color in the corner of his eye and he looked to see Twilight and the other girls approaching.

"Looks like you boys are done here."

"Yep, and if I'm right that should be the last of it." Spike said while glancing at Fluttershy.

The canary pegasus answered him with a smile, "Yes, that was the last thing that needed to be done. Thank you all so much for helping out."

Rainbow swooped in and hugged her shy friend with a wing, "Don't worry about it Shy, it was the least we could do. I did kind of cause this mess in the first place."

"I'm not exactly blameless either." Terra said while walking up to the mares.

"That's all in the past now. All that matters is that everypony is ok."

Fluttershy returned Rainbow's hug for a second before the prismatic pegasus looked toward the sunset and took note of the time. She released Fluttershy and hovered in the air.

"Well it's getting kind of late so I should probably get going. It was great to meet you Terra!"

"Likewise, you're an interesting mare, Rainbow Dash."

Rainbow smirked at the compliment, "You know it, bye guys."

In an instant she was gone with a rainbow trail. The others, having agreed with Rainbow's sentiment, decided to also say their goodbyes.

"It was good to meet you big guy. It's always nice to have another guy to talk to, maybe once things calm down a bit me and the guys can introduce you to Ogres and Oubliettes." Spike said while reaching out his claw for a bro fist, a gesture Terra gladly returned.

"I don't know what that is but I can't wait."

Spike nodded and took to the air. As he hovered, Twilight and Rarity walked up. Fluttershy and Terra were confused when they saw a somewhat guilty look on the alicorn's face.

"What's wrong, Twilight?" Fluttershy asked.

"Sorry, it was great to meet you Terra but we never really got the chance to talk about your memory issues due to the craziness that happened today. I hate to ask you two this, but I have something I need to finish up at the castle so would you two mind if I came back tomorrow morning?"

Fluttershy looked up at Terra and he simply shrugged. Taking that as a go ahead, she looked back to Twilight.

"That's fine with us."

Twilight let out a relieved sigh, "Thanks you two. That's all I really had left so I guess this is goodnight."

"Goodnight Twilight. Goodnight Rarity."

"Goodnight darlings."

After that final goodbye Fluttershy and Terra made their way back into the cottage and Spike started flying back to the castle. Twilight was about to spread her wings and join her little brother when Rarity stopped her.

"Actually, Twilight, do you think you could walk with me back to the boutique? I have a couple of things I wish to discuss with you."

Twilight blinked in mild confusion, "Yeah, sure Rarity."

She then looked back up at Spike, who had stopped when he noticed Twilight wasn't following him.

"Go on back to the castle without me Spike. I'm going to walk Rarity home."

Spike gave her a mock salute, "Alright Twi, I'll leave some food out for you when you get back."

"Sounds great, thank you Spike."

With that Spike turned and sped back to the castle and the two mares started to walk down the path. Once she was sure Spike was out of ear-shot, Twilight looked over at Rarity.

"So what did you want to talk about, Rarity?"

"I was actually wanting to talk to you about Rainbow Dash, or rather what caused our dear friend to go berserk. I would have asked earlier but I didn't want to ruin the mood after everypony made up."

Twilight let out a frustrated sigh, having not forgotten the predicament they were in concerning their mystery caster.

“No, I get it. Unfortunately, I don’t have much to tell you. Whoever our suspect is, he or she knows how to cover their tracks in the worst way possible.”

Rarity raised her brow at Twilight’s wording, a little disturbed by her friend's shift in tone.

“Whatever do you mean by that darling?”

“What I mean is that whoever cast that rage spell on RD, and I’m now positive that’s what it was, also cast a spell to lock away her memory of the caster. The worst part is that the spell they used is an ancient torture spell that would turn Rainbow Dash into a bed-ridded vegetable if anypony aside from the caster uses magic to try and get rid of it.”

Rarity had an absolutely disgusted look on her face, “I can’t believe somepony could do something so abhorrent!”

“Neither can I but they did and it’s likely they are still in Ponyville. I do have one lead though.”

“Really, what would that be?”

“Both of those spells are very high level mental spells, even I would have difficulty casting them, so whoever our culprit is I can at least say with good certainty that they are a unicorn skilled in mental magic.”

“A unicorn skilled in mental magic…”

Rarity muttered to herself before the proverbial light bulb went off and her eyes widened before quickly narrowing. She had the distinct memory of a certain stallion that said something about specializing in mental magic.

Red Horizon

Even in her own mind she practically spat the name. She knew something was sketchy about him and it seemed she was correct. She couldn’t be hasty though, the evidence was only circumstantial at the moment. She had her suspicions but she would need more proof before accidentally turning this into a witch hunt.

“Rarity, you ok?”

Rarity was jolted out of her thoughts by Twilight who had noticed her friend was in deep contemplation and was giving the alabaster mare a look of concern. Rarity cleared her throat and tried to wave off her friend’s concern.

“I’m quite fine. I was just thinking that while you are with Fluttershy helping Terra I would go to the hospital and ask around the psych ward to try and find some suspects.”

She decided not to mention the fact that Red Horizon worked there specifically. She also didn’t want to mention her suspicions to Twilight until she had more solid proof. Twilight, for her part, simply put a hoof to her chin in contemplation before nodding in agreement.

“That does make sense, the doctors that work in that area have to be both skilled in and knowledgeable about mental magic in order to help their patients. Though I hate to think that somepony trained to heal ponies would use their talents to do the opposite.” Twilight said dejectedly while Rarity gave her a look of regret.

I fear you will be disappointed, darling.

That seemed to mark the end of their conversation and the two walked along in silence for a while before eventually making more casual conversation. Once they got back to the boutique they said their goodbyes and Rarity went inside her home while Twilight took to the air to fly back to the castle. As she flew a frown started forming on the lavender mare’s face.

Even if it ended on a positive note, the day had been crazy and exhausting. However, it did have the benefit of distracting Twilight from the horrors she witnessed the past few days as well as what was waiting for her in her lab. Now that she had nothing to distract her, those were the only things going through her mind. All the blood, carnage and death was a plague she couldn’t hope to cure herself of and what made it worse was that they had no idea or leads as to what caused it.

No leads except the vials of blood in her lab. The vials that she needed to study when she returned. As she approached the castle doors, she realized that time was coming far sooner than she wished.

She made her way inside her castle and went to the kitchen first. She knew Spike would throw a fit if he caught her skipping dinner to run experiments, so she scarfed down the salad he left out for her and hesitantly made her way down to her lab. Once there she could see the collection of ten vials filled with a crimson liquid. Her hesitancy to approach only grew.

Twilight took a deep breath to calm her nerves. She was a scientist before she was ever a princess and was by no means a stranger to blood in the lab, whether it be her own from a small accident or from when she had to dissect something. The problem with this blood was its source. It had come from a murdered pony and Twilight couldn’t help but feel like she had disrespected the dead by taking the blood. It also didn’t help that the death of the pony the blood came from freaked her out the most. The body was just so clean compared to everything else. Almost every other pony was mangled, bloodied or ripped apart but this one didn’t have a spot on her except for a couple of barely noticeable puncture wounds. The whole thing disturbed the alicorn greatly.

She had to shake her head and take a couple more deep breaths to calm herself enough to actually approach the vials, but eventually she managed it and began to work. After some time of chemical testing, comparing what she found to other chemicals and toxins and accidentally breaking one of the vials in her jitteriness, she got a match. She looked down at the list of toxins she found in the blood.

“Neurotoxin, hemotoxin, and myotoxin.” she muttered to herself before taking a step back.

“I was right, it was a venom but something’s wrong. The toxin in the blood is almost a perfect match for taipan venom but those snakes only live in Marestralia and don’t get nearly big enough to leave bite marks as big as the ones we found.”

She stood there thinking. She may have discovered what exactly killed that mare but it only seemed to create even more questions. She kicked the ground in frustration before coming to the conclusion there wasn’t anything else she could do at the moment aside from reporting her findings to Princess Celestia.

I should probably tell her about Terra too. Maybe she knows what he is.

With that thought she made her way upstairs with a yawn to write her letter to the Princess and go to a restless sleep.

---

Out in the Frozen North

Outside the protection of the Crystal Heart the Frozen North was a cruel and dangerous place with its below zero temperatures and near constant blizzards. If the cold wasn’t bad enough, the creatures that called this wasteland home were nightmare inducing from yetis to ice wraiths to massive worms that swam through the snow and ice as if it were still liquid. There were even a few legends that this place was where the Windigos that plagued ancient Equestria were imprisoned. And if one managed to survive the monsters and the cold then they still had to contend with getting lost in the never-ending expanse of blank whiteness. It was a cruel place that few were brave enough to venture.

So one couldn’t be blamed for being surprised to find a pony doing just that.

The pony, a fairly average crystal pegasus named Seraphim Star, was on her way back to the Crystal Empire after being out exploring the frozen wasteland for a couple of weeks. If one could see under her multiple layers of protective clothing they would see that she had an aquamarine coat, icy blue mane and matching eyes. Her cutie mark was a compass rose made of ice which coincided with her occupation as an archeologist who specialized in exploring cold areas. It was also why she was currently in the most inhospitable place in all of Equestria.

She had come looking to make some sort of major discovery but was unfortunately disappointed when the only thing she found was more snow.

At least I didn’t run into any monsters.

There’s an old saying that one shouldn’t tempt fate and Seraphim had done just that. Her ears flicked when she thought she heard something over the sound of the howling blizzard around her. She stopped walking to minimize the noise but was surprised when the crunching of snow under foot continued. She spun around in multiple directions to try and find the source, her panic growing as the footsteps were getting closer.

Then it stopped.

Seraphim, close to full blown panic now, was frantically wondering what was going on. It was then that she saw it and she froze. Standing before her, somewhat hidden by the blizzard, was a creature she didn’t recognize. It appeared to be around 6’6, a little taller than Princess Cadence, and had glowing emerald eyes. Seraphim would have found them beautiful if not for the fact they were staring right at her.

They stood there for a while, neither moving a muscle. Seraphim was absolutely terrified. She didn’t know what this thing was or why it had been following her and why it had just stopped. She nearly jumped out of her skin when it started slowly approaching but still couldn’t bring herself to run. As the creature got closer more features were becoming clearer. She could make out charcoal gray and hints of gold. It also appeared that this thing was a biped. Her curiosity was beginning to overpower her fear until she noticed them.

The teeth.

She only got a quick glance before she broke out in a sprint, but one glance was all she needed to know that the thick, spike-like teeth were those of a predator. She didn’t look back as she ran, if she did she would have noticed that the creature wasn’t chasing her and instead was following her at a leisurely pace.

Seraphim didn’t care about anything at the moment except getting away. She was so focused that she forgot about another danger of the Frozen North. While the great expanse of snow and ice looked flat and uniform, the truth of the matter was that the snow hid sudden pitfalls and potholes that could catch a pony by surprise if they weren’t paying attention. Seraphim was currently one such pony.

As she galloped one of her hooves fell into a deeper section of the ground and tripped her. She tumbled a couple feet until crashing into a snow dune. She shook the stars from her vision before looking around to see if she was still being pursued and took a relieved breath when she couldn’t see the creature. She slumped against the dune as the adrenaline wore off.

What the hell was that thing?

She thought to herself as she snuggled a little closer to the weirdly comfortably dune she crashed into. It was more solid than most dunes she came across and she found its fur extremely soft. And its steady breathing was very soothing to her nerves.

…

Her eyes shot open. Snow dunes didn’t have fur and they certainly didn’t breathe. She jumped back as what she thought was a dune started moving. As it stood to its feet she could only stare at the seven foot white-furred ape. With its erect posture, huge arms and predatory fangs she knew exactly what she was looking at.

A yeti.

The ape-like creature looked around groggily, having just been awoken from its slumber, until its cold eyes fell on the terrified pony before it. It smiled, revealing more of its sharp, irregular fangs, not remembering the last time it had tasted pony flesh. Seraphim, understanding the look in its eyes, tried to run but the yeti was quicker to the draw and grabbed her by the flank and shoulder.

“AHHHHHH!” she let out a blood curdling scream.

The creature's claws easily pierced through her thick coats and sank into her flesh. It didn’t take long for her to feel the warmth of her own blood. The yeti brought the bleeding pony up to its face and licked its lips at the scent of pony blood. However, Seraphim wasn’t going to go quietly and reared her head back before slamming her forehead against the beast’s face. While the damage was minimal, the attack managed to surprise the yeti enough that it threw the mare to the side.

Seraphim laid there in a daze, a growing pool of her own blood staining the snow. She tried to take the chance to run but when she tried to stand she cringed in pain. She looked back at her flank and could see that it had gotten the worst of the yeti’s claws, large slashes carved into the flesh. There was no way she would be able to run with a wound like that. She looked back to see the yeti slowly approaching. She tried to take another desperate step to get away but fell to the ground in pain. She stared defiantly up at the beast that was now looming over her. She knew that there was no way out now. She would die here, but she would be damned if she died afraid.

The yeti stared down at her, a bit disappointed by the lack of fear in its prey, before starting to reach down to finish her off. Seraphim closed her eyes and waited for the inevitable, when she suddenly heard something.

The crunching of snow.

The yeti apparently also picked up the sound and started looking around for its source. Both were caught off guard when the yeti was tackled into the ground by a blur of gray and gold. Seraphim was now staring wide-eyed as the creature that she was originally trying to escape now had the massive yeti pinned to the ground.

The creature sunk the claws of its feet into the yetis chest, drawing blood. This caused the ape to scream in rage at the thing that dared keep it from its meal. It swung a massive fist at the creature’s head which managed to knock it to the ground. The yeti, not wasting a moment, charged toward the dazed creature before grabbing it by the tail and using its great strength to swing the creature around. The mad ape slammed the interloper into the ground, creating small craters, before tossing it to the side. Seraphim watched as the yeti lumbered to the downed creature and grabbed its upper and lower jaw, intending to pry them apart and break the creature’s skull in half.

However, as the yeti started pulling, the creature’s emerald eyes shot open. Noticing the pressure the great ape was putting on its jaws it narrowed its eyes and, in a show of jaw strength that far surpassed the yeti’s own great strength, bit down, relieving the yeti of its finger. The ferocious beast screamed in agony as it stared down at its bleeding stubs. Its opponent wasn’t done though and with agility that Seraphim wouldn’t have expected from a creature of that size jumped onto the yeti and bit down on its shoulder. The creature bit through muscle and bone like it was wet tissue paper and ripped the yeti’s arm off, pints of blood staining the snow a dark crimson. The yeti fell to its knees in extraordinary pain before feeling something grab the back of its neck. The creature, deciding to finish what it started, bit down on the yeti’s neck and with a quick jerk removed its head from the rest of its body.

Seraphim stared in a mix of both awe and horror as the creature, the yeti dead at its feet and blood dripping down its maw, looked up into the sky and let out a roar in victory. The mare found the roar hauntingly beautiful, sounding like a mix of a wolf’s howl and a whale’s song. She then froze when the creature looked at her and started approaching.

She still couldn’t quite make out what the creature looked like, her vision having blurred a bit from blood loss. As the creature came to Seraphim, it leaned down to look the mare in the eye and she had to stop herself from cringing at the stench of blood and death. As the mare stared into the emerald orbs, the creature did the last thing she expected.

It spoke.

“Don’t panic, I’m not going to hurt you little pony.”

The voice was a deep alto and distinctly feminine. It wasn’t necessarily warm, more authoritative, but there was the ever so slightest hint of concern that managed to put Seraphim at ease. She tried to say something but her injuries and all the stress finally caught up to the mare and she passed out. The creature let out a sigh before using the same jaws that had only moments before torn through flesh and bone to gently grab the mare and place her on her back.

“Let’s get you home.”

The creature walked in the direction of the Crystal Empire, disappearing into the blizzard.

Author's Note:

I'm back! And this time with a true fight scene. If you're wondering where I've been, long story short life happened and I needed time to make a lot of changes to this story. I give a more detailed explanation in my blog posts. Things are a bit better now so it shouldn't take four months to get out the next chapter.

Also fun fact, I didn't get Seraphim's name from the angel but instead from seraphinite, a gem that can sometimes have the appearance of crystalized ice.

Anyway, thanks for reading and I'll see ya'll next time

Next time: Terra has an important meeting.

Comments

[Fox Jones]

I'm invested in Seraphim Star's story now!

[CumminsShakesIt]

Please tell me this Fic is still Alive!!

[TwilightVanguard58]

11616299
Don't worry it is, a lot of irl things have been getting in the way but once they're dealt with I'm coming straight back to this

[CumminsShakesIt]

11616446
AWESOME!! , and don't worry I know full well how life can get in the way of things. Patients isn't exactly my strong suit but I shall do my best and eagerly await more chapters