The Aftermath
“I’m Rainbow Dash! The fastest, coolest, radicalest, and just plain bestest pegasus in all of Equestria! There’s no way I could ever die!”
“I’m so happy you’re alright, Dashie!” Pinkie cried out gleefully.
“Pinkie…” I tried to interrupt the conversation.
“Hey! Dashie and I are talking!” Pinkie snapped at me. “Sorry about that Dashie.” The party pony continued apologetically. “So what were you saying?”
“I was just saying that there’s no way I would ever die and leave you all by your lonesies Pinks. I’m way too cool to leave you alone; we’re going to be super-duper bestest of best friends forever.”
“Yeah, you’re my SDBOBFF too,” Pinkie chirped happily “We’re the bestest of best friends forever.”
“Pinkie Pie, darling,” Rarity cut in delicately.
“Excuse me!” Pinkie snarled at her friend. “I am trying to talk to Rainbow Dash! Could you gals just lemme alone for a couple minutes so we can talk without getting interrupted all the time!” An instant later she was right back her cheerful self. “Sorry about that Dashie, Rarity’s being a silly-willy stick her nose into other pony’s business-y pants.”
“Well that’s why Rarity’s not my super-duper bestest of best friends like you are Pinks. Sheesh, I can’t believe everypony else actually thought I was dead! At least you believed in me. You know I’d never do something like die and leave you all alone and sad with nopony to be your pranking buddy or eat too many sweets with you.”
“Yeah, you’d never leave me Dashie!”
Fluttershy broke down sobbing again. “Sheesh, what’s her problem Pinks? You think Fluttershy’d be happy to see me back.”
“Aw, Fluttershy’s just crying ‘cause she’s so happy you’re okay,” Pinkie Pie answered reassuringly. “All of us are just so happy you’re completely 100% A-OK! As soon as we get back to Sugarcube Corner, I’m gonna throw you the biggest, most funneriffic party ever!”
“Pinkie Pie!” Applejack was the first of us to finally snap. “For the love of pete, will ya stop playin’ with that doggone doll already!”
“Hey! Applebutt!” Pinkie Pie shoved the little Rainbow Dash figurine she’d somehow gotten her hooves on towards Applejack. “You can’t talk to Pinkie that way! She’s my super-duper bestest of best friends forever! No way I’m gonna let anypony be mean to her!” Pinkie was actually managing a decent approximation of Rainbow’s raspy tomboy voice, which sounded really weird coming from her.
Applejack let out of a snarl of frustration and made a grab for the doll, but Pinkie quickly yanked it away before Applejack’s teeth could get a firm grip on the toy. “Dang it, Pinkie!” Applejack stomped a hoof in frustration. “Rainbow Dash is dead, and you playin’ around with some toy an’ pretendin’ it’s her ain’t gonna change that!”
“NO!” Pinkie shrieked, covering her ears with her hooves. “Dashie’s not dead! She’s right here and she’s fine! You’re a LIAR and a BAD PONY Applejack! Just leave me and Dashie alone! You’re just jealous because she’s not your super-duper bestest of best friends forever, so you made up some stupid about how she’s dead so I’d stop being her friend and you could try to steal her from me! Well it’s not gonna work. Dashie and I are super-duper bestest of best friends forever, and nopony’s gonna take her away from me!”
Pinkie zipped over to me, and rooted through my saddlebags until she found the Applejack toy I’d snagged back when we were still on Earth in the hopes of taking the pony down with thaumaturgy. Guess it figures Nicky went and sent all the other ponies to universes where my best magical spells for quickly and painlessly disabling someone didn’t work.
A second later, Pinkie spoke in an approximation of Applejack’s country drawl. “I’m awful sorry I said all them mean things to ya Pinkie. Hope ya know I didn’t mean none of it. I sure am glad RD’s back now; I was powerful worried there for a bit. After all, I’m almost as good a friend to her as Pinkie is.”
“Alright, that does it!” The real Applejack clearly wasn’t in the mood to deal with Pinkie’s problems. “I don’t know about the rest of ya, but ain’t puttin’ up with this anymore! Pinkie Pie! You stop foolin’ around right now, or I can’t be held responsible for what I’ll do!”
“Applejack!” Rarity chastised her friend. “I know what Pinkie’s doing is rather upsetting, but you have understand that she’s not well, darling. This – this is just her way of trying to cope.”
“I reckon the best thing we can do to help her cope is to get her to stop playin’ around and face facts. All this pretendin’ ain’t right, and sure as hay ain’t healthy.”
“I don’t think that taking her toys away would be a very good idea right now, darling.”
“Rarity’s right on this one,” I agreed. “You saw how Pinkie reacted when you challenged her delusions; I don’t think trying to take away her toys is going to fix anything.” At best, Pinkie would just replace Rainbow Dash and anyone else who didn’t fit into her delusions with rocks or turnips instead of using toys. At worst, she would react violently to having the perfect world she was constructing for herself ripped away.
Fluttershy flew over to Pinkie and began gently running a hoof through the pink pony’s mane, as though all of Pinkie’s problems could be solved with a few kind words.
Pinkie responded by pulling out a purple unicorn toy and adding it to her rapidly growing collection. “I’m the smartiest smarty-pants of all smarty-pantses, and I can definitely say that after doing extensive research with my science-y magic, I have concluded that Rainbow Dash is definitely the coolest, awesomest, and most not-deadest pony ever.”
Pinkie Pie turned to Fluttershy, a disturbingly happy smile on her face. “Isn’t it great that Dashie’s A-OK, Fluttershy! This is the bestest best news in like, forever! Are you happy about this, ‘cause I’m just so happy I could explode! How happy are you? Are you explode-y happy too?”
A pained look crossed Fluttershy’s face, as she struggled to think of anything she could say in the face of Pinkie Pie’s madness.
Apparently she took too long, and after several seconds a Fluttershy toy came out to offer her opinion on this the matter. “Yay.” The real Fluttershy gave a barely perceptible flinch upon seeing that she’d been replaced, but still stayed at Pinkie’s side, trying to comfort the other pony despite being treated as if she didn’t even exist.
I sighed, and turned my back on the disturbing spectacle. Sad to say, Pinkie’s mind breaking wasn’t the only problem on our plate. “Applejack, Rarity, what do you think our next move should be?” The plans we’d come up with before had pretty much gone straight to hell.
“First thing we oughta do is head back to Sweet Apple Acres,” the farmer declared. “Make sure our kin and everypony else there’s alright.”
“Yes, not to mention that we are rather exposed out here,” Rarity agreed. “If any of Celestia’s guards should happen to pass by…”
“Agreed. We head back to base.” If any of Luna’s people had gotten away from Celestia, we’d be able to link up with them back at her HQ. In our current state, we needed every bit of help we could get. The five us couldn’t really do much on our own.
That said, getting anywhere did have one big potential complication. “Pinkie, don’t suppose you and Rainbow Dash and everyone else would be willing to come along with us?” A part of me was pretty sure that playing along with her belief that her little doll was the real Rainbow Dash wasn’t doing Pinkie’s mental health any favors, but we could deal with fixing any psychological damage after all of us got out of the open and into a safe location. Celestia’s forces obviously weren’t pulling any punches, and crazy is easier to fix than dead.
Pinkie frowned thoughtfully for a moment, then picked up the Rainbow Dash toy and hugged it to herself. After a few seconds of this, she reached behind her back and pulled out another pony toy.
A toy pony version of me.
I suppose I shouldn’t have been shocked by yet another casual display of her utter contempt for the laws of physics and sanity, but I was. “Hey Rainbow Dash.” For a brief moment, I was tempted to ask someone saner if my voice really sounded like Pinkie’s impersonation of me. “I just thought I should say that I’m glad you’re alright. After all, it was my job to keep you and everypony else safe, so if you’d gotten hurt it would totally be my fault.”
Okay. That hurt. A lot.
It was true after all. It had been my job to keep these ponies safe, and so far, I’d gotten Twilight sent to the moon, Rainbow killed, and Pinkie Pie psychologically broken. Nicodemus and Discord had always been a step ahead of me. Hell’s bells, even the corrupted ponies had kicked my ass. I’d led them straight into a trap in Canterlot, and as soon as we got out of that trap by the skin of our teeth, we’d gone straight into a no-win situation. Stuck between an unstoppable force and an immovable object, and I couldn’t find a solution in time.
In hindsight, I couldn’t help but think that there should’ve been some way out of that mess. Maybe we could’ve tried a jump to the Outside. In the heat of the moment, I’d defaulted to the three-dimensional thinking that I’d been using for most of my life. Put a person under a bunch of stress in a high-pressure low time situation, and they’ll usually default to their normal patterns of thinking.
Then again, since Celestia knew about the Outside, she might’ve had some sort of nasty surprise up her sleeve if we’d tried that. After all, she’d blocked her palace from the Outside, and she knew Pinkie Pie was capable of traveling through the Outside and hostile to her.
Still, I’d been so rushed that it hadn’t even occurred to me to try. I’d dropped the ball, big time. There had to have been a better way to handle that situation. Hell’s bells, if nothing else, it should’ve been me that ran out and distracted Celestia instead. I’m a lot more expendable than one of the ponies who could use an Element of Harmony.
If I hadn’t led them straight to Celestia, Rainbow Dash wouldn’t have died.
If I’d been able to find a way out in time, Rainbow Dash wouldn’t have died.
If I’d been able to stop her from sacrificing herself, Rainbow Dash wouldn’t have died.
If I hadn’t failed, Rainbow Dash wouldn’t have died.
I reached out, and placed a single hoof on top of Pinkie’s head. She didn’t react to the touch at all – she was lost in her own world, and I don’t know if I was ever going to be able to pull her out of it. “I’m sorry.” I don’t know if she even heard me, but it needed to be said.
I turned to the other ponies, and repeated my apology. “I’m sorry. I’ve failed you. All of you.” Fluttershy, Applejack, and Rarity all opened their mouths to dispute the claim, but I cut them off with a single upraised hoof. “I was in the driver’s seat. You guys followed my lead, and I led you to a place that got us beat bad. I know none of you blame me for it or hold it against me, but that’s how it is.”
I sighed, took a deep breath, and tried to let go of my guilt. It wasn’t going to do me, them, or anyone else any good right now. I didn’t have time to blame myself for everything that had gone wrong; Earth and Equestria both couldn’t afford to let me waste days wallowing in self-recrimination. “I messed up. So, from now on I’ll just have to do better.”
I turned to the farmpony. “Applejack, you carried Rainbow here, you can get Pinkie back to base, right?” The farmpony nodded, and I turned to Pinkie Pie, still playing with her substitute friends and happily oblivious to the world around her.
“Dormius.” It wasn’t one of my stronger spells. After all, forcing someone to go to sleep against their will was close enough to mind magic to make the Council and their Wardens get into a head-chopping mood. A gentle suggestion, on the other hand, fell into one of the generally accepted grey areas. That kind of spell was useless against, say, a full-fledged demon-pony pumped full of adrenaline, but it was more than strong enough to nudge a physically exhausted and psychologically shattered pony into a deep sleep.
Within moments, Pinkie Pie was snoring away, as close to peaceful as she could be. I know that spell puts people into a deep, dreamless sleep, but I still hoped that maybe this time it would work a bit differently. If anyone deserved pleasant dreams, it was Pinkie.
Between the two of us Rarity and I managed to levitate Pinkie up onto Applejack’s back in a reasonably solid position. Applejack gave a grunt and sagged down a bit when we finally released the sleeping pony, but she bore Pinkie’s weight without complaint.
Even with Applejack slowed down by carrying Pinkie, we still made pretty good time. I was tempted to offer to take a turn at carrying the sleeping party pony to give Applejack a break, but I suspect that might have set off her proud and stubborn streak. At least the brief return of night to Equestria had managed to cool the ambient temperature down from blazing inferno to just unseasonably warm; if we’d been stuck making the rest of the trip back to the apple cellar-slash-underground resistance headquarters in the same heat we’d had to deal with during the journey to Canterlot, we might not have had enough gas left in our tanks to make it.
Losing Rainbow had everybody hurting. At heart, most of them were peaceful creatures that just weren’t built for this kind of situation. That’s not to say that they weren’t rising to the occasion and giving it their all, but these ponies were horribly out of their element. They were scared. They’d have to be crazy not to be.
I guess that meant Rainbow was crazy, but it had been a kind of crazy we’d needed. Well, that’s not entirely right: Rainbow was plenty scared, it’s just she buried all that fear under a thick layer of bravado and seemingly endless self-confidence.
That had been enough for the ponies, though. Fear is one of those emotions that’s easily influenced by the people around you. If you look around and see that everyone else is scared, you’ll start getting scared too. It’s pure instinct; your animal brain is going to start screaming that anything bad enough to scare everyone else is something that you should be scared of too. That’s why a huge chunk of combat training is about controlling fear – if one person starts panicking, it makes everyone else around them more likely to start panicking too. Just look at how any large group of people can transform into a terrified mob in the space of a couple seconds.
But bravery can work exactly the same way. If one person stands up against the bad guys and says they’re not so tough, then it gets easier for everyone else to find their courage. That’s what Rainbow Dash had done for us. More than any of us, she’d believed that we were going to win this, that we would all get out of this in one piece and get a happy ending. She believed it so hard that the rest of us had started to believe it too.
And now she was dead.
Everyone stepped a little heavier now. It was harder to keep pushing on. The belief that as bad things were there was a light at the end of the tunnel had kept us going through hell and high water. Losing Rainbow Dash shook that, and without it we had nothing. It’s hard to keep fighting when you’re up against impossible odds with no real hope of victory.
When we finally got back to apple cellar, we had a little three filly welcoming committee waiting for us. Cutie Mark Crusader Freedom Fighters. Yay.
Seeing Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle run up to get hugs from their big sisters was enough to bring a smile to my face. The kids obviously didn’t entirely get what was going on. Sure, they were old enough to understand the situation, but they didn’t get the real severity of it all, how quickly their lives might fall apart. To the kids, all of this was more like a fun vacation or an exciting adventure than a threat to everything they knew and loved. And if that thought wasn’t enough to be a mood-killer, Scootaloo asked the one question I’d been dreading.
“Where’s Rainbow Dash?”
The pegasus filly was jumping around, as if she could find our missing companion hiding behind one of us or just lingering outside, waiting to make a dramatic entrance.
The four adults shared an uncomfortable look; none of us wanted to be the one to have to give anyone the bad news, especially not a young kid who idolized Rainbow Dash.
“Um –“ Fluttershy began hesitantly. “Scootaloo – you see – Rainbow Dash –“
“She told us she’d catch up with us later.” I cut Fluttershy off. Technically it wasn’t a lie; Rainbow Dash’s last words had been an empty promise that she’d be right behind us. We would have to tell Sootaloo and everyone else the truth eventually, but not here, and not now. The kid would need someone to help her deal with the grief – all three of the Crusaders would. Right now, none of us were in any condition to offer much comfort.
“Oh. Alright.” Scootaloo bought the semi-lie hook line and sinker, and only looked slightly disappointed by the absence of her idol.
“Why’s Pinkie Pie sleepin’?” Apple Bloom asked curiously. “And where’s everypony else? Big Mac said he and the princess and just about everypony else were goin’ out to help y’all fix everthin’.”
“Yeah, there’s nopony left here aside from kids except Miss Cheerilee and some of the older ponies.” Sweetie Belle chimed in. “Well, the ‘Great and Powerful’ Trixie’s still here too,” the unicorn filly added, a hint of annoyance in her voice. “She’s been doing one of her shows ever since everypony else left, and it’s getting kinda boring. Can we go outside yet?”
“Nope.” Applejack declared, breaking out the older sibling authority. “Y’all go on back inside now, and don’t cause no trouble for Miss Cheerilee.” The fillies sighed, and reluctantly did as they were told.
Once the younglings were safely out of earshot, and we got Pinkie Pie into one of the many empty beds in the now virtually abandoned base, I spoke my thoughts on our situation. “So all we’ve got is kids, the old folks, and a schoolmarm. Looks like Luna gambled everything on us.” It made sense. If we didn’t beat Celestia, leaving a couple guards to watch over the civilians wouldn’t make any difference, but every extra pony for her offensive gave her a better chance of winning. Without the Elements there was no way to win, so making a contingency plan for failure was pointless. If we failed, the war was lost.
Logical, but now that everything had gone to hell in a handbasket I kind of wish she’d gone for a different strategy that left us more to work with. As it stood, the combat capacity of the free ponies of Equestria consisted of me, Applejack, Rarity, and Fluttershy. Not much to take up against Celestia’s Royal Guards, much less the sun princess herself.
Obviously, any sort of conventional resistance was out, which really only left us with one option. “Don’t suppose you guys know any other ponies who might be able to use the Elements of Magic or Loyalty?”
Rarity let out a horrified gasp. “How can you talk about replacing Rainbow and Twilight like that?”
“Gotta be done.” Applejack always was a very practical pony. “Unless you got some other way of pullin’ it off, we gotta use the Elements to fix everythin’. Don’t think Twilight or Rainbow’d want us lettin’ Equestria go bad just ‘cause we didn’t feel happy about lettin’ somepony else use their Elements.”
“Yes, I suppose you’re right,” Rarity agreed. “It does seem wrong though, to talk about it all so soon after poor Rainbow Dash …” The unicorn sighed. “I suppose it can’t be helped though. We can hardly afford to take the time for a proper period of mourning when there’s so much left to do.”
I reluctantly nodded my agreement. It would probably be a good idea to keep a weather eye out for a new Element of Laughter too, but I didn’t want to say that just yet. There was no reason to believe Pinkie wouldn’t recover from her breakdown, but prudence dictated preparing for the possibility that she might not get to a psychologically healthy place in time to deal with our rather pressing issues. Maybe she would snap out of it once the shock of Rainbow’s death wore off, but if she didn’t we couldn’t afford to wait for her to go through months of psychotherapy. The ponies were having a hard enough time accepting the loss of one friend. This was hardly the time to point out that Pinkie might be effectively lost to them for the foreseeable future as well.
“We don’t exactly got a lot of choices for new ponies to use the Elements.” Applejack began the discussion. “Don’t reckon any of the young’uns would be up for it. S’pose we could try Granny Smith or Cheerilee for Loyalty, but I ain’t sure how good either of them’d be. Maybe Derpy too, if she ain’t gone fer good.”
I offered up a suggestion I knew wasn’t going to be very popular, “I guess we’re stuck with Trixie for Magic.” Trixie hardly struck me as an ideal choice for a pony to wield a chunk of weaponized friendship, but we weren’t exactly drowning in magically inclined ponies.
Rarity and Applejack looked appropriately skeptical at the suggestion. Neither of them was all that fond of the showpony, and for good reason. However, it was Fluttershy who spoke up first. “Um, excuse me, but I think you’re overlooking somepony who would be a much better choice for using the Element of Magic.” I frowned in thought and tried to figure out who she might be talking about. After several seconds of silence, Fluttershy took mercy on poor confused me and provided the answer. “I think you could use it Harry. Um, if you don’t mind, that is.”
Oh. Huh. Well, that idea certainly hadn’t occurred to me.
Applejack and Rarity seemed to approve of the idea of me taking up one the Elements. “Sure as hay beats the pants offa tryin’ to bring Trixie in.”
“Yes, you would be a far better choice, Harry,” Rarity agreed.
I suppose me taking a crack at using the Element of Magic made sense. After all, I was a wizard, and the pentacle that served as my pony butt-mark was a symbol of magic. On the other hand… “I’m not a pony. Not really. There’s no guarantee I can even use one of the Elements of Harmony.” Not to mention the fact that I was a pretty far cry from a paragon of sweetness and light.
“Ain’t like we got a lot to lose by tryin’,” Applejack countered.
I couldn’t really argue with her there. There were plenty of reasons it might not work, but we’d been backed far enough into a corner that we didn’t have any winning plays which weren’t one-in-a-million longshots. “If we can actually get our hands on the Elements, it’s worth a try.”
I considered the matter for a few long seconds and came to a conclusion I didn’t like. Unless we could find some way to get the Elements and we had the ponies to use them, I’m going to have to do some desperate things pretty soon. Discord was probably on his way to Earth now – hell, with how long it had been since we ran into him in the Outside, he’d probably been there a while already. If we go bust in Equestria, it might be that the only thing I can do is head back to my world and get enough people together to beat him and Nicodemus the old-fashioned way.
I didn’t even want to attempt to think about how much collateral damage that kind of fight would cause, but it was a pretty safe bet that Discord would eventually do enough damage to the status quo that I could put together an alliance to stop him. Random chaos, death, and destruction isn’t in the interest of most of the Powers-That-Be.
It wasn’t exactly an optimistic scenario. A lot of people would probably have to die before the big movers and shakers realized that the only way to keep him from destroying everything was all-out war, and more people would die in the process of actually trying to beat him. The White Council had dealt with creatures that were seriously bad news before, but only after a lot of hard fighting and a heavy butcher’s bill. A bloody victory might be our only real hope at this point.
Well, I guess plundering the Outside for weapons to use against Discord and Nicky was always an option. There was probably even a way to bring Rainbow Dash back. Only problem was that finding any of them would take time, especially with Pinkie Pie out of commission.
Unless I start messing around with time travel too, time was something I didn’t have much of. Knowing my luck, if I tried time traveling I’d end up doing something like interfering in Mom and Dad’s first meeting, and somehow having my mom get an exceedingly awkward crush on me in the bargain, and thus erasing myself from existence in a universe-destroying paradox. It’s a known hazard of time travel.
“I might have to go back to Earth, and deal with Discord and Nicky there. If that happens, I won’t leave until we get you guys and the kids settled somewhere safe,” I promised the ponies. They’d already suffered enough in this war; the least I could do was make sure that they’d be able to sit the rest of it out, and try to move the worst of the fighting away from Equestria.
“This base won’t work anymore,” I continued. “Odds are Celestia’s forces had captured some of Luna’s soldiers and managed to get info about this base. Even if nobody talked, Celestia’s going to send people to check out all of your homes, so we’re not secure here. We’ll need to relocate. Somewhere secret and safe.”
“Maybe move into the Everfree?” Applejack reluctantly suggested. “Between how thick the forest is and all the critters, Celestia’d have a time findin’ us, and I imagine ‘tween Zecora, Fluttershy, and the rest of us we could hammer out some way of makin’ a chunk of it livable enough to keep us goin’ for a bit.”
A monster-infested forest didn’t strike me as a great place to put a bunch of kids and old folks, but beggars can’t be choosers. Probably our only other option was to leave Equestria entirely, and even if I could manage to hold together that big of a group in the Outside, the only places I really knew how to get to weren’t exactly safe for a bunch of ponies either. “Alright. If we can’t find a way to get and use the Elements by the time we get set up in the Everfree, I’ll head back to Earth. I promise you, as soon as I’m done with Discord and Nicodemus, I’ll come back here with every bit of help I can beg, borrow, and steal. I’m not about to leave you guys twisting in the wind.”
It all sounded nice in theory, but the odds that I would survive a head-to-head fight with Discord weren’t all that great. Even if I did make it out in one piece, most everyone else who went into the fight wouldn’t. My odds of convincing anyone to save a bunch of cartoon ponies after they’d just burned up 95% of their resources dealing with Discord weren’t all that great. Not that a little detail like that would stop me from trying anyway.
The ponies didn’t look all that hopeful. I couldn’t blame them for feeling a bit pessimistic about our chances. “I know it looks bad. I know it doesn’t look like there’s any way we’re going to win this. We’re close to gone.” I felt a spark of determination in my chest. “But we haven’t lost yet. Long as we’re still alive, we can keep fighting, and as long as we keep fighting we can still win this thing. I’m not giving up on Equestria or Earth. Not now, not ever. Discord doesn’t get to win. Nicodemus doesn’t get to win. I don’t care how long it takes, how hard we have to fight, or what it costs me, I’m staying in this thing until we win it.”
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If you need something fun and less depressing after this, check out "The Life and Times of a Winning Pony."
As always, due thanks to my pre-readers for helping make this chapter better.
Sad Pinkie Pie is always kinda....well sad.
Boooo!
That's all I can say really... Booo!
You're welcome!
Please say they'll find a way to bring Dashie back.
Please.
Well, this was both depressing and exciting...
Well, this is Pinkie we're talking about. There's a decent chance she's trying to say "No really, Rainbow Dash isn't dead, I can tell because of Pinkie Sense" rather than having a breakdown.
Psycho Pinkie is no fun at all...
Good update if super depressing. I think I need to go listen to the smile song now.
Nice job with that last paragraph, I see what you did there.
Twenty bucks says Harry’s tracking spell doesn’t work on stone statues
Edit
Here’s my reasoning for the above, as Harry has mentioned Nick wouldn’t give Celestia a coin because what would be the point. This means that Celestia has been changed via Discord, as seen when Harry was changed even when under the influence of Discord the strong willed fight back subconsciously. Add to it the fact that Celestia is a god which means that unless he’s had years he probably hasn’t managed to change her that much which is one of the reasons Twilight is on the moon and not somewhere else or dead. So with the real Celestia subconsciously fighting back the new Celestia would be unable to actually kill Dash or Luna because it goes against everything that her real self would actually do. As to the whether she’s been killing normal troops I have no idea and it’s the only major flaw in my logic, I think…
Hum...
Mayhaps Harry is in fact the replacement Loyalty?
666552
Oh please oh please oh please
But I know you can't drop any hints without revealing what actually happened to RD, so I'm going to keep on hoping there's something that can get her back and not worry when you don't reply to this bit.
Also: Drama!
Despair!
Good chapter, but I really wish there was something else happening to distract from the absence of our rainbow-hued flying friend. Maybe hearing about this could snap Cadence or some of the other ponies out of their braintwisting, especially since Discord has left the dimension and isn't maintaining the changes?
nonononononononononononononono Dashie..NOOOO!!!!
*Sigh* A bit depressing, to be honest.
666552
...And that just lifted the depressing air! Wow.
Good sir, if you end up correct, I will traverse the internet space-time-continuum and shake your hand.
666985
Why thank you kind sir, I edited my post to show my reasoning for those who are interested
666999
denver.mylittlefacewhen.com/media/f/rsz/mlfw4802_small.jpg
And then Rainbow Dash Chubbie warped in and beaned Celestia in the head and everyone was saved.
Well, damn. These two last chapters have sure been depressing. Considering how the Dresden books go as well, I don't hold too much hope of RD coming back either ( someone always dies
). So unless Lash dies...yeah 
Darn it. Really enjoying it up to now though.
You had me for a couple of lines there until I read the second attempt to interrupt Pinkie. So there was another depressing chapter. I really have no idea how Dresden is going to pull this one out, I really don’t. Not without things becoming a bloody mess. Not without a real game changing play.
I also thought that was a realistic answer to some comments that Harry has been carrying the idiot ball. It’s easy to say that Harry should have done this or that. But that’s an easy thing to say when one isn’t in a high stress situation with very little time to think. Travel around the Outside isn’t really something Dresden is used to thinking about (the whole forbidden by the Laws of Magic thing), and this one time he didn’t think of it in time. His normal method of dimensional travel in the form of jumping to the Nevernever usually takes a lot more time then is practical in a fight situation, and I would guess it can be hard to think clearly when every single plan of yours has been hopelessly crush (and just had his latest desperate gambit crushed probably not more than 30 seconds before Dash went on a suicidal charge), and is now facing a very cranky demigod of the sun. He has gotten away with last moment thinking in the past, but it was inevitable (and Dresden himself is convinced that he is going to get unlucky one of these days and get himself killed messily in the books) that he was going to bungle a high stress situation sooner or later.
Still, there might be hope that Dash is still alive or can be brought back. Then if they can get Twilight back into action there might be a chance. Though getting the Element of Harmony back from Celestia is still a huge hurdle, and Time…Is…Ticking…
Yea, once again and as always, being Harry Dresden sucks. Just another possible death on his conscious.
I'll just say that I hope Dashie isn't dead; and I really like how you wrote Pinkie in the first section. She comes off as funny (at first), and then it turns heartbreaking, and then when she brings out the Harry doll? Yeah, that was surprisingly cruel of her when she gave Harry hell with it, even if I can understand why.
Still waiting for dash to pop up and go:
A real mare never dies, even when she gets killed!
In the meantime...
More tea, Madame LeFlour? Aren't you a thirsty one this fine evening!
Equestria - and all the ponies in it - only exists because of the collective imagination of those who watch FiM. Consequently, as long as RD continues to be cannon, she cannot be destroyed... and besides - don't cha' think a failed tracking spell is kinda flimsy evidence for issuing a death certificate?
Let's see...they can borrow objects and volunteers from other worlds...
Over four hundred Alicorns, countless versions of the Main Six, An entire planet's worth of Time-lords both pony and Humanoid, Several armies from the New Lunar Republics, A Human battleship armed to the teeth with high-power weaponry and fully-crewed, us, Sonic the Hedgehog (always looking for an adventure, why wouldn't he go?) Wizards from the Warcraft games (I'm sure they'd LOVE to study talking magical horses as payment), An endless supply of main characters from fanfictions that do the right thing because its the right thing...
Harry has NO IDEA just how much help he could scrounge up by hopping around the multiverse for a day.
This fic could either end badly for the characters involved, turn into a collage of characters from other stories and get weird, or really confusing. *Raises flask of Peach Schnapps* Here's to you and your talents. We look forward to your next installment, mate.
"Congratulations, Harry. Your the new Twilight Sparkle. Now move it!"
Harry:. . . . .
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oh gods, not the tumblrverse, they would be lost forever. and more than a few would be traumatized by the grimdark corner of tumblrpon, even with what they've been through today. img208.imageshack.us/img208/3215/twicrazy.png
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it should be noted that harry has rather frequently dropped the idiot ball in canon. he's even gone to far as to forget how one of his own spells worked, specifically his tracking spell dl.dropbox.com/u/31471793/FiMFiction/emoticons/sillyfilly_Rainbow_Dash.png
Broken Pinkie is a very sad Pinkie. The sh!t has hit the fan and Harry's getting serious let's see where that goes.
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Yes, exactly. One of the things I really like about the Dresden Files is that the characters of the story to make mistakes. Often critical ones. Both hero and villain alike. Just see how many people die in Full Moon because of Harry's decisions and actions. The Dresdenverse is not a forgiving place. In other words, it is not uncharacteristic for Dresden to make mistakes. It's part of why he is such sad and sarcastic guy. No matter what he seems to do, or because of what he does, people, or in this case ponies, die.
Now going back to being sad after reading this fic. I've really been batting nothing but sad pieces of literature considering I just finished up Changes for the Dresden Files, and am just about to finish Eternal here on the site. I seriously need to read something happy after this. Why oh why did I read The Life and Times of a Winning Pony before this!?
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Yeah; Dresden's a badass, but he's made his share of mistakes and been caught in no-win situations. Between that and his Chronic Hero Syndrome, it's no surprise the guy carries a lot guilt. Apparently when he decided he was going to follow "The tao of Peter Parker" he also decided to include the part about having a life that's a never-ending cycle of misery and shame.
Can relate to needing something to cheer up after this; there's a reason I started cranking out some light comedy right around the time the fic hit it's darkest point.
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Yea, just about every element of Dresden's life and character seems based around making him miserable. Your definently right about Dresden following the "toa of Peter Parker." He has certainly had just as much luck with his romantic interests as Parker in addition to everything else. There are just no rainbows and sunshine in Harry's life (I think I may have just made a terrible pun based on your story by accident). I think Butcher may be trying to see just how much he can treat a character like dirt in order to build up sympathy for that character. It is certainly a way to counteract how awesome he can be.
Hopefully we will finally get to the turning point of the story now. This is about the point where Dresden usually starts to be badass and/or pull a brillient trick out of his non-existent hat.
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Hell, he could go into a library, grab a bunch of epics and famous heroic fiction off the shelves, ask Pinkie to take him there, and bring in an army that could do the the damage equivalent of an atomic bomb each time they simultaneously attacked. Oh, and don't forget all the TV shows and movies. And Dresden should also get a few people to comb the internet for fanfiction to double the fun. Hey, wait, wouldn't that mean he might accidentally meet a clone of himself?
AAAWWWW SHEEEEOOOOTT
dresden is all the elements, you're gonna kill off the ponies and then dresden goes super magic, saves the day, brings them back, and everyone's happy, until he gets back and discord rules the earth, opening up a sequel for another story of resistance against discord
Hmm. Fictional resurrection magic. I'm thinking Dragonballs? You know, assuming that Dash is actually dead, which I don't believe for an instant. I can practically hear the bowstring straining against your fingers as you judge what would the best point in the plot at which you'll fire her back.
...unless, of course, I'm overthinking things and you really did kill her off, plan on using Derpy as the stand in for Loyalty, and Harmony will restore her to life.
...wait. Why can't Pinkie just pull an extrafictional jaunt and get them to Equestria's moon? Unless there's no real controlling the destination beyond the intellectual property...
Well, suffice to say, you've definitely got me thinking, and that's a good sign. Especially since I knew next to nothing about Harry Dresden prior to reading Forever!. Incredibly accessible, wonderfully readable story. Looking forward to more.
Psh, come on, Harry! Go grab Murphy! There's your Element of Loyalty, ya goof.
Hmm. And maybe Butters for Laughter? And Michael for Honesty, if anything happens to Applejack? ...And now I'm putting too much thought into this.
Great fic continues to be great. As I've said, you really do a damned good job of bringing the Dresden "feel" to your story.
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Pretty sure Michael would have a decent shot at handling Generosity, Honestly, Kindness, or Loyalty. He's kind of awesome that way.
I just gotta put this out here. I've started reading through the Dresden series again, after having read your fanfic. And you know what?
I keep forgetting that your version of Lash isn't canon.
Congratulations. No other fanfiction has left so strong an impression on me, that I can't tell it from the original work it's based on.
Don't like to say this, but I am glad this took a darker turn. It was mostly rainbows and sunshine up until the last chapter with no real fear, and Dresden can get Dark, look at Changes or what happened to Michael.
or just another character from the dresdenverse.
That being said it is sad, and must add Murphy!!!! Murphy dealing with talking ponies
No more Rainbow Dash.
Looks like Dresden will have to search through the multiverse for methods of resurrection after all. Cyborg Dashie might still be a possibility.
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I could totally see Murph as the Element of Loyalty. IJS.
Hey guys on the moon! Just tell each other that losing a friends trust is the best way to lose a friend, and pinkie will pop up to say "FOREVER!" Although shes in pinkamenia lunatic mode right now, so she might not be alot of help
Argh. I know it will happen sometime, but it is frustrating dealing with harry being in reaction mode.
Which means emotional investment.
that "yay." part is a clever touch.
in the classic story "past sins", Trixie actually tries to use the Element of Magic...
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Plus she's the Element of Magic in the Lunaverse.
This reminds me of that episode of RWBY Chibi where Pyrrha shows up and Nora just ignores the fact that she died in proper canon
Back to the Future...