Rainbow Dash was dead. None of the elements took it well, But worst of all was Twilight, living secluded in her room, never uttering a word to anyone, as she studied a forbidden art that could change everything forever. That was the case, but now...
Rainbow Dash was dead.None of the elements took it well, But worst of all was Twilight, living secluded in her room, never uttering a word to anyone, as she studied a forbidden art that could change everything forever; for better or worse. That was the case. But after a forbidden magic ritual gone wrong, Rainbow Dash ends up as a bodyless soul chained to a locket, unable to be seen by most ponies and unable to speak or touch them as well, now Twilight must travel across Equestria and its neighbors to find a mythical gem, which may be the only way to get her mare-friend back.
Events that lead to the story start just before the Season 3 finale. It begins about one and a half years after Twilight would have become a princess. Celestia did not test her as she had begun to date Rainbow Dash, and didn't want to add stress. AU tag because of yet unrevealed events.
It was raining. The pegasi were going to make a rainbow out of it later, but for now, it was just rain. Twilight was crying,and who could blame her? Her mare-friend, whom she had loved for many more years than she cared to admit, was gone. And not just left ponyville gone, gone gone, dead gone.
"It just ain't gonna be the same without her," said Applejack, in a tone very few ponies ever got to hear.
She couldn't believe it, Rainbow Dash, dead, it just didn't seem right, it didn't seem logical.
"No, it won't," replied Rarity " but we'll manage, somehow,"
Twilight read the headstone for a third time, Rainbow Dash, Element of Loyalty, loved by her friends, respected by her peers.
"She never did become a Wonderbolt, like she always wanted," said Fluttershy, in her signature, whispery tone.
If only she could have been there, if only she could have done something. Even if just ease here mare-friends pain.
"No, she didn't, replied a very saddened Pinkie Pie "she was almost there too, I was planning a party for when she got in. I was going *sniff* to bake the cake on Saturday," Pinkie broke out into a soft sob.
"C'mon Pinkie, what'n the hay happened to all yer optimism?" asked Applejack in a comforting tone.
"It's gone *sob*, just like my *sob* best friend,"
Twilight continued to cry, her head cradled in her hooves, as her shoulders shook in sync with the stutters in her sorrowful moaning. What would she do without her Rainbow? How could she live without her cyan-furred, rainbow-maned mare-friend. She'd have to do something, the last thing Rainbow Dash would want is for her mare-friend to take her own life.
"Twilight?" asked Fluttershy "are you alright?" she didn't answer, and Fluttershy would have been surprised if she did. They were all upset, to say the least, Rainbow Dash was a great friend, but she could only imagined how Twilight felt right now. Fluttershy didn't have a mare-friend, or a colt-friend, she'd always preferred the company of animals to other ponies.
After a few more minutes, Applejack left with Pinkie Pie, who was still very depressed. A few minutes later, Rarity left too, quite obviously holding back tears, leaving Fluttershy and Twilight.
After a long while, Twilight broke the silence. "I just feel like I could have done something,"
"We all do," replied Fluttershy "but it was an accident, even if you had been there you couldn't have stopped it,"
"but I could have stopped her from being so reckless,"
Fluttershy was taken aback by this, but she still tried to comfort her friend "Don't be ridiculous Twilight, we are talking about Rainbow Dash after all, she would have just said 'don't worry Twi' i can totally handle this'" said Fluttershy doing her best Rainbow Dash impression, but Twilight didn't seem to notice, she was too absorbed in her own thoughts.
"C'mon Twilight, you always laugh at my Rainbow Dash impression," said Fluttershy, trying to cheer up the purple unicorn.
"Not this time Fluttershy," said Twilight, her tone saddening. Then she started to cry again, silent tears, but not invisible ones. There was another long moment of silence, this time broken by Fluttershy. "Twilight," the unicorn looked up at her friend, her eyes and cheeks red from the tears "Are you going to be alright?" Twilight turned back to the headstone, and thought for a few seconds.
"I don't know," she replied, sorrow still tinging her voice.
"Well, you can always come visit my cottage if you need someone to talk to,"
"Thanks Fluttershy," and then she left too, leaving Twilight to mull through her own thoughts. A few minutes later, the rain started to die down, and the clouds were pulled back to reveal a beautiful rainbow. but that wasn't going to cheer up Twilight Sparkle, not today. All it did was spark memories of her rainbow maned mare-friend. _________________________________________________________________________________________
It was late. Rainbow Dash loved practicing at night, it made the rainbow colored streaks in the sky look so much cooler. and although her friends agreed with her, nopony was very keen on being up at 11:00 at night to watch. Tonight was different, Twilight had to log the star positions at midnight tonight, so she was happy to be there to watch the pegasus run through her routine. She ended with one of her signature Sonic Rainbooms, and carefully landed, eliciting furious hoof-clapping from Twilight.
"That was awesome Rainbow Dash!" the pegasus smiled and took a bow.
Thank you, Thank you," she replied. She put her hoof to the back of her head. "Ya know Twi', it was really nice of you to be here to watch me practice,"
"It's no big deal," said Twilight "I was going to be up anyways, it was the least I could do,"
Rainbow dash smiled again "Thanks Twilight, you're a great friend,"
Twilight froze mid-step, her hoof hovering in the air. "Friend...yeah...,"
"We've been friends for a long time now, and I was thinking...maybe you'd like to...you know, go out sometime?"
At first, Rainbow was surprised, it certainly showed on her face, and then she blushed, and returned her hoof to the back of her head. "Well...I uh...," she continued to blush, and her face became more and more red, "Gee... I...Wow...,"
"It's okay if you say no, I understand,"
"No, it's not that, it's just, i didn't expect that at all...,"
"Oh, okay...wait, was that a yes?," inquired Twilight, hopefully.
"Yes," said Rainbow, both blushing and smiling.
Twilight smiled, dove forward, and wrapped her hooves around the cyan pegasus, after about a second of surprise, Rainbow returned the hug. Twilight pulled back a bit, and just stared into Rainbow's magenta eyes. After another second or two, Twilight pressed her lips against Rainbow's.
Again, Rainbow was surprised, and again she blushed, but then she returned Twilight's kiss. the two of them held that for a few seconds, and then the y just stared at each other for a while.
"So...how about 8:00 tomorrow?" asked Rainbow Dash, breaking the silence.
*knock knock* "Pinkie?" asked Rarity "Are you home?"
"Yeah," replied a sadness-soaked voice only barely recognizable as Pinkie Pie's "One sec," there were a few hoofsteps, followed by a soft *click* as the earth pony opened the door.
"Hello, may I come in?"
"Sure," Pinkie Pie let the unicorn in, only slightly cheering up at the unexpected visitor. "Want some cake?" asked Pinkie, already opening the cupboard.
"Yes, thank you," replied Rarity. She looked around the small shop, the small,empty shop. The Cakes decided to let Pinkie run Sugarcube Corner while they raised their two toddlers, soon after they did, all sorts of ponies were gathering at the "number one party location". It wasn't very lively or party-ish today though, nor was it any day that week, since Pinkie Pie had closed up for the week so she could get over everything, but it didn't seem to be helping. "Coffee cake, if you have any,"
"Sure thing," said Pinkie as she got out two plates.
"I talked to Spike a little while ago, apparently the Wonderbolts want to add Rainbow Dash to the Wonderbolt Hall of Fame, even if she never really was a Wonderbolt,"
"That would be cool, I'm sure she would like that,"
Yes, but the thing is they won't do it without direct permission from Twilight, and she's been holed up in her bedroom since she went home after the funeral, and she leave for anypony or anything, or say what she's doing in there,"
"She's probably just mourning the loss of her mare-friend, anypony else would too if they were in her position,"
"Perhaps, but if Spike was correct, something about her was off when she came back,"
"How so?"
"The moment she got back, she grabbed several books on ancient magic and ancient magical theories, a picture album of her and Rainbow Dash, and a set of vaguely titled research journals,"
"What do you mean, 'vaguely titled',"
"All Spike could see for the title was 'The Complete Works of' so he looked in the library booklist, but there are no books with such a title,"
"Hmmm...that makes things...interesting," said Pinkie, removing the fork from her mouth.
"Come now Pinkie Pie, you couldn't possibly be suspicious of her could you? It is Twilight after all, she probably just got them for some new reading material, and forgot to put them on the list,"
"But she's always so organized, it doesn't seem right,"
"Honestly Pinkie, what do you think she could be doing, remember when she was having Rainbow Dash over, and she forgot to add the whole set of new books to the list?"
"And then she thought they never came in?"
"Yes, it's probably just the fact that she's scatterbrained because of all the stress, it happens to the best of us,"
"Yeah, you're probably right," said Pinkie Pie, a smile starting to grow on her face. This elicited a smile from Rarity as well.
"There's that signature Pinkie Pie grin,"
Pinkie smile slowly faded, and the two ponies just sat at opposite ends of the table, awkwardly. Until Pinkie finally spoke up.
"Hey Rarity, since you're here, I'd just like to tell you something,"
"Yes?"
"I'm moving back in with my parents at the rock farm,"
"What?!" Rarity stood up. Out of all the things the earth pony could have said, this was, quite honestly, the last thing she would have expected. In fact, she would have been more likely to believe Pinkie Pie saying she was in love with her.
"Yeah," said Pinkie, avoiding the unicorn's gaze. "I moved to Ponyville to spread happiness, but there's too much here that reminds me of Rainbow Dash. I can't exactly spread joy and laughter if I'm always sad and depressed right?"
"I suppose you're right,"
"Plus, I haven't seen my parents in years, I really owe it to them,"
"Yes, I suppose you're right,"
"Don't worry Rarity, I just have to get over all this, and when I do, I'll move right back into Ponyville, and get everypony laughing again, okay?"
"Alright," Rarity sat back down, and chuckled a bit. "You know we're all just falling apart at the seams,"
"Really?" asked Pinkie Pie.
"Yes, You're moving back in with you're parents, Fluttershy moved back to Cloudsdale, Applejack hasn't done any work at the acres recently, and Twilight hasn't left her Bedroom in nearly a week,"
"Yeah, I guess you're right," Pinkie looked out the window. The sky was clear, and the sun was shining after all, so then why couldn't she shake this feeling that the world was darkening? "Hey Rarity?"
"Yes?"
"Am I the only pony who feels like they could have done something?"
Rarity was shocked. "What are you talking about? If it wasn't for your Pinkie Sense, we wouldn't have gotten there when we did, and Rainbow Dash would've been left in Ghastly Gorge with nopony to talk to, counting her regrets,"
"But I couldn't save her life,"
Rarity paused "No, I suppose you didn't, but you did save her from suffering, and that is the important part,"
"I guess," Pinkie Pie sighed.
"Well, Sweetiebelle, Scootaloo, and Applebloom are going to go to the shop once the get back on the train,"
"Where were they?"
"They were in Manehatten, visiting their 'Manehatten Branch', in other words, Babs Seed, I just hope they aren't back yet, the shop is a total mess,"
"Okay then, tell everypony where I went, I can't stand another goodbye,"
"I will, and I'll be sure to visit, goodbye Pinkie Pie,"
The shop was empty, except for Opalescence napping on the counter. Good, that means I have some time to clean up before the girls get back.The shop was, as she had told Pinkie Pie, a total mess. Last night, in a fit of complete rage and sorrow, Rarity had grabbed anything that reminded her of Rainbow Dash, and thrown it, tore it, or straight up destroyed it. It had been almost a week since the pegasus had passed on, but Rarity couldn't cope with the loss, and it made her feel pathetic. Everypony else had found some way to take their minds off of things, but she couldn't. She'd tried everything short of a memory spell to get over this, but to no avail. And yet, she managed to convince everypony that she had already gotten over it, she was an actress to some extent after all.
It took Rarity about an hour to clean up the mess of pictures, cloth, and other Rainbow-related objects, and the girls showed up about a half hour later to do their usual antics.
"I can't believe how successful Babs Seed's branch is, they've graduated almost 50 members, and how many have we graduated? 0!" said Scootaloo, frustrated.
"I think yer forgettin' that we only have three members," replied Applebloom "We're the only Blank-flanks in Ponyville,"
"Applebloom has a point Scootaloo, Manehatten is a huge city, and there are plenty of fillies and colts without cutie marks in a city like that," commented Sweetiebelle.
"I still think we should have at least found our cutie marks by now, we've been at it for months and we're still only kicking up dirt!"
"Then maybe we just need to try harder, I mean, everypony has a special talent, we just need to find ours,"
"We should try doing something awesome!"said Scootaloo, enthusiastically
"Like?" asked Applebloom.
"How about sports?" suggested Sweetiebelle.
"Yeah!" replied Applebloom
"What sport?" asked Scootaloo.
The three fillies sat around for a while, mulling it over in their heads until Scootaloo finally spoke up.
"Oh! Duh! if we want to do an awesome sport, but we don't know which, we should ask the pioneer of awesome which sport is best,"
"And the pioneer of awesome would be?"
"Rainbow Dash!"
Rarity froze, she knew she was a drama queen, and that she had said this countless times before, but, out of everything that could have happened, this was the worst possible thing.
"I forgot, you three have been in Manehatten all week, so you didn't hear," said Rarity, cautiously.
"What do you mean?" asked Scootaloo.
Rarity sat the filly down, and tried to speak in a comforting tone "Last Wednesday, Rainbow Dash was flying through Ghastly Gorge as per her usual training, but something went wrong. There was a rock slide, we managed to get her out, but she was severely injured," Scootaloo's eyes were wide with fear "She died on Friday,"
Scootaloo was frozen solid. "No...No, she can't have!" Scootaloo began to cry, the salt water dripping down the sides of her face. "She can't *sob* be dead, *sob* she was like *sob* my older sister,"
"I'm sorry," Rarity tried to comfort the young pony to the best of her ability, but she didn't expect Scootaloo to stop crying anytime soon. While the pegasus cried, Rarity looked to see how the other fillies were doing. From what she could gather, Applebloom was still in shock, and Sweetiebelle was very upset., But for the most part, they were handling it well.
"What *sniff* am I going to do now *sniff*," asked Scootaloo, rhetorically "She was *sniff* practically my sister *sniff, she was the only *sniff* relative I had. *sniff* I have nothing *sniff* now,"
Rarity thought for a moment "No, you're wrong," Scootaloo was puzzled. "You have me and Sweetiebelle now,"
"Wait, are you-,"
"Yes, I'm taking you in, welcome home,"
Scootaloo's tears changed to tears of joy, she had a real family,with a home and everything. Rainbow had always been a sort of older sibling figure to her, but never an actual sister. She threw her arms around the unicron,
"So this symbol represents 'Pony', as long as the hex can mean mind, and the diamond can mean 'body'," Twilight commented to herself. This guide to ancient magic is proving quite useful, I never would have found all these symbols in my other books, and these theories prove exactly what I had hoped! I'll only need to spend another day or two on this research, and then...,"
Her eyes fell on the framed picture on her desk. It was a picture of her and Rainbow Dash that Pinkie Pie had taken when they all had there monthly get together a month ago.
"And then I won't have to be tortured by all these damned memories,"
Rainbow Dash read the flyer for the fifth time over Exceptional Pegasi Wanted: Wonderbolt tryouts at noon on Sunday. This was her chance to prove herself to Spitfire, Captain of the Wonderbolts, and earn herself a spot on the team of Equestria's greatest-.
"Rainbow?" asked Twilight, breaking the pegasus' trance.
"Huh? Oh yeah...sorry," said Rainbow Dash, embarrassed.
"No it's fine, I did expect you to read it several times over. Anyway, I picked you up a contestant application, we can fill it out when we get back to the library tonight,"
"An application? Ugggh, I hate-,"
"Filling out paperwork, I know. That's why I'll be helping out, Okay?"
"Okay, thanks Twi', you're the best," Rainbow Dash rubbed her muzzle against Twilight's, affectionately. "So, where are we meeting everypony exactly?"
"Everypony else will be waiting for us in the town square, if we keep going down this path, we'll get there in a minute or two,"
"Okay then, who picked the restaurant?"
"I believe Fluttershy did, some new restaurant called 'Kit and Caboodle's',"
"What kind of food is that?"
"Sandwiches, it's a sandwich place,"
"Oh cool! So what do you want to do after we fill out that form?"
"Hmmm... I didn't think about that...Oh! We could watch Daring Do and the Alicorn's Amulet, it just came in this morning,"
"Wait, watch?"
"Yeah! it's the first Daring Do movie!"
"Wow, that sounds awesome!"
"Then that's what we'll do, watch a movie, eat popcorn, snuggle,"
Rainbow Dash blushed. "Yeah, that'll be cool,"
Twilight grinned. "Your face is bright red, by the way, did you know? Just there," said Twilight, indicating most of her face.
"Huh?...Oh! Crap!" replied Rainbow, embarrassed, only made her blush more.
Twilight laughed. "Here, let me," Her horn became surrounded by a translucent, pale purple field, indicating that she was casting a spell. A beam of the same coloring a the field was projected at Rainbow's face. When the magic dissipated, Rainbow Dash's face was no longer red, and to say the least, Rainbow was surprised.
"What do you think? It took a while, but I finally finished that spell. The main issue was that I had to start from scratch, no other unicorn ever thought of something like this,"
"Wow," That was all the pegasus could manage to say. It was cool to know a pony who could create original spells, but it was awesome to be dating one. "Just...wow,"
This made Twilight blush a bit, she always blushed when she was complemented. Hey, There they are!" The other four elements were waiting right where they said they would be.
"Late as ever, TwiDash," said Rarity, jokingly.
"You still insist on using that nickname?"replied Twilight. TwiDash was this nickname that Rarity had come up with as a title for the couple. Apparently it was a common occurrence amongst gossipy mares like Rarity.
"Yes, It's very convenient to be able to address both of you at the same time, plus I think it's kind of cute, said Rarity, defensively.
"I agree, It's pretty cute," said Pinkie Pie. "So Fluttershy, where's this sandwich place?"
"Man, that was delicious, we have to come here more often," said Rainbow Dash.
"Agreed," replied Twilight "Good choice Fluttershy. Well, thank you Applejack for buying, it was nice to see you all, but, we'd best be going,"
"Wait!" Shouted Pinkie Pie. "Can I get a picture of you guys?"
"I don't see why not, Rainbow?"
"Fine, just be sure to get my good side," said Rainbow Dash.
"Which is every side,"
"You," Rainbow rubbed her muzzle against Twilight's, and then posed for the picture. Twilight leaned her head up against Rainbow's. There was a flash of light as Pinkie took the picture.
"So, home?" asked Twilight.
"Home," replied Rainbow. Twilight's horn glowed as she a two pony prepared a teleportation spell to take them back to the library, and an instant later, they were there.
"I'll get the movie started, could you go make some popcorn, Rainbow?" said Twilight as she trotted over to the projector.
"Yeah, no prob'," Rainbow trotted over into the kitchen and opened the cupboard. "Now let's see, Pickles...Pickled Daisies...Pocky...Popcorn!," she grabbed the plastic container, and put the kernels into a covered pot. She stood there listening to the popping for a few minutes, then removed the puffy, white kernels from the pot, added them to a large bowl, and brought it out into the living room.
"Popcorn,"
"Thanks, Rainbow,"
The projector screen sported the wordsDaring Do and the Alicorn's Amulet in big, blue letters, then the screen faded to a dense jungle setting. The camera panned down to reveal the brown pegasus with the monochromatic mane, Daring Do.
"This is awesome," said an awestruck Rainbow Dash.
"Yeah," replied Twilight. The two ponies sat there silently for about two hours before they started a short argument during the credits over whether or not this was better than reading the books. Ultimately, they agreed that neither was better, and then headed up to bed.
Rainbow Dash never was one to fall asleep quickly, and tonight was no exception, but tonight, Twilight was awake too, tossing and turning.
"Hey Rainbow?" asked Twilight.
"Do you love me?"
Rainbow Dash was completely surprised. "Twilight of course I love you, I love you more than I ever thought I would love anypony, and I always will, no matter what,"
Twilight looked over at the carbon copy of Rainbow Dash's application. The pale gray lettering perfectly reflectling Rainbow Dash's hoofwriting.
"Alright then, if I put the symbol for 'magic' here, the symbol for 'pony' here, the symbol for 'body' here, and the symbol for 'soul' here, I should be all set. I just need some raw materials. Now where is somepony supposed to obtain 25 kilograms of pure carbon?"
Fluttershy trotted along the soft, fluffy, clouds, averting her eyes from those of the other pegasi trotting around the Cloudsdale streets. If you could call them streets. They were nothing like Ponyville's street. In Ponyville, the streets were solid, provided support for your hooves, and made you confident in every step, but Cloudsdale was an entire city of clouds, clouds were soft, cushy, and unbalanced.
Since she had moved here a few days ago, Fluttershy had been living in a small house on the edge of town, she had a part-time job at the small pet shop on the corner of the street, it was a good job, with decent pay at ten bits an hour. She had a good life, but she missed her friends. As mentioned before, Cloudsdale was an entire city of clouds, and only pegasus ponies can walk on clouds, which made it virtually impossible for her friends to visit her.
Fluttershy walked into the small cloud house and closed the door behind her with a gentle kick. She set the bags she was carrying down on the counter, she'd put the groceries away later. in the meantime, she'd watch the news. Apparently, Celestia's court gaurd were doing a tribute to Rainbow Dash by creating a rainbow out of colored smoke, and hanging a banner with her cutie on it over the usual one featuring Celestia's. They would also be wearing badges sporting the same symbol. Shining Armor even spoke a few words, or, to put it better, a four minute speech.
Seh sat there watching the newest developments across Equestria for about a half hour, and then, there was a knock on her door. Well, not really a knock so to speak, more of a soft thud.
"Who's there?" asked Fluttershy, still watching the projector.
"Applejack,"
Fluttershy stopped the projector, got up, and ran to the door, and sure enough, the orange earth pony was standing there.
"Hey," said Applejack, lamely.
"Hey,' replied Fluttershy "Come on in," Applejack walked into the small house, awestruck.
"Wow, I never thought thatcha could make clouds so smooth,"
"Yeah, you get used to it. Say, how are you walking on clouds? Only pegasus ponies can do that, did you have Twilight cast that spell again?"
"Nah, Celestia sent us each one of these magical runes," she said, indicating her necklace. "They work like a constant version of that spell,"
"Ah...Oh! Can I get you something to drink?"
"Huh? Oh, yea, just water,"
"Okay," the pegasus went into her kitchen, got two cups, and began to fill them with water. "So how's ponyville been?"
"It's been pretty dull, everypony has been pretty bummed out, half the apple family dropped by to apologize, and Braeburn even dropped of some flowers at her grave,"
"To think so many ponies cared so much about her,"
"Well she was kind of a town celebrity,"
"True, so how is everypony else?"
"Well...Rarity hasn't made a dress in four days, Pinkie Pie moved out, I've been taking a break from the farm and Twilight hasn't left the library since the funeral,"
"That bad, huh?"
"Yeah,"
"So what about the Elements of Harmony? We need the element of loyalty,"
"Celestia and Luna will wield them again,"
"Oh," Fluttershy set down one glass in front of Applejack.
"Thanks," Applejack drank the water in several large gulps, set the empty glass on the table, and wiped her mouth with the back of her hoof. "So how's Cloudsdale?"
"Lonely, but at least I get the chance to move on. I wouldn't be able to do that in my cottage back in ponyville, but here...,"
"Here you can?"
Fluttershy nodded "Yeah, back in Ponyville, there's plenty to remind me of Rainbow Dash, but not here,"
"But didn't you and Rainbow Dash used to live here together?"
"Yes, but to me, they're to different ponies," Applejack gave Fluttershy a confused look. "I knew her back when she lived here, we went our seperate ways, and then we met again in ponyville, but she had a completely different attitude towards many things, so I never saw any connection to them, other than their looks,"
"Ah, I see,"
"So yeah, here I can finally forget,"
"Forget? Why'n the hay would ya want to forget?"
"Because I don't like being tortued by all the memories about her,"
"Tortured? You're looking at this from the wrong angle,"
"How so?"
"I'll put it this way, how would you feel if everypony suddenly forgot about you?"
"Wow, I guess I never thought of it that way. Thanks Applejack,"
The two ponies sat there silently, contemplating a way to continue the conversation, and then Fluttershy spoke.
"You know, I expected she'd at least outlast Granny Smith,"
"Yeah, talk about bad luck,'
"Yeah...Hey! Are the girls back from Manehattan yet?"
"I dunno, but Applejack wasn't back when I left, so probably not. I'd just hate to be the one who tells Scootaloo,"
"Agreed. So what was that earlier bit about Twilight?"
"Oh, she ran home at about 8:00 on Sunday, and hasn't left her home since,"
"I hope she's alright,"
"Well, according to Rarity, she's studying ancient magic, so she's at least partway back to normal,"
"Well that's good,"
Again the two ponies dropped to an awkward silence, but this time, it was broken by Applejack.
"Well, I'd best be getting back to the farm, Everypony will be expectin' me"
"Wait! it's already past six o'clock, and it's a long way back to ponyville, why don't you stay for dinner?"
"Ah, well, I don't wanna impose,"
"Oh it's no trouble, really. It'll be nice to have somepony to talk to over dinner,"
"Ya know Fluttershy," said Applejack, picking up a forkful of the steamed veggies "If you went out there, said hello to some ponies, be friendly, you could probably get yerself a few new friends, maybe even a colt-friend, or mare-friend, if that's what yer into,"
"I don't know, I don't think anypony would like to date me,"
"Ah, c'mon your sellin' yerself short, there's plenty of colts and mares that go for the gentle, silent type, and yer extremely cute to boot, you'd probably stand a better chance than most of the other mares in cloudsdale,"
"Okay, Carbon, water, pictures, assorted chemicals, runes, looks like I'm all set, now I just wait for Spike to go to sleep, and then I can get started," Twilight walked up the stairs, and closed the door to her basement.
Twilight looked up at the clock on the shelf to her right. It was 2:51 a.m., nopony would be awake at this hour.
‘At long last, everything is ready She looked down at the locket on her neck “Here goes everything,” She stood on the symbol for “spellcaster” and closed her eyes, she exhaled, and her horn began to glow
Rainbow Dash was lying on a hospital bed in the emergency room. She had bandages on her chest, head, and right wing. Twilight was sitting on the floor, next to the aforementioned bed, despite repetitive offers from the pegasus, Twilight refused to use one of the pillows from Rainbow’s bed to make the tiles more comfortable. Rainbow had been in the hospital since Wednesday, the events that placed her there were quite easy to dismiss, and she probably would have dismissed them had she not lived through them. She had just been flying through Ghastly Gorge, when suddenly, there was a rock slide. this was no ordinary rock slide either, there had been no warning, no randomized thuds and clunks of falling rocks, but lastly, and most interestingly. It was the first rockslide since the pet race in which Rainbow got her pet turtle tank. In other words, it was the first rockslide in almost 2 years.
Still, it had happened, and she had been severely injured, and there was no denying any of it. It was just so unbelievable, so extraordinary, that it could be denied by somepony who didn’t believe in bad luck. She was just glad she had somepony like Twilight. The unicorn was, if you were to ask Rainbow Dash, the most devoted mare-friend anypony could ask for. She spent every moment of free time she had at the side of the pony she loved.
“So, Twilight,” began Rainbow as an attempt to start a conversation. “How are your studies coming along?”
“Great! I just learned a spell that can treat minor cases of food poisoning!”
“Really? That’s awesome! I didn’t even know-,” Rainbow was interrupted by a sudden cough rising in throat.
“Easy Rainbow, you’re still recovering,”
“Right, forgot about that,” Rainbow Dash looked around the small hospital room, analyzing it to ensure that she hadn’t forgotten anything else. Convinced that she hadn’t, she looked at the clock to her left, the time was 8:36, then she consulted the calendar next to it, it was Friday, May 23. “Hey Twilight?”
“Yes?”
“How long ago was it?”
“Hmm?” Twilight cocked her head to the right, Rainbow thought it was so cute the way she did that.
“How long has it been since our first kiss?”
“Oh, right. Let’s see…One year, five months, twenty-three days,”
Almost a year and a half then,”
“Yeah, almost,”
“You’re still just as beautiful in the moonlight,”
Twilight blushed “And you’re still just as cute,’”
Had it been anypony else who had just said that to her, they would have had one very angry cyan pegasus yelling her lungs out at them, but it was Twilight so she accepted the compliment, and blushed a bit as well.
Rainbow Dash was a very complicated pony. Her emotions had many levels to them. The first level she and Twilight called her “armor”, many ponies never got the chance to see what she was like underneath, but Twilight, Fluttershy, Rarity, Applejack, and Pinkie Pie were able to. Beneath that, there was her “first layer”, all the ponies she considered her friends stopped here. Then there was her “second layer’, this is where her closest friends stopped. There was only one pony who could reach her “final layer” and that was Twilight. That meant that Twilight was the only pony who could call Rainbow cute, who could get Rainbow to have serious emotional talks, and lastly, kiss her.
“So, excluding the cough, how are you feeling?” asked Twilight
“Okay, I guess, but no better than I felt yesterday,”
“I just hope that you feel better by next Saturday. It may be your last chance to become a Wonderbolt,”
“I know, and we must have spent hours filling out that application, I’d hate to see it go to waste,”
“Me too,”
“So when did the doc say I was getting out of here?”
“He didn’t, he just said ‘Only time will tell’,”
“So basically we just wait,”
“Yeah,’
“I hate waiting,”
“Yeah,”
“So anything interesting happening with anypony else?”
“Not really…oh, right! Pinkie Pie is running Sugar Cube Corner for the next few weeks,”
“Really? That’s a huge responsibility, do you think she can handle it?”
“I don’t have the slightest idea, but I wouldn’t be too surprised if she could,”
“I dunno, remember when she was taking care of the baby cakes?”
“I understand your point, but you have to give her credit, she had no lack of determination,”
“That’s the problem though, she was so determined to handle it herself that she didn’t get any help until the last minute, which was almost too late. I’m worried that this time it will be too late,”
“Hmmm, that is a valid point, but that’s nothing to worry about, I will be able to help her, I promise,”
“Don’t make an injured mare a promise that you can’t keep Twi’, I’d hate to see your streak be broken,”
“I don’t make a promise if I doubt I can keep it, you know that,”
“Yeah, but you’re making a promise that relies on the choices of another pony. That’s not a very sound plan Twi’,”
“As true as that may be, we have to give her a chance. Otherwise we may never know if she can,”
“I guess…,”
“Anyway, did you see the news this morning?”
Rainbow Dash sat up quickly. “Yeah, of course I did! I can’t believe *cough* that somepony would *cough* dare to *cough* break into *cough* Canterlot *cough* Castle *cough*,” Rainbow reflexively put her hoof u; to her mouth to suppress her coughing. When she pulled her hoof away and examined it, she saw something far worse than the saliva and mucus that she had been seeing all day. “Oh no *cough*,”
Her normally cyan-colored fur had been stained dark red.
“What is it? Should I get the doctor?”
“Call him *cough* in,” She was starting to notice a metallic taste in her mouth, slowly increasing along with her cough. “But don’t *cough* leave me, please *cough*,” Her cough began to increase in frequency, making it harder and harder to breathe.
“Somepony get a doctor, quick!” Twilight shouted into the hall. Almost immediately afterwards, hoofsteps could be heard from the hallway headed in the direction of the offices. “Okay, somepony’s going to get a doctor,” She embraced the coughing pegasus. “Just hold on,”
“Damn *cough*, it just *cough* keeps *cough* getting worse *cough*,” Rainbow Dash leaned back, and immediately regretted it, as she was treated with a piercing pain in her stomach region, provoking an agonized scream from the pegasus.
“Raibow? Are you all right?”
“Twilight *cough* go into *cough* the drawers *cough* and get *cough* out the *cough* thing in the *cough* second one,”
Twilight did so, to discover the drawer was empty save for a silver locket. “What’s this?” asked Twilight, holding up the piece of jewelry.
“Open *cough* it,” Twilight did, and saw exactly what it was.
The locket had two pictures in it, the left picture was Rainbow Dash and her cuddling in front of the lake where they had shared their first kiss, the right one was a pink and purple notecard that read, “For Twilight Sparkle, with all my heart,” Twilight’s eyes began to water.
“Now you can’t give in,”
“Sorry *cough* Twi’, *cough* but I *cough* just don’t have *cough* as much *cough* practice as *cough* my opponent *cough*,” Rainbow was beginning to convulse along with her coughing, and her voice was becoming strained. “I wanted *cough* to give that *cough* to you for *cough* our two year *cough* anniversary, *cough* but I’m not gonna *cough* be there,”
“Don’t talk like that, Rainbow. Of course you’ll be there,”
“Twilight *cough*,” Rainbow looked directly into Twilight’s eyes with the most serious look Twilight had ever seen her make. “Don’t be *cough* irrational, *cough* it doesn’t *cough* suit you *cough*,”
At that moment, the door burst open as the doctor dashed in, followed by a nurse. Twilight stepped back to make room for them, and the doctor immediately felt at Rainbow’s ribcage.
“Dammit, I thought maybe we could have a stroke of luck, but…,” He backed away and looked toward Twilight “Her broken rib has dug into her lung, there’s nothing we can do,”
Twilight was frozen with shock “No…,” She looked toward her convulsing mare-friend. “No!” She ran forward and held the cyan pegasus in her forelegs. “Rainbow, don’t leave me!”
“It’s okay Twilight *cough*, I’m not in pain *cough*,” Her voice was only a raspy whisper at this point.
“But-,”
“Listen, just do me *cough* one favor *cough*,”
“Anything,”
“Don’t…forget…me…,” The pegasus fell limp in Twilight’s hooves, her eyes closed, her chest no longer rising or falling.
“Rainbow? Rainbow!” Twilight’s eyes began to water, and her lip began to quiver, until finally she gave in and broke into a sob. She buried her head in her mare-friend’s neck, her shoulders shuddering in perfect sync with the stutters in her sorrowful moaning. Rainbow Dash was dead, her mare-friend, whom she had loved for many more years than she cared to admit, was dead.
Twilight thought to herself as her tears dripped down her cheeks, and onto the motionless pegasus. Don’t worry Rainbow, I won’t forget.
Rainbow Dash opened her eyes. At first, all she could see was white, bet then, her eyes adjusted and her vision cleared, and she could see a series of swirling purple beams all around her. She looked herself over, and couldn’t believe her eyes. She was there, but somehow, simultaneously not there. She could see her basic form, her legs, hooves, stomach, tail and such, but it was all, translucent, almost like when she turned into a crystal pony, but more so. She looked forward, and saw a figure through the beams. She couldn’t be certain, but it sort of looked like-
“Twilight?”
Suddenly, the purple beams began to spin more rapidly, and darken until they had become pitch black. A few moments later, she heard a voice, as though it was her thoughts.
You have the components for the body, and the sentiment for the soul, but no link! I thought you’d be a bit more competent than this Twilight Sparkle. So it was Twilight! The thought of seeing her mare-friend again filled the pegasus with joy. But, since I’ve gone to the trouble of bringing the soul here, I may as well put it somewhere. Let’s see…Aha! This seems to have some link to it. Now if I use some of this. There was a piercing scream of agony from Twilight. I can bond the soul here instead. Suddenly, Rainbow felt an extreme burning sensation from her entire body, eliciting an immense scream of pain from her as well. Shortly after, she was pulled towards Twilight with an incredible force, and blacked out.
Once again, Rainbow opened her eyes. There was very little light, and the beams that were present earlier seemed to have disappeared. She couldn’t make out the features of the small room perfectly, but it was still easily recognizable as Twilight’s basement. Then she remembered, Twilight! She looked around frantically for her mare-friend, if that earlier scream was anything to go by, she would be in severe pain, and probably be injured. Then she saw the unicorn lying a few feet to her right, in a pool of her own blood.
“Twilight!” She flew over to her mare-friend, but when she attempted to pick up the injured unicorn, her hooves passed right through her. “What the hay?”
“Rainbow?” asked Twilight, her voice raspy, and followed by a few short coughs. “Is that you?”
“Yes!” said Rainbow, her voice choked by either sadness or happiness, but she had yet to figure out which. “Yes, it’s me!”
“What’s wrong with your *cough* body? Why can *cough* I see through you?”
Rainbow Dash looked herself over, Twilight was right! She was still transparent! “I can’t touch you either,”
“You can’t?” Rainbow shook her head ‘no’. “Well buck,”
Rainbow was startled “Twilight, I’ve never heard you curse before,”
“A lot has changed in the last week. Anyways, if you’re transparent, and you can’t touch me, then…,” Twilight’s eyes gazed past Rainbow for a brief moment, suggesting that she was in deep thought. “Then it really couldn’t make the link,”
“What do you mean? What’s ‘it’?”
“‘It’ is the guardian of the portal to Tartarus, and I messed up my equations a bit, I figured out what I needed for the body, and obtained enough objects of sentiment to bring back your soul, but I couldn’t forge a link between the two, so that means that you don’t have a body,” She stood up in a deliberate manner, suggesting that she was both frustrated and disappointed. “But wait! A soul can’t be in the world of the living without a carrier, so how…,”
“Twilight?”
“The locket,”
“Huh?”
“The locket you gave me on the day you died! There was a large sentimental link between you and this locket, so it connected your soul to it!” Twilight seemed satisfied for about another half second before she continued on. “But wait! The only way that could happen is if there was a pathway of some sort to morph the soul’s compatability to-” Twilight doubled over coughing.
“Twilight! Are you okay?” asked Rainbow
“So that’s it *cough*,”
“What do you mean?”
“It took some of my organs to build a pathway that would change the compatability of your soul, so that it *cough* could link it *cough* to the locket,”
“Hey, you didn’t answer my previous question,”
“Oh?”
“Are you alright?”
“Oh, yeah. I’m fine *cough*. Although *cough*, We should probably *cough* go get help *cough*,”
“Good idea, let’s head to Fluttershy’s,”
“Oh yeah, I forgot that you have a lot to catch up on. I’ll tell you about it on the way to Rarity’s,”
Twilight knocked three times on the door to Rarity’s boutique.
“Wow, I never knew I was so important to so many ponies,” said Rainbow Dash, shocked.
“You know, you don’t give yourself enough credit anymore. You’re the fastest flyer in all of Equestria, the only pony who can perform a Sonic Rainboom,” the door opened “And the Element of Loyalty, that kind of- Oh, hello Scootaloo, what are you doing here?”
“Yes, please,” Twilight walked forward, stepping through the doorway and into the boutique, followed closely by a slightly frustrated Rainbow Dash.
Scootaloo looked out into the night, to where Twilight had been standing moments before. “Hey Twilight?”
“Yes?”
“Who were you just talking to?”
“Oh…Dear, right,” Twilight placed her hoof on her forehead, closed her eyes, and sighed. “Just…just close the door and go get Rarity, please,”
“Okay…,” The young pegasus headed for the stairs, leaving Twilight and Rainbow Dash to themselves.
“Twilight? I don’t understand, why was she acting like she couldn’t see me?”
Twilight sat down and opened her eyes. “Because she can’t see you, and she can’t hear you either,”
“Why not?”
Twilight sighed and turned toward her mare-friend. “Okay, as a soul without a corporeal body you communicate and contact using life energy and spirit force, respectively. In addition, your entire form is practically just those two forms of energy. Since normal ponies can’t make use of either of these without the assistance of magic, most ponies won’t be able to*cough* see, hear, or *cough* touch you*cough*,” Twilight collapsed once again, coughing repeatedly. Rainbow Dash flew over to comfort her, only to be reminded of her current lack of a body.
Luckily, Rarity came down the stairs at that moment, and began to run once she saw Twilight’s current condition. “Twilight! Are you alright?” Asked the unicorn, frantically.
“Yes Rarity *cough*, I’m fine *cough*,” replied Twilight, hoarsely.
“You most certainly don’t sound it. Scootaloo?”
“Yes, Rarity?”
“Could you get Twilight some water?”
“Sure!” the filly went into the kitchen, and audibly shuffled about, opening and closing cupboards.
“Ummm, Twilight? Can I ask you something?”
“Anything,”
“What have you been studying?”
Twilight paused for a moment. “I’ve been studying the research of a unicorn named Lost Shadow. He was an expert on the link between the living and the dead,”
“Then that means…No! You couldn’t! You wouldn’t!”
“I did,”
“Twilight! How could you! That’s strictly forbidden!”
Twilight thought for a very short moment as to how to put it into words. “You tell me,” Her horn glowed, and a beam transferred to Rarity, seemingly targeting her eyes and ears. It dissipated quickly, and when it did, her eyes were wide.
“R-Rainbow…D-Dash?”
“Wait, you can see me? Oh thank Celestia!” Rainbow was so relieved to know that somepony else could see her.
“I-I can’t believe it, it’s actually possible,”
“Apparently so,”
“So why couldn’t I see her a moment ago?”
“Let’s just say I made a calculation error,”
“What are you guys talkin’ about?” Scootaloo was walking out of the kitchen, a glass of water in her left hoof
“Thank you for the water Scootaloo, but I won’t be needing it. I have to go. Oh! Before I forget, do you have some kind of cloak? Preferably one with a hood? The court guard is going to be searching all over Equestria for me, especially if they see my basement,”
“Yeah,” Rarity opened her wardrobe, and pulled out a black cloak with a gold chain. “Somepony ordered this a few weeks ago, but never came to get it,”
“Thank you. And one last thing, when they come looking for me, I wasn’t here,"
The desert sand kicked up in the blistering winds, seemingly bringing the sand dunes to life in the moving dust. A lone pony walked through this sandstorm, a black cloak covering their body and face from the miniscule rocks and dust particles. To any other pony, they would have seemed insane, or suicidal, or perhaps both. But those ponies would have been wrong, for this pony was just determined. They had to reach this city by nightfall, even if it meant trekking through a sandstorm just past noon.
They were trying to reach the desert city of Dusaan, which, in the ancient language of the area, meant “from dust”. Supposedly there was a unicorn there who could help them with their quest. However, this pony had not eaten in a full ten and a half hours, and hadn’t slept in 12. Their vision was beginning to blacken at the edges, and their legs began to weaken at the knees.
“D-dammit,” stuttered the pony, as their knees buckled and their body collapsed into the sand.
“How is she holding up?” The mare woke with a start, her tired eyes darting around the room, attempting to place a name to it. But the most she could gather was that it was some kind of hospital room.
“She seems fine, she just needs to eat something and get some rest, that’s all,” the voices seemed to be coming from the hallway, and she assumed that the two voices belonged to two doctors, and that they were talking about her. “But it’s strange, I did a physical examination, and if I noted correctly, she’s missing a portion of her diaphragm, as well as some of her lungs,”
“That’s impossible,” But it isn’t. Thought the mare, as she grabbed her cloak and silver necklace from the table next to her bed. “You’ll have to check her again, but this time wait until she wakes up, I don’t want somepony reporting us for violating their privacy,”
“C’mon,” She whispered. “Let’s get out of here,” She put on her cloak and necklace, opened the window, slipped out, and closed it behind her, making almost no noise as she had practiced. “Now then, let’s go find this ‘Shining Bolt’,” She dropped down into the grass and walked toward the street. “Maybe he can help us get you back in the flesh,”
The necklace shimmered blue as a translucent pegasus began to form next to the mare. “I dunno Twilight, that’s what you said about Azure Grass when we were in Kayru, and that was yet another dead end,”
“This one’s different,” said Twilight. “He’s supposed to be an expert on the manipulation of life energy and spirit force. He should at least be able to point us in the right direction,”
“I guess…,”
“Just trust me Rainbow,”
“Well…alright, but only because it’s you, and you usually aren’t wrong. So where does this guy live?”
“Tall building, town square,”
“I sure hope that isn’t an address,”
Twilight laughed a bit. “No, it’s just a general description,”
“Cool, I’ll just stay in here, just in case,”
“Good idea,” There was a small flash of light as Rainbow Dash condensed herself, and returned to the locket, a little trick she had learned a few months ago. The streets of Dusaan were active, and never knew who had the sight, So Rainbow would stay hidden to prevent drawing attention. Twilight pulled up her hood, she was lucky that the doctors hadn’t recognized her, or else the court guard would have been all over them, and then they would never get to talk with Shining Bolt.
Twilight had been gone for nearly six months now, and Celestia was getting desperate. Twilight was her star student after all, and as far as the princesses knew, she had just up and disappeared literally overnight. As far as Celestia knew, she could have been kidnapped, or even killed.
But as much as Twilight wanted to reassure her mentor of her safety, there was no way to do that without revealing her location, and supposing the court guard saw her basement, she would know what had happened, and would be forced to punish Twilight, and most likely would end up placing her on house arrest, meaning she couldn’t fix the mistake she made six months ago. Twilight had promised Rainbow Dash that she would have a body again before their fourth anniversary. Their third was coming up soon, and she felt as though they weren’t any closer.
But, if her sources were correct, as they usually were, then Shining Bolt was her best option.
She walked into Shining Bolt’s academy for young unicorns. There was a gray earth-pony at the desk a feet from the entrance. She had blue eyes and a golden mane, and appeared to be filing paperwork.
“Stay down Rainbow, we shouldn’t risk anypony seeing you,” Whispered Twilight.
“Gotcha,”
Twilight walked up to the desk. “Excuse me,” The pony at the desk glanced up at Twilight, returned to her work for a second, and then, as if she had only just realized the change in her surrounding, suddenly sat upright.
“Oh, terribly sorry, umm…how may I help you?”
“I would like to speak with Shining Bolt. I heard he is an extremely talented unicorn, and I would be quite happy to meet him,”
“Well, I’m sorry but he’s teaching a class right now. But I bet if you wait here for a few minutes you can catch him on his break,”
“In a class, huh…You know what? I think I’d like to sit in on this class, Is that permitted?”
“Uh, I don’t know if-,”
“You said that he was almost finished, and besides-,” Her horn glowed, and Twilight disappeared from sight for an instant before reappearing on the opposite side of the pony. “I doubt I’d be learning anything new,”
“Well…I guess that’s okay. Just don’t disrupt his class, there’s nothing he hates more than somepony disrupting his class,”
“No problem. Which way?”
“Third door on your right,”
“Thank you,” Twilight slowly walked down the hallway to her right, directly following the instructions she had been given. Upon reaching the room, she read the small sign to the left of the door. “Form and Shape Shifting, hm,” She carefully opened the door, and closed it quietly. Since nopony seemed to notice, she concluded that she had not disrupted the class, just as she had promised.
Shining Bolt was in the middle of a lecture, and from the way he was talking, this was the introduction to the class.
“So if you wanted to, say, shift some leaves into the form of some cloth, you would first picture the cloth, then summon up your magical capabilities, and lastly, imagine the leaves changing into the cloth. In conclusion, to form-shift an object, you follow Product, Magic, Shift, understood?” He looked around the room, his gaze shifting from student to student. However, he failed to notice Twilight. “Good, class dismissed. Tomorrow we’ll be practicing some basic form shifts, so be prepared,”
The ponies in the room all left quickly, with the exception of a small blue unicorn with a gray mane, who was packing up noticeably slower than the other ponies had. She had golden eyes, or so it seemed until she turned to face Twilight. She had one gold eye, and one silver eye.
Two different colored eyes were not extremely rare, but rare enough that this was the first pony she had ever seen with the strange pattern. The pony walked quickly and deliberately out of the room, giving Twilight a quick smile before leaving.
Twilight then shifted her focus to the task at hoof, and walked towards Shining’s desk at the front of the room, where he was filing paperwork.
“You must be Shining Bolt,” said Twilight.
“That would be me,” He replied, without averting his gaze from the papers.
“I was wondering if we could have a little chat,”
He looked up. “Oh…Why yes! Certainly!” He got out of his desk and walked over to her. “What might a beautiful, and no doubt intelligent, unicorn such as yourself want to talk about?”
“According to rumor, you’re somewhat of an expert on Spirit Force and Life Energy. Is that correct?”
“It is,”
“I would like to know everything you know about souls,”
“And what might a charming young unicorn like you-,”
Twilight turned abruptly, interrupting the unicorn. “Before this one-sided flirting continues, I’m taken,”
“Oh…well he’s a very lucky stallion,”
“Mare,”
“Hmm?”
“You said that my partner was a lucky stallion, and I corrected you. My partner is a mare,”
“Oh, well then she’s a very-,”
“She has said so, yes. Anyways, souls, or more specifically, souls without corporeal bodies in our world,”
“What do you need to know that for?”
“Let’s just say that I made a mistake, and that it’s imperative that I correct it,”
“What kind of-,”
Twilight slammed her hoof down violently, knocking over a few pencils. “Stop asking questions and start answering them!” She shouted.
“Right, sorry. Well, a soul can exist without a body if the soul and body have been forcibly separated, but for that soul to be in this world, it needs some sort of anchoring with a sentimental connection to the soul,”
“Yes, I know that much. But let’s say I wanted to place a soul into a new body, how would I do that,”
“Well…I guess you could- what kind of mistake did you make that requires you to do such a thing to undo it?”
“That’s none of your-,” Twilight began to see black at the edges of her vision. “Oh *cough* damn,” She laid herself down, coughing in a steady rhythm “Could I *cough* perhaps have *cough* something to eat? *cough* Anything edible would *cough* be great,”
“Uh… yeah, sure,” He went into his office, and came out with some sort of biscuit. “Here, eat this,”
“Thank you,” She ate quickly, and then stood up. “Okay, as I was saying, that’s none of your concern, you just need to worry about asking my questions,”
“Sorry miss, but I need you to answer that question,”
“Sorry Shining, but I can’t answer that. And since you don’t seem like you’re going to be of any help…,” She spun around and headed for the door, but the door slammed shut. The wind from the sudden motion knocked her hood off.
“Buck,”
“Well I’ll be, Twilight Sparkle, Element of Magic, student of Celestia, and magical prodigy. I can’t believe I didn’t recognize you at first,” He teleported to the area in front of her. “So, what brings somepony like you out here? Has Celestia decided to scout out the east, or has she sent you to take down my academy? Well, no matter. I can’t have her discovering that I’m running an unauthorized paid education system, so…,” A translucent beam rose from his back and rocketed straight down towards Twilight.
There was an audible clang and a flash of blue light. When the light faded, it revealed that the beam had been stopped a few inches from Twilight’s forehead.
“What?” Shining’s eyes widened in shock.
“Thank you Rainbow,”
“No prob’ Twi’,”
“It can’t be…Rainbow Dash?” His expression of shock slowly faded into a smirk. “I get it, your physical condition has fallen in, your mare-friend has no body, you really did make a mistake you foolish mare,”
He chuckled. “You attempted to defy the ultimate law of nature itself! You broke the very first rule of magic! And your both suffering for it!,”
“You reckless mare, I thought that Celestia would’ve taught you better but apparently not, and now you’re trying to get your mare-friend back. So you came to me in a moment of desperation,”
“Yeah, I’d say that sums it up. I was reckless and desperate and I made a mistake. Now Rainbow can’t feel anything, can only communicate with a select few ponies, and I’ve lost a good portion of my physical health,” A tear began to roll down her cheek. “Such is what I have done,”
“Well, so that explains why the star pupil of Celestia would up and leave overnight, and not tell anypony,” Shining Bolt sneered. “I knew that ponies would become desperate in a moment of need, but I never thought that death of a loved one could drive one of the most powerful unicorns in Equestria to commit the ultimate sin!”
Twilight looked at the floor, tears streaming down her cheeks. Rainbow looked at her, sympathetically, as she wasn’t able to cry, at least not properly. It took away from her life energy if she attempted.
“You learned all sorts of magic from the greatest unicorn in Equestria, and then threw her teachings to the mud!”
“Shut your bucking mouth!” Rainbow’s head shot up, glaring at the stallion before her.
“Rainbow,” said Twilight, calming her short-tempered mare-friend. “He’s right,”
Rainbow paused, and then her expression saddened again. “But, you don’t know what it’s like do you?” she asked Shining Bolt. “What it’s like to lose somepony close to you, and suddenly be alone?”
His sneer faded. “No, I don’t,” He dissipated his spell. “I guess you’re right,” He backed up.
“I suppose I owe you an apology. I was worried that Celestia might have sent you to shut me down. Unsurprisingly, Celestia isn’t okay with losing students to a school in the desert,”
“What do you mean?” asked Twilight.
“The academy I run charges a lower price than Celestia’s, and features lessons close to the same as hers. So naturally, her school loses some unicorns to mine. She’s been trying to shut me down for a year now,”
“Well, I can assure you that I wasn’t sent by Celestia in the least,”
“Oh good. So anyway, you were asking about souls? I assume that you want to return Rainbow’s soul to her body, correct?”
“Yes, I am,”
“Then perhaps you might need to follow the legend of the ‘Sapphire of Ancients’,”
“The Sapphire of Ancients? But I thought that was just an old mare’s tale,”
“I admit that there is no proof that it does, in fact, exist. But should the legend be true, it could amplify your magical abilities ten-fold, possibly even to godly levels,”
“Really?” Twilight looked at Rainbow Dash, who nodded. “Seems like a good lead,” She turned to face Rainbow. “So, must I say it?”
“No…you were right. Ya know, I never thought that you were one to-,” Here ears pricked up.
“What is it?”
“Somepony’s coming. Whoever they are, they’re heavily armored,”
“Dammit, do you have a back door, or a window, or some sort of escape?”
“Uhhh…Yeah, in my office, window on your right,”
“Thanks,”
Twilight teleported herself into the office, and ducked out the window. She looked down the street to her left. There were about a dozen guards at the entrance, the heavily armored one must have been their captain. So she was wrong about the doctors not recognizing her, at least she got the info that she needed.
She looked from one building to the next, until she finally selected a taller building about forty feet ahead of her. She didn’t usually teleport through solid objects, but this was a moment of desperation, and she would have to risk appearing within a wall.
Her horn glowed, and she disappeared in a flash of white and pale purple. She reappeared on the very edge of the building…to the west of the building that she was targeting. She fell backwards, grabbed the edging below the top story window, and pulled herself back up.
Twilight looked across the way, judging which path she should take. “Buck,” she muttered. “Sometimes I really wish I had wings,”
Rainbow Dash reappeared. “Yeah, and then what? Lose your horn? Become an Alicorn?”
“Just speaking theoretically here,”
“Yeah, when we get out of this you’ll have to tell me what that means again,” Twilight took off at full speed towards the end of the building, and jumped to the next. She crossed over five or six buildings, went right, then crossed four more. Since the one she was on now was lower to the ground, she dropped into the alley, and pulled her hood up. Rainbow converted herself to her compact form and concealed herself, and then the two ponies slipped out into the crowd, blending perfectly.
Twilight walked to the train station and looked for the next train out of Dusaan. There was one leaving now. She jumped on board, and gave the pony at the entrance five bits, two more than it cost for a ticket. She headed to the back of the train, and went into the bathroom.
“Alright,” whispered Twilight. “What disguise should I use this time?”
“Oh, how about that black earth pony?” She heard Rainbow clearly, even though she couldn’t see her, just one of the many perks of being a bodyless soul. “Then you could hide the cloak under the seat,”
“Good idea,” the unicorn’s horn glowed, and the colors of her fur began to darken from a soft lavender to a sharp black, her mane style became longer and less organized, and the purple hairs in her mane and tail turned storm gray. Her cutie mark morphed to become a quill and parchment, and her eyes changed to a dark shade of blue.
“What was the name again?” she began folding the cloak, and cast a similar illusion spell on the locket, making it look like a pocket watch.
“Navy, I think. Yes! Navy Pure,” said the pegasus.
“Right, thank you,” She walked out and sat in the middle of the train. The back was too obvious a choice, and the front made it too easy to spot her if there was a talented unicorn among the guard squad.
There was a loud whistle, followed by a horn. After which the seats began to vibrate, meaning that the train was moving. Twilight didn’t like trains, they were loud, obnoxious, and it was impossible to get a proper rest aboard them. But she couldn’t deny that they were the most effective form of transportation in Equestria.
Seperating herself from her random thoughts, she began to mull over the “Sapphire of Ancients” suggested by Shining Bolt. She knew the tale, according to legend, a group of talented unicorns were banished from their homes for some reason, and when they begged for vengeance, they discovered the sapphire in a cavern system. They went on to use it to destroy their old city and then dispersed across Equestria to spread the legend. But it all just seemed too extraordinary to her. After all, even if it was real, it would have deteriorated to nothing by now, as the legend to place before even Celestia and Luna existed.
Twilight’s thoughts were interrupted by a raspy, but feminine voice in her head. “Twi’? Where are we going exactly?”
“Well, first we’re going wherever this train takes us, and then…I was hoping to put it off, so as not to risk getting caught, but we’re going to have to go visit Rarity, and see if she’s got anything on the ‘Sapphire of Ancients’,” She spoke the words without moving her lips. The two ponies had discovered that they shared a minimal telepathic connection thanks to the ritual, and could use it to communicate at times, but it required an immense amount of focus, so they only used it when they were surrounded by strangers.
“Don’t tell me you’re actually going to go look for that stone,”
“It’s the only lead we have, and we need to keep moving,” She looked out the window, admiring the sparkling quartz in the sand. “Heads up everypony, we’re coming home,”
Twilight, or Navy Pure, stepped off of the train and walked straight to the information desk.
“Excuse me? When does the next train to Ponyville depart?”
“Ponyville?” parroted the stallion at the desk. “Let me see. Ah, yes. There is a train leaving at nine tomorrow morning,”
“Thank you,” Navy walked toward the exit, and stepped out into the sun. The sign to her right read “Welcome to Crateria”. She wished she knew what it meant, but she didn’t.
“Well then, I guess I’ll just have to do some research,” She remarked to herself, with a smile.
“Maybe you could turn the pages for me on a Daring Do,” said Rainbow, through their telepathic link. Ever since Rainbow lost her body, their reading sessions had become fairly one-sided. Dash couldn’t turn the pages herself, so she had to have Twilight do it for her.
“Sure. I suppose we haven’t sat down and read in a while. It sounds like fun,” She looked around what appeared to be the center of town for a library, but instead discovered a group of ponies gathered around a stage at which another pony was talking, in a very matter-of-fact tone.
“Celestia and Luna have lied to all of you! The sun and moon move themselves, and the weather can control itself! Our entire society is built upon lies!”
Navy rolled her eyes and was about to walk away, when she heard something incredible.
“Down with Celestia!”
That was not the same voice as the earlier one. Which meant that ponies were actually buying this.
“I can’t believe this,” said Rainbow’s voice.
“Neither can I. We should clear out, this is likely to cause a ruckus, and if it does the guard will show up. And If they take us and start de-camouflaging ponies, we’ll be caught,”
“Library?”
“Library,”
It had taken a little while, but they eventually found the library, and when they did, Twilight’s fears were confirmed. The guard had apprehended anypony in the area, and made sure nopony was camouflaged. One thing she made note of, was the fact that the stallion who caused the situation was missing. Plus, he had been an earth pony, meaning he couldn’t have camouflaged himself without changing his race. Which meant he was either elusive, or a very skilled unicorn. She opted for the former.
“Page turn,” said Rainbow. Twilight reached over to the Daring Do book on her right, and turned it to the next page. Since they had decided that there weren’t any ponies in this library with the sight, Rainbow had uncondensed herself, and “sat” down next to Twilight. But, since she couldn’t turn the pages herself, she had to have Twilight do it for her. Therefore every minute or so, Rainbow would say “Page turn” and Twilight would reach over and turn the page.
Whereas Rainbow was reading for recreational purposes, Twilight was reading legends tied to the Sapphire of Ancients. According to legend, it wasn’t always a sapphire. It was originally a ruby, but then it changed into an emerald, and then ultimately into a sapphire. Nopony really knew why. The book also supplied an exact measurement of how much amplification your magic would receive.
The equation was (M1)2=M2, meaning that the magical output was the square of the magical input. She stopped reading, and did some quick calculations.
She had measured her magical abilities just before her ritual, and scored a 32 (As a frame of reference, average is 20). Meaning that the stone would amplify her magic to above her “god mode” output, at 1,024. And if she used it in her maximum output state, it would score an immense 9,216.
She whistled a monotonous tone. She then turned the page, and froze at what she saw. ,” “Hey Rainbow?”
“Huh?” The pegasus didn’t look up from the action novel in front of her.
“You should read this,” Twilight used her magic to move the book in front of her towards Dash. She read it aloud.
“It is believed that the stone changes forms based on what it is destined to be used for next. It was a ruby, until after a ritual in which somepony attempted to make themselves immortal. It was an emerald until it was used to relieve somepony of their amnesia. Since it is supposedly a sapphire, historians and researchers agree that the next spell it will be used for is related to…souls,”
Twilight smiled. “I don’t know about you but I think that’s a pretty good sign,”
Rainbow nodded her head.
“So then, How about we find a hotel of some sort, get some rest, head back to ponyville, catch up, and then see if we can track this down, hmm?”
“Sounds like a great plan,”
“Alright then,” Twilight used her levitation spell to put both books back on their respective shelves, and then walked outside. “Let’s see, I think there was a hotel towards this direction,” said Twilight, gesturing towards her right.
“I think you’re right,”
“Then that’s the way we’ll go,”
Navy stepped into room 253, and examined it. One bed, one bathroom, one window, and a screened projector.
“I still can’t believe you took us in the exact opposite direction of the hotel,” said Dash.
“S-Shut up!” Navy replied, blushing. “You’re the one who told me it was the right direction!”
“Hey now, I can tease my mare-friend, can’t I?” Rainbow said, playfully
Navy smiled. “Yeah, I guess,” She walked over to the bed, and dropped down on the nearest side.
Rainbow flew over to the other side, and set herself down next to her mare-friend. “Hey,”
“Yeah?”
“You’re still in disguise,”
Navy looked at her hoof. “Oh, sorry,” A bluish purple aura enveloped her, and then vanished, revealing a purple unicorn with a magenta-highlighted, indigo mane.
“There’s the face I love,” Rainbow smiled. If she could, she’d be blushing a little. Unfortunately, that was just another one of the many things she lost along with her body.
However, Twilight was able to blush, so she did. “I love you, Rainbow,”
“I love you too,” After a moment, both ponies leaned into each other, until they remembered they couldn’t kiss anymore.
Twilight blushed. “Damn. I can’t wait until we get you your body back,”
Rainbow lost herself in Twilight’s purple eyes. “It won’t be long now,”
“You’re right,” She turned over onto her back. “Good night Rainbow Dash,”
Night. Rainbow hated nighttime. Since she didn’t have a body, she couldn’t sleep, so she had to be awake the entire ten hours or so when Twilight was asleep. And when you didn’t have a body, there was only so much you could do. She couldn’t even go around pranking people, because she had to be within a certain proximity of the locket. So mostly, she’d end up lying back, and getting lost in her thoughts for nine hours or so. After which she just talked to herself.
However, tonight she didn’t have much to think about, since they were following a lead for this sapphire, so that only kept her occupied for about six hours. Plus she only had so much to talk about, so that only took up two. Giving her a full two hours of boredom before she could wake up Twilight.
She looked over at the unicorn on her right. She was so cute when she asleep. She liked to ball herself up if it was cold out, which tonight, it was. She almost reminded Dash of a cat. A purple, sexy cat, with a horn and a cutie mark.
Maybe not too much like a cat.
Rainbow reached out for Twilight’s mane to run her hoof through it, but her hoof passed right through. She sighed.
“I should plan something special for when I get my body back,” She smiled. “Maybe…we could…,”
If she could, Dash would’ve blushed. If she could feel, her mouth would feel dry. And if she could, she’d probably be sweating a bit. Unfortunately for her, she couldn’t do any of those things, so she’d have to make do with her imagination.
She turned toward the window, and looked up at the stars. That was the only thing she enjoyed about the night, the stars. The little shining spheres in the sky always seemed so carefree. It made her wish that she could share in that emotion. One thing was for sure, she was probably the only pony in Equestria who truly appreciated Princess Luna’s night.
She looked up to the moon, and looked three stars over. According to Twilight, the night after Dash died, that star appeared in the sky. That exact star, was Rainbow’s star. Celestia had even formerly named at the funeral.
“Rainbow Dash, the star,” She smiled “That’s got a nice ring to it,” Dash leaned back on the bed, and relaxed.
Twilight’s eyes drifted open, and her retinas were instantly greeted by bright sunlight.
“You finally woke up, did you?” Teased a raspy, but feminine voice that could only belong to Rainbow Dash.
“Apparently,” Twilight sat up. “What time is it?”
Dash looked up at the analog clock on the wall. “Eight hours, Celestial shift. The train leaves in an hour,”
Twilight yawned. “That gives us an hour until the train, huh?” She grabbed the notebook next to her bed. “Which means time for a meal,”
Dash smiled. She felt a slight pang of jealousy towards Twilight. She hadn’t tasted anything in a little more than seven months. The moment she had he body back she was going to have to get Twilight to buy her dinner. Something absolutely amazing. She licked her lips.
Twilight tapped four digits on the pad next to the bed, typed an underscore, and then two digits.
“What did you order?”
“Toast, eggs and some orange juice,”
“…I miss orange juice,” Dash looked solemnly at the clock on the wall. “You know you should probably change back to Navy Pure,”
Twilight looked blankly into Rainbow’s eyes. Then hopped up suddenly. “Oh yeah! Totally forgot!” She pointed a hoof at herself. “Wanted fugitive,” Her horn glowed momentarily, and then she slowly transformed into a black earth pony with a grey mane. She pointed towards herself again. “Insignificant background filler,”
Rainbow giggled. “You make it sound like a book,”
“Yeah, it takes the edge of the whole ‘Wanted across Equestria’ thing,” She sighed and stared up at the ceiling. “Celestia knows it’s going to be wonderful when you get your body back,”
“Agreed,” Dash looked over at the nightstand. “You should probably put on the locket,”
“Hm?” Navy gave her a blank look again. “Oh, Right!” She floated the locket off the small table, and put it around her neck. She opened the latch. Inside and on the left side was her favorite picture she had ever taken with Dash. It was her and Rainbow sitting under a tree at sunset, cuddling. On the left, it read “My heart will always be yours,”, and every time she read it, she began to tear up. Up until the moment she received that locket, Navy had never pegged Dash as a romantic. It was unfortunate that she only realized how wrong she was when Rainbow was on her deathbed.
“Hey, what’s wrong?” Asked Rainbow, concerned. Navy looked down, and saw that her fur and the carpet beneath her had darkened with tears.
“Nothing, I’m fine,” *knock knock* Navy turned to the door, and opened it. There was a fairly short, grey mare on the other side carrying a small tray.
“Your meal, ma’am,”
“Thanks,” Navy tossed a few bits over to the mare.
“It was nothing, thank you,”
She gently closed the door. And walked back to the bed. “You wanna watch something on the projector?”
“I would, but,” She looked the mechanism in front of her over. “Where is the actual projector?”
Navy giggled. “It’s self-screened. The projection unit is behind the screen, and it projects the images onto the semi-transparent screen with a mirrored nozzle,”
“Wow, I wonder why nopony thought of that until recent?”
“It’s because it didn’t occur to anyone until you said we should move my projector up to the bedroom. I wouldn’t have thought of it otherwise,”
“Oh come on, that’s not true,”
“But it could be,”
“I guess,”
“It looks there’s local news, you alright with that?”
“Sure,”
Navy started up the projector, and the program started up. “-of that at noon. Yesterday, at ten Lunar shift, ten ponies were arrested for assaulting a group of Canterlot guards on vacation. They claimed that they had to pay back the, quote, oppressive and lying monarchy, close quote,” Rainbow and Navy exchanged a glance. “Just a half hour before the attack, there was a public speaker who claimed that Celestia and Luna needed to be brought down. It is assumed that these ponies were members of the audience. The speaker has yet to be found. And now we go over to-,” Navy shut of the projector.
“Perhaps, it’s time we left,”
“Eight thirty, we’ll have to sit and wait for a bit,”
“It’ll be worth it,” Navy smiled, grabbed her cloak, and transformed it into a saddle bag filled with artwork.
Rainbow smiled. “Alright then,” She condensed herself into the locket.
Navy stepped out into the hallway, and closed the door behind her. She trotted down the hall, down the stairs, and into the lobby, where she stopped. There were two guards there, talking to the stallion at the counter. She acted quickly, and cast a temporary invisibility spell, she walked up behind a mare who was heading out, and slipped out the door behind her.
The moment she was past the door, Navy took off running. “Rainbow, time?”
“Eight thirty-four,” Said the voice in the back of Navy’s head.
“Then we have time for a detour,” The invisibility spell wore off, and Navy jumped for a nearby awning. She used it as a springboard, launched across the way, and grabbed the flagpole on the building she jumped for. She then climbed up onto the roof, and began jumping from one building to the next. She took a sharp left, and dropped down into an alley.
“Time?”
“Eight forty-six,” Navy smiled.
“Plenty of time,” She trotted out into the town square, and started for the train station.
She bought one ticket, walked on board, and sat in the middle of the train, in a seat next to the platform.
“Time?”
“Eight fifty, nicely done,”
“Thank you,” Dash uncondensed herself, and sat down next to Navy. The two smiled. “Next stop, Ponyville,”
Dash snorted. “In ten minutes,”
“Well, yeah but-,” The train lurched forward, knocking Navy’s jaw into the seat in front of her, causing to bite down on her own tounge.
Her mouth began to taste like metal. “What the hell was that? The train isn’t supposed to be leaving until nine!”
“What an observant mare,” A unicorn at the front stood up. Several of the other passengers in the train started to look around, frightened. “Alright, listen up! We are the Equestrian Ponies Republic, all of you are here as hostages. There will be no heroes, or every last one of you burns,” His horn lit up orange. “Any questions?”
Navy looked at Rainbow, who nodded. Navy raised her hooves in the air, as a surrender.
Navy Pure was escorted along with the other passengers into the back of the train.
“I sure hope you have a plan Twi’,” Whispered Rainbow. Navy nodded. One of the guards whispered into the other’s ear, unaware that Rainbow was listening in. When he finished whispering, they both quietly laughed. Rainbow however, growled.
“What’s wrong?” whispered Navy.
“Those bucking perverts,”
Navy glared back at the two of them. “Perverts,”
Both of the guards exchanged a glance, and then avoided looking at Navy. They escorted all of the ponies into the storage car, and closed the door once they were inside.
“When are you going to put your plan into motion?”
“Let’s see…” She looked at the guards, and memorized the pattern at which they looked around the room.
The first one looked away from her. “Right about-,” The second one looked away from her. “Now,” She disappeared in a flash of light, and reappeared in the small amount of space behind the guards. Her hooves lit up with purple energy, and then collided with the backs of the necks of both guards. They maintained their balance for a second or two, and then collapsed to the ground. The other ponies in the car began talking amongst each other, shooting occasional glances at Navy.
“You bitch!” Shouted somepony from the back. “Thanks to you we’re all going to die! They’re gonna kill every last one of us!”
“I think you’ll find that you’re wrong about that,” She lifted up one of the guards, showing everypony the insignia. “These ponies are members of an outdated cause, they no longer have any leverage against Celestia and Luna. They need us alive so that they can get the princesses to give them whatever they are after, by threatening to kill us. If you stay here, and don’t try to interfere with their actions, I guarantee that you will not be killed. I cannot do the same if you follow me,”
The ponies exchanged glances with each other. “Good, so don’t move,” She stepped out of the car, and closed the door behind her. The train lurched forward, knocking her onto the ground.
She picked herself up off the ground. “I bucking hate trains,”
Rainbow shook her head out. “We’re in the same boat then,”
Twilight cocked her head. “Why did you do that?”
“You landed on my capsule,”
“Oh, sorry,”
“Nah, it’s okay. It’s not like it hurt. It just…messes with my head,”
“Well, I’ll try not to land on it in the future,”
“You know, I just realized you didn’t change it into a pocket watch when we left,”
“Yeah, it got away from me. I can tell you one thing, it’s getting tedious carrying this ‘parchment’,” She dissipated the spell on the saddle bag, and put on her gold-trimmed cloak.
“This is much more fluent,”
“So, how do you plan to get to wherever that unicorn is?”
“A multi-step plan. Step 1-,” She cast a spell on her hooves. “Step 2,” She opened a window. “Step three,” She climbed out the window, and climbed up the side of the train with her now magnetic hooves.
“You’re absolutely insane,” said Dash.
“And don’t you love it,” retorted Twilight, taking off full-sprint to the front of the car.
The orange unicorn walked down the front storage compartment, opening boxes and crates, and spilling their contents out onto the floor.
“Where is it? Find it!” He shouted at the other ponies in the car. He had to find this device before the train arrived in Ponyville. He couldn’t let it be sent to Celestia, no matter what.
“Sir!” A blue pegasus with an orange mane held up a bulky, metallic object.
The unicorn smiled. “Well done Shaw,” He took the device from the mare, and placed it on his shoulder. “With this device at my side, Celestia herself would surrender to me,”
“Um, sir?”
“What is it?”
“You’re holding it backwards, sir,”
He looked at Shaw with a look of slight annoyance. “How would you know?”
“Because if it was held that way, it would have to fire through solid steel. However, on the other side, there is a hole that would provide zero resistance,”
“Shut up,” Shaw turned back, and began to clean up the scattered objects. The unicorn turned the device around. “You wouldn’t happen to know how to…use it , would you?”
Shaw sighed. “There’s a handle. On the handle is the trigger. Pull the trigger, wait for the light to turn from red to green, then pull the slide back, and repeat,”
Navy stopped mid-sprint, and collapsed to the roof of the train, coughing.
“D-Dammit *cough* not now*cough*,” She convulsed on the ground, and her mouth began to taste metallic.
“Twilight? Hold on!” Rainbow clapped her hooves together, and placed them on her shoulders. Slowly, her form started vibrating and echoing. And with each passing second, Navy’s coughing lessened, until she could finally stand up.
“Thank you Rainbow,” She looked ahead, and saw there were only five cars until they reached the engine. “You know, perhaps now is a good time to go back inside,”
“Agreed,” Navy dropped down to the door, and walked into the nearest car. Upon entrance, they found an orange unicorn holding a very intimidating object on his shoulders. “Oh shit,”
The orange unicorn in front of her smirked. “Can somepony say…target practice?” He pulled the trigger.
The sound was the most deafening explosion Navy had ever heard. Although, that was of minimal significance to the blinding light, and extreme heat. It took about a second for Navy’s eyes to recover, and when she did, she saw that the unicorn had set down the device, and was yanking on some sort of knob. However, she couldn’t hear anything. She decided that the best course of action was to disappear. She cast an invisibility spell, and slipped behind all the ponies in the car. Her ears cleared, and then she saw the full amount of damage the device had done. The entire roof was gone, anything more than a foot away was charred, bent, or both. The cars behind this one had been disconnected from the train.
Whatever that thing was, it had to be destroyed. Navy deactivated her illusion spell so that she would have access to her full span of powers. “Rainbow, formation 0,” Twilight dissipated her invisibility spell.
“Hello there. Oh, and goodbye,” For a brief moment, she looked like she was two different ponies, and then became one, but very different.
Her previously lavender fur had become solid white. Her purple eyes were now a dark blue. Her mane and tail were made up of nine different colors; red, orange, yellow, blue, green, purple, indigo, and magenta. And she not only had her horn, she had a pair of wings.
“Complete Soul Link: Prismatic Dusk,” Her voice sounded as though it consisted of two different voices. The one she had previously used, and a raspy, feminine one. A spinning sphere of black, purple, and blue energy appeared in her right hoof.
The unicorn in front of her had time to say two words. “Well, fuck,” After that, everypony in the car, and all nearby cars except Prismatic Dusk collapsed, their soul bridges cut, removing their link to the world of the living. In addition, a decent portion of the hillside that the train had been on
Her entire body became pure white, and then returned to the form of Twilight Sparkle.
“Damn,” said Rainbow. “Why don’t we do that more often?”
“Because it leaves my soul bridge literally on it’s last leg,” Replied Twilight, panting.
“What?!” Princess Celestia slammed her hoof down violently, and glared at the quivering guard before her,”
“W-We sent a g-guard s-squad to search for the s-suspicious c-contact, a-and she was g-gone,” He backed away from the alabaster alicorn staring him down. “E-Eyewitnesses saw her get on a t-train for P-Ponyville,”
Celestia growled through clenched teeth. “Dammit Twilight,” She turned away from the guard. “Leave us,” Luna looked up at her sister with saddened eyes.
“Sister…,” She said, calmly.
“What the buck is she doing?!” Celestia’s eyes looked almost as angry as Luna knew she was sad. Twilight had been gone for almost seven months, and Celestia’s temper was getting shorter and shorter with every passing day. And with each passing day, it became more and more important for Luna to control more and more of their diarchy. In fact, if they didn’t find Twilight soon, Celestia might have to be relieved of her position.
If there was one thing Luna wanted to avoid, it was taking over the entire empire. That, and being the one to tell her sister she was to be relieved.
“We have no way of knowing, dear sister,” She moved toward the princess of the sun. “But whatever it is, we know its purpose,”
Celestia’s anger dropped off dramatically. “Why can’t she just communicate with us?” Luna looked into her sisters eyes, and saw them refract the light. “If we could just talk to her, she’d know that I just want to help her through this. She needs to be able to get through this if she is to-,”
“Yes, my sister,” She knew that if Twilight was to fulfill her destiny, she’d have to be able to cope with this kind of loss. However… “Sister, what if she’s planning to try again?”
“I don’t know sister, but we will cross that bridge when we get there,” Water began to stream down the sides of the alabaster alicorn’s face.
Luna sighed sympathetically. At least Celestia wasn’t violent right now. “Perhaps you should go get some rest, sister,”
“Yes, I think I should,” Celestia replied, her voice cracking. She walked out of the room, and headed left for her personal quarters.
Almost the moment Luna heard the door close, one of the guards burst in. “Urgent news for Princess Celestia,”
“Celestia is not in a fit state to hear any sort of news, I will receive it in her place,”
Twilight trudged through the thick mud and foliage littering the ground. The Everfree forest was often muddy and such, but today it seemed as though it was muddier and suchier than usual. But, it was worth it, she was going to get to see her friends again, or her friend, anyway. She promised herself that she would only regularly speak with one of her friends, and since Rarity was the only pony who really knew anything about where she had gone, she only ever spoke to her.
Her thoughts were interrupted when her back left hoof refused to dislodge itself from the thick mud. “Well, that’s just perfect,” She drew moisture from the plants to her left, and washed off her hoof with the floating pool.
Rainbow giggled. “Kinda reminds me of the Klaudian rainforest,”
“I hated the Klaudian rainforest,” Twilight replied with a decent amount of venom on hated. She didn’t like wet things. Swamps, lakes, oceans, leaky pipes, bogs, name it, and if it’s wet, it made the list of things Twilight Sparkle wanted to obliterate.
Rainbow giggled again, and continued to throughout her sentence. “Remember when you tried to cross that old bridge, and then the bridge collapsed, and you had to swim through the muddy water?”
“Yes, Rainbow. I remember,”
“And then you tried to dry off, but the mud got all crusty?”
“Yes, Rainbow,”
“And then you tried to wash it off, but you used the river water, so-,” Dash had started to full on laugh now
“Yes, Rainbow. I was there,”
“Right, right,” She wiped a false tear from her eye.
“Save your energy Rainbow. The last thing I need you to do right now is collapse,”
“Right,” Rainbow loved Twilight, but there was one thing she couldn’t do with Twilight that she could do with other mares. Get away with something. If she had been dating Pinkie Pie, Cloudchaser, or hell, even if she’d asked out Octavia, she could’ve done something insignificant every once in a while, and not have it be addressed. Twilight, however, kept close watch on her surroundings, and only rarely missed anything, and that was never something to do with Dash.
Still, Rainbow had to give her credit for her devotion. Even if it got them both into trouble from time to time. Okay all the time. Damn, they were gonna have a lot of stories to share with Rarity when they got back to Ponyville. Like when they found that underground research facility that was doing so pretty crazy shit. Or their first adventure in Cageno, that was a hell of a lot of fun.
“Rainbow?!” Dash snapped out of her thoughts. Recently she had been getting more and more likely to get lost in her own thoughts. To anypony else it could be attributed to Twilight rubbing off on her. However, both ponies knew this to be wrong, even if they couldn’t yet peg the true reason.
“Yeah?” replied Dash, nonchalantly.
“We’re almost there, which disguise should I use?”
“Well, I doubt they’ll expect a unicorn, so how about…Studded Dust?”
“Oh, great idea!” Said Twilight, giddily. “I haven’t used that one since we fought Sparkling Pearl,” Her horn lit up, and the clean, lavender fur began to change to matted, gray fur. Her indigo mane became a very dusty gold, and her eyes turned green.
Twilight looked herself over. “Hmm, why do I feel like I’m missing something…,”
Rainbow giggled. “Cutie Mark,” She audibly held back laughter.
“Thank you, Rainbow,” She spoke deliberately, and powerfully without raising her voice, causing Dash to halt her laughter. Twilight’s horn glowed again, and her pink and white stars became a small gem, of the magical variety. “So, when we speak to Rarity, where should we start?”
“Well, at the beginning, duh,” Rainbow bounced her right hoof off the side of her head to emphasize the obviousness of the answer.
“Yeah, I suppose it’ll make more sense for the readers too,”
Celestia fought back tears, and looked out her window, from which she could see half of Canterlot. She missed her student. She missed her closest friend other than her sister. She missed her Twilight.
She stopped her thoughts. No, she mustn’t think like that, after all, not only would it never occur, she didn’t truly want it to occur. It was just another one of her mind’s stupid habits. Someday she would have to create a spell so that she could prevent those.
The door to her room opened slowly, but deliberately. There was only one pony she knew whose mannerisms were as such. “Hello sister,” Said Celestia, her voice cracking slightly.
“A report from the guards stationed out in the country regarding Twilight Sparkle,” Celestia suddenly became more active than she had been in several weeks.
“Really? What is it? Have they found her?”
“Yes. I’ll get there. Not particularly,” Luna sighed, saddened. “The fact of the matter is, I don’t know if it is news you truly want to here,”
Celestia appeared to lose some of her newfound energy, but still maintained a decent amount. “Well?”
Luna sighed, again. “The train that Twilight Sparkle was on was found stopped on the way to Ponyville. The engine, coalbox, and storage cars were about forty miles ahead of the rest of the train. The main storage car was lacking a roof, sides, and back. Within the front portion of the engine were numerous bodies, as well as a device capable of blasting a hole in a mountain. We have yet to find a body, but we can infer that-,”
“That she is among the dead,” Celestia’s energy had completely faded. Her tears began to flow freely again. “Get as many guards as possible out there, they shall not rest until we find Twilight Sparkle,”
“Yes, sister,” Luna turned to leave.
“Oh, and Luna?”
“Yes?”
“Could you perhaps take my Celestial Shift tomorrow? I fear I am not fit to handle such a task,”
Luna paused. She wanted to refuse, but she couldn’t do that to her big sister. “Of course,” The door became enveloped in a blue aura, and closed.
*Knock knock* The twin raps on her door startled Rarity awake, and brought her head up from the soft fabric she had been resting it on. She opened her mouth to ask who was, but a noise that sounded more like “Hm mm uh?”
However, the pony on the other end of the door understood her perfectly. “An old friend,” Replied a voice she knew immediately. “Could you open the door?”
Rarity was free of her tired mumbling at this point. “Yes, absolutely!” She shot up and trotted over to the door. Before she opened it, she stopped by the mirror, and fixed as much of her mane as she could in a few seconds, and pulled the door open with a little magic. “Come in!”
The gray unicorn in the doorway nodded slowly, and entered, stopping a short moment, and gesturing inwards. She was then followed by the transparent form of Rainbow Dash, although Rarity could not see her.
“Umm, Twilight? I don’t believe I can see Dash,”
“Oh right, that spell was temporary. One second,” Twilight’s horn glowed green, and a beam of energy projected towards Rarity at a very high speed. When it dissipated she looked around until her perception settled on the translucent Pegasus.
“There you are dear. How have you been?”
“I’ve been alright, but not much better than a few months back,” Replied Dash.
“But you have gotten better?”
“Yes we have,” Answered Twilight in Rainbow’s place. “In fact, we’ve found a lead,”
“Oh?” Rarity cocked her head. “Do tell,”
“Have you ever heard of the Sapphire of Ancients?”
“I may have. What is it exactly?”
“A legendary stone with the power to amplify the magic of the pony who possesses it, but it has a limited amount of energy, which, once emptied, causes it to find its next master,”
“Really? That sounds perfect for you two,”
“Only if we find it first. Most ponies who obtain it use up its energy on one spell. I fear that I might too,”
“Then you just have to find it, right?”
“But that’s just it!” Interrupted Rainbow. “We don’t know where to look!”
“Hmm,” All three ponies stopped speaking for a few seconds.
At last, Rarity lit up with excitement. “You said it finds its next master, right?
“Yeah,” Said Rainbow and Twilight in unison.
“Then if you are destined to use it next, it would go somewhere only you or Rainbow could get to!”
Dash and Twilight paused. “You’re right…,” said Twilight. “You’re right!” She ran up and hugged Rarity. “Rarity you’re a genius!”
Rarity pushed away and brushed off her fur. “Well, maybe not a genius, but I do know a thing or two about logic,”
“Thank you so much Rarity!” She turned to Rainbow. “So then, I think I know where to start!”
“Hm?” Rainbow cocked her head.
“It couldn’t be anywhere we’ve already been together, or we’d have seen or heard of it before. So we need to go somewhere we haven’t been to yet, that’s also important to both of us!”
“Which means?”
“Rainbow, it’s time for us to visit your parents!”
“What?!” Rainbow jumped back. “Now hold on, what if they-,”
“Rainbow, we have to try!”
Rainbow sighed. “Damn, I hate it when you’re right,”
“Rainbow, dear, why don’t you want to visit your parents?”
“Because then they’ll ask how Twilight knew me, and then I’ll have to admit to them that I swing that way!”
Twilight rolled her eyes. “Rainbow, they’re your parents, for Celestia’s sake. If they were to know that that’s how you are, they would accept it. Besides, they don’t know that Twilight brought you back,”
Rainbow nodded. “But we’d have to tell them eventually. Or else I’ll have to sit back and watch how bad they feel,”
“Well, I would suggest that we check your house for items of significance, but it has been nearly six months since you passed on, it’ll be cleaned out by now,”
Rainbow sighed. “Fine,”
“Now, we shouldn’t take a train. Walking would take too long. Then that leaves…,” Twilight winced.
“Leaves what?” Said Dash and Rarity in unison.
“I don’t like to teleport to somewhere I can’t see, but we have no other choice,” She turned towards the door. “Thank you for your help Rarity, we’ll be back eventually,”
Applejack turned away from the tree, and slammed her back legs into its trunk, causing the loosely held apples to fall right off their stems, and into the baskets she had carefully placed at its base. She grabbed the nearest basket in her teeth, and carried it over to the cart behind her. She returned and grabbed the next basket, repeating the process until she had returned every basket to its rightful place in the cart. She then hooked herself up to the cart, and moved on to the next tree.
She was about to get started when a pair of pegasi armored in gold became visible through the trees. They were led by a unicorn armored in green, who was also much taller than them. They approached briskly, and proudly. In all honesty, they walked around like they owned the place.
It would soon be obvious they did not.
“Can I help ya with anythin’ fellas?”
“Yes, you can. We are looking for a unicorn by the name of Twilight Sparkle,”
“Then ya ain’t alone. Why might ya need from me?”
“Her location,”
“Hay, if’n I knew, I’d have told ya by now. Anythin’ else ya might need?”
“Nothing from a simple ranch-hand,”
If Apple jack was irritated by these ponies when they first showed up, she was enraged by them now. “Ranch-hand?!” She quickly stepped towards them. “I’ll have ya know that I’m Applejack. Means that I’m not employed by these here acres, I own ‘em” She glared at them. “It also means that I’m a close personal friend of all three princesses. I could say one sentence, and get ya’ll fired, ya hear?”
The three pegasi gulped, stood up (Applejack wasn’t actually originally aware that they were sitting), brushed themselves off, and bowed. “My sincere apologies, miss Applejack,”
“Thank ya kindly. Now git movin’,” They all turned around and ran.
Applejack turned back to the tree and smiled. “I jus’ love doin’ that,” She slammed her back hooves against the tree trunk, but the apples didn’t fall. “Wha- but they shoulda ripened by now!”
She looked up at the apples, and squinted. They sure looked ripe, but if they didn’t fall when she bucked the tree, then they weren’t ripe. She climbed up the tree, selected the nearest apple, and plucked it from the branch. She examined it carefully, and gave up.
She dropped to the ground, and tried again to buck the tree, this time harder. And, sure enough, the apples didn’t fall.
Applejack exhaled audibly from her nostrils. Why, out of all the trees in this orchard, was this one refusing to let go of its fruit?
“Somethin’ the matter, sis’?” Asked a deep and gentle voice from behind the earth-pony.
“Nah, its just that this here tree won’t give up its apples,” Applejack replied to Big Mac
“What? Are they ripe?”
“Yea, see?” Applejack gave her brother the apple she had just picked.
“Maybe its just stubborn this year,”
“Yeah,” Applejack looked off into the distance, her eyes focusing on the horizon. “Maybe,”
Papers flew around the library as Twilight rummaged through papers, books, and anything else she could find sitting around.
“You did give me a picture of your parents, didn’t you?” She asked.
“I thought I did,” Replied Rainbow, looking as best she could. However, when you can’t pick anything up, you have a difficult time properly searching. Luckily, she quickly discovered that she didn’t have to search very much. “Perhaps it’s in the binder labeled ‘Rainbow Dash’?”
Twilight facehooved. “Of course it is,” She trotted over to her desk, and opened the binder up. She flipped through about twenty pages before finding the picture in the top right-hoof corner. It featured a rainbow-maned, grey stallion with green eyes, and a yellow-maned, cyan mare with magenta eyes. In between the two was a filly with a scruffy, rainbow colored mane, magenta eyes, and cyan fur.
“Wow…you look like such a happy family,” Commented Twilight.
“We were, but I wanted to come live in Ponyville. I gotta tell ya, I never doubt my decision, no matter how much I miss my parents,”
“Aww…,” Twilight attempted to kiss her mare-friend on the cheek, but ended up passing through and landing on her face. “Ow,”
Rainbow stifled her laughter. “You know, no matter how many times you do that, it’s still funny,”
“You try landing-face first on the floor, then tell me it’s funny,”
“Okay, point taken,”
“Anyway, are they still living in Cloudsdale?”
“Actually, last I checked, dad got a new job in Trottingham, and they moved there,”
“Oh good! I’ve always wanted to go to Trottingham,”
“Convenient,” Said Rainbow, monotonously.
“Oh, don’t be so melancholy. You should be looking forward to seeing your parents again!”
“And yet, I’m not,”
Twilight turned to her mare-friend. “Why is it you don’t want your parents to know that we were dating?”
“Well…I guess it’s just because…,” Rainbow Dash turned away from Twilight. “My parents are really old fashioned. And I guess…this-,” She made a general gesture that suggested herself and Twilight. “-is something completely new to them. I just don’t know how they’d react,”
“I promise you, on my ability to use magic, that if your parents were to be told that this-,” Twilight reciprocated Rainbow’s earlier gesture. “-was what made you happy, they wouldn’t care what it meant in the ‘old days’. All they would need to know is that it’s a part of you, and they would accept it,”
Rainbow smiled. She spent a bit of life energy to add a blush on her face, but Twilight didn’t care. Besides, ponies did a lot of things by habit, and they can’t be blamed for it.
“So, we should probably go somewhere less conspicuous to cast a spell that creates more light than an average star, don’t you think?”
“Probably,”
“Oh! And will need a map!”
“We can find one easy”
Twilight normally would have corrected the incorrect grammar, but she had become more tolerant over the last two years. That tends to happen when you carry out regular conversation with Rainbow Dash.
And don’t even get her started on Applejack.
The two ponies stood up (Well, Rainbow Dash sort of floated up, but you get the gist), collected what they decided they needed, and left. After, of course, Twilight reassumed the name and form of Studded Dust.
So the two ponies left the library, and headed for the Everfree Forest.
Most of the ponies in the town took no notice of this. Lots of ponies came to Twilight’s library to look around. She was a sort of celebrity, after all. But more to the point, there was one pony that took special notice of the two ponies departing the library. He hid his face with a hooded cloak, blue with grey trim, and he sat on the far side of the street.
“Trottingham, huh?” He got up, and began to walk towards the train station. “Interesting,”
Princess Luna sighed. She had been in charge of Celestia’s duties all day, and to be perfectly honest, she really understood the amount of stress that her sister had undergone in the years Luna had been on the moon. She had to raise the sun and lower the moon simultaneously, regularly use energy spells to keep herself from falling asleep, oversee several ongoing investigations, including the one that had been tracking Twilight Sparkle, decide if many others should be initiated, and, just as she was doing now, raise the moon and lower the sun simultaneously.
She had been awake for 26 hours, 42 minutes, 50 seconds, 12 milliseconds and counting. She had dark circles under her eyes, partially hidden by her fur, her fur was matted in several places, her eyes constantly found themselves drooping down, and she didn’t have the energy to cast an energy spell.
“Now that’s irony for you,” She said, weakly. She sat back in her sister’s throne, and relaxed.
After a few moments, a Celestial Court Guard officer came strolling into the throne room.
“Oh, it is only you, Splinterhorn. What is it that you require from me?”
“Nothing, I just need to report my findings,” Said Splinterhorn, kneeling in front of the throne.
“Oh? Please do, then,”
“Well, I did not receive any confirmation that Twilight Sparkle contacted her friends. If anypony was to know where she is though, I’d have to say it would either be Applejack or Rarity,”
“Well, that in itself is helpful,” Luna paused. “Perhaps it is time that we tailed the two of them, and ensured that they were not meeting with anypony who they should not be properly acquainted with,”
“It shall be done, Princess. Give Princess Celestia my regards,”
“I shall, Splinterhorn,” The guard-pony left the throne room, and the door slowly swung shut behind him.
“Alright, all set,” Twilight admired the large runic circle she had crafted.
“Damn,” commented Rainbow Dash, circling around it, as if she could learn what each symbol meant via careful observation. “So cool,”
“Thanks, I had to make use of a few memory-based shortcuts, which will be coming from you, but all in all, pretty much flawless,”
Dash blinked. “Cool…,”
“Anyway, ready to go?”
“As I’ll ever be…,”
“Oh, come on, it’ll be fun,”
“Your definition of ‘fun’ isn’t the same as mine,”
“Ah, well. To each their own,”
The two ponies stood, or else floated, within the boundaries of the small circle, whilst Twilight prepared energy from herself and Rainbow Dash.
Magic in Equestria takes on a very different system than magic anywhere else. Conventional magic is powered by Mana or Magicka, and is fed by objects and structures. Equestrian magic, on the other hand is powered by something called Vieticka, quite literally the “Mana of Life”. Which means that you power your magic based on the bonds you share with other ponies. That’s why Friendship, quite literally, is Magic, and why a pony with a lot of friends is dangerous, but a pony with a lover is damn near unstoppable. Anyway, the main issue with this system is that each pony can only carry so much energy at once, and a really high-level spell can cause that to vanish instantly. But, If you have no body, like Rainbow Dash, then you have no physical form to limit you, you are literally made out emotion.
And in Equestria, Emotion is power.
Therefore, Rainbow Dash is a being of pure magical energy, meaning that Twilight has access to a virtually unlimited source of magic.
So why not use Rainbow Dash’s mana to craft her a new body? Because creating a body isn’t about energy. It’s about The Guardian.
It’s about The Tribute.
Life isn’t some toy. If you want to create it, you need to show that you deserve it, and The Guardian tests you by taking something from you.
Like your organs, or your leg, or your body, or just you.
Additionally, The Guardian is kind of an asshole. So if he can, he’ll take something to make the whole thing ironic.
Basically, It’d get inconvenient real fast.
Twilight looked to Rainbow Dash, who nodded, and closed her eyes, feeding energy to Twilight. Twilight then closed her own eyes, and began channeling energy into her horn. As it began charging, she noticed that it was heating up really fast. She drew in energy from herself, and focused it into a cooling barrier around her horn, which seemed to do the trick. Of course, this would just make it more difficult to finish the teleportation, so she’d just dump it at the last second.
Twilight carefully watched as the blue swirling energies began to shift to green, then to yellow, and lastly to gold. Once they became gold, Twilight focused them around herself, and Dash condensed herself into the locket.
A lone pony sat in the back seat, of the back car, of the last train of the night. He was virtually the only passenger, the only others being gossipy mares and a few of their husbands, who desperately wanted to get some rest. The pony looked over to the hostess, and muttered under his breath.
“Mare or Stallion?”
“The hostess?” The stallion behind him replied.
“No, the Cousin who’s in town tomorrow,”
“Excuse me?”
“Her cousin on her mom’s side is going to be in town tomorrow, so, Mare or Stallion,”
“How did you know that?”
“I didn’t, but she didn’t do a very good job hiding it,”
“She…didn’t?”
“By the way, your son hasn’t yet, but your daughter already has been for the last week,”
“What?”
“Just answering your question,”
“I didn’t ask one…,”
“But you would ask somepony else eventually, I thought I’d save you the time,”
The husband leaned forward a bit. “Who are you?”
The pony dropped his hood, revealing a black mane with a red streak, and gray fur. He smiled. “You can call me Eclipse, or Ray, or Ray Eclipse,”
“Welcome to Trottingham!” Said Twilight, behind the disguise of a black pegasus mare. “I told you we’d get here!”
“But you meant by the teleport, not by walking a hundered miles,” Replied Rainbow Dash.
“Firstly, you can’t complain, you didn’t have to walk, and secondly, not my fault!” Said Twilight defensively.
“Totally your fault,”
Twilight paused as they walked towards the residential district “Okay, completely my fault,”
The two ponies walked into the “Oak” section of homes, as Rainbow had suggested, and searched for the “Dash” house. Of course, Twilight couldn’t find it.
“Why isn’t there a single house in here under Dash?!” Said Twilight, obviously immensely frustrated.
Rainbow suddenly looked embarrassed. “Oh…Probably because Rainbow Dash is not my original name,”
Twilights eyes shimmered red. “What?!”
“Well, I mean-,” Replied Dash Hurriedly. “My moms last name was Eclipse, and my Dad was Spectrum, we kept my dad’s, and they named me Bright,” Rainbow backed up a hoofstep. “Bright Spectrum,”
“But I wanted to be called something more awesome, so I asked people to call me Rainbow Dash. And then it just stuck,”
“You couldn’t have told me this earlier in our relationship? You had to DIE first?”
“Well, when you say it like that…,”Rainbow blushed, turned her gaze away from Twilight, and rubbed the back of her head with her hoof.
“HOW ELSE CAN YOU SAY IT?!?” Twilight covered her mouth and blushed, then looked around to make sure no one heard her.
“Whoops,” Said Twilight, in a very Fluttershy tone of voice. She cleared her throat. “Sorry Dash. Anyway, let’s ask for directions to their home, that should save us some time,”
“Well, while you do that, I’m gonna look as much around as I can, okay?”
Twilight smiled. “Sure,”
In order to maintain her physical form, Rainbow Dash could only get around 30 feet from the locket, which was sufficient for “Sightseeing”. She admired the new homes, the new parks, but most of all, the young ponies.
Their eyes filled with joy, and their bodies filled with energy as they bounded around in their games of tag, or racing, or whatever.
Suddenly, Dash saw the horizon jerk back. She would have said she felt getting pulled back, but she couldn’t feel anything physical. She turned around and floated forward in order to give a little while longer to look around, but she didn’t have long before she heard Twilight’s voice in her head.
“Rainbow…,”
“Yeah, Twi?”
“You might want to get over here,”
“No problem,” Rainbow condensed herself to a fast-moving ball of energy, and homed in on the locket. When she popped up she was next to Twilight, and the two were standing in the cemetery.
“Hey why are we in the graveyard? I thought you were going to find my parents,”
“I think I did,”
Rainbow looked shocked. “W-What do you mean?”
“Rainbow…,” Twilight’s eyes began to water. “I’m sorry,” She stepped aside to reveal the headstone behind her.
Rainbow Dash collapsed to the ground, her sadness, though not visibly apparent, was felt by every living thing within a few feet of the headstone, including Twilight. The Unicorn set herself down next to the weakened Pegasus, and reached out to place her foreleg over Dash’s shoulder before catching herself, and setting it down next to herself.
“I’m sorry,” Twilight leaned her head against the empty air occupied by Rainbow’s spirit.
“Sad bit of business, that is,” Said a deep voice with an accent native to the region. “Public library went up in flames. Those two helped out as many as they could, but the roof fell in on ‘em,” The voice sighed. “Terrible business, that is,”
Twilight turned towards the stallion. “Would you mind if you left us-,” Twilight caught herself. “I mean me, to mourn in peace. I mean, I don’t mean to be rude but-,”
“S’alright, I need t’be goin’ anyway,” He tipped his cap, and left.
“Ponies here are so social,”
“Twi’? Do you think maybe you could crash somewhere near here? You know, so I can-,”
Twilight nodded, and smiled a sort of sad smile. “Of course,”
“Thanks,”
“I’ll go set up somewhere…”
“Okay,” Rainbow Dash never took her eyes off of the headstone, re-reading it, again and again.
Twilight stood up, and sighed. She made for the densely wooded area not far from the headstone. After looking around for a bit she decided that it would have to do. A low-end cloaking spell would keep out prying eyes.
“Uuuh, Twillight?”
“Hmm?” Twilight turned toward Dash, but found herself face-to-face with a cloaked stallion.
He flipped back his hood, and held out his hoof. “Nice to meet you Twilight Sparkle,”
“Wha-huh?”
“You can drop the act Miss Sparkle, it’ll help move things along. Anyway…” He gestured towards the headstone. Suddenly, his raspy voice changed tones to a smooth drawl. “Sad bit of business, that is,” She recognized that voice as the same voice that had belonged to the older stallion who had been there a bit ago.
“What? Why would you-,” She shook out her head. “What are you playing at?”
“Counting my eggs,” Said Ray. “I’ve got to be ready for when they hatch,” He smiled, smugly. “Say, have you ever heard of the Elysium Project?”
“Um,” Twilight thought for a moment. “Can’t say that I have,”
“Too bad, that was a nasty bit of business too. Maybe you should look that up,”
“What?” Twilight gained a look of complete bewilderment. “Why?”
The stallion chuckled. “Why not?” He checked his pocket watch. “Well, I must be off,” He bowed. “Until next time,”
Twilight stood, unmoving for a few moments as the stallion left. She then shook out her head. “What…what was…What was with him?”
Rainbow Dash shrugged. “I dunno,” She paused. “Is the Circus in town? ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Rainbow Dash sat alone in front of the headstone. She couldn’t believe they were gone. She hadn’t even seen them in 7 years, or even written to them. The last thing she had said to them was that she was “off to see the world” and she’d come visit sometime soon, but the longer she was away, the less she wanted to go back. Now that they were gone, she realized how much she wished she had.
She glanced towards Twilight’s concealed tent. “Are these the kind of feelings that…” She turned back to the headstone. “That drive somepony to what you were driven to Twi’?” She leaned towards the headstone, instinctively stopping herself before she passed through.
“I-,” Dash began to stutter, and if she still had tear ducts, she would have begun to weep. “I j-just wish-,” She closed her eyes. “D-damn it all…”
A normal pony would be crying every last drop of water out of their body, thought Rainbow Dash. A normal pony might unleash a sort of self-detestation. A normal pony might stop in a nearby bar, and drown themselves with alcohol. A normal pony...
“Of course, I guess I’m not really normal am I?” She opened her eyes and looked towards the heavens. “Am I!?” She shouted. “Is this some of cruel judgment!? Huh!? You think that you just take everything that I came back for!? THINK AGAIN!” The shouting had awakened Twilight, the only pony who could here Dash, just in time for her to see Dash’s translucent silhouette flash an angered red.
“Rainbow?” Asked Twilight, half asleep. “Rainbow!” She came running out of the tent.
“YOU CAN’T HAVE THEM! YOU CAN’T HAVE MY FRIENDS, AND MORE IMPORTANTLY, YOU CAN’T TAKE HER!” Dash’s form crackled with Soul Force. “YOU. CAN’T. TAKE. TWILIGHT!!”
“Rainbow! Calm down!”
Dash turned to Twilight, and her expression changed abruptly from anger to sadness. The Soul Force dissipated from around her, and her translucent form fell to the ground. Then, her eyes slowly fluttered closed.
“Rainbow? Are you alright?” Twilight rushed to her mare-friend’s side.
Dash’s eyes opened to a squint. “Ugh…yeah…I guess…” Her form compressed down to a bright blue sphere, and entered the amulet. “I…I need to rest for a bit…”
Twilight carried the stack of books she had just taken from the shelf, to the table where she and Rainbow were seated, and set them down in front her spot.
“Hey, Twi?” Asked Dash, meekly.
“Yeah?”
“Can…can you…can you turn the page for me?”
Twilight smirked. Rainbow was reading the newest Daring Do, but not having a body made it difficult. “Sure,”
“Thanks,”
Twilight opened her own book, and skimmed through the table of contents, looking for “Elysium” or “Project” or preferably “The Elysium Project”. Upon discovering none, she closed it, set it down to her right, and selected the next book off the top.
What really piqued her curiosity was the strange pony who was in the graveyard last night. What was he doing? How did he see through her disguise? And, most importantly, what was he playing at? It was clear he had some unspoken motivation for directing her to The Elysium Project, whatever it was, but what? She could sit there all day and debate this with herself, or she could turn to page 153 in the book she had open, and read the chapter titled “The Elysium Project”.
“Convenient,” She remarked. She turned to the chapter, and began to read.
The Elysium Project was a relatively secret project which took place a few months after the Crystal Empire Incident. It was led by a unicorn named Ray Eclipse, an authority on ancient artifacts. He started the project because he was convinced he had found the final resting place of the Sapphire of Ancients, an ancient stone capable of-
“Page turn?” Asked Rainbow.
Twilight turned Dash’s book to the next page.
-an ancient stone capable of enhancing magical abilities to a god-like status. While the excavation yielded treasures, and records from long before the Luna-Celestia Diarchy, the mythical stone was nowhere to be found, so Eclipse branded the project a failure. The group gathered to collect it was disbanded, and Ray Eclipse disappeared. The ruins are now a public domain location, which ponies can explore freely, just a few miles north of Ponyville.
“Dash, hope you’re ready for a long train ride, then a long walk,”
“Why?”
“We’ve got to take a train to Appleloosa, then hoof it to Ponyville, then walk north a few miles,”
“Yikes, how long will that take?”
“The rest of the day, and most of tonight. First we’ll stop and get something to eat,”
“You,”
“What?”
“You’ll stop and get something to eat,”
“Oh…right,” The two left the library, and passed a cloaked and hooded pony on the way out.
Once they were a good distance away, he spoke to himself. “I’ll just have to take the next train to Ponyville,” He stepped away from the library, and headed for the train station.
Twilight flinched as the train shuddered with several metallic clicks and clacks. She hated trains, and this flawlessly illustrated the primary reason. She loved to think, plan and organize. She could do none of these aboard a train. Still, they were the most efficient method of travel in Equestria, so she rarely had a choice. She would use her special long-range teleportation spell, but her physical weaknesses made this risky, if not impossible.
Regardless, it set her on edge. She would attempt to sleep, but she would need to clear her thoughts for that. This becomes increasingly difficult when, at random intervals, the train lurches, causing her to begin doubting the experience of the train’s driver more and more.
As always, Twilight was forced to gaze out the window. And, as per the usual, this did not go unnoticed by Rainbow Dash. All of the time that the two ponies had spent together had synchronized their thought processes to the point where they could practically read each other’s minds.
Dash focused on Twilight. While the mare was not in her true, elegant form to the rest of the world, both Dash and Twilight had “the sight”. A rare ability which allowed them to see a pony’s soul, ignoring any and all visual camouflage in the process. Thusly, Rainbow Dash was able to see every beautiful inch of Twilight’s actual form. Her lavender fur, her soft purple eyes, and long, flowing, indigo mane. The wind flew into the train through Twilight’s window, ruffling her fur and mane as it passed over, but she was unfazed
In all honesty, she looked like some sort of goddess.
Even so, Dash couldn’t help but notice that Twilight seemed mentally detached. Like her thoughts were elsewhere, far over the rolling hills that the train passed. Somehow, despite the setting, Twilight was able to cancel out the noise, and lose herself in her thoughts, and this made Dash a little uneasy.
“Hey, Twi’?” Asked Dash through their mental link. She would have spoken normally, but she knew better than to try to speak over the noise of Twilight’s own thoughts. “Are you alright?” She asked compassionately.
Twilight gave her a half-hearted response. “Hm? Oh, yeah,”
“Really? Cause you seem a little-,”
“I said I’m FINE Dash!” Twilight snapped. Dash jumped. Twilight had never snapped at her like that, and honestly, it made her afraid. Not just for herself, but for Twilight.
“Twi’…,” Dash treaded lightly.
“Sorry, I just…,” Twilight sighed, audibly. “It’s just all too much,”
“What is?”
Twilight sighed again. “I-I’m afraid I’ll screw up again,” she turned to Dash, tears gathering in her eyes. “I already lost you once, and if I lose you this time, you can’t come back again. Not only that, even if you could, I don’t think I would make it more than a few days if I had to go through that whole process again,”
Dash was both touched and saddened by this. It helped to remind Dash of what Twilight had suffered through. What Dash had put her through.
While Twilight had repeatedly professed that she did not blame Dash for what happened, Dash knew that deep down, she actually did. And whenever one of them had brought it up, both ponies had retracted towards their own thoughts within minutes.
“A-Anyway, I think we should visit Rarity before we go. I bet that she and Scootaloo would love to see you again,”
“Yeah, that little squirt probably couldn’t stand not seeing my awesomeness for much longer,” Dash mused.
“We probably shouldn’t get their hopes up though, so try to not mention the stone,”
“Oh, Okay,”
Twilight smiled. “Don’t worry, soon enough everything will be back to normal,”
“Yeah…yeah!” Dash Smiled back. “Soon enough,”
“I’m gonna try and get some rest. Let me know when we’re in Appleloosa,”
“No problem Twi’,”
Twilight smiled again in response, sliding back and placing her hooves on the armrest, then placing her head atop her hooves, and curling the rest of her body inwards. Dash loved it when she did that, it was so cute.
Twilight blinked repeatedly, her vision slowly clearing. She was still aboard the train, and Dash was still sitting next to her. Still, something seemed off.
Rainbow looked angry. Like, really angry. As if she was ready to lash out at the first thing she saw, and that just so happened to be Twilight.
“Finally awake? Too bad,” She said.
“Wha-what do you mean?”
“If you were asleep, the guards would confiscate that locket before you could hide it. Then, I wouldn’t have to deal with you anymore,”
“Wha? Guards? What guards?”
“It doesn’t matter, after all, you don’t want me around anymore,”
“What? I never said-,”
“Don’t you remember? You regret bringing me back. After everything we’ve been through, you wish I wasn’t here,”
Twilight was beginning to cry. “No…Rainbow, that’s not what I-,”
“I don’t care!” The pegasus’s eyes flashed red. “I don’t care what you have in your back pocket to cover for you. I’m tired of the ‘I didn’t mean that’ and ‘That’s not what I said’, I’m done! I didn’t ask for any of this you know! You just pulled me back here and told me to follow you. And just lie always, I didn’t think about why I should, I just did. Well not anymore! I’m done being your cheerleader! I’m tired of being on the sidelines cheering you on while you save the day! Honestly, I wish you hadn’t brought me back at all!”
Twilight was crying rivers now, her eyes reddening as the saltwater irritated the skin. “Rainbow *sniff*…please don’t *sniff* please don’t say thing like *sniff* that,”
“Or what? Or I’ll hurt your feelings? Whoopty fuckin do. What about mine? What am I anymore? Nothing! Nothing next to the awe inspiring Twilight Sparkle. Who could stand next to her? Well, since I don’t matter, I’ll just leave you to marvel at yourself.” Without another word, the enraged form of Rainbow Dash compressed into a blue ball of pure energy, and flew into the locket around Twilight’s neck.
“R-Rainbow?” Twilight gazed down at the locket. No answer. “Rainbow?” Still nothing. “Rainbow! *sniff* please s-say *sniff* something!” Twilight broke down, tears flowing freely form her eyes, as stuttered moans of sorrow prevented her from speaking, and echoed throughout the car. But nopony seemed to notice or care. Instead, Twilight was alone again.
All alone. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
“Twilight!” Screamed Dash, jolting the unicorn awake, tears soaking her disguised black fur.
“R-Rainbow?” Her face reflected clear signs of both sadness and fear.
“You were sleeping, then you starting muttering my name. Then you started crying,” Dash looked concerned. “Are you alright?”
“Uh…yeah! Yeah, I’m fine,” She turned back toward the window. “I’m fine…,”
“Well…okay then,” Dash replied. “We’re still a ways from Appleloosa, so you can go back to-,”
“No!” Twilight caught herself. “I mean, I’d rather just talk,”
“Oh? About what?”
“How about what to do when this whole thing blows over? I hear there is a certain library that will be completely unoccupied,”
