The timeline has changed. Now, Twilight Sparkle, Rainbow Dash and their new friends must face the unknown together...
Nine months have come and gone since Twilight Sparkle and Rainbow Dash moved to Ponyville from their home in Canterlot. Nine months since Princess Celestia revealed what she knew about the change in history reaching all the way back to the day of the sonic rainboom. Nine months of peace and happiness.
A peace and happiness that is brought to an end by the return of an ancient enemy, one thought to have been gone forever. This event sparks a choice, and the repercussions will lead Rainbow Dash and her friends down a dangerous road. A series of events shall soon play out that will lead to the already precarious balance of this new timeline being undone. When all is said and done, Rainbow, Twilight and their new friends will learn for themselves the true dangers of foreknowledge...
(NOTICE: The first ten chapters are pretty much just a play-by-play re-telling of the season 2 premiere. This is required for certain context and catalysts. It gets much different after that.)
“Alright! Thanks, mom!” Rainbow Dash squealed with delight when her favorite meal was set down in front of her, the aroma of the pasta and the potatoes blended perfectly and her mouth watered. With little to no hesitation, she opened her mouth as wide as possible and consumed a good half of the towering sandwich in one fell swoop, her entire body shuddering in ecstasy. “Oh, that’s good…” she mumbled through her mouth-full of food.
“Ooooh, look at you. We’re so proud of you, Dashie.” Windy Whistles said with tears of joy in her eyes before looking to her husband, Bow Hothoof, who was standing a little ways behind Windy in the yellow colored Cloudsdale kitchen.
“Yeah! Best cutie mark ever for the best daughter ever!” he added with an enthusiastic grin.
“Yeah, it is awesome, ain’t it?” Rainbow smirked down at her flank where her brand new cutie mark was on display. A white cloud with a rainbow colored lightning bolt shooting out of it. She couldn’t have asked for a more fitting and personally fulfilling mark. She leaned back a bit, remembering her victory of the race in which she had attained it fondly.
She then lost her smile as she remembered a certain oddity that had caught her attention. Two ponies had been there, between the rings and standing on the clouds below the course itself. They seemed to be arguing over something. While she had been focused on finishing the race at the time, Rainbow couldn’t help but notice something off about the two.
The first one she saw was a lilac colored unicorn, a look of fury and misery written on her face. Standing in front of her was an impossibility. Something that shouldn’t have been there.
An Alicorn. A lavender alicorn mare with a baby dragon upon her back, speaking to the lilac unicorn cautiously, but with a hopeful glint in her eye. Rainbow had turned her eyes away from the two just before she broke the sound barrier and the visible light spectrum along with it, creating a sonic rainboom.
She won almost instantly after before setting herself down near where she had seen the strange ponies. Her mind had turned over itself in confusion, trying to figure out what she had just seen. “...Who were they?” she had asked herself.
“...Are you okay?” Windy’s voice knocked Rainbow out of her musings, bringing her back to the here and now.
Rainbow shook her head to dispel the feeling of unease that suddenly filled it before smiling confidently at her parents, though they could see it was forced. “Y-yeah, I’m fine. Just thinking is all.”
“Thinking about what?” Bow asked, stepping forward, a small amount of worry marring his features.
Rainbow didn’t answer.
“Rainbow…?”
“Rainbow?” a feminine voice called softly, breaching the thick veil of Rainbow Dash’s sleep. “Rainbow, it’s time to wake up…”
“Mmph…” Rainbow grunted drowsily before one of her forelegs lazily swiped out from under hear resting form to swat at whatever stupid pest was disturbing her sleep. A giggle reverberated in her mind before she felt somepony grab her hoof in their own to hold it in place.
“Come on, Rainbow, you know you can’t stay asleep forever.” the voice said again mirthfully. Rainbow scrunched up her face.
“That a challenge…? Just watch me…” Rainbow mumbled before rolling over and keeping her eyes tightly screwed shut, praying to whatever would hear her that the disturbances would end there. “Mornings… pfah…”
Another giggle snaked its way into her mind through her ears like some sort of devilish serpent. That didn’t sound good... “Okay, you asked for it…”
Rainbow made a sound that could only be described as a questioning grunt before, with a bit of magic, her bed mattress tilted to an almost vertical angle, sending the prismatically maned pegasus sliding off of her bed and to the hard wooden floor, impacting with a sound not unlike that of a sack of wet potatoes being dropped. Rainbow Dash slowly opened her eyes, sat up on her haunches, and glared past her now flattening mattress and into the eyes of the villainous mare that would dare disrupt her sleep. “Twilight, did I ever tell you I hate you?”
“Yes, actually. Whenever I have to wake you up because you’re oversleeping,” Twilight replied with a grin before reaching out and ruffling her friend’s mane. “Come on downstairs, eh? Spike’s made something pretty special for breakfast.”
With a small smile appearing on her face, despite her inner fury from having her sleep disturbed, Rainbow shoved Twilight’s hoof out of her mane before standing up. “Yeah, I’ll bet.” Picking herself up off of the floor, Rainbow sauntered by Twilight, still grumbling a bit under her breath but, to be fair, this kind of wake up was nothing new.
She paused just as she reached the stairs to glance over her shoulder and out a nearby window. Beyond the organic wooden branches and custom glass panes that made it up, past the leaves that framed the exterior of the window, Rainbow Dash could see several of the houses of Ponyville and the ponies that called the village home going about their day to day lives.
Nine months… she had been living in the Golden Oaks Library with Twilight for nine months now. It was hard to believe it had been so long already. It felt like it was maybe last week that Rainbow Dash was staring down Nightmare Moon in defense of the aforementioned lavender mare, learning about the change in the timeline and then all of the crazy shenanigans that had sprung up since they moved here.
An unpleasant reunion with Gilda, a stuck up and self-absorbed illusionist fraud, a sleeping dragon, parasprites. Then there was that time that Twilight messed up winter wrap up only to do a one-eighty and fix the whole freaking thing. Rainbow smirked slightly at the fond memory before at last making her way downstairs.
Just as Twilight had previously mentioned, there was an absolutely marvelous looking breakfast arranged on the dining table, which sat off to one side in the central room of the library. A plate loaded with hash browns and pancakes with a bowl full of mashed potatoes off to one side. Spike could be seen not far away from the still steaming spread, dusting something or other. “Carbo-loading me?” Rainbow asked with a friendly smile. Spike turned around and raised an eyebrow.
“Well, yeah. I mean, aren’t you going in for weather duty today?” he asked pointedly.
“Yeah, I am. Although technically I’m volunteering, Spike,” Rainbow corrected while marching up to the waiting meal. “I keep saying I ‘work in weather services,’ but I’m not actually employed by them.” she chuckled under her breath while sitting down at the table and eyeing her meal.
“Oh, right; princess status…” Spike nodded slowly. “Y’know, I sometimes forget that you’re royalty.”
“Hey, forget it forever and I’ll give you a bag of bits,” Rainbow said while downing a mouthful of the hash browns. “It took me ages to get Canterlot’s ponies to know me. Ponyville’s taking even longer.”
Spike nodded along. “Well, Ponyville was founded by earth pony farmers. The apple family, to be exact. A bit of stubbornness is to be expected with that family, I think.”
Rainbow rolled her eyes with a small smirk. “Oh-hoh yeah.” she chuckled out before continuing to consume her breakfast.
It was at this time that Twilight decided to make an entrance, cantering down the stairs with a book floating behind her in her magic. She looked up at Rainbow and smiled warmly. “You’re looking more awake already.”
Rainbow nodded before finishing off her hash browns. “It helps when you have a good breakfast,” she said before winking at Spike, who beamed appreciatively.
Twilight nodded with a small smile before setting herself down in a lounge chair across the room with Rainbow. With a flick of her magic, she opened the book she had with her and began reading. Rainbow leaned over from what little was left of her food to get a better look at the book in question. Quantus and Tempora’s Guide to Abstract Spellcraft.
“Abstract Spellcraft?” Rainbow echoed with a raised eyebrow, drawing Twilight’s attention.
“It’s pretty complicated stuff, Rainbow,” the unicorn pointed out with her smile widening into an enormous, geeky grin before she turned to another page. “Abstract Spellcraft is the term that the authors use to describe their spells. Quantus and Tempora were really unusual when it came down to magic, liking to base the fundamentals of their works off of things like the structures of matter, temporal imprints, and quantum states. A lot of their work shares some of their basic foundations with teleportation magic, but they also-”
“Twilight! Twilight,” Rainbow cut her off with a raised hoof and a face twisted with too many big words. “Say that again, but slower and with words I understand.”
Twilight pouted at Rainbow before shaking her head in exasperation. “Okay, okay. In short, the spell I’m studying is called the- okay, no, you can’t pronounce that. I’ll just call it the ‘failsafe’ spell.”
“And what’s it do?”
Twilight grinned before setting the book aside for a moment. “To put it simply, things around me leave ‘imprints,’ like a memory when I interact with them. The book I’m reading right now, for example, has a fairly substantial imprint because of how familiar I am with it. You have a massive imprint, too. The failsafe spell checks the things around me and compared them to how I remember them. If it finds a difference that I don’t think is correct, it can then rollback the changes and restore the object in question to it’s remembered state. Make sense?”
“Kinda, yeah,” Rainbow tilted her head while mulling it over in her head. “What kind of ‘differences’ are we talking about, though?”
“Basically anything that didn’t happen on its own or naturally. A change caused by direct interference. Say that a cloud is raining fire instead of water because something tampered with it, or a bunny is behaving like a raging bull. The spell would figure that out and then reverse it.” Twilight explained while using her magic to create a visual representation of a flaming cloud and then a very angry looking Angel bunny.
“Wow. That sounds handy.” Rainbow said with a nod and impressed raise of her eyebrows.
“Well, if the cause of the anomaly has more power than the caster does, the failsafe spell with just… er, fail.” Twilight explained before grimacing at how odd that sentence sounded.
“Not so handy.”
“I’m mostly learning it as a precaution. Plus, learning just for learning’s sake is fun.” Twilight said before leaning back and returning to her book.
“To you, maybe,” Rainbow snorted before finishing off her breakfast and standing up. “Alright, I should probably get a move on. See you later, you two. Don’t burn the library down while I’m gone, okay?” she called out playfully before opening the door.
“We won’t, don’t worry,” Twilight called after her before rolling her eyes when the door closed.
Outside, Rainbow took a moment to take in a deep breath of fresh morning air. “Ah… this is nice.” She hummed contently to herself before spreading her feathery wings and giving them a strong flap, lifting herself into the air. With a cocky grin on her face, she then sped off for the weather services office building for her shift of volunteer work.
She paused for a moment, however, when the edges of her vision filled with tendrils of white. They came and then went as quickly as they had come, leaving Rainbow unsure if she had even seen them or not. With a shake of her head, she decided to just ignore it for now before resuming her journey, leaving a prismatic rainbow trail in her wake.
“Yo, Thunderlane!” Rainbow Dash called out the moment she set hoof inside the Weather Service office building. It was a fairly standard building with four rooms. A lobby for ponies who had questions or complaints, a ‘meeting room’ for weather team members to discuss what needed to be done when not out in the skies, an office room used by the manager and, more importantly, a ‘closet’ full of various pieces of equipment that could be used to assist with weather control; be it making sure a cloud was dense enough to produce enough rain, checking the temperature of the air or any number of other things.
Near the door to the said closet was a black pegasus stallion with a white mane done up in a mohawk. His amber eyes looked over to Rainbow Dash before a friendly smile appeared on his face. “Ah, Rainbow! There you are. Some of us were getting worried that you wouldn’t be helping today.”
“Yeah, sorry about that. I overslept.” Rainbow replied sheepishly, rubbing the back of her head with a hoof.
“Again?” Thunderlane asked incredulously. He instantly flinched and recoiled a bit. “Oh, uh, I mean-”
“Dude,” Rainbow cut him off with a raised hoof and a dry look. “I’ve told you and everypony else on the team at least a hundred times by now. You don’t need to be worried about offending me. It’s not like I’m gonna order your execution if you annoy me too much.”
“Y-yeah, I know. Just… sorry. Old habits kinda die hard,” he finally admitted with a shake of his head, his shoulders slumping somewhat. He then perked back up and his smile returned. “Well, anyway, we’ve got something weird going on just at the edges of town. Odd colored clouds. The boss was hoping you’d be able to look into it.”
“Odd colored clouds?” Rainbow echoed while trotting up behind Thunderlane as he made his way into the meeting room. It was long with a table stretching across most of the center of the floor space. On the back wall was a whiteboard with multi-colored notes and scribbles, instructions and other such whatnot. On the wall next to it, held in place by a red pin was a sheet of paper with a list of the day’s highest priorities. Looking over the sheet, she noted that, circled in red, were the words ‘Pink clouds spotted north of Ponyville, erratic movement confirmed. Needs investigation and cleanup.’
“Yeah. Everypony else has their own work inside the town and the clouds haven’t come inside of Ponyville proper yet. Think you can handle it?” Thunderlane inquired with a slight twitch of his ear.
“Heh heh, Bro…” Rainbow smirked over at Thunderlane. “I can handle Pinkie Pie. Some pink clouds? Easy peasy.” she proclaimed confidently.
Thunderlane raised an eyebrow quizzically at that remark. “Pinkie, huh…? Well, alright. I’ll go let the boss know you’re on the case. Good luck out there.” Thunderlane said while cantering for the door leading back out to the lobby.
“When have I ever needed luck?” Rainbow snarked back before following him out of the room.
“Well, I mean, there was that time that Pinkie Pie ran faster than you can fly, beating you to every hiding spot before you ever even got there. Pretty sure it was blind luck you beat her to Sweet Apple Acres.” Thunderlane pointed out with a mirthful expression.
Rainbow shuddered, an uneasy look coming over her. “Okay, point taken.”
Thunderlane laughed before turning for the manager’s office. “Alright, get a move on, Rainbow.”
“Roger!” Rainbow nodded, snapping out of her trance before shooting out the door at high speeds.
There was no doubt about it. These clouds were decidedly very pink. They were pink, poofy and zipping around at remarkably high speeds. Rainbow observed from a dozen or so yards away, eyeing the bizarre formations critically. She recalled how sometimes primal weather from the Everfree would work it’s way over Ponyville, most times behaving erratically and dangerously. Normally she would chalk up any odd weather pattern around here to it just being from said dark forest.
There were two big problems with that logic this time, though.
First of all, no weather Rainbow had ever seen come out of the everfree looked quite so… for lack of a better word, playful. It was almost always dark, violent and practically dripping with malice in the form of intense rain. Winds were intense, the clouds were thick and formed together like a phalanx, making busting them or redirecting them back into the Everfree something of a challenge. These clouds were pink, small (albeit numerous) and had no real structure to them. Each one seemed to operate completely independently of the others. Plus, Everfree clouds weren’t pink.
Secondly, the Everfree Forest was mostly to the east and south of Ponyville. These pink clouds were coming in from the north. Some more could be seen encircling the tall mountain that Canterlot hung off of.
After watching the clouds for several seconds longer, Rainbow began her approach, circling around the clouds to try and drive them west, away from Ponyville. The closer she got, the more unusual the texture of the pink, fluffy clouds appeared. At last, she reached out and drove her forehooves into the side of one of them, hoping to give it a good shove.
What she was not expecting was for the cloud to mold around her hooves and cling to her fur like some kind of adhesive. She was not expecting a sudden rush of an incredibly sweet and sugary smell to swim up her nostrils, or a puff of air to wash over her face as it was forced out from the cloud by her hooves. She wasn’t expecting several small droplets of a brown, sweet-smelling liquid to come flying out, some of them hitting her in the face. She expected none of these things, but all of them happened.
“What the?!” she exclaimed, pulling back her hooves and, to her surprise, taking large clumps of the cloud along for the ride. They made soft tearing sounds as they were peeled away from the main body of the cloud, another rush of that highly sugary scent invading Rainbow’s senses. “What is this cloud made of?!” she demanded, flapping her wings to put some distance between her and the offending pink substance.
Rainbow then went still, her mind blanking. “What… uh oh…” she mumbled out as her sense of balance failed her. Her limbs felt like they were being gradually filled with something heavy, prompting her to slowly drift down to the ground below. As soon as she landed, she fell to her haunches, her eyes wide open and unfocused. I know this feeling… she thought to herself, reaching a hoof up to the side of her head, the ball of pink cloud forgotten when a spike of pain went through her skull.
A flash…
Her vision was invaded by white
“Gotcha!” Rainbow cried out triumphantly while body slamming the pink cloud that had, only a moment prior, been looming over Sugarcube Corner. Instead of the cloud dispersing from the force of the impact, she sank right into it before it molded around her and stuck to her. For a moment, she froze, dumbstruck. Then… “Eeeeew! What is this stuff?!” she whined, shaking her whole body and removing much of the substance as a result. There was still a lot of it clinging to her body though. The way they felt on her fur vaguely reminded her of… no, that couldn’t be.
Tentatively, Rainbow ran her tongue along a small piece of the sticky cloud. After a moment to process the taste, her eyes tilted in confusion. “Cotton… candy?” she asked in disbelief, her mind trying desperately to figure this out.
“Okay, these things are made of Cotton Candy… that’s weird.” Rainbow thought while she was watching all of this play out.
Another of the pink clouds soon appeared over Rainbow’s head, a thunderous rumble sounding from its core. The cyan mare glanced up just in time for a droplet of chocolate milk to land on top of her head. “Wait a second! It’s not supposed to rain until tomorrow!” she shouted at it indignantly. “You can’t just-”
A deluge of chocolate milk rain erupted from the small cloud directly over and pretty much exclusively on Rainbow. The pegasus just floated there for a second before lowering her gaze with a flat look on her face.
“You did.”
The vision shattered and Rainbow Dash found herself coming back to her senses, shaking her head to dispel the sudden fogginess she felt. For a few seconds, she contemplated what she had seen. Then her eyes went wide.
I just had a flash… that means that something important is about to happen, right?
She turned her eyes back up to the pink clouds with her eyes narrowing seriously. Slowly, she got to her hooves, her legs wobbling beneath her and her head throbbing in protest. Rainbow grit her teeth and reached a hoof up to the side of her head again to try and quell the pain.
Squish
Half of her vision was obscured by pink, chocolate milk-soaked cotton candy. Her ears fell flat and her expression turned dry. Then there was a thunderous boom over her head before, just like in the flash, chocolate rain began to fall over her and only her.
“...Of course, you did.” she deadpanned.
“Uh, Twilight?” Spike asked nervously from the other side of the room, standing on the very tips of his toes and looking out the window of the Golden Oaks Library. His face was a mixture of nervousness and confusion.
“Uh huh?” Twilight asked, looking up from her book into the back of the young drake’s head.
“...Why is it raining chocolate milk?”
Twilight blinked, put her book down and got up. “I’m… I’m sorry. What?” she asked, her muzzle scrunching up while she trotted up to Spike’s side.
“Why is it raining chocolate milk?” Spike repeated himself a bit more incessantly while poking a claw against the glass of the window. Twilight arrived at his side, her brow creased in confusion before she angled her neck to get a better look at the sky. “And why are the clouds moving like that?”
Sure enough, there were many pink clouds zipping across the sky, each one releasing a torrent of chocolate milk to splash into the streets and roofs of Ponyville below. Twilight’s eyes widened and her jaw fell wide open. “Uh… I don’t know, but it can’t be good.”
“Well, I mean, It’s confusing, yeah. But it’s chocolate!” Spike said, turning to look at Twilight with a raised eyebrow.
“Spike, do you have any idea how bad for our plants chocolate is?!” Twilight demanded with an eye twitching in rapidly mounting exasperation.
“...I see your point.” Spike admitted before looking out the window again. “We got a plan to deal with this?”
“Hang on!” Twilight muttered under her breath urgently, pulling her book back to her face. She whispered something to herself under her breath, possibly reading the text of the book aloud before nodding. “Spike, get my umbrella, would you? I’m going to need to keep looking this over while we go to the center of this, ah, storm.”
“On it!” Spike nodded, gave a salute, then scampered across the room and up the stairs leading to the loft.
Twilight glanced out the window with her expression souring considerably. “Oh, why couldn’t this have all waited until after I got done learning the spell in its entirety?!”
It was at this point that a small pack of bunnies went running by on legs longer than Twilight was tall, kicking out large clouds of dust in their wake. Twilight’s mind tried to process this for a moment before opting to just discard it in favor of something that made sense. Like Spike coming back with her umbrella. That made sense.
“Here you go!” Spike chirped dutifully while fitting it onto Twilight’s back and making sure it was strapped on properly. “Alright, all set.”
“Thanks, Spike. Come on, let’s go!” Twilight gave a sharp nod before using her magic to pull open the door to the library. The sweet smell of the chocolate and the scent of cotton candy invaded their nostrils and were almost enough to overwhelm them. Twilight gulped before breaking into a gallop, still holding the book up to her face. “Make sure I don’t bump into anything!”
“I’ll try!” Spike called from behind her, sounding a little worried.
Applejack, despite her still being a fairly young pony, liked to think she was seasoned enough to have a voice in what she was seeing. She was a mare that had seen plenty of weird stuff in her time; especially recently. Odd weeds, baffling attempts to scam her family for cheap or free apples, Pinkie Pie. More recently there were numerous incidents of grand scale and remarkably unsettling nature. Fluttershy succumbing to an animalistic rage at the Grand Galloping Gala, an Ursa Major that was actually only an Ursa Minor, the parasprites a few months ago, Pinkie Pie. She had seen a lot of odd stuff.
She had never, in her entire life, seen pink, fluffy clouds zipping around with such speed and agility that they were easily outmaneuvering a very frustrated Rainbow Dash. She had never before seen such clouds raining chocolate milk upon her secondary crop of corn plants she had been asked to grow for the food stores next winter. She had never seen said corn plants spontaneously start popping into popcorn en masse.
Looking at all of this play out before her, Applejack briefly wondered if she was dreaming. A quick thwack to her left hoof by her right confirmed that no, she was awake. She turned her gaze up to Rainbow just as the prismatically maned pegasus missed her target yet again. “Rainbow! What’s with all this, uh, chocolate rain?!” she called up, her irritation swiftly giving way to confusion as she realized even more just how unorthodox that sentence sounded.
Rainbow looked down at Applejack before swerving herself into an arc that brought her into a wobbly landing before the farm pony. “I wish I knew! But there’s crazy weather all over Ponyville, possibly all of Equestria. Reports just came into the office like, ten minutes ago that Cloudsdale is getting hit by a cola storm.”
“Cola?” Applejack asked in exasperation and disbelief, looking around at the carnage with wide eyes. It was then that she caught sight of a large number of wild animals scampering through her orchard, some of them climbing into the trees to stress-eat her apples. “Hey! Those ain’t yours!”
“Do you want me to get Fluttershy?” Rainbow asked while lifting back into the air a bit.
“Considerin’ Angel’s among those critters, Ah don’t think yer gonna need to.” Applejack noted while pointing into the trees. Rainbow looked and, sure enough, Angel, Fluttershy’s pet rabbit, could be seen sitting on a branch in one of the trees, nibbling on an apple with a worried expression on his face. His ears twitched occasionally at all of the odd sounds that surrounded him. And, as Applejack had predicted, Fluttershy soon appeared from the trees, floating up to Angel.
“Angel, all of you, please calm down. Let’s just get you all home and, um-”
A bright flash of light interrupted anything else Fluttershy was saying and forced her to screw her eyes shut. Applejack and Rainbow shielded their own eyes with their forelegs. As quickly as the flash had come, it went away. Now, Angel Bunny stood taller than Fluttershy, his legs having extended to a monstrous length. On his face was an expression that bespoke confusion and shock at his body’s newfound height.
“What?! No, this can’t be possible!” Fluttershy whispered to herself in shock and bewilderment as Angel then strut by, reaching out and plucking an apple from a tree on his way with his teeth.
“URGH!” Applejack growled out in rising anger before turning her attention back to the rest of her crop. “WHAT IN TARNATION IS GOIN’ ON?!”
A fresh wave of chocolate milk washed over them all, causing the brim of Applejack’s hat to fall over her eyes. Her look of anger melted into a dry glare. Rainbow shook her head, spread her wings and shot back up into the air. “Stop raining on my friends, dangit!”
This madness continued for several minutes, with everypony doing their best to get a hold of the situation. Nothing worked. The weather only got more wild and evasive, the animals were reshaped in even weirder and comedic ways. It was chaos incarnate. And from where Twilight stood, having just reached the farm and looking at everything going on, she felt a small shred of uncertainty and doubt. “Alright… here we go,” she mumbled before checking the book one last time.
Spike stood next to her, walking in place anxiously and twiddling his thumbs. “Are you gonna fix this or what?” he asked, gesturing to, well, everything.
“Yes, just give me a second… okay!” she snapped the book closed and sent it drifting into Spike’s claws. She then cleared her throat. “Everypony, don’t worry. I’ve got a spell ready that should fix all of this!”
All eyes turned to her, hopeful that she would succeed or relieved, believing her success was assured. Gulping heavily, Twilight closed her eyes to shut out their expressions and instead focused on her spell. Her horn lit up as she began the first stage of the spell. She felt anomalies all around her as her spell gained in power. Dozens of them were present and Twilight felt that trickle of doubt rear its ugly head again.
She then beat that doubt down with a stick and expanded the radius of her spell as far as possible. From where she was, she could hit most of ponyville and much of the northern countryside. She detected more and more anomalies as the sphere expanded. Finally, with a grimace, she set the second stage of the spell into motion. She felt a slight tug on her horn, an indication that it was working. The spell’s last stage that began. A blinding light erupted from Twilight’s horn and rapidly expanded across Ponyville and the surrounding hills. She could hear the alarmed gasps of her friends as the light washed over them.
For several seconds all was still. When Twilight finally opened her eyes, however, her expression went from one of hope to one of disappointment and shock. Nothing had changed. The clouds were still pink, they were still raining chocolate milk and the animals were still going crazy and shapeshifting. “Wha… it failed…” she muttered.
Up in the air, Rainbow opened up her own eyes and looked down at Twilight, seeing her expression go from confident and hopeful to the exact opposite. Her own face twisting with worry, Rainbow glided down to a landing right next to her fillyhood friend. “You okay?”
“Yeah, I’m fine. It’s just… I don’t know what else we can do now. That was the only spell in my arsenal that could even come close to dealing with something like this!” Twilight replied, gesturing wildly to the chaos before them.
“Back at the library, you mentioned that the spell would fail if the cause was more powerful than you, right?” Rainbow asked gently, nudging Twilight. Twilight nodded uneasily, her eyes flicking from one oddity to another. “Then we either need to use something besides magic to quell all of this, find whoever is responsible and make them fix it, or give mom a call.”
Twilight nodded slowly before shaking herself to clear her head. “Right… okay, you’re right. We can worry about finding out who’s responsible just as soon as we make sure the situation over the farm is contained and controlled, though.”
”Hey, that sounds fine to me.” Applejack nodded in agreement.
Twilight turned a critical eye up to the clouds and sky above, her brow furrowing in thought.
“Oh, there you all are!” a shrill voice called out from behind the group. All eyes turned and spotted Rarity and Pinkie Pie approaching briskly. Rarity was, as per usual, covered from hoof to horn in a thick coat, hat, and rain goggles. There was also a very wide umbrella resting on her back. Pinkie, by contrast, was just as unclothed as ever and has her head turned up to drink in some chocolate as they passed under one of the pink clouds. It had been Rarity to speak.
“What in Equestria took ya two so long?!” Applejack barked in mild annoyance before biting down on her tongue and shaking her head, a heavy sigh escaping her. “Gah, sorry. How are things in town?”
“I feel like I’ve jumped into a Lewis Canteroll novel,” Rarity replied while tentatively peering out at the sky from under her umbrella. She quickly flinched back when a drop of chocolate milk splattered across her goggles, a startled squeak finding its way out of her mouth.
Twilight felt a small smile appear on her own face. “Oh yeah, I’ve read his work before.”
“Not the best time, girls!” Rainbow interrupted bluntly before putting a hoof on Twilight’s shoulder. “What’s the plan?”
Twilight nodded and her expression hardened. “Okay… Rainbow, do you think you can herd these clouds into one spot?”
“I can try, but there won’t be much to stop them from zipping off to somewhere else if we don’t find a way to keep them there.” Rainbow nodded before glaring at the sky.
“They’re made of cotton candy, though. That means that have a stronger physical presence than the water vapor of standard clouds,” Twilight pointed out before looking to Applejack. “As soon as Rainbow has the clouds corralled in one spot, I want you to lasso them down to the ground.”
“Alright, but ah won’t be able to keep them there unless Ah hold the rope all day.” Applejack said with a small nod and thoughtful frown.
Twilight turned to Fluttershy. “That’s where the animals come in. They’re going nuts, yes, but look at them. They’re stressed and they are eating. Stress eating. Once the cotton candy clouds are on the ground, we can have the animals come in to eat them. Something so high in sugar should hopefully be a big draw for them. Then, not only will the clouds be held to the ground by the weight of hungry animals crawling all over it, but the clouds will be losing mass and weight as the animals eat it. Fluttershy, you can talk to the animals, so you can send that message.”
Fluttershy put on a determined look and nodded sharply. “Okay.” she managed to sound like she wasn’t scared.
“Alright, let’s get to work!” Twilight declared. Everypony gave a shout or cheer of affirmative before Rainbow rocketed into the sky to begin step one. While that was happening, Twilight turned to Rarity and Pinkie. “Rarity, you and I need to be ready to intervene with magic in case something goes wrong. Pinkie?”
Pinkie looked to Twilight with her cheeks bulging full of chocolate milk. “Hmm?”
Twilight raised an eyebrow. “Er… help signal boost Fluttershy when she’s calling for the animals, okay?”
“Mm-hmm!” Pinkie chirped before swallowing the milk in her mouth and grinning excitedly. “Pinkie Pie, on the case!”
“Hey, AJ!” Rainbow called out from above, having already made some notable progress in making the clouds come together. “I can’t hold this ball together forever!”
“On it!” Applejack shouted up before breaking into a gallop for the wagon half-full of popcorn and apples that she had been pulling along when all of this started. In short order, she retrieved her lasso from it before sprinting to be directly under the clouds. “Okay, ready!” she yelled through the rope in her mouth.
With a curt nod, Rainbow peeled off and swerved to observe from a short distance and lower altitude. With the clouds now clear of ponies, Applejack swung the lasso up towards the clumped clouds with a sharp motion of her head. Twilight opted to give the rope a touch more momentum with a quick burst of telekinesis, putting it right on target to completely encircle and trap the clouds.
This done, Twilight then turned to Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie. “Alright, ready?”
“Mm-hmm.” Fluttershy hummed with a slight shake in her legs. Pinkie simply nodded before taking in a deep breath, ready to shout their announcement of cotton candy to the world.
It only took a few seconds for Applejack to pull the clouds down to the ground, where the squelched unpleasantly upon impact. Pinkie grinned widely, reached into her mane and withdrew a megaphone. She then turned to Fluttershy and whispered, “You may want to cover your ears,” she then looked at everypony else. “That goes for all of you.”
“Uh oh…” Rainbow murmured while placing her hooves over here ears.
“ATTENTION ALL FUZZY CRITTERS, BIG AND SMALL, NORMAL AND… UH… NOT!” Pinkie shouted into the megaphone, tilting it up slightly. “THERE IS SOMETHING VERY IMPORTANT THAT FLUTTERSHY NEEDS TO TELL YOU!” Pinkie then hoofed the megaphone off to Fluttershy with a big grin still plastered on her face. “Your turn! I’m gonna go to the cloud now!”
Fluttershy blinked before, with a charmed smile at Pinkie’s antics, she retrieved the megaphone that was being offered. As soon as she had it, Pinkie bounced away to begin eating some cloud and drinking some chocolate milk. Fluttershy then held the megaphone up to her mouth. “Oh, my, um, Hello? Is this thing working?”
“Yes.” Applejack deadpanned.
“Okay, um, everyone? Animals? I may need your help eating this massive, gigantic, chocolate-filled cotton candy cloud. There’s just so much that I think I need all of you to help.” Fluttershy said with a small smile forming when she noticed all of the animals giving her their undivided attention. Then they all turned their gazes to the cotton candy cloud mass.
It was promptly swarmed by every animal within earshot, to the point that Pinkie lost her spot. “Hey!” the pink pony barked indignantly.
“Heh. And when yer all done with that, Y'all can have some of this popcorn for dessert!” Applejack said with a small smile before turning back to Twilight. “Whew… good thinkin’ Twi. That really worked.”
Twilight smiled somewhat before her frown returned. “Maybe, but we didn’t stop the source of all of this. As long as the source of these changes is still making changes, we won’t be in the clear.”
Rainbow snarled under her breath. “Well, what could possibly be able to do all of this?!” she asked irritably while gesturing to the farm and the chaos surrounding it.
“I can only think of two ponies or beings off the top of my head who would actually be powerful enough, but neither of them would ever do something like this,” Twilight replied while lifting a hoof to the side of her head and massaging her temple.
“You mean Princesses Celestia and Luna, darling?” Rarity asked curiously while absentmindedly adjusting the umbrella that still sat on Twilight’s back.
“Yeah. They are the most powerful ponies in the world, but neither of them would have any reason to do something like this,” Twilight reiterated before shaking her head. She then got a somewhat more steely look on her face. “But maybe they’ll know what is responsible. Spike, can you- Spike?” Twilight turned to her number one assistant. Immediately her worried frown turned into one of anticipation and expectation. Spike had his claws clutched to his belly while his cheeks puffed out.
With a loud belch, a flurry of green flames shot out of his mouth before coalescing into one point. From that point, a scroll bound by a red ribbon and marked with the royal seal appeared with a small pop and the dispersal of the remaining smoke and fire. Quickly, Twilight grabbed the letter in her magic and opened it to study the contents.
“What’s it say?” Rainbow asked eagerly, butting up next to Twilight to look at the contents as well. After shooting the pegasus a dirty look, Twilight returned her attention to the scroll. Its message was short and hastily scrawled.
Twilight Sparkle, Princess Rainbow Dash,
You and your friends are all required in Canterlot immediately. Please come as soon and as quickly as you are able.
Hurry, -Princess Celestia.
Twilight’s eyes widened while Rainbow Dash bit her lip. Twilight looked up at the rest of the gathered group of friends. “We’re needed in Canterlot at once.”
A million and one thoughts raced through Princess Celestia’s head at a mile a minute as she paced back and forth anxiously in one of Canterlot Castle’s many observational lounges. Just behind her, spanning the entire wall of the multi-story room, was a stained glass window, depicting a visual representation of Equestria’s history. From this window, one could look out and behold all of the majestic and multi-tiered capital city of Canterlot sprawled out below them.
At last, after what felt like an eternity, even to her, the doors to the room were flung open. The solar princess turned just in time for a rainbow-colored missile to collide with her chest, the force of the impact causing her to fall onto her haunches with a grunt of surprise. Despite the direness of the situation, she was able to find some small piece of joy at feeling her daughter’s embrace once more, a gesture she gladly returned.
“My daughter…” she whispered to Rainbow Dash, feeling all of her muscles relax with relief at seeing her alright.
“You don’t sound too good,” Rainbow noted pointedly before leaning back slightly to meet her adoptive mother’s gaze. “You called us here because of, well, the things going on outside, right?”
Celestia glanced past Rainbow to see the rest of her entourage entering at a brisk pace. Nodding grimly, Celestia squeezed Rainbow one more time before releasing her and standing back up, holding her head high. “Yes. Thank you all for coming.”
“Princess Celestia, what’s going on out there?” Twilight asked hurriedly, cantering ahead of the rest of the group anxiously. “Cotton candy clouds, the plants are going out of control, animals are mutating on the spot and, and- I don’t even know!” she managed to babble out, despite her growing sense of unease and borderline panic.
Luckily, Celestia lifted a hoof to command the silence of everyone present. “...Follow me,” she said simply before turning to lead the group deeper into the castle, trotting through a set of doors on one side of the room. Everypony followed her, sharing uneasy looks and anxious whispers.
Rainbow, however, opted to drift in the air next to the princess. “As long as we’re here… how’s aunt Luna doing?” she asked in a whisper, a small amount of worry in her voice. “I haven’t heard from her since the summer sun celebration.”
Celesta smiled softly. “She’s been sleeping most of the time if you can believe it,” she said, a happy look briefly replacing her unease and trepidation.
Rainbow raised an eyebrow. “Er, define ‘most of the time.’ It’s been nine months.”
“As in I don’t think I have actually seen her awake more than four times since she’s come back to the castle. When you and your friends used the Elements of Harmony on her, she was restored to the body she had when she was but a child. She has been growing steadily the entire time, and growing so fast requires that her body conserve energy. She’s almost back to her adult self, now.” Celestia explained with a twinkle coming into her eyes.
Rainbow whistled, impressed. “Huh. How tall is she, anyway?”
“Perhaps a head or two shorter than I am,” Celestia said with a thoughtful look. “It’s… been amazing to watch. It is almost like watching a caterpillar turning into a butterfly.”
Rainbow play gagged before lightly punching her mother in the shoulder. “Ew, poeticism,” she said mirthfully before her smile returned to a frown.
Celestia noticed and lost her smile as well. “We are almost there. Come,” she said, raising her voice to ensure the group behind them could hear her.
A long hallway with a high roof and tall stained-glass windows lining the walls stretched before the group, colorful light from the outside painting the room in a myriad of shades and shapes. Celestia turned to the group about halfway down and cleared her throat. “Thank you again for coming. As this matter is severe, I shall delay no longer.”
“We’re listening, your highness.” Applejack nodded her head respectfully as she spoke.
Celestia closed her eyes and took a long, deep breath. Then, she turned her gaze to one of the stained glass windows. “...it would seem that an old foe of mine, one that I had hoped was gone forever, has returned. His name is… Discord.” the name left her lips as if it were foul poison, and Celestia was unable to prevent her eyes from narrowing in a hateful glare at the window.
Depicted in the glass was a creature unlike anything the group had ever seen. It was long and serpentine, it’s head not unlike that of a pony’s. It had two arms and two legs, though these limbs were not alike at all. One arm was similar to an eagle’s claw, while the other was a lion’s paw. One of this creature’s legs was a skinny pony leg, while the other was that of a dragon. Behind these legs was a long snake tail, a ploom of fur and feathers fanning out of the tip. There were two tiny wings upon it’s back, one feathery like a pegasus’ wings would be,while the other was leathery and membranous, like that of a bat. Above this things yellow and crimson eyes were a deer’s antler and a mangled goat’s horn.
“He is the spirit of chaos and disharmony, a trickster and mischief maker of the greatest caliber.” Celesta elaborated, her eyes narrowing as she spoke more of her old nemesis.
Twilight looked at Celestia, wide-eyed. “Well, how did you defeat him before?”
Celestia closed her eyes and inhaled through her nose. “Discord ruled Equestria before Luna and I ever did. The history of his reign is murky at best, I am afraid, and even I don’t know all of the details. The ponies forced to live under him were miserable from dawn to dusk. My sister and I could not stand for this, and so we set out to locate and utilize the Elements of Harmony. Our efforts proved successful in our uprising, allowing us to turn him to stone.”
“Way to go, mom!” Rainbow cheered from next to the window, having floated up to it to examine it.
Celestia smiled softly at the praise before her frown returned. “I had hoped that the spell Luna and I cast would last forever. But… now that the power of the Elements answer to you six instead of Luna and myself, the spell was broken.”
“So that means…” Twilight began, looking to her friends uneasily.
“Yes, Twilight. I need all of you to take up the Elements of Harmony once more and stop Discord,” Celestia answered before flaring her wings open. “Before he plunges all of Equestria into a state of eternal chaos and misery.”
“HOLD UP!” Pinkie suddenly shouted, holding up a hoof with her face forming into a disapproving scowl. She turned to the rest of the ponies present. “Girls, eternal chocolate comes with chaos rain!” she said, her eyes widening for emphasis.
“Er… Pinkie, you wanna try that again?” Rainbow asked slowly while raising an eyebrow.
Pinkie blinked, then covered her mouth with a hoof, smiling sheepishly as she realized her error. “Oops… well, you know what I mean!” she said loudly and indignantly.
Twilight shook her head with a small smirk before looking up to Princess Celestia again. “Don’t mind her, Princess. We’d be honored to use the Elements again,” she said humbly before giving a deep bow.
Celestia nodded sagely before turning to the tall double doors that rested on the far end of the room. “Good. I have brought you all to one of Canterlot Castle’s most heavily guarded and warded towers. After you retrieved the Elements, I had them stored here for safekeeping.”
“Aw, yeah! Getting my necklace back!” Rainbow cheered excitedly, pumping her hooves in the air. Applejack and Rarity both shot her deadpan looks.
“Rainbow Dash, darling, since when have you ever cared about your fashion?” Rarity asked inquisitively. Rainbow blinked down at her in confusion.
“Fashion? What’s that got to do with it? I just like shooting rainbow lasers.”
Celestia tittered softly before shooting Rainbow a playful smirk over her shoulder. “You would, my daughter. You would.”
Rainbow merely huffed.
In short order, the group arrived at the doors. There were no handles and no other visible ways of opening the door. There was, however, a hole in the very center of the door, just large enough for a horn to slide it. Wasting no time, Celestia craned her neck down and did just that, sliding the tip of her horn into the keyhole before sending a surge of magic along the length.
A blinding golden light began to shine from the door, causing everypony present with the exception of Celestia to cover their eyes. When the light finally faded, the door stood wide open. Upon a single, ornate pedestal, rested a purple, jewel-encrusted case trimmed with gold.
“Oh, you can keep the elements, I’ll just have that case!” Rarity swooned as soon as she rested eyes on it. Ignoring the awestruck fashionista, Celestia withdrew the case from the room beyond with her magic before turning a confident smile to the assembled mares.
“Do not fear, my little ponies. I have every confidence that you will be able to defeat Discord with these.” as those words left her lips, the case opened up to reveal…
Nothing.
There was nothing.
A sharp gasp tore it’s way out of Celestia’s throat before her magic fizzled out in shock. The case dropped to the floor, the sound of its impact with the ornate tiles echoing in everypony’s ears for what felt like hours.
The Elements of Harmony were missing.
“But… how can this be…?” Celestia breathed, unable to comprehend what her eyes were showing her. She lifted the box back up and turned it over to look at it from every angle.
“Oh, boy…” Rainbow muttered under her breath, a small bead of sweat forming on the back of her neck.
“That door was sealed by a spell that only I can break!” Celestia protested in confusion before dropping the case back down. “This doesn’t make any sense.”
An old, raspy voice echoed in the air, chuckling in malevolent amusement. It was like listening to an old wooden door creaking while it’s bottom scraped along a cobblestone floor. “Make sense? Oh, what fun is there in making sense?”
“Discord…” Celestia breathed, her ears falling back, her eyes narrowing and her wings flaring out aggressively. “Show yourself!” she bellowed out, anger burning behind her eyes.
The laugh echoed again, resonating in the minds of all present and sending a chill into their minds. For a moment, there was silence. Rainbow, from where she stood, could feel the air shifting, as though there was another being moving through the same space as the rest of them. No matter how hard she looked, however, she saw no signs of movement or any intruders.
“Did you miss me Celestia?” the voice asked in an amused and condescending drawl. Then, with a flash, the depiction of Discord in the stained glass began to move. His yellow and crimson eyes turned to bore into Celestia’s, narrowing while a fond smirk spread across his face. “I missed you.” he sneered before his image slithered from one window to the next.
Already Rainbow felt her coat bristling and her fur standing on end. The way this creature spoke was just… angering.
“It’s quite lonely, being trapped in stone…” Discord mused while his image perched itself on a depiction of Fluttershy. “But you wouldn’t know anything about that, would you?” he asked, his eyes narrowing and a bitter, wrathful edge slowly creeping into his voice. “After all, I don’t turn ponies into stone.”
“ENOUGH!” Celestia snapped, her horn igniting with fiery magic. “What have you done with the elements of harmony?!”
Almost instantly, Rainbow was by her mother’s side, placing a hoof on her shoulder. “Woah, keep it cool, mom,” she whispered simply before turning her glare to Discord.
Taking a deep breath, Celestia let the magic dispel from her horn, but her eyes never lost her lock on Discord.
“Oh, how sweet. You two really are mother and daughter, aren’t you?” Discord chortled in amusement and mock charm.
“Don’t dodge the question, you’re royal flatness.” Rainbow shot back with a scowl.
Discord humphed. “Oh, I just borrowed them for a teensy little while…” he snapped his eagle's claw. In the window he currently resided in, a depiction of the elements back in the castle of the two sisters suddenly vanished.
“Now give them back,” Rainbow growled, drifting towards the window somewhat.
“Rainbow,” Twilight called cautiously, her ears falling against her head. “Don’t do anything reckless.”
“Oh, I see you’re just as grim as your mother dearest, princess Rainbow Dash…” Discord grinned widely before his image disappeared from one window and appeared in another. This one depicted the day Rainbow Dash was first revealed to Equestria as it’s newest princess, those many years ago. In the window, her eyes were closed and a serene smile was on her face. “How boring…” Discord droned before the smile flipped upside down and morphed into a sad frown.
Rainbow grit her teeth but then shook her head. “Says the window.”
“Well, at least you have something of a sharp tongue in you,” Discord mused before chuckling again. “I suppose it goes rather well with your loyalty, the element of harmony you represent, hmm?”
Rainbow said nothing, slowly letting herself drift back to Celestia’s side.
“I do believe Rainbow has the right of it. We’re wasting our time talking to this tacky window.” Rarity scoffed while dismissively waving a hoof.
Discord appeared in the window right behind Rarity, a large smirk on his face. “Ah, and you are Rarity, representing the element of generosity aren’t you? Certainly beautiful enough,” he remarked.
“So you know our names. Big woop.” Applejack snorted while trotting up next to Rarity, who looked a little unnerved from having the voice of Discord speaking directly behind her.
Discord laughed, his image in the window swiftly growing until he was filling the entire thing. “Oh, I know a great deal more than that, honest Applejack.”
Twilight made her own approach, giving Discord’s depiction a leveled and serious look. “You seem to know our strengths, too.”
Discord’s eyes locked onto Twilight’s. His smirk turned vile instead of playful. “Yes, Twilight Sparkle. And you represent the most powerful and elusive of all six elements. Magic,” his gaze then turned to Fluttershy. “Fluttershy’s is kindness, and Pinkie’s is a personal favorite of mine. Laughter.”
Pinkie couldn’t help the small chuckle that escaped her when Discord’s image suddenly got up and started walking goofily in place on top of the depiction of Twilight in the image.
“Pinkie!” Twilight barked out in dismay, shooting her friend a troubled look.
“Sorry, sorry!” Pinkie said between her laughs. “He’s just st- ha! Standing on your head. I’m sorry!” she finally managed.
“Stop stalling, Discord!” Celestia suddenly snapped, silencing Pinkie’s laughs. She came forward, her eyes burning with anger. “What have you done with the elements? Tell us now!”
Discord slumped and sighed. “Oh, for the love of… you’re no fun, Celestia, you know that?” he asked drearily before righting himself. “Fine, I’ll tell you. But I’ll only tell you my way.”
His eyes flicked briefly to Rainbow Dash before he vanished from the window in a flash of light.
“To retrieve your missing elements, Just make sense of this change of events…”
His voice echoed around them.
“Twists and turns on my master plan, Then find the elements back where you began.”
There was another flash before the entire hallway was restored to its former self, all of the alterations to the windows being undone. Everypony shared glances of unease and concern. From where she sat, Fluttershy shook and gave a fearful squeak.
“Twi, are ya sure about this?” Applejack asked, unsure as the group approached the tall, looming green walls of the Canterlot Castle garden maze.
Twilight nodded confidently. “I am. Discord said ‘twists and turns,’ and the only place close enough for that to make sense is the garden maze.” she explained simply before eyeing the entranceway to the maze itself with a degree of scrutiny and skepticism.
“Well, what are we waiting for?” Pinkie chirped excitedly before pronking toward the entrance.
“Woah, Pinks!” Rainbow interrupted her while sweeping forward to block her path. “Let’s not go in blind. I’ll do a quick fly over and bring the elements back if I find them.”
A chill breeze passed over the group, making the leaves rustle. “Oh, about that…” came the snide voice of Discord, carried by the winds.
“Wha-?!” Rainbow yelped out in alarm when there were two bright flashes of light at her sides. She grunted in discomfort when, without any input on her part, her wings stopped flapping and she fell to the ground. She shook her head to clear it of the surprise she was feeling before glancing to where the flashes of light had come from.
Her wings were gone.
“MY WINGS!” Rainbow shrieked, standing up and reaching a forehoof to each of her sides in a panic, trying to see if they had only turned invisible. No such luck. Her wings were well and truly gone. Fluttershy cried out in similar distress when her wings, too, vanished from her sides without a trace.
“Your horn! My horn! AAAH!” Rarity and Twilight spoke in unison when they discovered that their horns, much like Rainbow and Fluttershy’s wings, had vanished from their bodies.
“Much better...” Discord chortled in amusement. Some few yards away, the air rippled and shimmered. A ball of magical energy appeared at the center of the disturbance before erupting in a brilliant flash. For several seconds, this light persisted before gradually fading away. There, smiling down on the trembling group of friends with a sadistic and jovial grin, with Discord himself, in the flesh. He towered over the group, easily three times taller than any of them. “Oh, look at your faces!” he laughed hysterically, cupping his elongated chin with his hands to push up on his cheeks. “PRICELESS!”
“Give us our wings and horns back!” Twilight snapped, stomping on the ground seriously. Nopony missed the shaking in her voice, however. Discord smiled down at her, his laughter swiftly dying away to be replaced by a smug smile.
“In due time. I’ve simply taken them for a while to ensure that there is no cheating,” he said before his long body slithered past Twilight to tap Rarity on the nose.
“Cheating?” Rainbow demanded with a scowl. Had she still had wings, she would have been spreading them out aggressively.
“Well, yes. You see, this is the first rule of our game. No flying, and no magic..” as he spoke, Discord turned a playful and taunting eye on Twilight before running his eagle claw under her chin. “The second rule is that everypony plays or the game is over and I win.”
In a flash, he vanished, leaving nothing but a soft breeze and his laughter echoing in his wake. For several moments, nopony moved. Then, Twilight put on a small, reassuring smile. “Don’t worry, girls. We can do this as long as we stick together.”
“Roger that,” Rainbow nodded along, her cocky smirk returning in full force. “Let’s go!”
As one, the group approached the entrance of the maze. Nodding to each other to assure themselves that they were all ready, they stepped forward.
Immediately, the ground jolted beneath them. Alarmed shouts and cries escaped from each of them as tall walls made of branches and leaves rose from the ground, separating every member of the group from the rest. “Everypony stay calm!” Twilight cried out from her path. Gradually, everypony’s alarmed and panicked cries died down. “Stay focused and head for the center. We can regroup there!”
“On it! Good luck, you guys!” Rainbow called before turning to face her path. It went straight ahead before turning right. Taking a deep breath and focusing, Rainbow broke into a gallop down the path, eager to find her friends and her element of harmony.
She didn’t spot the draconequus floating above and behind her with a curious expression on his face. This expression soon morphed into a large smirk before he vanished in a burst of light.
‘I wish I had a way of checking my progress.’ Rainbow thought impatiently to herself perhaps ten minutes later. She had run through the garden many times before and knew it rather well. At least, she used to. None of it was as she remembered it being, which meant that Discord had messed with it. Every time she could have sworn she was supposed to make a left turn, it would be a dead end or a right turn. Every time she thought an intersection would be coming up, she was disappointed to find a straight path or a single corner. She had long since lost track of north or south, with the sky being shrouded in dark storm clouds, which had seemingly formed from nothing as soon as they had entered the maze. She couldn’t see the roofs of any of Canterlot’s towering structures, nor could she spot the colossal peak of the mountain the city rested on. It was like the whole world was only this maze.
That thought sent an unpleasant chill down her spine. She didn’t want to wander this labyrinth forever…
“Oh, forget it,” a voice spoke behind her. Rainbow spun around, her teeth showing in a furious snarl. Discord was leaning casually against the wall of the maze, looking at a white cloud that he held in his hand. “I had this whole idea of luring you to me with this thing, but honestly, I’m just too curious to bother with it.” his hand closed itself on the cloud, causing it to poof out of existence.
“Either go away or shut up so I can pummel your teeth out,” Rainbow growled, tensing up, ready to lunge.
“Relax, Rainbow, I’m not here for a fight. I’m just aching to ask you a question, is all.” Discord said defensively, raising his hands up in an effort to placate the offended pegasus.
“I have more than a few questions, but first and foremost is would you kindly BUZZ OFF?!” Rainbow yelled before turning around and resuming her trek through the maze, flicking her tail at Discord as she went.
“Rude,” Discord muttered under his breath before teleporting in front of Rainbow, forcing her to stop. “Listen closely, this is important.”
Rainbow growled in her throat but otherwise didn’t respond.
“...Why haven’t you gone after her?” Discord finally asked with a curious frown.
“Who?” Rainbow raised an eyebrow, about ready to dismiss this conversation and get back to work.
“Well, who else but Starlight Glimmer?”
Rainbow tensed, remembering the lilac unicorn from the day of her race, remembering her from the intense flash she had shared with Twilight in Cloudsdale when they were still only fillies.
Discord noticed Rainbow’s tensing muscles and smiled. “You haven’t forgotten her, I see.”
“How do you know about her?” Rainbow asked cautiously, narrowing her eyes up at him.
“I’m the spirit of chaos, Rainbow Dash. Such an enormous change to the timeline isn’t something I’m just going to miss detecting, you know. The imbalances it created would have put me into a seizure were I not stoned at the time,” Discord explained before lowering himself down to Rainbow’s eye level. “Now, I’m going to ask you again… why haven’t you gone after her, yet?”
“Why would I?” Rainbow asked sharply before shoving past Discord.
Discord looked over his shoulder at Rainbow before once more teleporting to bar her path. “Because of what she did, perhaps?” Discord pressed. “She completely rewrote time from your sonic rainboom and on.”
Rainbow scoffed. “The version of Starlight that did that is gone, Discord. She disappeared alongside the rest of her timeline.”
“Well yes, but…” Discord slithered closer to Rainbow, causing her to reflexively take a step back. She jumped in surprise when her rear collided with a wall that hadn’t been there before. She was trapped. “Starlight still exists here. In this timeline. Aren’t you afraid she’ll make another attempt?”
Rainbow blinked, her ears twitching down slightly. She then shook her head and grit her teeth. “Why would you even care about that? Why are you telling me this?”
Discord leaned back in mock offense. “Why, Rainbow Dash! Are you implying that I don’t want to exist?” he then chuckled and shook his head. “It’s because I rather enjoy having you ponies around for me to play with. If Starlight rewrites history again, it may do so in a way that prevents me from having any fun.”
“Uh huh,” Rainbow snorted before trying to shove by Discord again. He moved to block her, so she held firm. “Look, this conversation has been really nice and all, but I really need to get back to finding my element. Shoo.”
Discord rolled his eyes. “Are you saying you’re not the slightest bit worried about what she’s going to do? You aren’t scared about another rewrite making your life worse?”
“I like to think my life is pretty good, all things considered!” Rainbow growled, a vein bulging in her throat.
“Is that right?” Discord smirked before rising up again. “When you were a filly, both of your parents were lost in an accident that, had time never been rewritten, you could have prevented.”
Rainbow froze, her ears going flat against her head.
“You may ignore my warnings if you want, dear Rainbow, but just know this.” his eyes glowed before he flickered out of existence.
“A weighty choice is yours to make, The right decision, or a big mistake. If the wrong path you choose to pursue, Everything you love will crumble around you.”
Rainbow’s eyes were flooded with white light, and a shocked gasp tore itself from her throat.
She could see the sky shattering bit by bit like glass, it’s pieces being sucked away into a white void beyond. She saw a prismatic ribbon of light be severed at one point, dissolving into nothingness past the divide. She saw Ponyville swirling and fading into dust and multi-colored mist, the ponies within crying out and screaming as they, too, were consumed. Several tried to fly away but were unable to escape the spread of the void. They could not escape the changes.
Rainbow looked to her left and saw Twilight looking up at Canterlot with wide-eyed fear. Following her gaze, Rainbow felt her heart freeze in terror and sorrow at what she saw. Canterlot was already gone, the mountain it resided on, too, being swallowed by the white void, dissolving and disintegrating into nothing.
“No.. NO!”
“NOO!” Rainbow screamed out in desperation, reaching out with her forelegs. They can’t be gone, it can’t end like this!
The vision shattered, leaving her gasping for breath and trembling. A fresh wave of tears began to leak out of her eyes as she desperately tried to contain a heavy sob. She wiped a foreleg across her eyes and looked up to see a box floating in front of her. “This box contains your wings. You can take them, leave the game and make her pay, or you can carry on wandering this maze for the rest of time; however little it may be. Your choice…”
Rainbow eyed the box, her mouth hanging open and her heart pounding hard in her chest. In her mind, she saw Starlight Glimmer, her face twisted into a wicked sneer. She saw her parents, laying on the ground the day she lost them. She remembered the feeling of being pulled away from them in somepony’s magic, kicking, screaming and crying. She felt a spark in the back of her head. It built into an inferno of hatred, anger, and rage, all of it focused on the lilac unicorn whose actions had taken her parents away.
For just a moment, Rainbow’s mind recalled her friends, lost in this maze. She couldn’t leave them… could she?
...Forget ‘em. She thought bitterly before reaching for the box.
The last ten minutes had been horrible for Twilight, and things only got worse with every minute that ticked by. Every one of her friends that she had managed to reunite with was acting terribly towards each other and her. Their colors were dulled, their appearances frazzled and their actions were all the exact and complete opposite of what Twilight would normally expect.
First, she had found Applejack, who she knew had been talking to somepony before she caught sight of her around the corner. When she asked about it, Applejack had said she wasn’t talking to anypony. Twilight had, at the time, surmised that she could have been nervously talking to herself, but the shifty eyes, the antsy jerk in her trotting. It was clear the earth pony farmer wasn’t being wholly honest. And that was before the uncontrollable lies began as soon as they found Pinkie.
Pinkie herself had gone from a lovable, laugh and smile-inducing party mare to, for lack of a better combination of appropriate words, a vile, rude and condescending grump. Every time somepony laughed at anything, whether it was her or not, Pinkie would take immediate, personal and very deep offense, usually going on the offensive to make the offending pony take back what they had done.
Soon after narrowly defusing a potentially violent exchange between those two, Twilight had, for a moment, been relieved when they found Rarity. Then Rarity began to display signs of overwhelming greed and, possibly, dementia or schizophrenia. She continuously proclaimed that a gargantuan boulder she had been lugging along was, in fact, an enormous and bedazzling diamond. Anytime somepony laid hooves on it, even by mistake, Rarity would more or less bit said hooves off with her angered yelling alone.
Then they found Fluttershy, who, shockingly, was even worse than Pinkie Pie was. Gone was the shy and timid pegasus who loved animals and expressed kindness and understanding towards everything around her. In her place was a ruthless, sadistic and condescending piece of work that seemed to delight in throwing insults and obliterating the morale of the whole group, all with a snide and revolting smirk gradually growing on her face.
Twilight’s already exhausted and disoriented thoughts were broken down even further by the fact that Rarity, after asking for Twilight’s help in carrying her diamond had, in a shocking display of laziness, slipped away from Twilight, leaving the bookish mare as the only one lugging along a giant and worthless chunk of stone on her already sore back.
“Rainbow… Dash… where are you…?” Twilight asked herself under her breath, her eyes losing focus, her legs burning and her back aching. “Please… be safe…” she kept on mumbling to herself, trying to drown out the non-stop bickering and fighting among the mares that had gained a significant lead on her.
Suddenly, Twilight noticed the desaturated-orange hooves of Applejack in her line of sight. She raised her weary eyes and saw Applejack, brow furrowed and eyes narrowed with scrutiny directed towards the cloud-covered sky. Her teeth then showed in an accusatory grimace. “Well, would ya lookit that? Rainbow’s flyin’ away. She’s abandonin’ us.” she spat the words as if they were bile.
Twilight scowled at the farmer, feeling the back of her head heat up with anger. She withheld any remarks that would defend Rainbow for the moment, knowing full well she would lose her temper if she did. She ground her teeth, then followed Applejack’s gaze to the clouds. Her jaw dropped… “Wha… what?!” the words were barely a whisper, her voice hitching.
For once since they entered this darned maze, Applejack had spoken the truth. Rainbow Dash, her coat just as dull as the rest, was flying away at near sonic speeds, leaving a trail of prismatic light in the air behind her.
“Rainbow…” Twilight whispered, unable to believe what she was seeing. “No…”
A predatory look entered Fluttershy’s eyes before she looked back at Twilight with a taunting grin. “Well, good riddance. She wasn’t being helpful anyway.”
There was a moment of silence before Twilight turned a cold look on Fluttershy. “Fluttershy… you know you’re my friend, but I am going to have to ask you to SHUT. THE HECK. UP!!” she practically screamed at Fluttershy, her ears going flat against her head while her coat bristled.
“Ooh, a fight!” Pinkie chirped with her own grin growing in anticipation.
“THAT GOES DOUBLE FOR YOU!” Twilight turned her ire on Pinkie, her pupils dilating with fury. “AND ALL OF YOU!”
Rarity huffed before trotting up to Twilight. There was a pause before, with a grimace of effort, Rarity placed her hoof on Twilight’s face and shoved her. Hard. The boulder came tumbling off of her back to slam into the soil, creating a sizable crater, while Twilight herself stumbled back and sprawled to the ground beneath her. Rarity shot Twilight a dirty look before once more lifting the boulder onto her back. “I don’t want that kind of attitude being used around my Tom, Twilight.”
“Tom?” Twilight asked flatly while picking herself back up. She stopped to take a deep breath, trying to calm her frayed nerves and restore some of her near depleted patience.
“Oh, boo. I thought there would be a fight, too! Princess Rainbow’s short temper and recklessness really must not have rubbed off on you as much as I thought, Twilight.” Discord’s voice echoed around them before the ground jolted. A series of flashes of light signaled the return of missing wings and horns, prompting some surprised exclamations from the assortment of ponies. The ground trembled and shook while the walls of the maze wobbled and rumbled before they collapsed, vanishing into the soil below and kicking up an enormous cloud of dust.
Twilight coughed horribly while waving a hoof in front of her to try and clear away some of the dust before her so she could breathe. Daring to crack open one of her eyes, which had screwed shut on reflex when the dust began to rise, she spotted the silhouette of Discord himself coming forward out of the haze.
He had a stern frown on his face. “But, alas, it looks like somepony broke the no wings, no magic rule!” he lifted his claws and snapped a finger. In only a matter of seconds, the sky was filled with hundreds of the cotton candy clouds from before, each one unleashing a torrential downpour of chocolate milk. A few seemed to be raining cola, but that was an irrelevant detail, Twilight decided. The master of chaos chuckled deeply in amusement before an umbrella flashed into existence in his hands. “It looks like we’re in for a big ol’ storm of chaos, girls.” he opened the umbrella.
The canopy was shaped like a cup, catching rain instead of redirecting it.
Twilight grit her teeth and stomped forward towards the now hysterically laughing draconequus. “Stop it, Discord! You’re not playing fair!”
Discord raised an eyebrow at Twilight. “Wha, I’m not playing fair- oh, ho ho, perhaps we haven’t met.” he dispelled his umbrella and stepped forward, outstretching his paw as if to shake. “I’m Discord. Spirit of chaos and disharmony. Were you even paying attention to Celestia?”
Twilight growled under her breath. “How are we supposed to find the Elements when you get rid of the labyrinth before we can reach the end?!” she demanded, stepping up to him.
Discord paused, his eyes widening a bit. “Hold on, you…” his look of surprise devolved into a series of hysterical laughs before his body slithered unnaturally to loop over Twilight’s back. He grinned at her over her shoulder, causing Twilight to look away in disgust. His breath was horrid. “You thought the Elements were inside the labyrinth?” His claws appeared before Twilight’s face before snapping.
Twilight’s vision was flooded with white.
She saw the room in which they had first heard Discord’s voice. She saw all of them looking at the stained glass windows while Discord made his speeches and taunting remarks. Finally, he grew and recited his poem, though only one part of it was audible to Twilight’s ears.
“Twists and turns on my master plan, then find the Elements, back where you began.”
The vision shattered, leaving Twilight standing in the chocolate rain with a hanging jaw and miserable eyes. Discord appeared before her, a more subtle grin on his face. “I never said they were in the labyrinth.”
“But… but…” Twilight stuttered out, trying to piece everything together and coming up with nothing. Discord merely chuckled and began to walk away.
“Keep trying, Twilight Sparkle,” Discord said in mock consolation while strutting away. He then turned back to her. “Perhaps the magic of friendship will help you. But while you’re figuring that out, I have some chaos to wreak.” his claws snapped and he disappeared.
For a second, the only sounds were of the rain pelting the ground and the wind howling through their surroundings. Then Pinkie decided to open her big mouth. “Chocolate milk? I HATE CHOCOLATE MILK!”
Twilight looked back at her group of soon to be ex-friends with exasperation and impatience. “Hush!” she snapped before closing her eyes and trying to ignore there renewed squabbling. “Back where you began… back where you began…” she repeated, trying to find the hidden meaning of Discord’s lame riddle.
“Don’t touch my gem!” Rarity’s voice snapped angrily.
“I’m touching your rock, Rarity. Ha. ha.” Fluttershy shot back tauntingly.
“What are you laughing at?!” Pinkie seethed, approaching the two bitterly.
“You.”
Twilight sighed, unable to think straight. “I just want to go home…” she whispered, thinking back to the golden oaks. She recalled her mornings with Rainbow Dash, their banter, their occasional roughhousing. She missed it all already. Home… wait…
“That’s it! Back where you began!” Twilight perked up instantly, feeling a new spark of hope and determination igniting in her chest. “The elements must be in Ponyville!”
Ponyville looked horrible.
Twilight felt her heart sink as she beheld the town she had called home for the last nine months. Buildings had been uprooted and floated upside down. The grass and flowers had all been wiped clean, replaced with some kind of very bright checkerboard patterns of blues and pinks. Gravity had stopped working on several public benches and anything else not rooted to the soil. Many homes had become little more than tall cardboard cutouts. What few ponies there were outside were looking around in confusion and fear, unable to process what was happening around them.
The group stood outside of Ponyville on the dirt path that led into and through the town, running north and south. Twilight wasn’t sure how they had ended up south of Ponyville when Canterlot was to the north, but she chalked it up to more of Discord’s… whatever it was. Magic? No, magic made sense. This was just nonsense.
Shaking herself, Twilight began to canter towards Ponyville, eager to just get this over with. “Come on, girls. I know I have a book in the library that can help.”
Then the bunnies came.
Twilight let out a startled and pained shout when, seemingly out of nowhere, an entire herd of rabbits, all of them still on elongated legs, trampled over her, pinning her into the dirt while their feet pummeled her. Once they had passed, Twilight heard Fluttershy offer some words of approval to the lead rabbit, but she ignored her. “Right… okay…” she mumbled out while standing back up.
Then the sun went down. Instantly. It went from noon to midnight in about a second. To make matters worse, the moon was barely a crescent, granting almost no light to the now very dim world. “Wow, ah can see so much better now.” Applejack said sarcastically.
Now the ground had become slippery. Twilight cried out yet again as she lost what little balance she had, practically belly-flopping onto the now sudsy dirt road. What is even happening?! Twilight shouted in thought, struggling to keep up with the changes her world was experiencing in such rapid succession.
The sun shot back up, briefly blinding her. Once her eyes adjusted to a high light environment again, Twilight could see why the roads had become so slippery. Her frown grew and exasperated groan slipped out of her throat. “Discord’s turned our dirt roads into soap.” She bluntly stated.
The Draconequus in question went sliding by on ice skates, gracefully moving down the road in an almost dance-like fashion. “Beautiful, isn’t it?” he asked simply as he went by. He then lifted into the air and gestured to Ponyville. “This is the new and improved Ponyville, and these are only my first changes.”
Twilight opted to ignore his commentary and pushed on, focusing on keeping her balance on the stupidly slippery road. That was, of course, until Discord picked her up from behind and faced her eyes to Ponyville. “Picture it! The chaos capital of the world!”
The sun went down.
Twilight’s lips pressed into a thin line. “I can’t picture anything. It’s too dark,” she said dryly. Discord promptly dropped her.
“Well, give it a few minutes and you’ll be able to see it in the beautiful light of day,” Discord said before shrugging. “Or not.” he then jumped over Twilight and once again vanished in a flash of light.
Twilight sighed before trudging on, any and all enthusiasm she had been desperately clinging to back in the maze now thoroughly evaporated.
She took them away from me.
Rainbow’s eyes narrowed as she scanned the environment before her, dismissing any and all distractions. I’ll make her pay. She thought bitterly, the anger burning in her veins flaring up again when she recalled the face of the one she was hunting. The lilac unicorn held a twisted and evil smile, her eyes wide open and unfocused with madness.
From the cloud on which she sat, Rainbow could see the whole world.
It was just such a shame that, to her subdued and manipulated mind, the whole world was the front yard in front of Twilight’s library.
“Okay, we’re almost there…” Twilight said, her words strained from exhaustion and frustration. She turned her weary, drained eyes back on her friends. They were still squabbling, arguing and even fighting each other. Twilight felt her heart sink with misery at the sight. Shaking her head, she returned her attention to the Library, as it was finally in sight. “I hope Spike is okay…” she thought.
She looked the library up and down, finding that it was surprisingly untouched compared to the rest of Ponyville. Its wooden walls were still wooden, still had the shape of wood and still had the consistency of wood. The leaves were all as they were supposed to be, too. It was like the whole world had turned into a candy box of insanity while the Golden Oaks remained exactly the same.
Then her eyes trailed up.
“Rainbow Dash?!” She blurted, stopping in her tracks with wide eyes. Sure enough, the pegasus sat atop a cloud just above the library, eyeing the surrounding environment like a bird of prey. In fact, the resemblance she held to one as she surveyed the area was… unsettling. She ignored Twilight’s call, opting to turn slightly to gaze in another direction. Twilight’s ears fell flat. “Rainbow… Rainbow, it’s me! Twilight!”
“Go away.” Rainbow shouted back harshly, not even bothering to look at Twilight.
Twilight wilted and took a step back. “R-Rainbow…?” she muttered, fresh tears in her eyes.
“I’m busy,” the pegasus snapped, glancing over her shoulder at Twilight. The fire and venom in her eyes was enough to make Twilight’s veins run cold. “And I’m not going to be distracted by you.”
“What if I distract you, then?” Fluttershy asked tauntingly, drifting up to Rainbow Dash with that wicked smirk.
“Go. Away!” Rainbow growled before reaching out and shoving Fluttershy, hard. She yelped in alarm while tumbling out of the air, her wings having gone out of sync from the unexpectedly hard push.
Twilight stood upright, a spark of anger lighting in the back of her head. “Rainbow! What was that for?!”
The cyan mare ignored her, continuing to stare out over the landscape, looking for something.
“Oh, well forget her then!” Rarity scowled, putting her nose in the air. “I, for one, see no reason to associate with somepony so foul. And besides, she’ll try to take Tom!”
Twilight felt her body temperature rising with barely controlled anger before a defeated sigh slipped out of her. Her shoulders slumped and she opened the door of the Golden Oaks with her magic. “Everypony just… go inside. Please.”
“I don’t wanna.” Applejack said bluntly while cantering right in.
Fluttershy said nothing while entering, though she did take a moment to crush a decorative bush that was to one side with her hooves before heading in.
“I hate libraries!” Pinkie scowled while walking in.
Rarity was struggling with ‘Tom,’ trying to lift the boulder onto her back again. It seemed, however, that she had lost most of her strength in lugging that enormous hunk of stone all this way.
Twilight shot Rarity a hard look. “Rarity. Inside.”
“Not without Tom!” Rarity seethed before clinging to her rock and hissing like an angry cat.
That was it.
“Rarity…” Twilight began, her voice uneven and shaking. Her horn lit up and grabbed Rarity by the tail, lifting her with a harsh yank. “I have had just about enough of your attitude. Now, you are going to go inside my library, you are going to help me find the elements, we are going to blast Discord to kingdom come, and then I am never going to talk to any of you again...” by now, Rarity was dangling upside down and face-to-face with a Twilight Sparkle who looked about ready to get mercilessly violent. “Got it?”
Rarity gulped. “Uh, yes…”
Twilight nodded, then turned and hurled Rarity into the library hard enough to send her sliding across the wooden floor and into the far wall, sending all of the books on the shelves falling onto her head. “Good.”
Twilight then paused and took a moment to catch her breath before turning her eyes up to Rainbow Dash, who was still ignoring them completely. Her ears fell and her anger was washed away, replaced by sorrow. She sighed and made her own way inside the library. As soon as she was inside her ears were met with the sound of a splash of water and Spike gasping heavily from the sudden rush of cold that had been dumped on him.
Fluttershy’s evil smirk never left her face as she watched the poor little guy try to figure out what just happened. Finally, Spike looked up at Fluttershy with confused eyes. “What did you do that for, Fluttershy?”
Fluttershy snickered. “You looked so peaceful.”
Spike hesitated. “I, uh… huh?”
Twilight decided to intervene at that point, scooping Spike up onto her back as she trotted by. “Ignore her. Ignore all of them.”
“What? What’s happened to them?” Spike asked uneasily, looking to the other mares. “Why are they so… gray?”
“Don’t ask.” Twilight said flatly before coming to a stop in front of a specific bookshelf. “Help me find the reference guide to the Elements of Harmony, would you?”
“Oh, aye-aye!” Spike saluted before hopping off of Twilight’s back and beginning his search.
“Hey, Twilight? What’s soaking wet and clueless?” Fluttershy asked from the air.
Instead of responding with words, Twilight simply decided to light up her horn and yank Fluttershy back down to the ground by her tail. “Don’t know, don’t care. Sit down and be quiet,” she said bluntly while her eyes scanned the shelves.
“Oh, here it is!” Spike announced before withdrawing the book in question from a few shelves up.
“Good, bring it here-” Twilight went to say before Fluttershy swooped by, dunking another bucket-load of cold water over Spike- and the book in his claws. Twilight’s eyes widened as Spike toppled from his place on the latter, the book, now soaked and sopping, falling with him. In the back of her head, Twilight could feel a certain tension building. She took a deep breath, trying to calm herself.
Then Fluttershy laughed mockingly.
“GET! OUT!” Twilight suddenly shrieked at the top of her lungs. Her horn lit up with several layers of magic before a shockwave tore its way out of the tip. Every single living thing that wasn’t her or Spike was unceremoniously hurled against the farthest wall. Twilight turned to all of them pinned against the walls. “JUST GET OUT! GO WAIT OUTSIDE!” her horn sparked dangerously before each of the other mares was enveloped in a lavender glow.
“Let me go, you-” Rarity tried, but didn’t get to finish. She, along with all the others, was shoved forcefully out of the library’s main entrance, which promptly slammed shut behind them.
Nothing moved.
Silence.
Twilight blinked, the light around her horn fizzling out. She then fell to her haunches, her ears falling flat against her head. “...Spike?”
The baby dragon offered only a small, gentle hum as his response, slowly approaching Twilight with the tips of his index claws meeting over his chest. “Twilight…?”
The silence resumed, Twilight unable to muster the words to express how she felt. A small sob tore its way out of her. “...I can’t do this…” she finally managed in a pitiful whimper.
“Sure you can,” Spike reassured her gently, resting a claw on her shoulder. “I mean, you stood up to Nightmare Moon, right?”
“Yes, but-” Twilight had to stop as another sob tore it’s way through her. She was shaking horribly now. “B-but I had friends, then… now…”
“You still have friends, Twilight,” Spike said softly, squeezing her shoulder. He then reached out with another claw to lift her chin so they could look each other in the eye. “And you’ve still got your number one assistant right here.”
Twilight’s eyes closed, her lip trembled and her body shuddered. Weakly, she reached out and pulled Spike into an embrace. For a long minute, the two just sat there, with Twilight crying into Spike’s shoulder. Slowly, her eyes managed to open themselves again. Through the tears blurring her vision, something seemed… off. She blinked a few times to clear her eyes of tears before they widened in realization.
The reference guide to the elements was sagging and, oddly, the cover was molding around something contained inside. Something shaped like a starburst atop a tiara. Something shaped like her element of harmony.
Still shaking, Twilight gently dislodged herself from Spike and made her way towards the ruined book. Spike took notice of where she was looking and joined her in approaching. For a moment, neither of them did anything except idly examine the oddly shaped lump. Then Spike reached out and pulled the soggy remains of the book off of whatever was under it. Both of them gasped.
For hidden beneath the reference guide, no, hidden within the reference guide were the elements of harmony. The five necklaces and one tiara were haphazardly piled on the floor where the book had landed, indicating that they had been jostled by the fall. For a moment, Twilight felt her heart flicker with hope. She retrieved each of the elements in her magic, a hopeful smile appearing on her face. “Right… okay. We can still do this.” she weakly managed.
“That doesn’t sound like the Twilight I know,” Spike scolded gently. “Go on, say it like you mean it. Say it with the enthusiasm Rainbow Dash kept drilling into us since we moved here.”
Twilight nodded sharply, her face taking on a more resolute expression. “We can do this. We will do this. We’re going to stop Discord and put things right. Nothing is going to stop us!” She said. Her words started off uneasy but soon swelled with determination and passion.
Spike grinned. “That’s the spirit! You go get ‘em!” he gave her an encouraging pat on the shoulder and a nod. With the fire in her chest relit, roaring strong and bright, Twilight opened the door in her magic and galloped back out into Discord’s madness.
She then skidded to a halt, her eyes opening wide and her jaw dropping.
They were gone.
Nopony was there. There was a notable stretch where the checker-patterned ground had been parted by something large and heavy, creating a deep dirty trail leading off into a corner of the town obscured by buildings, but aside from that, there was no evidence of any of her friends outside the library. Turning her eyes up, Twilight was horrified to find that even Rainbow Dash and her cloud were gone.
“Wha… where…?” she choked out, the hope she had felt just a moment ago being snuffed out in an instant.
“Ponies don’t like being thrown around with magic, you know,” Discord commented, appearing by a tree that he then proceeded to casually lean against. “I figured you would have figured that one out from your time with Rainbow Dash.”
“What did you do to them!?” Twilight demanded, stomping forward.
Discord shrugged innocently. “Me? Oh, whatever makes you think I did anything to them? You’re the one who kicked them out of your house.”
“Discord…” Twilight growled out, taking another step forward.
“Well, they’ve all gone home. You offended them Well, except for Rainbow Dash. I don’t really know where she went, but I think she wanted to get away from all the noise,” Discord said noncommittally before plucking a giant pretzel out of thin air. “Oh well.”
Twilight’s anger began to melt away. In its place she felt guilt, inadequacy and… loneliness.
“Right when you needed them most, too… how tragic.” Discord commented before disappearing in a flash of light.
“Twilight?” Spike asked from the doorway, having been watching the whole exchange. Twilight didn’t answer his call. Instead, she lowered her head and fell to her haunches. Then the color began to bleed out of her, leaving her coat just as dull and gray as those of the ones who left her.
“...Just… just leave me alone, Spike… I need to think…” Twilight said quietly, though her words echoed horribly in Spike’s ears, each one feeling like a punch to his gut.
Without another word, Twilight stood on shaky legs and walked away, leaving Spike alone on the doorstep of the Golden Oaks Library.
My fault, my fault, my fault, my fault… Twilight heard those words ringing in her mind over and over and over again. Every step she took felt like it took an eternity to complete, each one felt like an earthquake inside of her skull when her hoof came down upon the tainted soil. Her eyes were closed and she refused to open them. Her ears were folded down and she refused to listen to anything. Water, cola, chocolate milk and other such downpours would occasionally assault her from above and she refused to shake herself.
I pushed them away. I failed. It’s my fault.
For a moment, she stopped and dared to open her eyes. Everything around her was… completely and utterly unrecognizable. Twisted, malformed and shaped specifically to fit Discord’s wild sense of humor. All of this is my fault. We could have taken Discord down if I had just had more patience…
In the back of her mind, she screamed and struggled against that thought, knowing that it was wrong. Sadly, the uproar in her head was shoved back down almost as soon as it roared up. ...My friends are gone… I drove them away. They deserve better than me.
Her eyes turned away from the center of town and towards the edge. ...So I’ll go. She began walking for the edge of town, fully intent on trotting away and leaving all of this behind. They’ll be better off. Rarity… Twilight thought back to the fashionista, the laughs they had shared, the time Rarity had made their dresses for the Grand Galloping Gala, how Rainbow Dash had hounded her over the ‘limitations on her flight.’ ...She’s crafty and independant. She runs an entire business and is creative. She doesn’t need me or my numbers.
Applejack… Twilight remembered the first winter wrap up in Ponyville she had been a part of, she had remembered how Applejack’s physical strength and agility had saved the whole town on a few occasions by now. She recalled how competitive the farmer was, especially with Rainbow Dash. She remembered watching their contests and, on rare occasion, teaming up with Rainbow Dash (much to the apple farmer’s dismay.) ...She’s strong. She’s practical. She doesn’t need a worry wart like me…
Pinkie Pie… Twilight remembered all of the party’s the pink pony had thrown over these last nine months. Once Twilight had gotten a bit more into the swing of things, she remembered the blasts she had had at those get-togethers. She recalled games of pin-the-tail-on-the-pony, she remembered bottle spin games of truth or dare. She remembered more than one occasion where Rainbow Dash has gone a little overkill with the cider at the more energetic parties, and the subsequent hangovers that left the pegasus out of commission. She’s friends with everypony in town. She doesn’t need a mare like me to be one of them…
Fluttershy… Twilight remembered how it was the butter colored pegasus that had saved her life from an eternity of silence, darkness, and stillness by freeing her from the effects of a cockatrice. She remembered how Fluttershy had been there to help her take care of Rainbow Dash when she broke her wing that day when they were still fillies, all the way in Cloudsdale. She remembered how it had been Fluttershy to make it across the bridge of Nightmare Moon’s castle with her while everypony else fell into the chasm. ...She has her animals, she has the others… she doesn’t need me or my lack of consideration or empathy…
Rainbow Dash… Twilight stopped. She remembered her oldest friend, a filly who had been with her since almost the beginning. She remembered their games, how they could talk about Daring Do for hours and hours, she remembered how Rainbow had stood up for Spike one day when Twilight had succumbed to anger and cruelly lashed out at her number one assistant. She remembered how Rainbow Dash had saved her life against Nightmare Moon… ...Rainbow Dash is grown up now… I don’t have to help her anymore.
Not all friendships last forever.
She kept moving, closing her eyes and letting her head hang down again. She glanced over her shoulder at Ponyville once she reached the edge, looking into it with guilt and grief on her face. “Goodbye, everypony… Rarity, Applejack, Pinkie, Fluttershy, Rainbow… Spike…” Twilight turned, then stopped. Her eyes widened and a sharp throb went through her skull. Her eyes lost focus and all other sounds became muted in the face of the loud ringing filling Twilight’s mind. She lost her footing and fell to her haunches, gasping for breath before reaching her hooves up to cover her eyes.
Her vision was flooded with white.
“Pack your things, Spike. We’re leaving,” Twilight said harshly as she walked into the loft of the library. The baby dragon in question was on the floor, curled into a ball and clutching at his belly. Twilight didn’t pay him any mind as she brought over a suitcase with her magic. “Don’t ask me where we’re going because… I don’t know yet. Just not here.” from atop her head, the tiara that was the element of magic drifted over and past the suitcase before Twilight let it fall uselessly into a trash bin.
“How could I leave Spike behind…?” Twilight thought as the flash unfolded before her. “He’s still so young…”
“Can’t… move…!” Spike groaned out in extreme discomfort before rolling over. It was only then that Twilight saw the enormous pile of sealed scrolls sitting next to Spike on the floor, taller even than Twilight was. “The Princess… has been sending these since I came back upstairs- HRRK!” His cheeks puffed up before a jet of green dragonfire burst out, a scroll appearing in its wake. “Make it stooop,” Spike begged pitifully.
Curious, Twilight lifted one of the scrolls in her magic. Instantly, she realized what she was looking at. “These are all the letters I’ve sent to the princess since I moved to Ponyville… but why would she send them back?” she whispered to herself, lifting up the first one she saw and reading it off.
“Real friends don’t care what your cover is. Friendship is a wondrous and powerful thing, and just like the path through the orchard, there will always be a way through. The best thing to do is to stay true to yourself…”
Twilight read the letters alongside her previous self, feeling a fog gradually lift from her mind. Even though she knew full well that her other self couldn’t hear her and would never know, Twilight Sparkle felt her mind brighten with her next thought. “Thank you… thank you so much.”
The vision shattered.
Twilight’s eyes snapped open as a sharp gasp rattled her shaking body. She reached out her hooves to catch herself from falling face first into the soil, sweat trickling down the side of her neck and down her back. “Woah… that one was intense…” she mumbled before slowly, carefully rising to her hooves. She dusted herself off and noticed that color had returned to her body. Slowly, she smiled. “...On the off chance you ever see this…” she closed her eyes and focused on the memory of her alicorn self, the one whose own time was still fading away. “...thank you for what you learned. I think that if I hadn’t seen that… I’d be too far gone…” she opened her eyes and nodded in determination. “I won’t waste this second chance… I promise.” with that, she turned and galloped away back into Ponyville.
She knew what Discord was doing. He was trying to pull her and her friends apart. He was trying to destroy their friendship, to sow seeds of disharmony and hatred between them. The elements would never work if their bearers weren’t themselves in harmony with each other. I know where they all live… the only one that’s going to be hard to find is Rainbow Dash. with her eyes narrowing and her heart alive with determination and newly rekindled hope and enthusiasm, she began her search for her fillyhood friend.
“Grrr… Where is she?!” Rainbow growled under her breath from her cloud, squinting into the horizon. She hadn’t caught any sign or trace of her target this entire time, and it had felt like weeks to her. Yet even with no results and no progress whatsoever, the fiery anger burning in the back of her head had not once died down at all. She grit her teeth and moved along, taking her cloud with her. “She’s lilac colored. She shouldn’t be this hard to spot…”
Rainbow then brought her cloud to another stop and examined her surroundings again. No matter how hard her trained eye looked, nothing of note was visible that could lead her to Starlight Glimmer. She let out a frustrated yell and opted to vent her excess anger into the cloud by violently pummeling it with her hooves. For a good minute, she was at this, striking over and over again. She was so focused on this one task that she didn’t even notice the slight lavender glow that surrounded the cloud.
At last, she took a deep breath and looked up, her anger sated for now. As her eyes returned to examine her environment, she was met with the worried face of Twilight Sparkle, the gazes of the two friends immediately meeting. Rainbow grimaced. “Go away, Twilight.”
“Rainbow, wait,” Twilight said sharply, stepping up onto the cloud. Rainbow shifted back, remembering that Twilight did indeed have a cloud walking spell she could make use of. Once Twilight stood on Rainbow’s cloud with her, she hesitantly reached out. “Please, just hear me out.”
“No. Get off my cloud.” Rainbow growled angrily, her wings flaring out.
Twilight’s uneasy face turned into a mildly annoyed frown. “This isn’t you, Rainbow Dash. You’re brash, arrogant and reckless, but you aren’t selfish or cruel.”
Rainbow leaned forward until her forehead was pressing harshly into Twilight’s, just under her horn. Her eyes narrowed even further as she grit her teeth. “Maybe you just don’t remember me very well.”
“It’s you who’s forgotten, Rainbow.” Twilight said simply before lighting up her horn.
Rainbow shoved her and launched into the air. Twilight cried in surprise, her spell fizzling out. She grunted in pain as her back collided with the ground before she shot Rainbow a dirty look. Rainbow stuck her tongue out at Twilight tauntingly. “Try and catch me when I’m up here!” she called.
Twilight sighed heavily, not at all liking what she now had to do. “Rainbow, I am really, truly sorry. You made me do this,” she said softly before her horn lit up. Rainbow raised an eyebrow in mild confusion. Then her eyes widened and her pupils dilated when she was enveloped in the magical glow of a telekinesis spell.
“LET ME GO!” She screamed almost immediately, thrashing and jerking, trying to get out of the spell. Already all of the anger was gone from her voice, replaced with desperation and even fear. Her breaths were coming in panicking gasps and her wings completely went out of sync.
“I’m so sorry, I’m so sorry, I’m so sorry…” Twilight repeated over and over while quickly bringing the struggling and flailing pegasus down to her. “Please hold still!” she said as comfortingly as she could, trying to restrict Rainbow’s movement with her magic.
Twilight felt a rapidly growing hole of guilt in her chest. “Please forgive me…” she whispered before touching her horn to Rainbow’s forehead, enacting the memory spell that she hoped would undo Discord’s manipulations. For several seconds the area was illuminated by bright light. Finally, Twilight took her horn away from Rainbow’s head, watching as the color slowly returned to her fillyhood friend.
Immediately, she set Rainbow gently down on the ground and let go of her, dispelling the telekinesis spell. For several seconds, Rainbow Dash merely lay there on the ground, breathing in shaky, ragged gasps. When at last the pegasus turned to look at Twilight, rolling over so she could, her eyelids were swelling and her cheeks were smeared by fresh tear stains. “T-t-twilight…” she whispered out, no small amount of guilt in her voice. “I am s-so s-sorry-”
Twilight silenced Rainbow by kneeling down and gently pulling Rainbow into an embrace. “I forgive you, Rainbow… it’s okay. It’s okay. Let it out. I know you have to.” she said softly, patting the other mare on the back and holding her tight.
Rainbow didn’t say a word. She just buried her face in Twilight’s shoulder and began to cry as loud and hard as possible.
Even with all of the chaos surrounding them, even with Rainbow Dash sobbing her eyes out into Twilight’s shoulder from the flashbacks brought on by being handled by magic like that, even though they were alone right now with nopony else to offer comfort or support, Twilight managed to feel happy and proud. She may have been crying and in distress, but the fact remained that Twilight’s Rainbow Dash was back. She was here and she was herself.
And that meant that Twilight could still get the rest of her friends back, too.
After what felt like ages, Rainbow finally managed to calm down her cries. Soon, her wails had died down to little more than shaky breaths and the occasional whimper. All the while, Twilight held her and said nothing, just letting her let it all out. Finally, Rainbow slowly pulled out of the hug, sniffling slightly. She couldn’t quite bring herself to meet Twilight’s gaze, her ears still flat against her head.
“You okay, now?” Twilight asked softly, patting Rainbow on the shoulder reassuringly.
Rainbow sniffled again. “I… I’m not okay… b-but I will be. I’m good enough to help stop Discord, though.” she managed, her voice weak and rough.
Twilight’s lips pressed together into a thin line and her brow furrowed, unconvinced. “Are you sure, Rainbow? If you need some more time you can wait at the library while I get the others-”
Rainbow cut Twilight off with a shake of her head. “No, Twilight. I’ve been sitting around doing nothing for t-too long already,” she slowly got back to her hooves, Twilight coming with to make sure she was stable on her hooves. She took a long, deep breath and wiped a hoof across her eyes to get rid of the excess tears still staining her cheeks. “I won’t leave Ponyville hanging. Not anymore. Let’s go.”
Twilight smiled tenderly at Rainbow before giving her another, more friendly hug, one which Rainbow gladly returned. “...It’s good to have you back, Dash.”
“It will be even better once we’ve got the others. What’s the plan?”
Angel Bunny was a harsh and mean individual. Often times he had been referred to as a jerk or ‘a demon in an angels’ body.’ Now, stuck inside of Fluttershy’s cottage with his legs still much longer than he was used to, he had to admit that those sentiments might be very accurate. He was observing Fluttershy parade around the cottage, taunting, insulting and ridiculing every living thing she saw. A bossy, mean and sadistic Fluttershy was not something Angel was used to, but it did give him some insight into how he acted on a daily basis.
And he wasn’t sure if he liked it or not.
“Oh, what’s the matter? Gonna cry?” Fluttershy asked with that same snide sneer on her face while slowly circling the group of terrified animals that were huddled and quivering in the middle of her rug. “Go ahead, then. Cry it up. Give me something to smile at.”
The biggest animal in the huddled group, an otter, did it’s best to comfort the other assorted creatures. A few mice that were struggling to pull deeper into the group for comfort let a few tears visibly slip out, small squeaky whimpers filling the room. The otter reached down to pat them on the back of their heads, looking to Fluttershy with wide and fearful eyes.
“Aaaww, you’re so cute when you’re sad and helpless.” Fluttershy cooed cruelly before strutting by, flicking the group with the tip of her tail as she passed.
Then a knocking came to her door. Fluttershy paused and looked at the door over her shoulder, her brow creasing and her eyes narrowing. She then trotted up to the door, pausing briefly to send a horrible grin down at the huddle of frightened critters. As soon as she reached the door, she pulled it open. Her smile turned into a dry frown. “Oh. it’s you.”
“Kind of a harsh way to greet your fillyhood friends, don't ya think?” Rainbow asked with a raised eyebrow, Twilight standing next to her with an already annoyed frown on her face.
Fluttershy snorted and went to close the door. A cyan hoof reached out and pressed itself onto the door, holding it open. Rainbow shook her head slightly and began to trot in. “Wow. Rude.”
“I didn’t give you permission to enter my cottage,” Fluttershy hissed angrily, backing up while the other two walked in. “Get out; unless you want me to sic my animals on you.”
“What animals?” Twilight asked leadingly, raising an eyebrow with a small, victorious smirk appearing on her face.
“These animals- huh?!” Fluttershy began while turning back to look into the center of the room. Every single animal that had been huddled there was gone, and one of the windows on the wall was conspicuously more open than it had been a couple of minutes ago. Fluttershy grit her teeth and scowled at the other mares. “WHERE ARE MY TOYS?!”
Rainbow smiled. “Pretty sure they ran away on their own. I know I wouldn’t stick around if somepony just started treating me like garbage for no good reason.”
“And besides,” Twilight added, the two of them gradually advancing on the now retreating yellow pegasus. “I’m pretty sure you never got Fluttershy’s permission to enter her cottage.”
“I am Fluttershy, this is my cottage!” Fluttershy snapped, a vein bulging in her throat, though her eyes were now darting left and right, looking for an exit.
“Wrong,” Rainbow said bluntly before shooting forward in a burst of speed. Fluttershy cried out in surprise when Rainbow’s hooves hooked under her forelegs and yanked, sending her onto the floor back first. She grunted and began to struggle, but Rainbow was infinitely stronger and stopped any and all escape attempts before they got anywhere. Rainbow looked into Fluttershy’s eyes sharply. “You aren’t Fluttershy. You’re not our Fluttershy, anyway.”
“Right,” Twilight added while setting herself down next to Fluttershy’s head. “Our Fluttershy is the kindest, sweetest and most understanding pony I have ever met. A pony I’ve known since I was a filly who put herself in harm’s way to help her friends by pacifying a raging manticore with an act of gentle kindness,” Twilight’s horn lit up with magic before she pressed it into Fluttershy’s head. “And we want her back.”
Fluttershy gasped as the memory spell set to work, recalling her fillyhood memories of Rainbow and Twilight, their adventure on the night that Nightmare Moon came back, and of all of the wonderful experiences they had shared since then. Immediately the color returned to her coat as her true personality restored itself.
Twilight pulled back when the spell ended. For a moment, Fluttershy’s eyes stayed screwed tightly shut. Then they snapped open at the same time she gasped loudly. “OH NO!” her eyes looked to Rainbow, who had backed off a bit, then to Twilight. “Girls, I’ve just had the worst dream!”
“Not a dream, Flutters.” Rainbow said flatly before helping her up.
“It… it wasn’t?!” Fluttershy asked in almost a yell, her eyes widened and her ears falling flat. “Then… then I really-”
“Not you, Fluttershy,” Twilight reassured the pegasus gingerly while nuzzling into her. Rainbow joined them, draping a wing over the two with a sigh of relief. “We know you’d never act like that if you had a say in it.”
“I know, but…” Fluttershy whispered before shivering somewhat.
“Hey, it’s okay,” Rainbow said softly while repositioning herself to look into her friend’s eyes. “None of us blame you, and we all forgive you. Alright?”
Fluttershy didn’t quite meet Rainbow’s gaze.
“Alright?”
She finally nodded slowly.
Twilight slumped slightly on seeing Fluttershy so dejected looking. “Uh… Rainbow and I are going to go get Applejack, next. Once we’ve got her restored we’ll need to get Rarity and Pinkie. Being a unicorn, Rarity may be the bigger hurdle, so I say we get her first. Do you think you can go and have a look around her boutique?”
“Um… I don’t know…” Fluttershy answered before quivering a bit.
“Hey, you could use the distraction,” Rainbow reasoned lightly while gently ruffling Fluttershy's mane. “And to be fair, Applejack is probably gonna be a hoof-full. No offense, but you’re probably not up for something like that yet, are you?”
Fluttershy sighed and then nodded. “Okay. Um, where should I meet with you? I mean, if that’s part of the plan. If not, that’s okay, I can just-”
“Meet us at the intersection the Boutique sits off of,” Twilight cut her off gently while resting a hoof on her shoulder. “You’ll be fine, Fluttershy. We believe in you.”
“But what if I don’t believe in me?” Fluttershy asked meekly.
Rainbow chuckled lightly before pulling the other pegasus in for a tight hug. “Yup, you’re Fluttershy, alright.”
“And when ah got down an’ dirty to fight Discord, not one of mah so-called ‘friends’ even lifted a hoof to try and help.” Applejack lied bluntly to Big Mac, who listened to her words with a tilted head and his tongue hanging out while he panted excitedly like a dog. He then looked to his left, barked and gave chase to a squirrel that was now running away from him in a confused fright.
Sweet Apple Acres was twisted in so many ways that, even with her first-hoof exposure to such things, Rainbow Dash, who was presently spying on the farm from high in the air, found her brain unable to process most of it. She cringed, wavered for a second and then shot back down to join Twilight at the entrance of the farm property. As soon as she landed, she looked to Twilight with a bemused expression. “All I can tell ya is AJ is lounging in front of the barnhouse and Big Mac is a dog.”
Twilight blinked, the bemusement on Rainbow’s face quickly joining her own. “...A dog?”
“He barked and is chasing a squirrel while wagging his tail,” Rainbow said flatly before shuffling in place. “I guess Discord thought it’d be funny.”
Twilight just stared blankly at Rainbow for a good few seconds longer. “A dog,” she repeated, less of a question.
Rainbow sighed before her expression hardened somewhat. “Look, can we just go save the cowgirl and get a move on? Discord isn’t gonna defeat himself, you know.”
Twilight shook herself a bit to clear her head and then nodded sharply. “Right. Let’s go.”
With that, the two began to canter for Sweet Apple Acres. More specifically, the barnhouse, where, true to Rainbow’s assessment, Applejack was still lounging. A pile of freshly un-eaten apples was off to one side, while a partially eaten apple still rested in her hoof. She pressed her teeth against it, eyes closed as if savoring some taste, and then pulled away while opening said teeth. Whatever chunk of apple had been missing before was restored.
Twilight momentarily balked before shaking her head and focusing on what made sense. As she and Rainbow approached, Applejack opened an eye and peered at them from beneath her hat. “Oh? Ya found Rainbow, did ya?” she asked dryly before chucking her now perfectly good apple back onto the pile.
“Yes, and then I found you,” Rainbow answered simply before trotting forward. “Now get up, Applejack. We need some help taking Discord down and we can’t do it without all of us.”
“Oh, now ya wanna tango with Discord?” Applejack snorted derisively. “Where were ya when ah battled him earlier?”
“In a cloud with my head in the clouds,” Rainbow growled before reaching down and grabbing Applejack’s tail in her teeth. “Kinda like you, right now.”
“What the- HEY!” Applejack shouted when Rainbow unceremoniously chucked her at Twilight. The farmer thumped into the ground on her back, grunting in pain. She then shot a peeved look at Rainbow. “What the hay was that for?!”
“For lying.” Rainbow shot back.
“It’s time to tell the truth, Applejack,” Twilight added before her horn lit up and she pressed it into the back of Applejack’s head. Applejack’s eyes widened as memory after memory of the last nine months raced through her mind. Gradually, the facade Discord’s manipulations had placed into her mind fell away, along with the dullness smothering her body. In short order, her coat, mane, tail, and eyes regained the color they had been missing. Twilight pulled back upon the spell’s completion, a hopeful look on her face. Applejack looked up at her, her eyes unfocused.
“Twilight… Rainbow?” she mumbled before Twilight helped her back to her hooves. “Wha… what happened?” she asked before her eyes went wide, no doubt as a result of her recalling how horrible she had been being. “Oh no…” immediately her hoof reached up to her hat and removed it, holding it respectfully over her chest. “Ah… ah’m sorry… ah saw a vision of all of us feudin’ and fightin’ and… Ah couldn’t accept that. Ah started tellin’ lies. Can ya ever forgive me?”
Twilight smiled warmly. “I already have.”
“Same here,” Rainbow added before jabbing Applejack in the ribs. “Besides, what kinda friends would we even be if we let something like Discord have a say in our friendship?”
Applejack, a relieved smile spreading across her face, nodded and returned her hat to its place atop her head. “Ah’m glad. What’s next?”
“Rarity’s next,” Twilight said, wincing slightly.
“We’ve got Fluttershy's scouting it out,” Rainbow explained with a small nod. “She’s still kinda shaken up. Looking at the boutique while we got you seemed like a good enough way to let her calm down and get her head together.”
Twilight nodded curtly before smiling at Applejack. “To be honest, we were kind of expecting you to be harder to get.”
“Like, ‘epic chase’ hard,” Rainbow confirmed before snickering and lifting into the air on her wings enthusiastically. “Now, let’s go!"
Chaos: It was something that Discord thought was a wonderful, wonderful thing. A touch of chaos in almost any situation would make it a million times better. Right now, sitting on a mangled and lopsided throne, looking out upon Ponyville with a pleased and delighted grin, it was safe to say he hadn’t ‘touched’ ponyville with chaos, he had outright slapped it with the stuff. And the small, quiet town was a million times better for it. A fact that was confirmed all the more when a house spontaneously transformed into a delicately balanced stack of cards, the ponies within crying out in fear before scurrying away on newly acquired lobster legs.
Discord laughed merrily before a drinking glass was conjured in his claws. “Oh, I don’t think I will ever bore of such things.” he chuckled before holding the glass out so that a passing cotton candy cloud could fill it.
As the spirit of chaos continued on with enjoying the spectacle he had created, six mares stood hiding behind a house, whispering amongst themselves.
“Look, all I’m saying is that it would be best if we tried to get him without letting him know we’re here,” Twilight pressured at Rainbow Dash, who had insisted that they go and confront Discord directly. The rest of the group, including a freshly restored Pinkie Pie and Rarity, listened to the other two mares debating their plan of action. All of them had their elements around their necks, or, in Twilight’s case, on her head. “He’s a lot more powerful than all of us put together. If we want to stand even a ghost of a chance then we can’t risk letting him take the elements off of us.”
“I’m pretty sure he knows we’re here already and is just humoring us,” Rainbow countered bluntly. “I mean, we’re pretty much smack dab in the center of his territory. I don’t think there’s a single thing going on in here that he isn’t aware of.”
“We can’t know that for sure, though,” Twilight protested. “And I don’t think it’s wise to risk it.”
Rainbow groaned and ran a hoof over his face. “Okay, point taken. I still don’t like it. It feels icky.”
“Oh, we understand what you’re saying completely, darling,” Rarity nodded in agreement. “But I for one think Twilight has the right of it. This isn’t a hoof-ball court where there are rules and regulations to keep the playing field fair,” she then gestured around at Discord’s mess with a twitch in her eye. “This is war. A war against Discord’s incredibly unfabulous tastes. And all is fair in love and war.”
“Like eavesdropping?” Discord’s voice snickered into their ears.
Rainbow frowned. “See? What’d I tell ya?”
In a flash of light, all six mares were teleported from where they had been hiding to stand directly in front of Discord, who looked down on all of them in amusement. “Well, congratulations on finding your elements, ladies,” he said with a playful smirk. “But really, how much do you think you’re going to accomplish here?”
“Shut up and hold still.” Rainbow snapped, already focusing her mind on her element. She then grimaced when she realized that it had been plucked from her neck already. Everypony made similar exclamations of alarm and anger when they all discovered that they, too, were missing their elements.
“Looking for something?” Discord asked with a cheeky little grin on his face, all six of the Elements of Harmony spinning lazily around his finger on a string. “Honestly, you would have been better off just marching up here and blasting me. Trying to be all sneaky about it simply clued me into the fact that you’re back to normal.”
“Give those back, party pooper!” Pinkie seethed, bouncing forward a step.
“Party pooper?” Discord held his paw up to his chest in shock. “Me? Oh, come on Pinkie Pie, surely you can appreciate everything around you?”
“Only the chocolate rain, but not at the expense of everypony’s smiles!” Pinkie shot back, stamping a hoof angrily.
Discord chuckled. He set the elements down on the armrest of his throne and lifted his claw, which began to glow with golden light. “Oh, don’t be like that, Pinkie Pie,” his claws flexed and, suddenly, Pinkie was lifted off of her hooves and brought forward at high speeds to stop right in front of Discord’s hideous smile. “You were only too happy to ruin everypony’s day and stomp laughter out wherever you found it only fifteen minutes ago. Why the change of heart, eh?”
“Put her down!” Applejack growled, taking a step forward, though Twilight stretched out a hoof to stop her.
“Why?” Discord asked flatly, twirling his claw and, in so doing, making Pinkie Pie spin in the air against her will. The pink mare began to let out disoriented shouts.
“Ah think you know why,” Applejack snapped. “She’s our friend! If ya don’t put her down, we’ll make ya!”
“Was that an honest threat, Applejack?” Discord asked knowingly before the glow around his claw got even brighter. Applejack was then, too, yanked forward in Discord’s magic. “Oh, I thought I had taught you better than that...” Discord then turned his eyes to the rest of them, his smile widening. “All of you, if I’m being honest. Come here.” the glow grew to almost blinding levels, drawing all but Twilight forward into his newly formed circle of spinning ponies. They all kicked and struggled, but were powerless.
Now!
Twilight’s horn lit up in magic before her entire body was swallowed in a bright flash of teleportation magic. She appeared in the air, surrounded by her friends, her horn enveloped in several layers of intense magic. With a grunt of effort, a large bubble of lavender energy formed around her and her friends, successfully breaking the link Discord had on them, the draconequus looking at them all with a surprised expression. With a groan of strain and sweat dripping down the sides of her neck, Twilight guided the bubble (and a certain set of five necklaces and a crown) back down to the ground. The bubble popped, releasing all of them to get their bearings.
Twilight looked at her friends firmly. “Be ready,” she said quietly before turning her hardened expression to Discord. “You have taught us something, Discord. You’ve taught us that friendship isn’t always easy, but there is no doubt it’s worth fighting for.”
“And how do you expect to fight me without your elements?” Discord chortled in merry amusement, resting his claws on the armrest where he had placed the elements.
They were gone.
Discord’s eyes widened. “Oh, no…”
Twilight smiled. “Like this.” with a flourish of magic, all five of her friend’s elements were reconnected to their representative's necks. Then, her crown fell upon her head, the jewel embedded into it already glowing.
Discord got up from his throne. “Oh, no, no no NO!” he lifted a claw and a beam of purple, orange and green magic shot out towards the group of mares. The energy stopped short and bent around them all uselessly. “NO, NO, NO! Don’t you dare!”
The six friends said nothing. Their eyes lit up with white light, prismatic magic filling the air. Discord shuffled back but was unable to escape the wave of energy that shot outwards in a bright dome from the six ponies. He let out a defiant and infuriated scream as the energy washed over him, drowning out his cries with the rushing of wind and the ringing of the magic. There was a bright flash of light, one that could be seen for miles.
As before, Twilight, Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy, Rarity, Applejack and Pinkie’s minds had all momentarily linked when they had used the elements. As the light faded and their awareness became individual again instead of collective, they each breathed a sigh of relief that they didn’t pass out this time. Slowly, they all touched back down, smiling warmly.
Discord’s newly re-petrified body slammed into the ground face first, his eyes wide open. All around him, all across Equestria, his changes had been reversed and the world returned to normal. Albeit many ponies emerged from the chaos with deep-seeded confusion, most of them missing some pretty crucial context.
But for Twilight, Rainbow and their friends, there was no confusion. Just contentment as they came together in a large group hug. They were content to not say anything. They had each other, they had won, and everything was alright again.
Well, mostly.
Slowly, Rainbow Dash peeled herself away from the group hug, earning questioning glances from her friends. She smiled sheepishly. “Hey, I’d like to stick around and hug some more, but I actually need to head on up to Canterlot. I need to make sure mom and Aunt Luna are okay.”
“I’m sure they’re fine, darling.” Rarity pointed out, though she didn't protest.
“Oh, I’m sure, too,” Rainbow agreed while lifting into the air on her wings. “But I gotta make sure. They’re my family just as much as all of you, and I know that you are all okay.”
“Oh, Rainbow!” Twilight called up as the distance between them increased. She, too, peeled away from the group hug.
“Sup?”
“Can you take me with you? I want to check on my parents and Shining Armor!”
Rainbow smiled before lowering herself back to the ground. “Sure, hop on,” she then turned her attention to the rest of their friends. “You all go check on your families and homes and stuff. We’ll send a letter via Spike when we’re sure everything’s alright.”
“Oh, oh, if everything is alright, can I throw a big party?!” Pinkie asked excitedly, bouncing in place.
“Why are you asking me?” Rainbow laughed before nodding. “It’s what you do, Pinkie. Don’t ever feel like you need to ask first, at least not with us.”
Pinkie squealed in delight.
“We’ll be back soon, everypony!” Twilight called by Rainbow’s side before looking over the other mare’s back with a small frown. “Huh… fitting back here was a lot easier when we were foals.”
“Do you want me to just carry you by the legs?” Rainbow quipped with a small grin.
“N-no, that’s fine!” Twilight dismissed quickly before awkwardly clambering onto Rainbow’s back. The pegasus grunted a bit at the added weight of the bookish unicorn trying to find a comfy spot on her back.
“You need to work out more, Twilight.”
“Shut up, Rainbow.” Twilight laughed before hooking all four of her legs around the pegasus’ midsection and nodding.
Rainbow grinned and then shot into the air at high speeds, kicking up dust and dirt from the point of departure. The other four mares waved as the two vanished into the clouds before turning to head for their respective homes, each one eager to ensure the wellbeing of their own families or other such individuals.
Up in the clouds, once vertigo had worn off, Twilight opened up her eyes and looked around at the incredible view that only a creature with wings could get. Equestria spanned all around them, the clouds adding spots of white texture to distant hills, far off mountains and cities in the distance. The sunlight of what was swiftly turning into late evening painted everything she could see in stripes of gold and cast dark shadows in long stripes. Lakes sparkled beautifully as the light reflected off of them.
“Enjoying the view?” Rainbow asked after a few seconds of silence. Twilight jumped slightly, having been entirely entranced by what she was seeing. It was then that she realized they had stopped moving, Rainbow just hovering there to let her take it in.
“Yeah…”
“Well, maybe you’ll get those wings someday. I mean, we just trounced Discord, so I bet that counts as one of mom’s tests.” Rainbow said reassuringly before resuming her flight, albeit at a slightly more leisurely pace.
Twilight frowned. unsure. “Maybe, but it’s also possible that I failed this test if it even was one. I mean, All of you wound up being corrupted by Discord. I got corrupted by Discord.”
“Yeah? So? You turned it around, didn’t you?” Rainbow refuted, bumping Twilight gently.
“I mean, I guess. But if Celestia wants to make me an alicorn or a princess someday, I’m going to need to do better than that.” Twilight said worriedly, her grip on Rainbow tightening a bit.
“In what way?”
“Figuring out from the beginning that the Elements would be in Ponyville, for starters. We could have saved so much time and dodged all of that nonsense Discord threw at us in the maze.”
Rainbow stopped again and glanced over her shoulder at Twilight. “Twi, lemme ask you a quick question: do you think mom figured out that riddle when we got started?”
Twilight blinked and leaned back a bit. “Huh? I mean… maybe?”
Rainbow resumed her flight again, much slower this time. “She didn't. She was just as lost as the rest of us. Plus she didn’t start in Ponyville like we did. Even if mom is a lot better at all of this then we are, she still messes up. A lot more than you might think.”
Twilight raised an eyebrow. “Really?”
“Yeah, really. She isn’t perfect, Twilight. And you don’t have to be perfect either. You just have to be you, and do your best.” Rainbow nodded before picking up the pace of her flight, swiftly closing the remaining distance between them at Canterlot.
Twilight held on and took comfort in her friend’s words, returning her gaze to the land of Equestria around them.
Rainbow Dash had asked many questions in her life. Some were important, some were just stupid or meaningless. She had gotten many answers, each one just as varied and interesting, each one answering her question with a wide range of levels of satisfaction, from complete to nonexistent. Right now, Rainbow Dash had one very, very important question above all else.
Why am I waking up on the couch?
She had napped on the couch in the past, sure, but never when actually going to bed for the night. She used, well, her bed for that. Now that she was thinking about it, she didn’t quite remember when she went to sleep last night.
Then the headache hit.
Rainbow groaned, her voice a dry and airy rasp, and opened her eyes to examine her surroundings. Immediately she slammed her eyes shut again when the dim illumination in the main room of the library was akin to gazing into the sun. Her headache flared horribly. With her limbs shaking, Rainbow tried to stand up off of the couch. She failed.
With a gasp of pain, she toppled off of the couch, having somehow forgotten that she was upside down. Now on the floor, on her back, with her head being the first thing to make contact with the hard wooden surface, Rainbow had only one thing left she could do as the aching in her head rose to amazing levels, as her stomach turned and protested to movement, as her heart hammered in her chest.
She screamed.
Well, tried to scream. It came out as more of a pitiful wail that echoed throughout the building. Were somepony else to hear it, they may compare it to a long moose call, if the moose in question sounded like the cyan princess.
“Twiiiiliiiight…”
Dreading the day ahead of her, Rainbow sighed as a realization came to her.
She was hungover.
“Rainbow?!” Twilight squawked when she came down from the loft, maybe twenty minutes later. Rainbow was still on the floor, now cradling her head and moaning quietly in discomfort. For a few long seconds, Twilight just tried to process what she was looking at before an exasperated sigh slipped out of her. Still, she managed to smile somewhat at her friend before gingerly approaching. “Hey, you okay there?”
“Noooo…” Rainbow groaned into the floor, barely moving. “Please don’t talk so loud…”
Twilight rolled her eyes before reaching gently out to Rainbow. “Alright, come on. Up, up,” she said gently, carefully pulling Rainbow up. The rainbow-maned pegasus wined pathetically in discomfort before Twilight was able to get her sitting upright on the couch. After a moment of looking Rainbow over, Twilight couldn’t help a small snicker. “You look horrible.”
Rainbow shot her a glare, which then melted into another low groan of pain before she slowly rested her head back against the couch. “Just… shut up and… I don’t even know.”
“I’ll get you some water and the pain meds,” Twilight said a bit more gently before cantering for the first floor restroom. She paused in the doorway and glanced back at Rainbow with mild concern before continuing on her way. When she came back, it was with a bottle filled with water and two small medicine tablets floating alongside her. “Open up.” she commanded.
“I can still use my hooves, Twilight,” Rainbow grunted while holding out a hoof. “I don’t need you catering to my every need.”
“Sorry. Kind of an instinct, I guess,” Twilight replied sheepishly while setting the tablets down into the outstretched hoof. “I just don’t like seeing you like this. I mean, it’s funny at first, but it gets kinda sad as the day goes on.”
“Meh,” Rainbow humphed before downing the meds and then a large swig of the water presented to her. She exhaled and leaned back again. “I feel sick…”
“You probably are,” Twilight noted before turning to head for the kitchen. “Hang on. I’ll get you something.”
“Cheap Chineighs food sounds good.” Rainbow called softly from the couch while Twilight moved off.
“You know that greasy food doesn’t really help with the hangover, right?” Twilight called after she pulled open the fridge, scrutinizing the contents.
“My stomach won’t let anything else in,” Rainbow called back while her tummy gave a very displeased rumble. “Oooh…”
Twilight soon came trotting back with a cardboard box full of ramen noodles and brown rice, lightly heated to be acceptable. She set the container down in Dash’s waiting hooves before joining her on the couch, careful to not jostle her in the process. Already, Rainbow was eating a rather large mouthful of the rice, a few stray noodles dangling from her lower lip. Twilight giggled. “You’ve got a little something on your lip, there.”
Rainbow glanced at her, then crossed her eyes at the offending noodles. She noisily sucked them up before glowering at Twilight. “Laugh it up, egghead.”
Twilight gradually lost her smile to a more genuinely concerned expression. She reached out with a foreleg and tenderly pulled Rainbow against her side. For a while, the two were content to just sit there and be silent while Rainbow ate her cheap food. Finally, when she was done, Twilight took it in her magic and set it down on an unpopulated end table.
“I don’t think I’ve ever seen you go that hard on Applejack’s cider before, Dash,” Twilight noted in a whisper, looking sideways at her friend.
“Hmm.”
“I know you drink at Pinkie’s parties, but I’ve only ever seen you have a hangover a few times in all the time we’ve lived here. Is something wrong?”
“No.”
“You sure?” Twilight asked softly, rubbing her hoof down Rainbow’s opposite foreleg in a comforting series of strokes. “Every other time you got like this it was because you were trying to forget something.”
Rainbow groaned slightly before closing her eyes and taking a shaky breath. “There are a few things eating at me, yeah…” she finally mumbled, pushing herself a bit closer into Twilight’s side.
“I’m listening.” the unicorn urged her on softly, giving her a gentle squeeze of assurance.
“You’re always listening…”
“Rainbow…”
“Right, sorry…” Rainbow took another breath and closed her eyes. “I… I hadn’t thought about my birth parents in a long time… I’m not mad at you or anything, but being held in your magic like that… it poured salt on some old wounds.”
Twilight winced at the memory before leaning over to gently nuzzle Rainbow on the head. “I’m sorry… I didn’t have any other options.”
“I know, Twi. I know…” Rainbow assured, leaning into the nuzzle before shuddering slightly. “I still miss them, you know?”
“I can only imagine.”
For a long moment, the two were silent, Rainbow forcing her emotions back under control before glancing into Twilight’s eyes. “There’s… there is another thing, Twilight…”
Twilight perked her ears up and listened intently. She could already feel a subtle tension around Rainbow and felt her muscles start to shiver from anxiety. She reflexively pulled the shaking mare closer, offering as much comfort as possible. “Go on…”
Rainbow lowered her eyes. “You…” she hesitated, her lips pressing into a thin line. She shifted slightly to better look into Twilight’s eyes. “You remember Starlight Glimmer?”
Twilight’s brow furrowed as she recalled the enigmatic mare in question. “Yes, I remember her. She’s the mare that catalyzed the change in history, right?”
Rainbow nodded solemnly, her eyes lowering slightly. “...I know I should just ignore what he said. I mean, he was trying to get under my skin and it worked, but…” she closed her eyes. “Discord mentioned her when he was… uh… ‘discording’ me. And I can’t shake the feeling that he actually made a good point.”
“What did he say?” Twilight asked skeptically, the corners of her lips turning down into a frown.
“He said that she’s still out there in our timeline. He said that there’s a very real possibility that she may try to rewrite history again. I know he was probably just trying to get under my skin and all that, but I’m worried that he may have been right.” Rainbow explained before opening her eyes again.
Twilight’s eyes lost some of their intensity. “We don’t have any reason to think she’s up to something. I mean, isn’t she under surveillance?”
“No, she’s not,” Rainbow shook her head with a mildly displeased look coming onto her muzzle. “Mom refused to send somepony to take her in or spy on her or anything, even after we got the elements. So far, Starlight hasn’t committed any crimes or done anything wrong. Plus, Mom is very stern about the risks of acting off of foreknowledge. Things are already very different here than they were the first time through, so…” Rainbow sighed and looked back up into Twilight’s eyes. “She doesn’t wanna risk something going wrong because she tried tampering with events that may not even happen.”
Twilight nodded slowly. “Well, to be fair, I can understand her worries. Even seeing fleeting glimpses of me becoming a princess has probably thrown a lot of things off course.”
“I know, I know…” Rainbow sighed again. “But… I don’t want to risk things changing again. What if they end up going badly? What if something breaks or, or… I don’t know!” she threw her forelegs into the air in exasperation before her headache flared and she sank back into the couch. “Uuugh...“
Twilight looked on in sympathy. She was about to offer some consolation and urge Rainbow to let it go for now, when the pegasus spoke again.
“I don’t want to forget you… I don’t wanna forget growing up with you…”
Twilight’s ears fell flat against her head when she spied a few tears in Rainbow’s eyes. The pegasus shook slightly at even the thought.
“If it all gets rewritten… none of this will have ever happened, right? Our whole lives, undone and… I won’t remember this… any of this… I might never meet you… the girls…” Rainbow turned to Twilight before wiping a foreleg over her eyes in an effort to dispel her steady steams pouring out of them.
“Rainbow…”
“We don’t have to do anything or act in any big way… I just…” Rainbow sighed and gave up on her eyes. She looked down at the couch, shaking. “I just want to make sure that we can keep the lives we’ve got…”
Twilight stared wide-eyed at Rainbow before a small, tentative smile appeared on her face. She reached out and pulled Rainbow in for a comforting embrace, patting her on the back. “This really scares you, huh?”
“Yeah… y-yeah it does.” Rainbow admitted before pulling away a bit. “If you tell anypony, anywhere, ever, that I just said that…”
“I won’t, Rainbow,” Twilight said good-naturedly. “Don’t worry. To the rest of Equestria, you’ll always be the brave and fearless Element of Loyalty who never cries and never gives up.”
Rainbow smiled slightly before leaning back into the hug. “Thanks.”
“What are friends for?”
For a good few minutes, the two remained in silence. Finally, Rainbow pulled away and winced when her headache flared again. “So… Twilight?”
“Yeah?”
“When I’m done being a whiny little pony and my hangover is gone, I’m going up to Canterlot to see if I can find out where Starlight lives. There should be files for that or something. When I go… I want you to come with me. I’ll need the help to find her file anyway.” Rainbow explained, a slight hint of unease in her voice.
Twilight frowned. “What are you going to do if you find her?”
Rainbow flinched, feeling like she was already being accused of a crime. “I just want to make sure she isn’t up to anything. Once I know for sure that our future is safe, we can come home and forget about it.”
Twilight analyzed Rainbow’s shifting eyes and uncertain expression for several moments. Finally, she lightened her frown and nodded. “I’ll go with you, sure. And if we find her, I’m going with you to see her, too. The rest of our friends, too, if they’re up for it.”
Rainbow knew already what Twilight was doing. She wanted to keep their entire circle of friends close to make sure she didn’t do anything rash or reckless. “That’s fine by me, Twi.”
Twilight nodded and then removed herself from the couch. “Okay, go on and go shower. You need it more than I do right now.”
“You sure?” Rainbow asked, smiling weakly through another spike in her hangover.
“Yes, Rainbow. Go get cleaned up.” Twilight urged with a smile and hoof gesture.
“Thanks, Twilight. You’re the best.” Rainbow said quietly before slipping off of the couch and, still with a bit of a shake, made her way upstairs to make use of the shower.
Twilight lost her smile when Rainbow’s back was to her. She could already feel a pang of nervousness over their plan to find Starlight. Twilight knew Rainbow was scared and just wanted to make sure that they’d be alright, but still, it didn’t do much to assuage Twilight’s concerns.
Still, with little else she could do for now, Twilight decided to focus on the rest of her day, glancing out a nearby window and into the morning hours of Ponyville beyond.
The view of the Equestrian landscape outside of the speeding train car’s window was swiftly obstructed by the smooth stone walls, plunging the swiftly traveling vehicle into only dim lighting provided by the lamps on the ceiling. Twilight turned her gaze away from the window and back to Rainbow Dash, who sat directly next to her in their seat. This particular cart was empty save for them.
Rainbow, for her part, was being uncharacteristically solemn with her eyes turned towards the floor of the train car and her shoulders sagging. She glanced at Twilight when she noticed she was being stared at and smiled sheepishly before looking away again. Twilight sighed and gently nudged Rainbow in the wing with her elbow. “Are you feeling okay?” she asked once she had Rainbow’s attention.
“Yeah, why?” Rainbow asked casually, sitting up straight and putting on a smile.
“Because you’re, I dunno… you just don’t seem like yourself, is all,” Twilight shook her head in exasperation. “You’re sagging and you’re looking really… sluggish. Like your enthusiasm was drained out of you, or something.”
“I mean, I’m kinda tired, yeah. But it’s not too bad.” Rainbow admitted before stifling a yawn. Twilight winced slightly. Rainbow had been tossing and turning in her sleep the previous night, even muttering fitfully to herself on occasion. Her brow furrowed with concern.
“Is that what all of your tossing and turning was about?” She asked gently, resting a hoof on Rainbow’s shoulder. “Was it a nightmare?”
Rainbow’s ears fell and she nodded. “Yeah. Nothing I can’t handle, though. I’m fine Twilight, okay? Let’s just get to Canterlot and get looking for Starlight.”
Twilight remained unconvinced, but for Rainbow’s comfort, she decided not to press the matter right now. She slowly leaned back and glanced out the window as the train passed out of the tunnel. The view of Equestria was restored, briefly making her eyes squint from the change in lighting. Canterlot looked like it was in the middle of some scheduled rain. Not exactly surprising. Most of Equestria’s big cities and settlements were having more rain than usual to help wash away anything leftover from Discord’s chaotic downpours.
“We should be there any minute,” Twilight commented after another prolonged silence. “You ready?”
“Yeah. let’s do this.” Rainbow nodded an affirmative before stepping off of her seat and back onto the floor of the train. She gave a languid stretch to relieve some stiffness in her back while Twilight, too, slipped out of her seat.
The whistle of the train blew loudly.
Canterlot was just as magnificent as ever. Well, maybe a little less so. There were still leftover chocolate and cola stains on a lot of external fabrics, such as tapestries, flags or the umbrellas outside of restaurants. Add on to that the current downpour of rain, which was much heavier than Twilight had expected it to be, and it really wasn’t a pleasant afternoon for anypony caught outside.
Rainbow and Twilight had arrived on the train maybe ten minutes ago, and now the two of them cantered hurriedly down the street with a magical half-dome over their heads created by Twilight, which caught the rain. There were a few other ponies out, but not many. Each one they went by took the time to give Rainbow a respectful nod, or, in the case of some of the more enthusiastic or cheerful ponies, a small shout of greeting or thanks for her part in stopping Discord.
Naturally, she tuned them out and focused on just getting to the castle.
Finally, after quite some time, the two came to the gates of Canterlot Castle. The guards let them by without any hassle or fuss, and Twilight could finally dispel her magical umbrella. “Whew. Made it.” she said while shaking herself a little.
“Why wouldn’t we have made it?” Rainbow asked with a raised eyebrow, glancing over her shoulder at the unicorn. “It’s not like we were running for our lives or anything.”
“No, but I didn’t especially feel like getting wet today and my umbrella spell takes more energy to maintain than you might think. We made it without the spell going out.” Twilight answered before running a hoof through her mane to straighten out a couple of stray hairs. Rainbow nodded in understanding.
“Yeah, Shining Armor was always the better one with shields and stuff.” She commented with a small smirk appearing on her muzzle. Twilight glared playfully at Rainbow Dash.
“Maybe, but he can’t stop godlike masters of chaos with friendship explosions.” Twilight shot back, a small competitive flicker entering her eyes. Rainbow rolled her eyes.
“You kinda need the rest of us to do that, though,” she pointed out, much to Twilight’s chagrin. “Not something you do, but we do.”
“I know that. Shut up.” Twilight snarked before strutting by. Rainbow chuckled in amusement before falling into step next to Twilight. For a few minutes, the two continued on in silence, making the necessary turns to take them to the Canterlot Archives. About halfway there, though, Rainbow hesitated, her eyes shifting slightly before she stopped entirely.
“Hey, Twilight? The archives aren’t all that far, so go on ahead without me, would ya?” she said before taking a sharp left turn, the opposite direction of the archives in the intersection they had come to and going at a canter down that hall.
“Huh? Why?” Twilight turned to Rainbow quizzically, her brow furrowing.
Rainbow paused and looked back at Twilight. “I gotta make a pit stop,” she called back before lifting into the air with a flap of her wings. “It won’t take long, don’t worry.” she then shot down the hallway, a prismatic trail in her wake and leaving Twilight to look after her curiously.
This is the room… Rainbow thought to herself when at last she came to a stop by the doors that lead to the royal suites. Her old room, still untouched from the day she left for Ponyville, would be off the hall beyond these doors. Celestia’s room, too, was on the other side. And, of course, there was the third and most recently occupied room.
Rainbow pushed the doors open and trotted for the room in question. It wasn’t far away from Celestia’s, a large crescent moon emblazoned on it. Rainbow paused at the door before putting a hoof on the handle and trying it. To her surprise, the door was not locked. Slowly and carefully, Rainbow pushed it open and stepped inside.
The room was colored mostly in deep dark blues, soft shades of purple and violet, and small points of white. On the far wall on the left side was a large bed, neatly made with thick, midnight blue covers, gray sheets, and very fluffy purple pillows. On the opposite end of the room was an ornate chest of drawers, made of finely polished and artfully crafted wood. Directly across from the entrance of the room was a tall window, which stood open. Pale blue curtains drifted lazily in the breeze coming through it.
In the very center of the room, sitting on her haunches with her eyes closed was Princess Luna. She had grown quite considerably since the last time Rainbow had seen her. She was easily a head taller than Rainbow Dash. Her coat was a deep, rich blue, while her mane and tail were, for the most part, still the brighter blue hue. However, the last few inches of her hairs were gaining a quality Rainbow had only ever seen in Celestia and Nightmare Moon. They were drifting in an unfelt breeze, glowing softly and sparkling with starlight.
Rainbow closed the door behind her, the resulting sound finally drawing Luna’s attention. Her eyes snapped wide opened and looked to Rainbow Dash in surprise. A blue glow of magic that Rainbow had not noticed flickered out of existence from around the lunar alicorn’s horn. “O-oh, our niece!”
Rainbow raised an eyebrow. “Uh… ‘our’ niece?” she asked in confusion, lifting one hoof to help accentuate.
Luna cleared her throat and stood. “Oh, ahem. Yes, a tradition of Canterlot royalty, started by Celestia and ourselves, was to refer to ourselves in the plural. For it was always we, the two sisters, who ruled Equestria. Never alone, never an I.” she explained before lowering her gaze somewhat, unwilling to meet Rainbow’s own eyes.
Rainbow’s brow furrowed a bit at the timid display. “I mean, that makes sense,” she commented before stepping forward again. “But, well, things are different now. The uh, ‘royal we’ thing is, uh, not a thing anymore.”
“We see…” Luna nodded before blinking and then snorting at her mistake. “Forgive me, I see.”
“Hey, it’s no big deal,” Rainbow smiled before drifting up to Luna and resting a hoof on her shoulder. “It’s not like anypony expects you to change overnight.”
Luna said nothing, turning her eyes away. Rainbow’s ears fell slowly against her head when she felt Luna shaking under her touch.
“Hey, it’s good to see you, Aunt Luna.” Rainbow finally said softly, wrapping her forelegs around Luna in a tight hug. Luna stiffened at first, but gradually relaxed and returned the embrace.
“Forgive our- my, asking, but…” Luna began before drawing back and looking into Rainbow’s eyes. “What brings you to Canterlot, Rainbow? We- for the love of… I thought you would be down in Ponyville with your friends.”
Rainbow’s smile faded slightly. “Well… I need to look into something. I came up here with Twilight so she could help me do a bit of research,” her smile then returned in full force. “But I figured I’d pay you a visit first. I’ve barely seen you since the Summer Sun Celebration, and every other time I’ve seen you, you’ve been in, like, the deepest sleep I have ever seen.”
Luna nodded solemnly, cringing as she was reminded of the night of her return. “Yes… I… I have been growing. I am sure my sister explained it to you already.”
“Yeah, she did,” Rainbow said in confirmation before slowly letting herself back down to the ground. “You think you’re about done growing? It’s getting old talking to a snoring face.”
Luna frowned at Rainbow, who shrugged innocently. “...We- I don’t think I need any more than another week of slumber. I can already feel my connection to the dream realm returning.”
Rainbow raised an eyebrow. “The connection to the what, now?”
Luna smiled pleasantly and sat up straight. “When a pony slumbers, their consciousness joins with a plane of existence known as the Dream Realm. Some ponies are able to manipulate the Dream Realm to a limited extent within their own minds, otherwise known as lucid dreaming,” Luna explained, her horn lighting up to create a visual representation of several bubbles, each one with a pony inside, each one doing something different. “Every dream is self-contained, but they all dwell within the same realm of stars and fog.”
“Woah, cool…” Rainbow said quietly, genuinely awed by what Luna was telling her.
“The dreams of ponies can influence each other,” Luna continued, a small glow of golden light appearing in one of the bubbles and spreading to the others. The ponies within gained massive smiles and their colors became even more vibrant. “Happy and joyful dreams create peace and tranquility, making the slumber of those close enough even more restful and rejuvenating,” her eyes narrowed slightly and her brow furrowed as one dream bubble, secluded from the others, began to emit darkness and shadows. Like the tentacles of a hungry octopus, the darkness reached out and latched onto the nearest dream, draining it of color and making the pony within losing their smile to a face twisted with fear and sorrow.
“What the…?” Rainbow breathed, her eyes widening.
“Nightmares have a similar effect, sadly. A strong nightmare will bleed into the dreams around it, tarnishing their happiness and rendering the sleep of the dreamers into a restless one,” Luna continued before, above the dream the shadows were coming from, a depiction of Princess Luna herself appeared. “I was born with a special connection to the Dream Realm. It is my destiny to step into the darkness and banish it, so that the ponies of equestria may sleep without fear or sadness.”
The small depiction of Luna dived into the nightmare, vanishing amidst the darkness before, in a small flash of light, the shadows were obliterated. Within the dream, color and happiness gradually began to return and spread to its neighbors. Then the visual representation was dispelled, a small smile on Luna’s face. “Such is my duty as the Princess of the Night. It is Tia’s duty to ensure our subject’s physical well-being, by protecting and guiding them here in the waking world. It is, in turn, my responsibility to aid them in their dreams to ensure their mental health and protect them from any darkness that tries to leech away their happiness.”
Rainbow blinked, trying to take it all in. Then she grinned widely and trotted up to Luna. “You know? I think I like night time a lot more, now,” she said while playfully punching Luna in the elbow.
Luna flinched back. “Why have you struck me?!” she demanded in exasperation. Rainbow paused, blinked and then smiled bashfully with a bit of red filling her cheeks.
“Oh, whoops. Sorry, Aunt Luna. Just, uh, you know… it’s a modern culture thing. I was just being playful.”
Luna blinked, then sighed. “Ah… I see.”
Rainbow laughed softly before lifting up into the air with her wings and throwing a foreleg over Luna’s shoulders. “It’s okay. You’ve got a lot to catch up on.”
Luna smiled softly, taking some encouragement from Rainbow’s words. “I know. Thank you for coming to see me, my niece,” she said before gently shifting away from Rainbow. “But I was… in the middle of something when you came in. I do not wish to be rude, but I ask that you allow me to return to it. Besides, don’t you have something to do, yourself?”
Rainbow waved a hoof dismissively. “It’s okay, Aunt Luna, you weren’t being rude. I was about to go anyway. I’ll catch you later, ‘kay?”
“I do not wish to be captured, Rainbow.” Luna deadpanned.
Rainbow facehooved. “That’s not what I- you know what? I’ll tell ya later. Take care, okay?” she said with a roll of her eyes before excusing herself. Luna was silent for a few seconds before turning and sitting back down.
“They forgive me so easily…” she whispered while her horn lit back up. She sighed heavily as she delved back into her own mind. “A luxury I can not allow myself...” she felt a presence rippling in her head, a simple spirit-like entity in her mind, awaiting purpose. When Luna opened her eyes again, she stood in a dark void, with a small cloud of glowing purple magic levitating before her. “A luxury you shall deny me for the good of everypony else… Tantabus."
“Oh, this isn’t gonna be fun…” Twilight muttered while doing one last preliminary observation of the room and its contents. There was a lot of stuff in here to go through. Her ears fell flat against her head when she glanced up and was reminded that there was an entire second level to this wing of the archives. “This is going to suck. I can tell…” she continued before her ears stood straight up. The door to the room swung wide open, somepony cantering in. Twilight turned to look.
“There you are!” She called out when she saw that it was Rainbow Dash stepping into the archives. “Took ya long enough. Where were you?”
“Paying Aunt Luna a visit,“ Rainbow answered before examining the wing of the archives they were in. A two-story square room with rows upon rows of tall bookshelves filling it, making up long aisles and halls. The whole room was softly illuminated with the orange glow of candles, flickering gently from the center and casting long shadows across the walls. There was also some residual ambient light streaming in through the windows, where the rain could still be seen assaulting the city outside. “Whew… Never been in this archive before. How is it sorted?”
“That’s what I was trying to figure out while waiting for you,” Twilight said while trotting up to one such set of shelves. Its highest shelf was easily two times higher than Twilight herself was tall. She reached a hoof out to a simple sheet of parchment sealed onto the side and frowned. “From what I can tell, each of these shelves is for a different city in Equestria. There’s a shelf over in a corner marked ‘other,’ so I am assuming that’s where all of the records for the smallest villages and hamlets are kept.”
Rainbow nodded and studied the first shelf that she saw. On it was a long row of boxes, each one labeled with a year and a range of letters, filled with stacks of parchment. For this shelf, the year was then followed by a dash and another single number, increasing incrementally. “Looks like they sort them by year…”
“Yeah, but some of the cities are so large that they needed several boxes just to house all of the information.” Twilight grimaced while furrowing her brow.
“And this is all information from annual census checks, right?” Rainbow asked. Inwardly she acknowledged that she really should have known this already, but she hadn’t ever had cause to visit the archives for this type of information before.
“Right. Our best bet would be to simply go through the boxes for last year. I think they are sorted alphabetically, so it’s really just going to be a matter of finding the ‘S’ section and going from there.” Twilight explained while reaching out with her magic for the latest box on the shelf next to her.
After a moment, Rainbow sighed heavily. “This is gonna take a while, isn’t it?” She asked, dreading what was bound to be a very long and very boring ordeal.
Twilight paused and glanced over at Rainbow uneasily. She shifted on her hooves before speaking. “It’s not too late to call this off, you know,” She said carefully, looking at Rainbow with deep concern. “I mean, I know the possibility of Starlight trying something scares you, but…”
“But nothing,” Rainbow suddenly said firmly with a shake of her head. “I’m not going to take any chances with this.” She then moved to the next shelf and grabbed the newest box from its place. “Holler if you find anything, okay?”
Twilight’s ears fell a bit, but she nodded. “Alright. You, too.”
“Mom? Dad?” Rainbow called out uneasily, her tiny hooves echoing on the hard soil as she trotted slowly and fearfully down a dirt road in the middle of what appeared to be the Everfree forest. She felt afraid, tiny and weak. A breeze washed over her, rustling the branches and making her shake from wind chill. “Where are you?”
A voice drifted into her ears, making her blood run cold and her muscles tense. It was a cold, quiet and distant. A sinister laugh, whispered by the wind. Rainbow felt the fur on the back of her neck stand on end. “C-come on, guys! This isn’t funny!”
The laugh came again. Louder, clearer. It sounded familiar…
“Rainbow?” A deep, masculine voice called out from a ways ahead. Rainbow felt her heart sore of hope and relief before breaking into a gallop.
“Dad! It’s me! I’m here!” she called out, eager to be taken out of this place.
“Rainbow Dash, sweetie? We’re here!” Windy Whistles' voice came next, spurring the filly on. She put on an extra burst of speed, flapping her tiny wings as hard as she could to propel herself forward faster. Her parents kept calling out to her, giving her something to follow.
“MOM! IM OVER HERE!” Rainbow called out. There was a wall of bushes and foliage just ahead. Gritting her teeth, Rainbow closed her eyes and forced her way through.
A wave of confusion washed over her when she opened her eyes again. Gone was the dark and dreary forest, replaced with the inside of Canterlot Castle. It was night time, by the looks of things. Most of the normal sources of light were out, plunging the whole castle into a dark shadow. A full moon shone just outside of a tall stained glass window to Rainbow Dash’s right, bathing everything its light touched in a soft pale glow.
“What the…?” Rainbow muttered under her breath, shaking herself and realizing she was no longer a small and easily frightened filly. She was back in her adult body. She shook her head in confusion and looked around.
“Rainbow Dash…” a new voice called, this one drawing Rainbow’s attention hard. She turned and began to canter after the voice when it called again. It was the voice of Princess Celestia, repeatedly calling for Rainbow Dash and growing more distressed with every repetition. “Rainbow Dash… Rainbow Dash! RAINBOW DASH!”
“Mom?!” Rainbow shouted out, a small sliver of fear working its way into her voice. She slid along the floor just before the entrance to the throne room, where the voice of Celestia seemed to be coming from. With a grunt of effort, Rainbow hurled her shoulder against the doorway and threw it open. When she looked at the throne room, her face went pale.
She saw the floor, walls, and ceiling of the throne room just… stop. About halfway to where the throne would normally sit, the room looked to have shattered. Various chunks floated away slowly in an endless white void with a prismatic ribbon of energy weaving through it, shaking softly. At the edges of the break, Rainbow Dash saw Princess Celestia, looking back at her with a face frozen in shock and alarm.
But there were two other ponies standing off to Celestia’s side who made Rainbow’s heart skip a beat and her breath hitch in her throat. Windy Whistles and Bow Hothoof, holding each other’s hooves, looked back at Rainbow with sad smiles.
Rainbow could not believe what she was seeing. “Mom… Dad?” she breathed, slowly walking towards them with an outstretched hoof.
The ground lurched violently beneath them and an almighty crash filled the air, assaulting Rainbow’s ears and causing them to ring. She fell to the side, unable to hold her footing. Looking back up, she saw the floor crumbling away behind Celestia, Bow, and Windy. They themselves seemed to be gradually dissolving into dust and mist.
“NO! NOO!” Rainbow screamed in desperation, trying to stand back up. Her hind legs felt heavy and would not respond to her will, however. “PLEASE! DON’T LEAVE ME AGAIN!”
There was that laugh again, whispering in her ear. Now Rainbow recognized that voice. She turned to look and went pale at the sight of Starlight Glimmer, a crazed look in her eyes. She laughed into Rainbow’s face, the latter powerless to stop her as the whole world dissolved and shattered into nothing around her.
“ENOUGH!”
Suddenly, the fear and sorrow were washed away, the blinding void around Rainbow swiftly replaced with a star-filled night sky. A full moon shone down on her, seeming to ease her frightened heart and calm her mind.
“All is well, my niece…” a gentle voice cooed into Rainbow’s mind, drawing out a slowly relaxing sigh from her. “...That yours should be the first dream I visit…”
“Aunt… aunt Luna?” Rainbow murmured before setting her head down.
“I cannot maintain this link for long as I am now, my niece. Sleep, now. Rest.”
Rainbow had no strength left to argue, closing her eyes and passing back into a restful slumber.
Rainbow groaned drowsily, slowly opening her eyes. She saw a sideways view of the floor and grimaced. Must have fallen asleep, she thought to herself while gradually sitting back up and looking around. What light there had been shining through the windows earlier was gone, replaced with a pitch black sky. There was still the sound of rain pelting the glass panes, but it sounded like it had let up significantly. Rising to her hooves, Rainbow paused when she discovered the fluffy blue blanket that had been tucked around her.
“Sleep well?” Twilight asked quietly from a little ways behind Rainbow Dash. Rainbow looked over her shoulder to see Twilight sitting at one of the study desks, another of the boxes on the surface and another sheet of parchment hanging in front of her. Twilight herself was looking back at Rainbow with a warm, gentle smile. ‘You were tossing for a little while, there, but you got pretty calm and peaceful before long.”
“I guess…” Rainbow murmured before stretching, her stiff muscles thanking her very much. “Muh… how long was I out?”
“About two hours. You just curled up and went to sleep after the sixth hour of our search when I suggested we take a break, remember?” Twilight answered, a flicker of concern in her eyes.
Rainbow thought back. She remembered just how long they had been at this. Many of the sheets of parchment had a lot of information and took at least a minute of skimming their contents to make sure they weren’t missing anything. Add onto that the sheer number of pages they had to go through, along with finding them to begin with, and it was a recipe for an all-nighter. Twilight had suggested they take a break, as both of them were growing frustrated and impatient. Rainbow had agreed.
“Yeah, I remember,” Rainbow nodded before a yawn worked its way out of her. “Find anything while I was out?” she asked, lifting a hoof to scratch at her side.
“Not yet. I’m going through Manehattan’s files right now.” Twilight answered before turning her eyes back to the sheet in front of her.
“And how’s that going?” Rainbow asked, trotting up to examine the box and parchment.
Twilight’s face scrunched up in mild frustration. “Well, considering this is the second box of nothing but ‘s’ names for last year alone… not great,” she groaned while returning the sheet to the box and then pulling the next one. "Manehattan has too many ponies..."
Rainbow gave a quiet hum of thought before reaching out and drawing out the next sheet. “You know if we were looking stuff up just for the hay of it instead of looking up Starlight… I might have actually found this relaxing,” she remarked in a quiet voice.
Twilight looked sideways at her. “You? Enjoying studying?”
Rainbow shrugged. “Well, I mean… not the studying part, I don’t like doing that. I just… I need quiet sometimes too, ya know? When I’m on break from being awesome and daring and all that. When you’re studying, nose in a book, you’re about as silent as can be. I dunno...” Rainbow shook her head and reached for another sheet. “It’s a stupid thought. Forget I said anything.”
Twilight rolled her eyes and reached out with a foreleg to ruffle Dash’s mane. “If you enjoy spending time with me that much, you can just admit it.”
“Hush,” Rainbow quipped before swatting Twilight’s hoof away. She looked over her new sheet for a moment before her eyes went wide. “Woah, woah woah woah!”
“Huh?” Twilight raised an eyebrow and glanced at the parchment in Dash's hooves.
“THIS IS HER!” Rainbow all but shouted with an enormous grin appearing on her face. She jabbed her free hoof excitedly into the page over and over. “Look, right here!”
Twilight scooted over and looked at the page intensely. After a moment, she smiled widely and threw her foreleg over Rainbow’s shoulders. “Well, I’ll be! Nice catch!”
“Okay, let’s see here… address, we’ve got an address!" Rainbow jabbed the parchment again. “227 East Trotlane Street, Upstairs Living Space.”
“Keep a hoof on that! I need some scrap paper to write it down.”
"Sure thing!” Rainbow called while Twilight scurried off to find the items she needed. Rainbow closed her eyes and took a deep breath before looking at the set of two small pictures next to the name. A photo of Starlight Glimmer herself and a drawing of her cutie mark. It was her, alright. In the back of her mind, Rainbow felt a familiar burning as she looked at the picture.
She quickly forced the tingling of anger into the back of her mind. She took a deep breath and let a small smile work its way onto her face. They’d found her. Now they could go and make sure she wouldn’t take anything away.
The following morning, Ponyville was host to perfectly clear skies. The sun bathed the entirety of the town in a warm and beautiful glow. Filled with energy from such a beautiful display, songbirds chirped and sang their lovely melodies, the tones carried by the wind over the village and setting the atmosphere perfectly. It was a serene day, and this was enough to help set Fluttershy at ease as she waited for the train from Canterlot.
She knew that Twilight and Rainbow Dash had gone off to Canterlot, though she was not sure why. None of the others in their circle were aware of the reason either, though Spike had given assurance (at Rarity’s request) that they should be back sometime today if their visit went well. He was unusually stubborn about what they had gone there for, though, managing to expertly dodge the question or, when he didn’t, he opted to simply not answer at all.
It was confusing, to say the least.
The whistle of the train caught Fluttershy’s attention. She stood up from where she had been sitting and trotted to look out over the small collection of foothills that seperated Ponyville from the towering mountain of Canterlot. Sure enough, the Friendship Express came chugging down the tracks, gradually slowing down once it drew close enough to the station. Fluttershy stepped back a few paces, not wanting to be in the way of such a big and fast-moving object. A number of other ponies drew closer to the edge of the platform, running last second checks to ensure that they had all of their things sorted out and ready for the ride.
As soon as the train came to a complete halt, a rainbow-colored blur shot out of one of the windows, arced into the air and landed right in front of Fluttershy. Naturally, the timid pegasus squeaked and flailed back, startled by Rainbow Dash’s abrupt and flashy entrance.
“Oh, sorry!” Rainbow apologized, an unquestionably excited sparkle in her eyes. “I’m just kinda excited right now!” to emphasize this point, she began walking in place.
Fluttershy poked her head out from behind her mane, which had fallen over her face for the most part. “Um… I can see that,” she said pointedly, albeit still in a soft voice. “What’s got you so excited?”
Rainbow’s smile faltered for a second before she turned back to the train, where Twilight was only now making her way out of the door. “Rainbow, you can always use the door and wait for your friends to be ready. You know, like a normal pony?” she said in a disgruntled voice before slapping Rainbow behind the ear.
Rainbow laughed and noogied the unicorn. “Normal’s boring, and I’m not boring. I’m awesome.”
Twilight snorted incredulously and indignantly, but couldn’t prevent a small smile from appearing on her face. She managed to pry Rainbow’s hoof out of her mane, then looked at Fluttershy. “Hi, Fluttershy. I guess Spike let slip we’d be coming back today, huh?”
“Yes. Um, if it’s not too much to ask… what were you doing?” she asked, her gaze lingering on Rainbow Dash, who still seemed rather giddy.
“A bit of research. I think it would be best if we don’t talk about it here though,” Twilight said in a hushed voice before glancing around a bit. “Think you can round up the other girls and bring them to the Library? Rainbow Dash and I have something kind of important to ask all of you.”
Fluttershy shrunk only slightly before nodding. “Okay. See you two in a bit?”
Rainbow nodded sharply while lifting into the air and making her way at a more casual and leisurely pace towards the library. “Yup! Try and be quick about it, okay?”
“Okay.”
It had been maybe twenty minutes. Thus far, Pinkie Pie and Rarity had arrived at the Library. Presumably, Fluttershy would be returning with Applejack, and then they could begin. Twilight was, at present, occupying her mind with a puzzle book while Rainbow paced anxiously back and forth, her earlier giddiness having slowly given way to nervousness and contemplation. She wore a tense frown on her face, her eyes boring into the floor as she went back and forth. Rarity was sitting on a chair, patiently waiting for the rest of them to arrive. She’d occasionally fuss with her mane or glance at Rainbow Dash with mild concern. Pinkie was in the kitchen, helping herself to some leftovers that Rainbow and Twilight didn’t really want anymore.
Finally, there was a sharp series of knocks on the front door before it swung open, Applejack and Fluttershy stepping inside. “Hey, Y'all. Sorry it took us so long. Ah had a few things to finish up before we could come,” the farmer apologized while tipping her hat in greeting. “So, what’s all this about?”
“I would say we're all rather curious about this meeting,” Rarity nodded along, sitting more upright and looking on at Rainbow and Twilight curiously. “It just came out of nowhere, after you two had gone off to Canterlot without inviting any of us or even asking.”
“Did you at least have fun on your trip?” Pinkie asked while bouncing into the room.
Rainbow shrugged at Pinkie’s question. “Kinda sorta? There were fun moments and moments so boring I wanted to slam my face into a wall just so something would happen.”
“Huh. Well, that’s no good,” Pinkie commented before grinning. “I’ll just have to make my party this week extra special to make up for your semi-boring trip to Canterlot, then!”
“Oh, yer throwin’ a party this week, Pinkie?” Applejack inquired, alright sounding eager to attend.
“You know it~” Pinkie sing-songed with an almost predatory look in her eyes. “And it’s gonna be a doozy!”
“Ahem!” Twilight cleared her throat quite audibly, silencing the room and drawing all attention to her. She rose from her seat and trotted to the rough center of the room. “Thanks for being here, everypony. I’m sorry Rainbow and I didn’t let you know we were going to Canterlot or why, but it was a sensitive subject.”
“Apology accepted, Darling,” Rarity nodded with a warm smile. Everypony else voiced their agreement as well, flashing smiles of their own.
Twilight relaxed slightly and then frowned. “Now, then… Let’s start with a question. Do any of you know the name Starlight Glimmer?” she asked seriously, looking between all of her friends with a searching gaze. Aside from Rainbow, none of the rest of them voiced any kind of affirmative, looking thoughtful or confused. Twilight let out a breath and continued. “Well, as things rest, her future self was one of the ones responsible for the change in our timeline. She was probably the one that Princess Celestia was talking about when she mentioned a deliberate effort to undo our lives. The other contributor was, sadly, my own future self. Rainbow and I saw that in a flash when we were fillies in Cloudsdale one day.”
“Woah. Uh, alright,” Applejack raised an eyebrow. “Did somethin’ come up with this Starlight gal?”
“Not in the strictest sense, no,” Twilight answered while shooting Dash a worried look. “But when Discord was here, he mentioned her to Rainbow Dash.”
Rainbow took a deep breath and strode up to stand next to Twilight, having been hanging back until now. “Okay, uh… I’ve been thinking about this a lot these last few days. Starlight Glimmer was one of the two mares I saw on the day I first made a sonic rainboom. You know, when we all got our cutie marks. Like Twilight said, her future self was there, too. But I know Twilight, and from what we saw in the flash, I’m guessing her future self wasn’t all that different from who she is now,” she shot a glance at Twilight before returning her attention to their friends. “But Starlight’s kind of a wildcard. If there’s the possibility of her going back and attempting to rewrite history again…”
Twilight’s eyes softened with empathy when she spied a small shake going through Rainbow Dash. She gently reached out a hoof to the cyan mare’s shoulder in a comforting gesture before continuing for her. “This is why Rainbow Dash and I went to Canterlot. We were doing some research to figure out where she lives.”
“May I stop you right there?” Rarity interrupted softly, fidgeting with the end of her mane a little. Twilight nodded and Rarity continued. “Are you suggesting what I think you are? Finding her and… interfering with her life?”
“We don’t have to do much!” Rainbow suddenly cut in, her voice cracking a bit. All eyes turned to her while she regained herself. “I just want to make sure that she isn’t up to anything dangerous. I want to make sure that the lives we’ve built for ourselves aren’t going to be undone like that again. I mean, what if things end up worse next time? What if none of us ever meet?” she shrank slightly, her ears going completely flat against her head. “I don’t want it to happen. Last time history was rewritten, I wound up with a life where I was orphaned just after getting my cutie mark...”
Twilight moved the hoof that she had on Rainbow’s shoulder until her entire foreleg was draped comfortingly over Rainbow’s back. She nuzzled Rainbow reassuringly before looking back to their friends. “I’ve already agreed to go with her. We called you here because this affects all of you just as much as does us. Fluttershy, Rarity, Pinkie Pie, Applejack… I know it’s a lot to ask, but-”
“Ah’m comin’,” Applejack suddenly proclaimed with a small grin appearing on her face. “What, were you expectin’ any of us to say no?” she furthered from the surprised look on Rainbow’s face.
“Well, I… don’t know?” Rainbow shrugged, perking up just a little. “I mean, I was kinda expecting you to take a bit more convincing.”
“Hey, as long as we stick to what ya said and only make sure she isn’t up to anythin’ nasty, ah think we’ll probably be fine,” Applejack replied before strolling up to Rainbow and Twilight. “And besides… Ah can tell that this means a lot to ya. What kinda friend would Ah be if ah did nothin’ to help out?”
“Count me in, too!” Pinkie added excitedly, bouncing over to them as well. “Ooh! Do you think I could throw her a ‘Congratulations-for-changing-history’ party?!”
“No.” Twilight said flatly, sending a sharp look at Pinkie Pie.
“Aaaw…” Pinkie deflated for a second. “oh well! I’m coming anyway!” she then instantly poofed back up.
“While I am worried about what Rainbow Dash considers to be ‘not doing much,’ I’ll be coming as well,” Rarity agreed while exiting her seat and also stepping towards the rest of them. “I can make sure there is a proper degree of subtlety at work.”
Everypony then turned to Fluttershy expectantly, who was looking at them all with uncertainty. “Um… I don’t know. Where would we be going?”
“Manehattan,” Twilight answered simply.
That got Rarity’s attention. “Hagagabu-WHAT?!” she shrieked out after a second of incoherent, jumbled gibberish. “MANEHATTAN! THE LARGEST, GRANDEST, MOST ADVANCED CITY IN ALL OF EQUESTRIA?!”
Rainbow recoiled from the sudden shrill sound invading her ears. “Rares, dial it back a little, would ya?” she asked while wincing in pain, her head ringing.
“Oh, sorry darling…” Rarity apologized sheepishly, covering her face with a hoof while a small blush appeared on her cheeks.
“Don’t worry, Fluttershy. It’s an almost straight shot by train. Manehattan’s big, but we’ll have each other,” Twilight said reassuringly, opting to ignore Rainbow and Rarity’s little exchange. “And besides… I know that Rainbow would feel a lot better if you came along. You’re her oldest friend.”
“I know…” Fluttershy whispered before slowly making her way to the group. “Okay. I’ll come.”
Rainbow smiled while looking at all of the assembled mares. She wasn’t going to say it or start it, but she looked to Twilight, hoping the lavender mare would figure out what Rainbow was wanting.
She did.
“Group hug?” Twilight asked casually. There were no words of disagreement, merely a quiet voicing of agreement before all six mares fell into a warm embrace with one another, Twilight and Rainbow sitting quite comfortably in the heart of the group.
Later that evening, after everypony else had left for their own homes to rest up for the upcoming trip, Twilight found herself in the kitchen with Spike, offering some assistance while he set about preparing the dinner that they and Rainbow would be eating later. “You really need to learn how to cook on your own.” Spike deadpanned with a small smile, a ladle in the bubbling pot he had atop the stove.
“Spike, we’ve been over this,” Twilight snorted as the tired topic was once again brought up. It had been a recurring topic ever since they had moved to Ponyville. “You don’t need to bring it up again.”
Spike pointed the ladle at Twilight. “You know I’m only bringing it up because you keep procrastinating.” he quipped, a playful grin forming on his face.
“I am not procrastinating!” Twilight defended, her cheeks puffing up before chucking the salt shaker at Spike’s head. She made sure it didn’t have much force behind it and that Spike could easily catch it, which he did.
“Do I smell hooves on fire?” Rainbow’s own teasing words entered the room alongside her as she strolled in. “Oh, wait. That’s just Twi telling a lie through her teeth. Nothin’ new, then.”
“Why you…” Twilight groaned before letting her face thump on the counter. “Ugh… I give up.”
“Give up what?” Rainbow pressed, planting a hoof on the back of Twilight’s head and harshly ruffling her mane. Twilight grunted and swat the hoof away.
“I give up hoping you two will stop teaming up on me,” she pouted before shaking her head. “I don’t know why you two keep getting on my case about it. Besides, it’s not like you can cook, Rainbow.”
“I mean, you got me there,” Rainbow said before nudging Twilight in the ribs with an elbow. “But hey, you’re cute when you’re embarrassed.” she grinned before strutting by, leaving Twilight standing silently.
“Uh… I’ll take that as a compliment?” she said with a raised eyebrow before looking back at Spike. The baby dragon merely shrugged.
“Good, that’s how it was meant,” Rainbow said while sliding into the wooden dining chair that was just off to the side of the kitchen space. She then turned her eyes fully to Spike, looking a little unsure. “You sure you wanna come along, Spike? I mean, it might be dangerous, you know?”
“I’m sure,” Spike nodded with a firm look in his eye before sipping some of the soup he was cooking from the ladle. “Hmm! Soup’s ready!”
Without even being asked, Twilight was on the case. Her horn lit up, a lavender glow pulling open several cupboards and drawers, drawing out bowls and spoons with precision. Three places were very swiftly set at the table, a big grin coming over Rainbow’s face when her serving was set in front of her. “Woah-ho! You trying to spoil us, Spike?” she asked cheekily.
“Says the literal Princess.” Twilight shot back before taking a seat next to Rainbow, another bowl setting itself down in front of her.
“The literal Princess who routinely shuns her title,” Rainbow corrected before taking a big spoonful of soup. “Or did you miss that part while we grew up together?”
Twilight rolled her eyes yet again. It was practically a reflex at this point. “Just because you never really made extensive use of your royal status doesn’t mean you weren’t spoiled by them to some degree.”
“Oh yeah?” Rainbow challenged, a competitive look on her face. “Name one time.”
“How about the time I used your royal status to scare off those bullies in Cloudsdale?” Twilight answered without hesitation, meeting Rainbow’s gaze with no small amount of confidence in her own eyes.
Rainbow flinched a bit. “Hey, that doesn’t count! I’m not the one who did that!”
“Then what about the time you did the exact same thing to scare off some bullies who were pestering one of Celestia’s students?” Spike pointed out with a grin on his face.
Twilight got a predatory look in her eyes. “Oh, I haven’t heard about this one…” she cooed, delighting in Rainbow’s exasperated appearance.
“Wha- SPIKE! What betrayal is this?!” Rainbow demanded of the purple dragon, slapping the table.
Spike held up one claw while he slowly, almost mockingly, drained another spoonful of his soup before meeting Rainbow’s distraught frown with a smug grin. “I never signed a treaty or entered into an alliance with you, princess. I’m neutral and will side with whoever I think has the better chance of winning.” he spelled out in the corniest formal voice he could manage.
Rainbow’s jaw hung open before she scowled at the smug little devil across the table from her. “You little… I’m gonna get you back for this.”
Twilight giggled before taking another spoonful of her own soup. “Oh relax, Rainbow. Besides, he kinda has a point.” she pointed out.
“Yeah yeah, whatever you wanna tell yourself…” Rainbow grumbled, the rest of her sentence dying into disgruntled mumblings as she stuffed more soup into her mouth.
Twilight and Spike shared a good-natured laugh while Twilight reached over to pat Rainbow Dash on the back. For a few seconds, they just sat there, eating their dinner and enjoying the comfortable quiet that came over them.
As the seconds ticked by, Rainbow began to sag a little. Twilight noticed and shifted slightly to better look at her friend. “Something wrong?” she asked softly, reaching out to the pegasus.
“Yeah, I’m fine,” Rainbow dismissed before a gentle sigh worked its way out of her. “I’m just a little anxious about our trip, you know?”
Spike swallowed down his most recent mouthful of food and offered a reassuring smile. “Hey, it’s gonna be okay, Rainbow. That’s why we’re going on this trip in the first place, right?”
Rainbow gave a very slow and uncertain nod. “Yeah, it is.” she said quietly, looking down into her soup while her ears fell somewhat.
Twilight could feel a tug on her heartstrings, seeing Rainbow wilt like this. She was normally so cocky and energetic and fearless. To see her so worried about this…
“Hey…” Twilight whispered, reaching out to Rainbow with a hoof. She tilted Rainbow’s chin until they were eye-to-eye. “I know you’re scared… but you don’t have to be, okay? You’ve got me, you’ve got Spike and all of our friends. We’re here for you, okay?”
Rainbow smiled softly. “I know. Thanks, Twilight. I dunno what I’d do without you.”
“We’re leaving tomorrow, right?” Spike decided to chime in with a question, drawing the attention of the two mares.
“Yes. We’re taking a pretty early train, so we should probably make sure we’re all packed up before we go to bed.” Twilight answered before taking another big spoonful of her soup. Rainbow hummed an agreement while shoveling down some more of her own.
After a moment, an idea struck her and she sat upright. “Oh, I just had an idea. When I get done eating I’m gonna head out for a little bit,” she said before lifting up her bowl and practically gulping down what little was left of her soup.
“Where you going?” Spike asked curiously, the ridge over his eye lifting like an eyebrow.
“I’m heading to Rarity’s place. There’s something I need from her before we leave,” Rainbow answered before pausing. She then shivered a bit. “And it’s gonna mean I need to get up earlier than you two tomorrow. Oh boy…”
Twilight smiled and once more pat Rainbow on the back. “You sure about doing this, then? You hate early mornings.”
“You hush,” Rainbow shot back. She rose from her seat, taking her bowl with her. “I’ll be back soon, okay you two?” she added while depositing her dish into the sink and heading for the door.
“Okay, Rainbow. Come back quick, you hear? We still need to pack your stuff neatly into one suitcase!” Twilight called back, standing up just a bit to make sure her voice carried to the central room.
‘Why one?!” Rainbow demanded, poking her head back into the kitchen and dining room with an exasperated look on her face.
“Ease of transport.” Twilight answered with a geeky smile.
Rainbow rolled her eyes. It was a reflex for her just as much as it was for Twilight. “Oi… Twi, never change.”
Twilight blew the pegasus a raspberry as she left. The sound of the front door closing was almost deafening.
The following morning…
The sun was just barely coming up over the horizon, painting the dawn-lit world in long stripes of orange light. A few morning birds were singing their songs as a gentle breeze rustled the trees and bushes but it was otherwise silent in Ponyville. Even now, standing on the train platform, Twilight, Spike, Applejack, Pinkie Pie and Fluttershy each took note of the quiet and how peaceful it was.
For Twilight, however, an old and unsettling saying was what this quiet reminded her of.
The calm before the storm.
“Ya think they’re gonna be much longer?” Applejack asked with a small frown on her face. “The train ain’t exactly far out by now, Ah reckon.”
“They’ll be here,” Twilight answered with a sharp nod. She looked back into Ponyville with a searching gaze. “This is Rainbow’s mission, after all. She’d never live it down if she didn’t show up.”
“We wouldn’t let her.” Spike added with a slight twitch of his lips before a large yawn escaped him. “I knew we were getting up early, but still…” he mumbled afterward, his voice drowsy.
“I’m totally beat, too!” Pinkie Pie said quite energetically, her voice practically buzzing like a kazoo with excitement. “I couldn’t sleep at all last night! I’m just so excited to be going on another adventure with all of you! AAH! I haven’t been on a big adventure with you girls since the summer sun celebration!”
Fluttershy shivered a bit at the memory. “Um, yes. We remember, Pinkie Pie,” she whispered.
“Wasn’t Rainbow kinda foalnapped at the time, though?” Spike asked, scratching the side of his head. “I was kinda asleep for the end of that particular venture, so…”
“Yeah, Nightmare Moon ran off with her,” Twilight nodded slowly, a small chill running down her spine as she remembered that night. “We got lucky that things went as well as they did.”
“We made it through, though,” Applejack smiled to all of them. “And we got to meet you and Rainbow thanks to that whole fiasco, Twi. Ah’d say it was a night well spent.”
Twilight smiled sheepishly while scratching the back of her head. “Okay, okay, no need to put me on the spot. It’s too early for that.”
“You can say that again!” came the slightly frazzled voice of Rarity. All eyes turned and, sure enough, the pearly unicorn was galloping up to the train station with no fewer than four suitcases full of luggage in her magic. Sweat was falling off her head in beads from the weight. “Oh, these are heavy!” she whined.
“Oh, let me help!” Spike offered instantly while reaching out his claws with an enthusiastic grin, his earlier exhaustion forgotten.
“Oh, you’re such a dear, Spike! Thank you,” Rarity gave a small bow before dumping allof her suitcases into Spike's waiting arms. He promptly toppled over from the weight. Dusting herself off a bit, Rarity glanced back at the others.
“Yer late again, Rarity.” Applejack noted with a very slight teasing edge to her voice.
“It wasn’t my fault this time! I swear!” Rarity said defensively before standing upright and clearing her throat. “Rainbow Dash just needed a, uh, bit of help with something. It took longer than either of us would have liked.”
“She left before Spike and I were even awake,” Twilight noted with a curious look. “What did she want?”
Rarity slowly grinned. “She wanted to be fabulous!”
A familiar, raspy voice sounded from behind the unicorn. “Incognito, Rarity. I wanted to be Incognito.” Rainbow said bluntly before stepping past Rarity to stand before everypony else.
All eyes locked on her. Rarity was grinning, but everypony else wore looks of confusion, amusement, or both. It was Spike to break the silence as he crawled out from under Rarity’s pile of luggage. He took one look at Rainbow, pointed at her and said: “What the heck happened to your mane?"
“What the heck happened to your mane?” Spike asked, pointing at Rainbow Dash with a raised eyebrow and a curious look on his face. “Why’s it all pink and purple?”
Rainbow poked at the now bright pink locks hanging haphazardly just over her eyes. “We wanna cause as little disturbance as possible on this trip, right? Well, suddenly seeing princess Rainbow Dash arriving in Manehattan unannounced would be a pretty big disturbance, don’t you think?” she explained simply before glancing back at her tail, which had received a similar color treatment. Both her mane and tail were now predominantly pink with a deep purple streak in them. “But, gonna be honest… I can’t wait for us to get back so I can wash all of this out.”
Twilight smiled lightly, trotting up to Rainbow and patting her on top of her head. “Hey, for what it’s worth, I think you look good with it.” she said simply. Rainbow snorted and moved out from under Twilight’s appendage.
“I’d have preferred maybe a dark blue or something, but eh. Beggars can’t be choosers.”
“Oh, come now darling!” Rarity said encouragingly, gesturing at the mane. “It looks fabulous! It’s also not nearly as hard on the eyes as your mane usually is.”
Rainbow shot Rarity a sour look. “That’s a matter of opinion. Can we just go now?”
“Just as soon as the train shows up,” Applejack replied while sauntering up to Rainbow Dash. “In the meantime… pink?”
Rainbow groaned in irritation. “Can we not? Please?”
“Ooh! Are we poking fun at Dashie?!” Pinkie chimed in with an enormous grin appearing on her face. She glanced at Rainbow’s mane, blinked and then slumped a bit. “Aw, shoot. I can’t poke fun at you. I’m Pink. Making fun of your pink mane would be like making fun of me.”
“You know Pinks,” Rainbow began with a roll of her eyes. “We don’t need to make fun of you. You’re fun enough as it is.”
Pinkie proceeded to tackle hug Rainbow Dash while squeeing adorably. “EEEE! You always know just what to say!”
“She does?” Twilight asked, genuinely curious about that remark. “I could have sworn she-”
“Twi!” Rainbow snapped, drawing Twilight’s attention. “Shut up and let me have this.”
Everypony giggled at that before the sound of the train whistle cut through the air in the distance, drawing closer.
“About time,” Spike grumbled while reaching for Rarity’s stack of luggage. “I’m kinda hoping to get in a nap on the train. I did not get enough sleep last night…”
“You and me both, little guy,” Rainbow replied while disengaging from her hug with Pinkie. “You and me both.”
“There will be no way for you to change it…”
The voice of Starlight Glimmer rang in Rainbow’s ears, eliciting an uneasy shutter from her. She was standing in that white void again, the ribbon of multi-colored magic still weaving through it. In front of her, Rainbow saw an endless bridge of multi-colored crystal, it’s edges emitting small wisps of color and dust that swirled away into the void almost as soon as they formed. She took another step and then another along this infinite walkway, her legs feeling as if they were full of lead.
“What’s so special about your friends… who knows what will really happen…?” Starlight’s words echoed all around Rainbow, the void shuddering as if struck. “How could a group of friends… be so important?”
Rainbow wanted to speak, but her words wouldn’t come. It was as if her voice had been stolen, caught among the disintegrating dust around her. The ribbon of energy shook again, this time with a deep, thunderous boom ripping across the void and into Raibow’s ears. She felt her heart sink when, along one point, the ribbon was suddenly severes.
“How do I know if it will end the same way… who knows what will really happen… Either way... there will be no way for you to change it.”
The ribbon began to shatter and crumble along its length from where it had been cut. All around Rainbow Dash, the pale void began to turn dark. She opened her mouth to cry out, but all that came was a long, pitiful breath. She fell to her haunches before lifting her hooves up to her face. They, too, were crumbling and vanishing into fog and dust. She felt her heart rate spike and her mind became clouded with fear and desperation.
She looked up, desperate to just scream and call for help.
“HELP ME!!!” her words came to her suddenly, echoing across the darkness that now surrounded her. Beneath her hooves, the crystals crumbled and gave way. Gasping in fear, she gave her wings a quick and powerful flap, relieved when there was enough air in this void to keep herself aloft. She looked up and around uneasily at the endless void, now turned dark.
“Nightmares again?” a gentle and feminine voice drifted down from above her. Looking up, Rainbow squinted when, like a lightbulb, the moon flickered into existence above her. Her back hooves brushed against something soft but sturdy. Clouds. She let herself fall back to her hooves as a sea of clouds began to appear. Above her, gradually filling the sky, were thousands upon thousands of tiny points of light. Stars.
“Aunt Luna… is that you?” Rainbow asked in a shaking voice while turning and looking around.
“Indeed it is,” came the reply, the glow of the moon briefly intensifying. Rainbow looked up and visibly relaxed as the midnight blue alicorn slowly drifted down to stand with her on the clouds. Her wings folded behind her back, and she raised her head to stand tall. Already Rainbow Dash could see that the magical flow of Luna’s mane had spread. No longer did just the tips drift in an unfelt breeze. The second half of the length of her mane and tail hairs were adrift, flowing lazily but beautifully. “I was about to turn in for the morning and resume my slumber. But your nightmare…” she looked around and frowned. “I could not well leave you to such a thing. You are my niece, after all.”
Rainbow smiled warmly while stepping forward. “Wow… thanks, Luna.” her smile slowly faded to a far more despondent look. “You won’t be waking up again for a while, huh?”
“A week at least,” Luna nodded solemnly. “I will not be able to enter the dream realm as I can now. I’ll be but another dreamer… with my own trials to face. But I can spare the time to help you right now.” she slowly stepped forward and touched a hoof to Rainbow’s chin, lifting her head so they could look each other in the eyes.
“Right… uh… how, exactly?” Rainbow asked after a moment.
Luna turned and gestured around them. “Until I intervened, you were in the depths of a horrific nightmare. Whether you felt it’s intensity or not, I do not know, but the darkness it created was some of the darkest I have ever seen,” she then turned her eyes back to Rainbow’s. “And, worse yet, I have seen it from you twice now.”
Rainbow’s ears fell and she looked away. “Y-yeah… I’ve been having nightmares…”
“About somepony who scares you? A lilac unicorn?” Luna asked gingerly while moving around to Rainbow’s side.
“...Is it really okay for me to talk about it here?” Rainbow questioned uneasily. “W-wont it hurt other dreams nearby if I’m, y’know, feeling bad?”
“Not so long as I am here to contain and wash away the darkness those feelings create. Speak freely, my niece.” Luna assured gently before draping a wing over Rainbow’s back and slowly laying down on her belly. Rainbow followed along, soon looking up at the moon in thought.
“Right… the unicorn is named Starlight Glimmer…” Rainbow finally began, looking unsure of herself. She looked down, her forehooves fidgeting with one another. “Mom told you about the changes to history, right?”
“Our sister gave us a summary, though details were scarce.” Luna nodded along before frowning slightly. “My sister gave me. Ugh…”
Rainbow chuckled lightly before continuing. “Well, this Starlight mare is one of two who came back from the original timeline. The other was Twilight- you remember her?”
“Of course I do. She is the element of magic and was the lynchpin to undoing the clutches my jealousy had on me.” Luna nodded with a solemn frown appearing on her face.
“Yeah… well, anyways, I know Twilight, and to a lesser extent, I know what her future self was like. She wouldn’t have been trying to rewrite history. She was probably trying to preserve it. Well… I don’t know about Starlight. All I know is that she came back, and… she was angry. She was actively trying to undo everything. Twilight talked her out of it, but I… I saw them. I was there when they were having their struggle.”
“You weren’t supposed to see them, correct?” Luna commented softly while nuzzling Rainbow atop the head in reassurance.
“I guess not. It was just by me seeing them that time changed… and now I’m worried that she might go back and do it again. I’m scared of what might happen if she goes back in time and tries to change things again…” Rainbow admitted, curling up slightly. “Just seeing those two made things change so much… my parents…”
“Shh,” Luna whispered gently when Rainbow began to shake. “You don’t have to say any more. I think I understand…”
Rainbow took in a shaky breath, then nodded.
Luna was silent for several moments before she hummed in thought. “This nightmare of yours was born from a very deep place… not only of fear or grief, but anger as well.”
Rainbow stiffened slightly, briefly remembering what Discord had done to her before they turned him back to stone.
Make her pay…
“I-it’s nothing,” Rainbow commented quickly, refusing to look at Luna. “The anger, I mean. It’s just leftover from Discord’s magic…”
Luna frowned, unconvinced. “Are you sure about that?”
“I’m sure, Aunt Luna.” was Rainbow’s short response. For several seconds, the two were quiet.
Luna sighed softly before retracting her wing. “I’m afraid I must leave shortly. But before I go, may I offer you some advice?”
Rainbow nodded, still unwilling to meet her adoptive aunt’s gaze.
“...Do not let your fear control you, Rainbow Dash. Nor your grief or anger. And do not be afraid to turn to those around you for aid. From what I have seen of them, you are fortunate to have such a wonderful circle of friends. Do not be afraid to lean on them for support.”
Rainbow smiled softly while finally raising her eyes back to Princess Luna. “I’ll keep that in mind… thank you, Aunt Luna.”
Luna nodded while the clouds beneath her hooves vanished. Her wings spread and she began to lift up towards the moon. She twitched then, as if remembering something at the last moment. “Oh, and also!”
“Yeah?”
“...Pink? What happened to the other colors?” Luna asked in a slightly teasing voice, smirking when Rainbow pouted.
“Not you, too!”
“I bet there is a story behind it, but it shall have to wait for another time. Until then, my niece… farewell.”
The dream then ended.
Rainbow woke up very slowly. The rolling of the train and the soft white noise of the wheels and engines were soothing, making her drowsy mind unwilling to return to the waking world just yet. But when some sunlight hit her eyelids, all remaining hopes of falling back to sleep were demolished. With a gentle inhale, Rainbow’s eyes fluttered open. She was sitting in a very relaxed position next to the window on the train. Her first sight was the slowly descending plains and, if she looked closely, she thought she could see the dark blue of the ocean in the distance.
“Rise and shine, sleepyhead.” Twilight said gently from her said. Rainbow looked over while rubbing the remnants of the sand mare’s visit from her eyes.
“Ey,” she mumbled before a yawn worked its way out of her. “What’d I miss?”
“Not much. You were out for a few hours there. Feeling better?” Twilight asked, now speaking at a somewhat more casual volume.
“Uh-huh. How much longer before we’re at Manehattan?” Rainbow asked while getting up to stretch.
“Another hour, roundabouts,” Applejack answered, turning around in her seat and looking back at Twilight and Rainbow. “Howdy, sugarcube. Yer were out like a light fer a while there.”
“So I’ve been told.” Rainbow said before looking out the window.
"Did you have another nightmare?” Twilight asked more gently while putting a hood to Rainbow’s back. “You were mumbling to yourself not all that long ago.”
“Kinda… I got some help with it, though.” Rainbow nodded along, smiling softly as the train continued its journey to Manehattan.
Rarity was… excited. Her delighted squeals had died down maybe a minute ago, but she was still swooning and crooning and ‘oohing’ and ‘aahing.’ Manehattan had become visible maybe ten minutes ago and, as they drew closer, Rarity’s untold jubilation grew by several orders of magnitude per second.
Frankly, Rainbow Dash was getting a little sick of the fashionista’s crowing. They were on a serious mission here! She shot the pearly unicorn a sour look. “Rarity, we know you’re excited to be in Manehattan, but can you please contain your excitement for now? Please? I can’t hear myself think.” she asked in a deadpan.
Rarity swiftly covered her mouth with her hooves and shrunk away from the view out her window, a blush coming to her cheeks. “Oh… ahem, pardon me. Was all of that out loud?”
Applejack’s own expression dried up. “...ya kiddin?”
Rarity’s blush deepened significantly.
“Well, It is a very lovely looking city,” Fluttershy said quietly from Rarity’s side, leaning past her to peer at the enormous skyscrapers that were looming closer and closer as the train sped along. “But, um, it’s also really, really big…”
“The biggest!” Pinkie Pie chimed in, cartwheeling down the aisle until she was right next to Fluttershy. “I mean, just LOOK at that! Just one of those tall buildings could house an entire city block’s worth of ponies from Canterlot! Think of the parties they must throw there! They’d be PACKED!”
Twilight chuckled slightly. “No doubt. But there’s something I think we should go over before we’re at the station,” she said, drawing everypony’s attention. She got up and cleared her throat. “Ahem. As you all remember, we are coming here to ensure that Starlight Glimmer doesn’t have any plans to go back in time. Now, as things rest, we have her address and could very easily just walk in and ask her about this, but that wouldn’t go over very well if she has no plans or knowledge of time travel.”
“Not to mention that bringing it up out of nowhere may spark an interest in her if none exists already,” Rarity pointed out, the gravity of the situation briefly overwriting her giddy freakout over being in Manehattan. “We’ll need to handle this with tact, care, and subtlety.”
“Thank you, Rarity. Now, as it is, we’ve already done our best to mitigate any disturbances to the area with Rainbow’s Disguised mane- good thinking, by the way,” Twilight continued before smiling at Rainbow, who beamed at the praise. “But we don’t want to cause any disturbances after our arrival by being too upfront about what we’re doing or why.”
“So we need a cover story?” Applejack asked with a raised eyebrow.
“That’s what I was thinking. We’ll also need a cover name for Rainbow Dash until we leave.” Twilight nodded along before turning to her cyan friend.
Rainbow blinked and tapped a hoof to her chin, racking her brain for ideas. “Uh… code name… I didn’t think of that.”
“What about Party Pop?” Pinkie suggested with a grin. “Your new mane color is so bright and you’re so fast! Like a surprise party waiting to be sprung on an unsuspecting birthday pony!
Rainbow shook her head. “Uh, no. If we needed a nickname for you, I’d say go for it, but we’re looking for a name for me. And, no offense, Party Pop sounds too much like the start of Party Pooper. And it’s just not awesome enough.”
“Purple Apple?” Applejack suggested with a shrug. “...It’s the best ah got.”
Rainbow snorted. “AJ, I like you and all, but I’m not an apple. I don’t wanna pretend we’re relatives or something while we’re here.”
Applejack conceded the point with a shrug.
Rarity chimed in with “Oh! I’ve got it! Empyrean Firmament! You-”
“PASS,” Rainbow said quickly before looking around at everypony else. “Something that’s easier to pronounce, eh?”
Fluttershy shifted forward a bit. “Um… your mane is kind of a lilac color right now, so… maybe Lilac could be in there somewhere?” she offered timidly before looking away. “I mean, if that’s okay, that is. You don’t have to if you don’t like it.”
Rainbow leaned back a bit, puffing out a breath and making one of the longest of her bangs waver a bit. “Maybe… Twilight, what do you got?”
Twilight gave a warm grin. “Rainbow, you’re able to make almost anything you do have some style and flare to it when you really want to. So…” she leaned forward. “How about Lilac Bolt?”
Rainbow’s eyes widened for a few seconds before a cocky grin spread across her face. “Heh… I like it. Lilac Bolt it is, then.”
Applejack smiled as well and gave a nod. “Ah like it, too. Suits ya, RD,” she then chuckled and winked. “Or, ah guess it’s ‘Lilac Bolt’ fer now, huh?”
Rainbow smirked, rather liking her new nickname (even if it was only because of the bolt part.) and leaned back in her seat.
“Not as inspired as I think you deserve, but we are undercover,” Rarity pouted slightly before clearing her throat and shifting her attention back to Twilight. “Now, what about our cover story? I doubt we’re all changing our names, are we?”
“I doubt it. We toppled Nightmare Moon and Discord, yes, but in all fairness, those events were pretty contained to the Ponyville and Canterlot areas. We’re household names there, but in a big and always-busy city like Manehattan? I imagine we’re not as well known. But we do still need some kind of cover story. Something mundane and believable.”
Pinkie Pie began tapping her chin with an exaggerated hum. “Well… we could say that we’re here doing early birthday shopping for Rainbow Dash if anypony asks.”
Twilight blinked, then looked over at Rainbow with a small smile. “That actually works pretty well, I think.”
“Er, how come?” Rainbow inquired, sitting up a bit. Her freshly dyed mane briefly swayed a bit from the movement, allowing her to catch sight of it. She made an ‘o’ with her mouth as realization struck her.
Applejack smirked broadly. “‘Cause we ain’t here with Rainbow Dash. Far as anypony here knows, yer back in Ponyville or Canterlot, doin’ Princessy things.” she said, gesturing vaguely back in the direction of Ponyville and Canterlot.
“And we’re here with our friend, Lilac Bolt, a pony who wants to get into Rainbow’s circle of friends by getting her a birthday present.” Twilight continued with bright eyes, nudging Rainbow in the side with her elbow.
Pinkie suddenly went rigid and gasped quite loudly. Everypony looked at her with swiftly mounting worry. “Wait! That means Rainbow Dash can buy herself a birthday present this year!” she exclaimed with an enormous grin.
Everypony’s looks of concern or surprise shifting into looks of bewilderment and amusement. “Uh, Pinkie dear, this is only our cover story.” Rarity said slowly, rising from her seat and moving slowly towards the excitable pink ball of party pony.
Pinkie slowly turned to look slyly into Rarity’s eyes, beaming like the sun itself on a very clear day. “A cover story only works if it’s believable~” she sing-songed before bouncing in place a few times, squealing like a hyperactive school filly on sugar. “Early birthday shopping for Dashie, and saving time itself from a mysterious unicorn! This is so exciting!”
“What’s exciting?” Spike asked from a few seats farther ahead while lifting his head up over the edge of his seat backrest. He blinked drowsily before giving a large and very uncovered yawn.
“Spike, cover your mouth!” Twilight scolded gently, frowning slightly when she got an all-too detailed look at the inside of a baby-dragon’s mouth.
Pinkie cut in before that topic could go any further, shooting over to Spike and practically vibrating. “Oh, did we wake you? Sorry, Spike. But we’re almost at Manehattan and we just came up with our cover story for why we’re here and it’s just so exciting because Rainbow Dash gets to buy herself a birthday present to keep our cover story intact! Also, she’s called Lilac Bolt for the rest of this trip so don’t call her Dashie or Rainbow Dash or Rainbow or Dash or-”
“PINKIE!” Spike said sharply, putting a claw to Pinkie’s lips, silencing her. “Do you remember this thing called breathing?”
Pinkie nodded quickly. “Uh-huh!”
“Think you can do that for a minute or five?”
“Sure!” Pinkie stepped back, knowing the hint and taking it.
Spike then turned his attention back to the rest of the train. “Okay, now would somepony like to repeat that to me in modern ponish and not, uh…” he looked sideways at Pinkie, who waved. “...Caffeinated gerbil-speak?”
The others burst into a fit of hysterical giggles.
Princess Celestia gave a well-concealed sigh as another sheet of parchment was signed and, as a result, another case dealt with for court. She looked down to her personal assistant Raven Inkwell. “Are there any other pressing petitioners still on the docket?”
Raven’s horn lit up with bright brown magic, lifting a stack of parchment sheets up to her eyes. “Let’s see… nope, the rest are of minor significance. Small personal disputes and whatnot, nothing major.” she said with a cheerful smile.
Celestia visibly relaxed a bit. “Well, that’s certainly a relief. Put out the notice that court is having a fifteen-minute recess. I need to recharge my mind a bit before we resume.” she commanded simply before rising from her seat and stretching a bit.
“Of course, your majesty.” Raven bowed respectfully before trotting up to the large double doors separating the throne room from the hall and waiting areas beyond. She did briefly glance over her shoulder to the solar Princess with a flicker of worry in her eyes. Celestia was still tired from Discord’s joyride, of that there was no doubt. The white unicorn mare had been Celestia’s personal aide long enough to know when she wasn’t at peak capacity. The fact that the Princess called for a break in between petitions was itself a telling sign of the Princess’s exasperation and exhaustion. They were still mopping up after that mad spirit’s antics, after all, and more reports of leftover abnormalities constantly demanded her attention.
Still, the notice was put out to the waiting petitioners. Some were annoyed by the delay, others were more understanding, but all were clearly unhappy that they were still to wait. Raven sighed slightly before returning to the throne room. She looked up and looked at Celestia, who was currently leaning back somewhat more leisurely, trying to work some tension out of her shoulders. “With all due respect your highness, you’re not looking up to your normal par. Perhaps we should delay the remainder of these petitions until tomorrow morning when you are better rested?”
Celestia smiled softly at her assistant’s concern. “I appreciate the suggestion, Raven, but I have a duty to my little ponies. I have been through stress far greater than this and never once did I shy away from this, the most simple of my duties,” she answered before grunting when a stiff muscle came loose, letting her back relax somewhat.
“Of course, your majesty… I’ve just never seen you quite so… agitated… before.” Raven said while returning to her place on the smooth floor beside the throne.
Celestia hummed in amusement. “Well, you didn’t see me in the months leading up to the Summer Sun Celebration last year,” she commented before opening her eyes.
Movement caught her attention, and her eyes flicked to one of the hanging banners bordering the double doors of the room, only to find nothing there. For a moment, she gazed intently at that spot before shaking her head and leaning back again.
“I did not. Perhaps you could tell me about it sometime, your highness.” Raven asked hopefully.
Celestia smiled that motherly smile she gave all of her beloved subjects. “Perhaps, Raven… Perhaps."
Despite openly scolding Rarity for her jubilation towards Manehattan earlier, now that they were actually in the city, Rainbow was hard pressed to keep an energetic jitter out of her movements. She had seen the city from after countless times, mostly back when she had lived in Cloudsdale as a filly. As the City of Clouds actively traveled over Equestria to ensure that national weather patterns were on schedule and properly managed, it swung by Manehattan at least three times a year. This was a higher statistic than with other cities further inland, due to wild weather from off the coast threatening to throw scheduled plans into disarray without proper maintenance and oversight.
So Rainbow had seen it a lot. From a distance, she thought it looked cool, yeah, but now… “I’m getting dizzy,” she commented before whistling quite audibly, impressed. The buildings were almost impossibly tall and the streets were so packed and crowded with ponies swiftly going about their business that the group of friends fresh off the train had almost been separated right off the bat.
“Ah remember mah first time here,” Applejack nodded along from Rainbow’s right while trotting up. “It was… heh. I darn near passed out from just how busy it all is.”
“I bet. Just look at all of this!” Rainbow continued, gesturing around at the city with a rather large smirk appearing on her face. “I don’t think we’re gonna be hard pressed to keep our cover story intact.”
Twilight lightly jabbed her cyan friend in the ribs with her elbow and a small frown of disapproval. “That’s not something we want to mention in public, Lilac.” she said quietly, looking around a bit.
“Twilight makes a valid point, Rain- er, pardon me, Lilac.” Rarity chimed in before looking forward and drooling. Just a little bit.
“Maybe we should get a room at a hotel, then?” Fluttershy suggested meekly before squeaking behind Applejack when a taxi carriage thundered down the asphalt road directly in front of them.
“Good idea. We should probably get one that’s fairly close to where Starlight lives,” Twilight nodded while reaching into her saddlebags with her magic to retrieve the scrap of parchment that had the address of the unicorn in question written on it. “Let’s find that place first and then find a hotel close by…”
While she looked over the scrap of parchment, committing the address to memory just in case of a mishap, Applejack’s ears splayed back against her head a bit. “Er, that’s a good plan… but do we know where we’re goin’?” the farm mare asked, a small hint of uncertainty filtering into her voice.
“Obtaining a map wouldn’t be the worst idea in the world…” Rarity agreed, rubbing her chin in thought.
“Why don’t we check the stand with the tourist pamphlets over there on the street corner?” Pinkie asked cheerily, pointing to the stand in question. Sure enough, one of many such stands in the area around the train station housed several dozen tourist pamphlets, which presumably would also have maps of the city.
Twilight smiled at the party mare. “Nice catch, Pinkie.”
Pinkie shrugged noncommittally, though she wore a small, smug smirk. “Oh, it was nothing.” she said with no small amount of exaggeration.
In short order, the entire party had their own pamphlet, each one looking through theirs with curiosity and anticipation. While they were here on a serious mission, part of their cover story did permit some sightseeing and browsing. Rarity seemed all too eager for that.
Rainbow Dash, however, contented herself with sidling up next to Twilight and peering over the map held in the unicorn’s magic. “So… is now a bad time to mention that I can’t read city maps?”
Twilight paused and then looked to Rainbow incredulously. “...You serious?”
Rainbow blushed. “H-hey, I can read topographic maps and geographic maps just fine! Hay, those are what I’m best with. But that’s because those are similar to a bird's eye view of a landscape. A city map for a place like Manehattan…” she gestured at the city around them and then back at the map, which itself was mostly grey blocks indicating city blocks with thick white lines indicating streets. “...It’s too artificial, y’know? I mean, I can read them, but it takes a lot more active effort than just looking at a topographic map and then looking around.”
Twilight chuckled slightly to herself. “Heh… you just keep giving me ammo, don’t you?”
“Only because you keep giving me ammo,” Rainbow snorted before peering at the map again. “So… where are we and where are we going?”
“Well,” Twilight poked the map with a hoof. “We’re right here, at the Maneway Station. We need to get to Trotlane Street, which is…” she scrutinized the map for several seconds before poking another spot. “Ah, right here.”
Rainbow blanched. “That’s kinda far away.”
“We can do some sightseeing on the way,” Twilight said with a smile while folding up the map back into the pamphlet. “I imagine Rarity would like that.”
“OH YES PLEASE!” Rarity all but squealed in absolute joy, making everypony but Spike cringe and wince away as their ears were violently assaulted. Spike simply toughed it out to save face.
Applejack rolled her eyes. “Well, that answers that, ah guess. Lead on, Twi.”
“Gladly. Right this way, everypony.” Twilight said, briefly putting on a fancy tour pony voice, eliciting some giggles from the ensemble of friends before they began on their way.
It had been noon-ish when they first arrived in the city. They didn’t rush their trip, making more than a few pit stops in street-side shops and establishments to browse and even buy a few knick knacks or cool items. Pinkie had gotten a few souvenirs, but thus far seemed to be scouring for the perfect gift for Rainbow Dash. She also dropped some not so subtle hints at Lilac for certain other items she could get as a gift.
Applejack had only gotten a couple new pans that she figured would be good replacements for a few back at the farm that, much to her dismay, had lost most, if not all, of their practicality over the many years she had used them. Beyond that, she was being pretty conservative with her bits, although she had no qualms about looking around and taking in the sights as they went.
They wound up stopping in a fast-food joint for lunch a couple of hours into their meanderings, Rainbow arguing that her access to her portion of the royal treasury was off-limits for this trip. She could only use what she had brought along, so they needed to be somewhat careful with their spending.
Following a greasy lunch, they moved further on. Rarity absolutely lost it when they arrived on Bridleway, cooing, shrieking and yapping on and on with delight at all of the various, amazing things presently showing. It had taken almost an hour to coerce her away from that street sow they could get a move on.
Eventually, the afternoon began to wind down, and the pale arcs of sunlight across the city began to lose some of their intensity, gradually turning orange. By now, they were only a few blocks away from where they needed to be, but they were all tired. Surprisingly, it was Rainbow Dash who finally spoke up about it. “Hey, guys?” she called to the rest of the group, a carriage driving by on the street next to them.
Still, they heard her and turned to look at her. “Something wrong, sugercube?” Applejack asked curiously.
“Not really. I’m just thinking that maybe we should stop and sit down for a little bit. We’ve been on our hooves all day. I’m not used to using my legs this much, you know?” Rainbow admitted sheepishly while rubbing the back of her head. She looked around a bit before gesturing to her left. “Uh, there’s a park right over there. Maybe we can find a spot to just sit down and rest for a few minutes?”
Pinkie shot forward and grabbed Rainbow Dash by the face. “You’re wanting to slow down?!” she demanded in mock shock. “What have you done with our Rainbow Dash?!”
“Pinkie!” Rainbow immediately snapped, stuffing a hoof in the pink mare’s mouth. “We’re in public.” she followed up with a quiet hiss.
Pinkie’s ears flattened and she nodded. “Oh, right. Sorry.” she apologized with a sheepish grin.
“Besides, even I get tired sometimes, Pinkie. Let’s take ten, okay?” Rainbow looked past Pinkie to voice her question.
“Hey, ah ain’t complaining.” Applejack gave a nod and warm smile.
“It sounds like a splendid idea, Lilac. Let’s go!” Rarity chimed in, sharing Applejack’s expression.
“I’d like that. My legs do kind of hurt.” Fluttershy offered up with her typical shy smile.
“Just so long as we don’t fall asleep by accident, okay? I’d rather sleep in a bed.” Spike snarked out, though he still wore an approving look.
Pinkie just shrugged and nodded.
Twilight nodded as well. “Sounds fine to me. I guess it’s settled. Let’s find a good spot.”
It didn’t take them long to find a comfortable spot on the grass, still warmed up by the slowly fading rays of sunlight while the celestial object dipped closer and closer to the horizon. They were lucky to find themselves the only ones here in the park, and any pedestrians trotting by were too far away to hear any discussions. Most of them found their own spots to just settle down and relax, with Twilight keeping tabs on a small, cheap watch she had purchased earlier to ensure they wouldn’t lose track of time.
Rainbow, from a little ways away, looked over to Twilight and sighed softly. There she went again, burying her nose in something. Twilight was clearly eager to get on the move again, with their destination so nearby. She was practically not looking anywhere but the watch. After several seconds of silent contemplation, Rainbow stood and slowly made her way over to Twilight.
“You gonna put that thing down?” she asked softly, causing Twilight to jump slightly. While she shot a nasty look at Rainbow, Twilight set the watch down next to her forehoof.
“I just want to make sure we aren’t wasting any time. We only have so much time left in the day.” she admitted quietly with a small sigh.
“Well we don’t have to drop into la-la land the second mom lowers the sun,” Rainbow pointed out while settling down next to Twilight. “And speaking of, just look at that sunset. Mom didn’t hold back today…”
Twilight looked, careful not to look directly into the sun. “Yeah… it’s beautiful.”
For a second, the two were silent.
“Twi… I’ve got something I wanna ask you,” Rainbow said quietly, looking down a bit while the unicorn glanced at her, a curious glint in her eyes. “...Are you okay? You’ve been kind of intense ever since we were on the train, and you got even more intense when we got here.”
Twilight shrugged slightly. “...We’re on a serious mission, Rainbow. I’m trying to keep us focused is all.”
Rainbows ears fell a bit. “Yeah, I can see that…”
“...All of this stuff with Starlight Glimmer scares you. A lot,” Twilight continued in a whisper, closing her eyes. “And I have never seen you so scared of something like this before. You’ve always been so confident and sure of yourself over the years I’ve known you…” she opened her eyes and glanced in Rainbow’s direction. “Back at the library, when you were having your hangover and explained all of this to me… Seeing you so shaken by even the thought of what Starlight could do… it hurts me to see you like that. I want to help you and put all of this behind us as soon as possible. I want my confident, funny and energetic Rainbow Dash back… doing this mission seems like the quickest way to do that.”
Rainbow stiffened slightly before a small, quivering smile appeared on her lips. “Hey, Twilight…?”
“Huh?” Twilight glanced back at Rainbow and her eyes widened when she saw tears in the cyan pegasus’ eyes.
“Get the o-onions out of here, would ya?” she asked in a shaky voice before gently play-punching Twilight in the shoulder.
Twilight grinned before reaching out and playfully pulling Rainbow Dash in for a noogie. “Yeah, I’ll get on that just as soon as you stop acting all sad and stuff. Deal?” she asked with a large grin.
“Hey, let go! Twilight, not in front of the girls! Ow!”
“Do we have a deal or not?” Twilight pressed, not relenting in her hold.
“Ack! Yeah yeah, deal!” Rainbow squawked in surprise and agitation before Twilight released her with a pleasant chuckle. Rainbow pouted and glared at Twilight. “I’m getting you back for that.”
Twilight wiggled her eyebrows provocatively. “Bring it.” she challenged with a grin.
Rainbow flared her wings, a small grin appearing on her face. “Oh, I’m gonna bring it alright.”
Twilight’s hoof suddenly reached out and poked Rainbow on the tip of her nose, making her go cross-eyed. She blinked and shook her head before pouting at Twilight again. Twilight, however, wore a much softer smile now. “That right there? That confidence and eagerness? That was the Rainbow Dash I want back.” she said simply before resting her hoof down again.
Rainbow blinked, her wings slowly folding back up at her sides. “...Right.”
“Ahem…” somepony cleared their throat behind the two. Both mares locked up and slowly turned to the rest of their group, who were all looking on with expressions ranging from mischievous, amused and charmed. Rarity waved daintily. “...Maybe we should get a move on. You two seem to have your spark back.”
Twilight and Rainbow shared a look before getting back up and brushing themselves down. “I guess. Alright. How much farther to Starlight’s place, Twi?” Rainbow asked with a small frown as their mission was once again pushed into the forefront of all of their minds.
Twilight withdrew her map and scanned it one more time before looking up and nodding. “One block north. Let’s go,” she said, snapping the map closed and leading the way for the abode of Starlight Glimmer.
Rainbow Dash hadn’t really been sure what she was expecting Starlight Glimmer’s home to be. She did know, however, that she had not been expecting it to be a small thrift store huddled between two, much larger buildings halfway down the block. The store in question named ‘Tinder’s Bits and Bobs’ was incredibly easy to miss. Peering over Twilight’s shoulder, Rainbow looked at the address on the paper one more time.
“227 East Trotlane Street, Upstairs Living Space,” She recited before her lips thinned slightly. “Huh… she lives in a thrift shop?”
“I guess so,” Twilight nodded along. “The address specified ‘upsatirs,’ so maybe she has a lodging agreement with the owner. Whatever the case, we probably shouldn’t stand here much longer,” Twilight answered while sagging a little bit. “We don’t want to get spotted. Come on, we should find a hotel and get ourselves a room.”
“At the risk of being rude, it’s about time!” Rarity added bluntly with a slight whimper in her voice. “My legs are killing me.”
“You’re the one who insisted we check every single side-stop on our way over here, Rarity.” Rainbow pointed out with a frown.
“But I… HMPH!” Rarity pouted and looked away with an indignant huff.
“Where even is the closest hotel, anyhow?” Applejack asked, scrutinizing the street ahead of them with a frown. “Ah’m not seein’ anythin’ from here.”
Twilight withdrew the map from her saddlebags before opening it up again. She gave it a very critical looking over for a few seconds before emitting an ‘aha!’. “Looks like there’s one just a block from here. Come on,” she said before snapping the map closed and returning it to her saddlebags.
“Sounds good. I’m about ready to pass out, frankly.” Rainbow nodded, feeling her body already trying to relax in anticipation of a nice, warm bed. She couldn’t help the enormous yawn that worked its way out of her, forcing her head to tilt up somewhat and her eye to close for the duration. When she opened her eyes again, though, she saw something that made her freeze and sent a shot of ice into her veins.
That’s her… she heard the words in her head over and over again, scarcely able to believe what it was she was looking at. Not far away, just on the other side of the street, making her way back toward Bits and Bobs, was Starlight Glimmer, carrying several plastic bags full of various grocery items in her magic. She looked almost exactly the way she had in the few flashes Rainbow had had of her. Her mane was, just as Rainbow remembered, a deep purple with two bright blue streaks running down. Interestingly, her mane was tied into a ponytail in the back, a natural curl causing it to drape over her shoulder.
Starlight seemed to notice Rainbow staring at her and turned to look back, a small, friendly smile on her face. The sort of smile one would give to a stranger as they passed.
Just for a second, Rainbow and Starlight’s eyes met.
Make her pay…
Rainbow tensed up, sucked in a deep breath through her teeth and looked away, screwing her eyes shut. After a few seconds, she slowly managed to look back in Starlight’s direction again. The lilac-colored unicorn didn’t stop moving and, aside from a somewhat confused looking glance at Rainbow over her shoulder, she didn’t pay the group of friends much mind. She stepped up to the door of Bits and Bobs and, with a quick flourish of magic, opened it and vanished into the building.
The moment the door of the building closed, the sound echoing heavily in her head, Rainbow Dash fell to her haunches, her legs giving out. She could feel her heart pounding in her chest and her cranium was throbbing to match. The ice in her veins was starting to feel more like fire. For a moment, the whole world stopped existing for her. There was just her, her thoughts, and the memory of what she had just seen burning itself into her mind’s eye. That was Starlight Glimmer… holy cow, I just saw Starlight Glimmer… that was her… right there… in front of me.
“Hey, Lilac!” a voice shouted, snapping Rainbow Dash out of her trance and making her look up. She saw that the rest of the group had stopped maybe halfway up the block, looking back towards her with worry. It was Applejack that had spoken. “Y’all comin’?” she called, beckoning Rainbow with a wave of her foreleg.
Rainbow, on shaky legs, managed to stand and used her tail to remove some stray pebbles from her rear legs before cantering back to the rest of her friends. As soon as she joined them, Twilight and Fluttershy came closer. “Are you okay? You look like you just saw a ghost.” Twilight asked gingerly, reaching out.
“Huh? Didn’t any of you see her?” Rainbow asked, her voice tinged with disbelief. She looked at each of them in turn, her brain still reeling.
“See who?” Pinkie asked, her voice much calmer than usual. “Did you have a flash or something, Dash- uh, I mean, Lilac?”
Rainbow’s muscles tensed slightly. “No! It was-” she began, her voice much sharper and louder than she had intended. She stopped herself and took a long, deep breath, forcing herself to calm down. “...It was her. I saw Starlight Glimmer.” she finally managed, her voice quiet.
Everypony reacted visibly, with Fluttershy wincing, Applejack and Rarity standing upright, and Pinkie and Twilight perking up their ears. A tense and oppresive silence fell over everypony present. Rainbow shifted slightly, feeling like this quiet was choking her. When it was clear nopony else was going to ask, Spike cleared his throat. “Where?” he asked softly, stepping forward with worry and anxiety etched into his face.
Rainbow jerked her head to the side slightly in the direction of Bits and Bobs. “The other side of the street. She just went to that thrift store we found,” she replied, her voice coming out slowly and with little emotion.
“Are you okay?” Twilight asked quietly, resting her hoof on Rainbow’s shoulder.
Rainbow looked up and met Twilight’s gaze. Between the look in her eye, the frown on her muzzle and the horrible, uncontrollable shaking in her body, she didn’t need to speak for her answer to be known. Twilight, breathing out softly, reached out and pulled Rainbow in for a tight hug, one which Rainbow quickly returned, burying her face into Twilight’s neck. It took no time at all for everypony else to join in, offering whatever comfort they could.
“It’s okay, Rainbow. We’re here for you, okay?” Twilight whispered into Rainbow’s ear. Rainbow didn’t answer verbally, opting to instead nod into Twilight’s shoulder with a shudder.
“We should get to the hotel,” Rarity suggested carefully, disengaging from the group hug. “I think we could all use some rest and relaxation. Especially you, Lilac.”
“Good idea,” Twilight agreed, the group hug gradually untangling itself. “Let’s go.”
Reaching the hotel had been simple enough, though renting the rooms had proven somewhat problematic at first. Without a reservation, and also without a clear idea of how long they would be staying, it had taken a fair amount of negotiating and discussion with the receptionist before, at last, with moonlight now streaming in through the windows, they had their rooms settled. The group had resorted to two rooms, each one with two beds, for the sake of conservation of bits.
Applejack, Rarity and Pinkie Pie would be taking one room, while Twilight, Rainbow, and Fluttershy would take the other. There had been a very brief period of debate about Spike, but they had managed to convince the receptionist that he ‘wasn’t a pet’ and so was allowed to be here.
At last, the group made their way to their respective rooms, having to part ways on the first floor of the building, as Rainbow, Twilight, and Fluttershy’s room was on the second floor. With no small amount of sluggishness to her movement, Rainbow Dash pushed her way into the room just as soon as Twilight unlocked it with the key. Fluttershy and Twilight were right behind her, turning on the lights so they could see.
The first thing Rainbow Dash did was locate the nearest bed and hurl herself onto it face first. For several long seconds, Twilight and Fluttershy looked at her, worried. Twilight, after a second of silence, began her approach. “Hey, Rainbow?” she ventured gingerly.
Rainbow grunted in response.
Fluttershy also came forward. “You were really tense the whole way over here. Are you feeling any better?”
Rainbow shifted so one of her eyes could look back at Fluttershy. “No.” she mumbled before burying her face completely into the pillow again.
“Do you want to talk about it?” Fluttershy asked, coming up to the side of Rainbow’s bed.
“...I dunno.” Rainbow muttered, shifting and rolling until she was on her back.
“It might help,” Twilight pointed out gently while sitting down on the side of Rainbow’s bed. “And it can’t hurt anything.”
Rainbow nodded slowly before sitting back up. “It’s just that seeing Starlight like that… it was so surreal. It was uncanny as heck. Until now, I’ve only ever seen her in flashes and nightmares. Seeing her out there, looking her in the eye…” Rainbow visibly shivered and curled up slightly.
Fluttershy hopped up onto the bed and draped a wing over Rainbow’s back. Twilight also drew closer, putting a hoof on Rainbow’s shoulder. It was Fluttershy who spoke. “Oh, you poor thing… is there anything we can do?”
Rainbow relaxed somewhat from her friends efforts but shrugged. “I dunno, Flutters.”
“Well, we need to figure out what she’s up to if anything. If we can prove that she’s not planning on jumping back in time, then I think we can safely sweep this all under the rug.” Twilight pointed out simply.
“But how do we do that?” Fluttershy asked, furrowing her brow somewhat in thought.
Twilight sighed slightly, lowering her gaze away from Rainbow. “...As much as I think we would all like to see all of this done and over with as soon as possible, we can’t rush this. We need to be careful and not draw too much attention to ourselves. We also need to know more before about her living situation and routine before we can figure out a definitive a plan.”
Rainbow tensed slightly. “We’re gonna be here for a while, aren’t we?” she groaned out in frustration, reaching her forehooves up to her eyes.
“I’m sorry, Rainbow.” Was all Twilight could say.
For a moment, the room fell into silence. Eventually, Rainbow grunted and let herself fall back onto the bed again, causing Twilight and Fluttershy to release their comforting holds on her. “Meh. I’m gonna catch some z’s,” she muttered.
Twilight and Fluttershy got off of the bed, letting Rainbow get under the covers. After a few seconds, Fluttershy tried and failed to stifle a yawn, indicating she was about ready to hit the sack, too. “Um… we only have two beds…” she commented, a very small blush appearing on her face.
“Don’t worry, Rainbow and I slept in the same bed for a while, once.” Twilight said simply, shooting Fluttershy a reassuring smile.
“Really?” Fluttershy perked up a bit. “Why?”
“One of the beds in the library was broken,” Twilight said while moving over towards the bed Rainbow was in. “I’ll tell you more in the morning, okay?”
“Oh, okay.” Fluttershy nodded, satisfied with the promise of answers tomorrow. With all that said and done, Twilight used her magic to turn out the lights while slipping into bed next to Rainbow.
“...You’d better not tell her that story.” Rainbow muttered sternly, rolling over and looking at Twilight with a dry look.
Twilight smiled softly before playfully poking Rainbow in the nose again. “We’ll see.”
“Stop doing that!” Rainbow protested in a harsh whisper, lightly shoving Twilight’s hoof away from her nose.
Twilight giggled at that. “We’ll see.”
Rainbow pouted but chose not to respond, simply closing her eyes and trying to relax. As she gradually began to fall into slumber, she felt a forehoof lightly trace it’s way over her mane in a comforting pat. A voice whispered in her ear before she was well and truly asleep.
The sun was just starting to rise outside the hotel, bringing with it warmth and light. As the city of Manehattan was bathed in gradually increasing amounts of light and heat, songbirds began to sing their morning melodies. While the traffic outside had never really stopped, it had quieted somewhat after sunset. Now it was returning in full force, the rumbling of taxi carriages and general chatter of hundreds of ponies going about their business on the streets below filling the air.
Twilight would have loved nothing more than to claim that it was that growing cacophony of hectic noise that roused her from her already restless sleep. But, alas, that was not the case. Instead, it was the uncomfortable mumblings and anxious shifting of the pegasus next to her in the bed that roused her.
“S-stop… please…” Rainbow mumbled almost incoherently, rolling over onto her back with her eyes screwed tightly shut. Twilight opened her own eyes when Rainbow’s hoof thumped into her shoulder, destroying her last shot at getting in some more sleep. Looking over, she saw the distraught look on Rainbow’s face, saw the cold sweat blanketing her body and observed the uncontrollable shivering that Rainbow was displaying.
Her heart broke a little at the sight, but she put aside her own sorrows for now. Right now, Rainbow needed to wake up. “Hey, Rainbow, wake up,” Twilight said urgently, shaking Rainbow’s shoulder.
Rainbow suddenly gasped out as if struck, her eyes snapping wide open. She sat bolt upright, panting heavily with her shakes only getting worse. Twilight quickly wrapped a foreleg over Rainbow’s shoulder, offering her whatever comfort she could to her confused friend.
“You’re okay, Rainbow. Ssh, ssh, it’s okay. I got you.” Twilight whispered softly, gently patting Rainbow on the back to help her calm down. After a few seconds, Rainbow managed to relax somewhat, taking in a very deep breath before letting it out and flopping back down on her pillow.
“...Thanks, Twi,” she mumbled quietly, looking up at the ceiling with a blank look in her eyes.
“Are you okay?” Twilight ventured carefully, her ears falling against her head a bit.
“...I’ll be okay,” Rainbow said, though she sounded like she sincerely doubted her own words. Twilight frowned sharply before sighing and glancing over at Fluttershy, who was now looking back at the two of them with concern.
“Is something wrong?” she asked, worried.
“Just a nightmare, Fluttershy. It’s nothing new…” Rainbow answered with a sigh before rolling to get out of bed. She paused for a second while sitting on the edge before glancing back at the other two mares. “Uh… did you two sleep okay?”
Twilight and Fluttershy shook their heads. “No. I don’t know if it’s the unfamiliar bed or the sounds of the city outside, but I didn’t sleep well at all.” Twilight answered vocally before rubbing a hoof over her face.
Rainbow sighed and shook her head, her ears falling completely flat. “...Sorry,” she murmured dejectedly before rising completely from the bed. She stretched languidly before looking towards their hotel room’s bathroom. “Do either of you mind if I take the first shower?”
“I don’t mind. Do you?” Twilight said while glancing back at Fluttershy.
“Not at all. Take as long as you need, Rainbow.” Fluttershy stated with a small hoof gesture and reassuring smile.
Rainbow’s ears perked back up just a little. “‘Kay. I won’t take too long.” she said before disappearing into the bathroom and closing the door behind her. For a few seconds, there was a solemn silence before the sound of the shower turning on behind the bathroom door could be heard. Fluttershy slipped out of her own bed and uneasily approached Twilight, her eyes betraying a certain confusion.
“Um… Twilight?”
Twilight turned around to face the timid mare. “Yeah?”
“Um… If you don’t know, that’s okay, but do you know why Rainbow Dash said ‘sorry’?” Fluttershy inquired, her brow furrowing slightly. “It sounded like she was guilty or something. Like she thought our, uh, poor night’s sleep was her fault.”
Twilight frowned at that, her eye narrowing in thought. “I don’t know. I’ll ask her when she gets out of the shower.”
“When a pony slumbers, their consciousness joins with a plane of existence known as the Dream Realm. The dreams of ponies can influence each other. Happy and joyful dreams create peace and tranquility, making the slumber of those close enough even more restful and rejuvenating. Nightmares have a similar effect, sadly. A strong nightmare will bleed into the dreams around it, tarnishing their happiness and rendering the sleep of the dreamers into a restless one…”
Rainbow Dash remembered Princess Luna’s words and grimaced. She knew it wasn’t her fault, but in the wake of her nightmare, which she was glad she could no longer remember, her heightened emotions had inhibited her ability to think. The moment she had learned that Twilight and Fluttershy hadn’t slept well, she mentally scolded herself. Now that she was under the warm and relaxing stream of water coming out of the showerhead, rinsing the suds of shampoo from her mane, tail, and coat, she realized just how foolish and baseless such self-criticism was.
She couldn’t control what she dreamt about, or if it was a happy dream or a nightmare. It was something that she had no say in. She knew this…
But it still made her feel guilty. Thinking back on the common trends within her nightmares, she took a moment to carefully consider what she could do about it. They were all stemming from a deep-seeded anxiety and fear of what might happen if Starlight Glimmer went back in time to change things again. So, the only logical course of action was clear.
Make sure that Starlight Glimmer never goes back in time. That was the whole reason they came on this trip, Rainbow reminded herself. Finally, with her resolve reinforced with the added incentive of ending her nightmares, she shut off the water and stepped out of the shower. She ran one of the hotel’s plain white towels over her mane for a few moments before moving it to her tail. While she worked, she couldn’t help but spot her reflection in the mirror. For a second, she did a double take on the light purple color of her mane.
“Right; Lilac,” she commented quietly to herself. Out of curiosity, she lifted up her bangs with a hoof to see where the hairs came out of her head. At the base of her mane hairs, she could see an incredibly thin line where the purple gave way to her natural kaleidoscope of colors. The entire spectrum of the rainbow ran along her hairline. With a small snort, she dropped her mane and got back to work drying herself.
A sharp knock came to the bathroom door almost a minute later, just as she was finishing up with drying herself and returning the towel to the bar it had been hanging on the wall. She opened the door immediately after. She blinked when she saw the anxious faces of Pinkie Pie, Rarity, and Applejack staring back at her along with Twilight and Fluttershy. She glanced just slightly down and spotted Spike, who was looking up at her uneasily. In his claws was clutched a scroll, bound with a red ribbon clasped by the royal seal.
Rainbow felt some of the blood drain from her face. “...oh,” she said quietly.
Spike stepped back, letting Rainbow out of the bathroom. “We don’t know what it says, yet. We figured everypony should hear it at once. Plus, you know, it’s from your mom, so…” he explained.
Rainbow Dash nodded and ran a hoof over her mane to straighten it out a bit. “Alright. Fair enough. What does it say?” she asked simply.
Spike dutifully undid the clasp and unfurled the scroll, beginning to read it aloud.
“My dearest daughter, Princess Rainbow Dash,
I hope this letter finds you well. I know it hasn’t been very long since we last spoke to one another face to face, but I fear that in the wake of Discord’s brief return, we didn’t truly have a proper chance to catch up with each other. You’ve been in Ponyville for nine months, going on ten now. In that time we have only met in person on a few short-lived occasions. I am embarrassed to admit that I miss having you here in the castle.”
“Aww, that’s sweet~” Rarity cooed sweetly, much to Rainbow’s dismay.
“Hush. Let Spike read the thing.” She shot back bluntly.
Spike kept going.
“Which is why I am writing to you, now. I would love it immensely if we could figure out a good time for you and, if they’re up for it, your friends to come visit Canterlot. I know that your ‘volunteer’ work with the Ponyville Weather Service eats up a lot of your spare time and that you treat it is if it were your full-time job, so I understand if you won’t be available for a while.
Yours, Princess Celestia.”
There was a second of silence before Rainbow Dash gave a sigh of relief. “Whew… okay, so she isn’t ordering us back to Ponyville by royal decree. Good.” she said while putting a hoof over her chest.
Spike raised an eyebrow. “How would she even know? I mean, it’s not like any of us told her we were making this trip.”
Rainbow shot Spike an odd look. “You’d be surprised the stuff mom knows just because she can. I swear, sometimes I wanted to call her the ‘purveyor of useless information’ because of just how many weird and random facts she has rolling around in that head of hers. So trust me when I say that her knowing about our trip before we even began it is not at all an illegitimate fear.”
“There were a lot of big words in there, Rainbow!” Twilight pointed out with a small smirk on her face. “I must be rubbing off on you more than I thought.”
Rainbow waved her off. “We can snark later, Twi. Right now, we gotta figure out what to do about this.” she said while plucking the note from Spike’s claws and pointing at it with her free hoof, hovering a few inches off the floor with her wings.
“Well, what do we say to her?” Rarity asked curiously. “She’ll probably order us back if we tell her what we’re up to.”
“We ain’t lyin’ to the Princess, much less RD’s mother,” Applejack added sternly with a frown. “Ah can’t and won’t go along with that.”
“So what do we tell her, then?” Twilight asked, a hint of frustration in her voice. “I don’t want to lie to her either, but I also want to make sure we can see this mission through.”
“Ooh! We could tell her our cover story!” Pinkie suggested with a hopeful smile. “I mean, it's technically not lying since we are shopping for Rainbow’s birthday while we’re here. I already bought her three out of the five gifts I wanna get her this year.”
Rainbow Dash blinked, her eyes wide. “Uh… how?”
“How what?” Pinkie asked innocently, glancing at Rainbow with a tilt of her head.
“How did you buy me three things? And how are you hiding them?” Rainbow pressed, trying to wrap her head around this logical fallacy.
Pinkie snorted. “Haha, please.” was all she said before bouncing over to Fluttershy’s side and smiling widely.
Rainbow paused before sighing in defeat. “Okay, fine, I won’t question it. It’s Pinkie,” she looked back to Spike, thinking for a moment. “...I can’t think of any better ideas, so I say we go with Pinkie’s plan. Is that okay with everypony else?”
Applejack shifted uneasily. “Ah mean… ah don’t like it, but yer right. We ain’t lyin’ and we don’t wanna let her know what we’re up to just yet, do we?” she asked, sagging a little bit.
Everypony else voiced their agreement. Rainbow smiled softly at them before nodding to Spike. “Okay, Spike. Uh… Considering the fact that our cover story includes me ‘not being here’,” she began, using air-quotes for emphasis. “Why don’t you write a reply telling mom that you’ll ask me about her offer when you all get back to Ponyville?”
Spike nodded and saluted. “Aye-aye, Princess!”
“Don’t call me that,” Rainbow said dryly before looking back towards everypony else. “When he’s done with that, we gotta figure out what we’re doing about Starlight.”
Everypony agreed with that but chose to remain quiet for the time being while Spike set about writing their response. He would occasionally run what he had written down thus far by Twilight and the others to make sure it lined up and made sense, only needing to make one or two corrections along the way.
While this was going on, Rainbow sat herself down by the window and looked out onto the busy streets of Manehattan, the city practically churning and writhing with activity beneath her.
In the back of her head, she felt that burning sensation at the thought that Starlight Glimmer was not far away...
Seven days. They had been trying to subtly observe Starlight Glimmer for seven whole days now. Watching and waiting like this without taking some kind of action was driving Rainbow Dash crazy. Granted, with each day they observed her, they learned a bit more about her routine. From what they had managed to observe of her so far, she worked at Bits and Bobs as an employee, the owner of which had apparently rented out a couple of rooms on the second floor to Starlight as a living space.
They didn’t know what she did at Bits and Bobs, though. Only that she was an employee there. Furthermore, she had made two separate trips to a local library to return some books and then leave with a new batch. The books themselves didn’t seem all that exciting: Rainbow had been able to discern that they were either fiction books or instructional manuals on various forms of magic. When she had seen this, Rainbow had almost started having a panic attack, but once she relayed the names of the books, Twilight was able to quell her fears. Nothing in any of those books had anything to do with time travel. Twilight knew; she had read them all already.
Now, on the seventh day of their time in Manehattan, the group of six mares and one dragon were assembled in Twilight, Rainbow and Fluttershy’s room to discuss their next course of action.
Twilight cleared her throat slightly once everypony was comfortable and got underway. “Okay, girls. We’ve been watching Starlight for about a week, now, and I’m getting the impression she isn’t up to anything especially dangerous.”
“Yeah, she seems to be just another mare goin’ about her routine like everypony else.” Applejack chimed in, adjusting her hat slightly.
Twilight nodded at that and continued. “It definitely seems that way. But she is looking into magic of all kinds, based on what we’ve seen. None of it could be applicable to time travel, as far as I know, but some of what we’ve observed her carrying could be dangerous if misused.”
“And we probably don’t want to sit around here in Manehattan for too much longer, do we?” Pinkie added with a small frown appearing on her face. “We’ve already finished shopping for Dashie and I bet Princess Celestia is still waiting for her to send a ‘yes I’d love to see you again, let’s try for Sunday’ letter.”
Rainbow cringed slightly. “Yeah, which is a problem for us. We need to try and be quick about this before mom starts getting suspicious.”
Twilight pointed at Rainbow Dash. “Exactly. Which is why I suggest we take our action now. Applejack,” she turned to the farm pony. “You are generally a good judge of character. I’m figuring you and I can head into Bits and Bobs when we know Starlight is there, browse around and maybe strike up a conversation with her. If she’s into magic as much as she seems to be, it shouldn’t be too hard for me to get her talking. From there I’ll need you to try and pay attention to the way she’s talking.”
Applejack nodded curtly. “Alrighty, ah’m in.”
Twilight smiled gratefully before turning to Rarity. “Rarity, you have a keen eye for detail and are generally good in social situations. I think you should come along, too.”
“What about the rest of us?” Spike asked from Rainbow Dash’s side. “What do we do?”
Twilight turned to the purple dragon. “I want you, Pinkie and Fluttershy to stay here with Rainbow Dash,” she said simply.
Rainbow’s eyes narrowed a little bit. “Hey, why do I have to stay behind?” she demanded, standing up quickly.
Twilight flinched slightly and looked away. “...Rainbow, I need you to understand me on this one. This whole situation is putting you on edge and making you irritable. When you spotted Starlight across the street, just in passing, you locked up and started shaking. I don’t think it would be a good idea for you to see her up-close. We don’t want an outburst here.”
“But I-!” Rainbow started before pausing and looking at her hoof, which was currently held up before her. It was shaking. Heaving a sigh, Rainbow set her hoof down and nodded, unwilling to look at anything but the carpet beneath her hooves. “Okay… fine. Point taken.”
Twilight, unwilling to see Rainbow moping like this, drew forward and wrapped Rainbow in a hug. “Just… spend some time with Pinkie and Fluttershy, okay?”
Rainbow nodded and returned the hug for a moment before backing out of it. “Okay. You three should probably be getting a move on. We’ll be here.” she said, giving Twilight a reassuring smile.
Twilight smiled back and then turned to Applejack and Rarity, who were now standing a few feet behind her. “Okay, you two. Let’s go.”
Princess Luna sat upright from her bed with a loud gasp, sweat pouring down the sides of her neck. She was in her room in Canterlot Castle, morning sunlight streaming in through the window. She took a few moments to catch her breath and calm herself before sagging slightly. “...I see it works,” she mumbled to herself, shuddering as she thought back to the horrible nightmare she had just woken up from. She stretched slightly before sliding out of bed. She wobbled slightly when she realized she had grown again. Much to her pleasure, all of her mane and tail were swaying and drifting in slow motion, stars and galaxies sparkling and swirling within.
It only took her a minute to adjust to her fully grown body, after which she stood before a tall vanity mirror against the wall beside her bed and looked at her reflection. She smiled slightly before shaking, the memory of her nightmare seeping back into the forefront of her mind. She shook her head again before standing upright and moving for the door of her room. She wished to find Celestia and get brought up to speed on what she had missed during her final growth spurt.
Before she even reached the door, it was opened by golden magic. Celestia strode in and almost immediately locked eyes with Luna. “Oh! Little sister, I didn’t know you were awake already,” she said, a pleasant smile appearing on her face.
“Good morning, sister,” Luna nodded, though she couldn’t quite bring herself to meet her elder sister’s gaze. “How are you?”
Celestia’s smile dwindled just a touch. “I’m better, now that I know you’re awake,” she said before stepping forward and embracing Luna tightly.
Luna tensed under the embrace for a moment, but then relaxed and returned it. However, a frown crossed her face when she considered Celestia’s choice of words. “Better? Is something amiss?”
Celestia reluctantly removed herself from Luna and nodded slowly. “I am afraid so… Rainbow Dash is missing.”
Luna’s eyes went wide. “What? Explain, sister,” she said urgently, worries and concerns for her only niece already entering her mind.
Celestia sighed softly and turned to Luna’s bedroom window. “I sent her a letter via Spike’s Dragonfire about a week ago, asking her if she would be available to come to Canterlot and visit sometime soon. The reply I received told me that Spike, Twilight and her friends were all in Manehattan to do some early birthday shopping for Rainbow. Apparently, Pinkie Pie insisted.”
Luna frowned, her muzzle scrunching up as she tried to remember the pony in question. “Pinkie Pie… the wielder of the element of Laughter, is she not?”
Celestia nodded while making her way to the window. “Yes, she is. But that is beside the point. Yesterday, I sent somepony down to Ponyville to deliver my message to Rainbow Dash directly. Well… this morning, they returned and informed me that Rainbow Dash wasn’t there. Apparently, she hasn’t been seen in Ponyville for a few days, now.”
Luna’s brow furrowed in thought. “Are there any leads?” she asked after a moment.
“Nothing concrete… I’m hoping to ask some of the other ponies who know her if they’ve seen or heard anything personally tomorrow.” Celestia said, a hint of frustration in her voice.
Luna looked away. “...I shall keep an eye out for her in the dream realm tonight. If I find her, I can have her inform me of what’s going on.” she offered simply before sagging a bit. “She had been having routine Nightmares the last time I spoke with her. I can only hope they have subsided by now…”
Celestia leaned forward slightly, resting her forelegs on the railings of the balcony outside of Luna’s window. “Let me know what you find… I fear for my daughter. She was shaken pretty badly by the incident with Discord a little while ago.”
Luna’s frown deepened somewhat. “Discord… I suppose I slept through that insufferable cretin’s most recent display of chaos and madness.” she seethed bitterly.
“It was rough,” Celestia acknowledged sadly. “And… it felt horrible, being so powerless this time. When you and I were the wielders of the elements of harmony, there was almost nothing we couldn’t do. Now, though, I fear we may have become somewhat obsolete.”
Luna shook her head. “If you were obsolete, sister, you would not still hold the throne of Equestria,” she said reassuringly, planting a hoof on Celestia’s back.
Celestia nodded slowly, but said nothing.
Luna’s ear twitched suddenly when she heard the sound of her door creaking slightly. She immediately turned to face it, the sound of hooves swiftly galloping away reaching her ears. With an agitated growl, Luna shot through the door and looked down the hall where she heard the pony running away.
There was nopony there. Luna felt confusion swiftly replace the alarm and agitation she had been feeling from being eavesdropped on barely a second ago. “Where did they go?!” she demanded, looking around.
“Where did who go?” Celestia asked, cantering out to join her sister and eyeing her with confusion.
“Somepony was listening in on our conversation,” Luna said bluntly. She scanned the hallway again, her eyes narrowing before she sagged and sighed slightly. “...Perhaps I imagined it.”
Celestia patted Luna on the shoulder before the two returned to the latters room, closing, locking the door behind them. Luna added a soundproofing spell just in case. A few seconds ticked by in silence in the hallway before there was a flash of green light behind one of the support pillars. A unicorn mare in a maid’s uniform stepped out from behind the pillar and gulped heavily. “That was too close…” she whispered. Swiftly and silently, the mare left the area, intent on relaying what she had just heard. Her superiors would want to know about this…
Princess Celestia’s beloved daughter, Rainbow Dash, was missing. This meant that the elements of harmony, Equestria’s most powerful means of self-defense, would be inert. The mare couldn’t think of a better opportunity...
“Welcome to ‘Tinder’s Bits and Bobs,’ home of just about every knick-knack, thingamajig and MacGuffin under the sun, at one point or another!” An older looking earth pony mare with a silvery coat and orange mane and tail called out from behind the store’s counter when Twilight, Applejack and Rarity walked in. “I’m Tinder Lighter, I own this shop. If you need any help finding anything, just ask me or my assistant. She’s right over there.”
“Thanks! We’re just browsing.” Twilight replied with a large, friendly smile. Her eyes spotted Starlight almost immediately. The mare in question shot them all a friendly smile and wave, definitely practiced, before returning her attention to the shelf in front of her, a clipboard and pen held in her magic.
Okay, let’s see here… something magic related. Something magic related… Twilight thought to herself while looking around the shop. It was definitely a thrift store. Just about everything mundane was in here. There was a small bookshelf in the back which looked like it had one or two books about magic on it. There we go. As casually as possible, Twilight worked her way in that direction. Applejack and Rarity kept a constant distance, though they did look around a bit while they were at it.
Finally, Twilight reached the shelf and began to inspect the books it had. Some really old and worn-out novels, an encyclopedia, two different dictionaries, and a few guide-books for mundane things like cooking or things like that. She made a show of looking over the shelves with a critical eye, waiting for Starlight to reach her. Finally, Twilight plucked one of the books on magic from the shelf. It was one she had read years ago. ‘From Salt-Shaker to Teacup: A Beginners Guide to Transfiguration Principles and Spells.’
“Wow. I don’t think I’ve ever seen somepony look at that particular book with such interest,” came a voice to Twilight’s left. She jumped slightly and looked over to see Starlight Glimmer smiling back. “Most ponies get kinda thrown off by the title.”
Twilight blinked, not quite sure how to process this development. She composed herself quickly, though, and smiled. “I can see that,” she began. “It is kind of a silly title. But, to be fair, it has some great stuff in it.”
“Oh? You’ve read it?” Starlight asked curiously, raising an eyebrow in Twilight’s direction.
“Uh-huh,” Twilight nodded while idly flipping through the pages. “Transfiguration magic is a pretty crucial thing to study if you want to be any good with a lot of the more complicated varieties magic. It was one of the first things they taught us at in magic school.” She explained before glancing over at the other unicorn, studying what she could without being overly conspicuous.
“You study magic? Nice. I do, too. More of a hobby, really. Just something I do on the sidelines,” Starlight commented while rolling her hoof. She then took on a somewhat more curious expression, flinching back slightly. “Uh, I hope this doesn’t sound too weird or anything but, uh, where did you go for magic school?”
Twilight’s brow furrowed a bit. “Uh…” she hesitated, not sure if it was safe to answer this question. After a moment of consideration, she relented. “Celestia’s school for gifted unicorns.”
There was a sudden spark in Starlight’s eyes, one of eagerness and excitement that she visibly twitched to contain. Twilight took a mental note of this response immediately, but otherwise made no reaction. “Oh, wow! That’s a pretty high profile place to learn magic from.” Starlight exclaimed, sounding impressed and interested.
“Yeah, it is,” Twilight nodded with a fond smile appearing on her face as she thought back on her time there. “But it’s high-profile because it’s the best place to go if somepony is trying to get a formal education in magic. I studied the other schools once just out of curiosity. None of them even hold a candle to Celestia’s school.”
“Well, Princess Celestia does run the place. It makes sense that other schools cant compare to the pony that raises the sun.” Starlight replied brightly, gesturing to nothing in particular.
Twilight couldn’t help but actually chuckle at that insightful remark. The more she talked to her, the more she began to feel like there wasn’t anything wrong here. It was just a regular conversation with another mare who had an interest in magic.
“One of my fillyhood friends went to school there…” Starlight said quietly after a few moments. Her ears drooped a bit and her eyes darted to look at something else.“Did you ever meet or see him, by chance? His name is Sunburst.”
Twilight shuffled uneasily, caught somewhat off-guard by the very sudden shift in Starlight’s demeanor. She thought back, trying to recall a colt by that name. She found that she couldn’t recall ever meeting him, but she did recall the words of the original Starlight Glimmer from a flash she had had years ago. One which she had shared with Rainbow Dash, and which had put her into a many-months-long coma.
“I thought Sunburst and I were the same… but we turned out different, and it TORE OUR FRIENDSHIP APART!”
With the words echoing in Twilight’s ears, she closed her eyes in thought before opening them again. “...Sorry, but no. I don't think so.” she said regretfully, shaking her head.
“Oh…” Starlight sagged considerably, her ears drooping and a deep frown spreading on her muzzle. For a moment there was an awkward silence before she perked back up. “Well, it was real nice chatting with you, but I have to get back to work. So, uh, have a good day.”
“Okay. I guess I’ll be seeing you around, Starlight.” Twilight said. Her blood suddenly ran cold and she felt her heart rate spike severely. The conversation had been feeling so natural that she had forgotten for a moment that Starlight had never even introduced herself.
Starlight paused in the middle of moving past Twilight. She turned and raised an eyebrow, looking surprised and a little unnerved. “Huh…?”
Twilight’s eyes darted around, looking desperately for something, anything she could use to save her situation. It was then that she spotted something hanging around Starlight’s neck and pointed to it. ‘Your nametag.” she said simply, maintaining her friendly smile, even if it was now horribly forced. Starlight glanced down at the small plastic card with her name written on it and made an ‘o’ with her mouth.
“You know, sometimes I forget I have that,” she chuckled before smiling back up at Twilight. “See you around.” she waved, turned and departed, continuing to go about her job. Twilight watched her go, then turned her attention back to Rarity and Applejack, who had been listening in subtly from among the shelves and tables of miscellaneous merchandise. They shared thoughtful looks and then nodded to Twilight.
It was time to go and discuss what they thought. To save face, Twilight purchased the book on transfiguration. Might as well brush up on the fundamentals, she figured.
“Awww, shoot.” Pinkie Pie wined when Rainbow Dash slapped the last of her cards down into the pile. They were still in the hotel room, making use of the admittedly small table for their efforts to pass the time. Spike simply watched them from a little ways away, deciding to ‘not challenge Pinkie’s winning streak.’
Rainbow grinned quite widely, her wings snapping open with joy at the realization that she had just won. “Ha! I knew I would beat you at a card game someday!” she declared triumphantly, puffing out her chest and swelling with pride.
Fluttershy set down her own cards and smiled warmly at Rainbow, glad to see her displaying some of her trademarked enthusiasm and confidence again. “I guess Pinkie Pie got a bad deal. She’s usually so good at these kinds of games,” she said, looking over at the pink mare in question.
“Yeah, I guess,” Pinkie replied morosely while putting away her cards. “That plus-four wild card can really screw you up if you aren’t prepared.”
“And now you know the pain of everypony who has ever been dumb enough to challenge you to a game of Uno!” Rainbow furthered, her grin never leaving her face. “So HA! Take that!”
Pinkie smiled widely, looking up at Rainbow with a small, mischievous glint working its way into her eyes. “Well, maybe. But card games like Uno are based on luck just as much as skill.” she leaned forward, a challenging smirk replacing her pleased smile.
She had Rainbow’s attention. The cyan pegasus gave a cocky grin of her own. “Oh? You got another game in mind?” she asked, resting her elbows on the table’s surface and then resting her chin on her hooves.
“Yeah… something that doesn’t rely on random shuffles or anything like that…” Pinkie practically cooed, mimicking Rainbow’s pose and wiggling her eyebrows. “Wanna know what it is?”
“I’m all ears,” Rainbow replied, her grin widening.
“Oh, dear…” Fluttershy whispered while shrinking back a bit.
“It’s called… TICKLE WAR!” Pinkie Pie suddenly squealed before launching across the table into Rainbow Dash’s gut, knocking her backward to the floor with a crash.
“OW! HEY! NO FAIR!” Rainbow squawked out before bursting into uncontrollable giggles and laughs when Pinkie’s hooves set to work on her ribs. Pinkie Pie was an expert, clearly, her hooves mercilessly dancing all across Rainbow’s most ticklish zones. Her sides, her hooves, the fronts of her shoulders and along her lower back. All the while, Rainbow laughed and struggled, trying to get away from the pink demon. “No f-fair!” she tried again, feebly squirming away.
“All is fair in love and war~” Pinkie Pie loudly bellowed like some kind of corny action-comic hero.
Rainbow turned over, now pinned to the ground with Pinkie straddling her back and continuing her relentless assault. Struggling for breath and with tears in her eyes, Rainbow reached out to Fluttershy, who was hiding her delighted smile and giggled behind a hoof. “Fl-Fluttershy! He-h-help me!” Rainbow cried out before her words crumpled into another fit of laughter.
“Oh, uh, okay-”
“Nope! Don’t do it! I’m already winning!” Pinkie added with a small wink. “Join me, Fluttershy! Side with the victor! Otherwise I’ll have to tickle you into submission, too!”
Fluttershy dropped her hoof and looked between the two, unsure. “Uh… I mean, I want to, uh… oh dear… please don’t make me choose.” she whimpered, shrinking back and hiding behind her mane a little bit.
“Hey!” A new voice snapped, drawing everypony’s attention. Pinkie Pie swiveled her head around to the newcomer, only for a pillow to slam into her face at a high velocity, sending her sprawling back onto the carpet, dazed. “That’s mine!” The pillow then dropped to the floor, the lavender magical glow around it fading away. Twilight stood in the doorway of the room, a large smirk on her face while Rarity looked on in shock. Applejack closed the door behind them, snickering quietly to herself. Twilight then stepped forward and loomed over Pinkie Pie, her evil little smile daring the pink pony to try again.
“Eheheh… I yield?” Pinkie squeaked with an enormous, pleading grin.
Twilight’s smile softened. “Good choice. Besides,” she then turned and helped a still gasping Rainbow Dash back to her hooves. “We have some news for all of you.”
Rainbow Dash took one more deep breath to calm herself before looking at Twilight intently. “What’s the situation?” she asked simply, shaking herself a little to get the residual shudders out of her system.
Twilight turned to Applejack and Rarity. “Well, I wound up talking with Starlight for a little bit. Not as long as I would have liked, but she was on the clock and I didn’t want to do anything to raise suspicions. And honestly,” she then looked back to Rainbow Dash with a warm smile. “I don’t think we have anything to worry about.”
“I concur, Twilight,” Rarity added with a smile of her own. “She appeared to be just another mare going about her life. I know I didn’t catch anything ominous or malevolent about her.”
“Yeah, ah’m kinda shocked, to be blunt,” Applejack chimed in, adjusting her hat. “The way Y'all went on about her back in Ponyville, ah was kinda expecting her to be somethin’ like a monster outta Tartarus. But nah, she wasn’t tryin’ to mislead us or nothin’, near as Ah could tell.”
Rainbow looked between the two for a few seconds before visibly relaxing. “Oh, thank goodness…” she then reached out and suddenly pulled Twilight in for a tight hug, eliciting a startled ‘yip’ from the unicorn. “Thank you, all of you.”
Twilight bit her lip, then smiled and returned the embrace. “You’re welcome, Rainbow. We should probably start thinking about going home soon.”
“Yeah, let’s take the train tomorrow morning.” Rainbow nodded while removing herself from the hug.
“Huh? Why tomorrow?” Spike asked while walking up to Rainbow and Twilight.
Rainbow flinched back a bit. “Er… I still gotta get my present for me… eh heh…” she said sheepishly, rubbing the back of her head a bit.
“Hey, with how crummy you’ve been feeling all week,” Pinkie began cheerfully before playfully smacking Rainbow on the back. “You deserve to treat yourself.”
Nopony seemed against that point, and Rainbow smiled even more widely. “Thanks, Pinkie. But before we go to do any of that…” she then locked eyes with Twilight. “What was it you said? ‘Hey, that’s mine?’ What the hay does that mean?”
The sun was setting. Rainbow Dash looked distantly out the window to her left in her hotel room, just watching the light grow orange and dim, the shadows reaching longer and darker with every passing minute. Right now, she sat at the table she had played cards at with Pinkie and Fluttershy earlier, just relaxing and letting her meal digest.
After thoroughly embarrassing Twilight over her ‘that’s mine’ remark, Rainbow had led everypony else out into town to find somewhere nice to eat. She had stated in no uncertain terms that she wasn’t going to get a present for just herself. They found a restaurant that Rainbow knew of, one that had had a branch in Cloudsdale when she was a filly, and so they ate there. It wasn’t as good as she remembered it being, but to be fair, the food wasn’t the highlight for her at all.
It was spending time with her friends and feeling so much better in light of Twilight’s assurance that Starlight was not a threat. Just getting to sit down and eat some food with her friends without worrying in the back of her head about all of it being completely obliterated and overwritten… it was a surreal and peaceful setting.
After that they had returned to the hotel, where Pinkie Pie had started a low-key, quiet ‘party’ in the room she had been sharing with Rarity, Applejack and Spike. To be blunt, it was closer to just a bunch of snacks and board or card games. No loud music, no dancing. The antithesis of a typical Pinkie Party, to be sure, but it worked. Rainbow and Twilight had been there for a good long while.
But then, Rainbow had silently and wordlessly excused herself. Even if it was a quiet affair compared to Pinkie’s usual work, it was still a very active room with a lot going on at all times. Rainbow, now removed from the festivities, was enjoying her newfound quiet.
There was a soft knock on the door before it gently swung open to reveal Twilight on the other side, peering at Rainbow Dash with a small amount of concern hidden behind an inquisitive smile. “Hey, Rainbow. You kinda disappeared on us, there. Some of us got worried about you.”
Rainbow leaned back in her chair and chortled. “Nah, I’m good. Sorry for running off like that. I kinda just wanted to relax and enjoy some quiet time, you know? I didn’t wanna disturb Pinkie’s party, either, so that’s why I left so quietly.” she explained before smiling a bit more softly and gesturing to the seat across from hers.
Twilight’s worry melted away a bit before she made her way to the chair, closing the door behind her. “Well, a word to me would have been nice, at least. I could have told everypony what was up before Pinkie started looking under the alarm clock for you.”
Rainbow raised an eyebrow. “Wait, seriously? Did she do that?” she asked skeptically, to which Twilight giggled merrily and sat down on the other side of the table.
“Rainbow, you and I both know not to try and figure out what that mare does.” she pointed out before glancing out the window.
Rainbow shrugged and joined Twilight in observing the world outside. For a good, long time, the two were silent. The orange-red glow of sunset gradually gave way to pink, which slowly dulled into a purple color that would soon be replaced by the deepest blue of night. Rainbow glanced at Twilight and smirked. “Hey, it’s your namesake.” she said abruptly.
Twilight snorted. “Yeah, yeah. That joke’s existed for longer than I’ve been alive,” she replied with a small roll of her eyes.
“Oh yeah?” Rainbow asked before remembering and slapping a hoof to her face. “Oh, yeah. Your mom is Twilight Velvet. My bad.”
Twilight snickered behind a hoof before shaking her head. “Apparently, my dad made that very joke on his first date with mom,” she explained casually, glancing out the window again, looking up at the sky. Just a few stars were starting to appear amidst the fading blue.
“Sounds corny,” Rainbow commented dryly before leaning back and staring up at the ceiling.
Twilight shrugged. “Maybe. But, according to mom, that was when she realized that dad was the pony she was going to marry someday.”
Rainbow hummed slightly before letting her head lower again to look at Twilight. “...So…”
“Hm?”
“Why did you say ‘that’s mine’ earlier?” Rainbow asked a bit more quietly and seriously, looking down a bit. “You know, when you thumped Pinkie with the pillow?”
Twilight blushed somewhat and looked away. “Oh, uh… heh. I guess it just kinda came out?” she tried weakly, shrugging as innocently as she could.
Rainbow looked unconvinced. “Dude. Twi. C’mon.” she said flatly with a small gesture of her hoof.
Twilight’s fake grin grew immensely before falling away with a sigh. “I don’t know, honestly. I guess it’s because I practically grew up with you. We were joined at the hip more or less since you showed up at Canterlot.”
Rainbow nodded slowly. “I guess that makes sense…”
“Yeah.”
The two fell into a long, awkward silence. Rainbow looked down a bit, fidgeting uneasily. “So… uh…”
Twilight glanced away as well, looking just as uncomfortable. After a moment hse started to stand up. “Uh… maybe I should go back to the others. They, uh… they should know you’re okay-”
“N-no!” Rainbow suddenly blurted, reaching out and grabbing Twilight’s hoof. Both of them froze at the contact before, sheepishly, Rainbow let Twilight go. “I-I mean… I’m liking this. Can you, you know, s-stay? Just a little longer?”
Twilight blinked and glanced at the hoof Rainbow had latched onto. She turned it over slightly, studying it before returning her gaze to Rainbow, who was now looking away, her wings ruffling on her back. Twilight’s look of surprise slowly filtered away to be replaced by a warm, charmed smile. “...If you enjoy being with me that much, you can just admit it.” she said gently.
Rainbow locked up, her eyes widened a bit and her ear snapped to attention. The way Twilight had said that… she glanced back to her friend and gulped. “Uh… right. Okay… u-um… Y-yeah, I really like being with you.” she said shakily before coughing into her forehoof.
Twilight eased herself back into her seat, folding her front hooves over each other on the table. “If I’m staying for a little while… what do you want to do?”
Rainbow got a somewhat more grouchy look on her face. “Please don’t…”
Twilight smirked. “Well, I need to know what the plan is. I need to make sure that I have a good reason for being away from everypony else for so long.”
Rainbow grunted. “I… I just want…” her words came out as more of an annoyed grumble, most of them muffled and lost.
Twilight made a show of leaning over and perking up one of her ears. “What was that? I can’t hear you over you being bad at expressing your thoughts.”
Rainbow scowled. “You want me to express my thoughts? Okay, fine!” she then reached out, hooked her forelegs around Twilight’s barrel and dragged her forward. Twilight yelped in surprise before coming to a rest against Rainbow Dash, held close in a very tight hug. Twilight’s face heated up a bit when she felt Rainbow nuzzling her mane. “There… expressed enough for ya?” Rainbow then whispered.
Twilight, after a moment of processing, shifted a bit to get more comfortable and snuggled into Rainbow, humming happily. “Yeah, this is good. For now.”
Later on, when the last of the sun’s light had faded below the horizon, Fluttershy stopped by the room to see if Rainbow was there. She then silently departed, closing the door behind her when she saw Rainbow Dash and Twilight, sleeping in each other’s embrace in one of the beds, content smiles lighting up their faces.
“Where are you, my niece…?” Luna asked herself while moving through the Dream Realm, gracefully gliding along slowly waving wisps of pale blue light, searching through the many hundreds of thousands of dreams around her. She had been expecting Rainbow Dash’s dream to, like before, be exerting immense darkness from another Nightmare, but she was both relieved and irritated to find no such landmark. She paused and took a deep breath, trying to relax her mind so she could focus on narrowing down her search.
There were so many dreams that it was typically impossible for her to narrow down which dream she was looking for if the pony wasn’t having a nightmare. She did have spells to help with such a search, but she found she was still somewhat weaker than she had been before her banishment, meaning such a use of magic could very well kick her out of the Dream Realm from exertion.
“If nothing else, it seems you aren’t having nightmares tonight…” Luna muttered under her breath. Silver linings, and all.
Luckily, however, she finally caught sight of something out of the ordinary. She turned her attention down and spotted a dream that was glowing brilliantly with light, reaching dozens of others around it. While not her destination as of now, it was worth investigating. Leaping from one wisp of light to another, Luna soon got a good look into the dream. A small smile came to her face when she saw whose it was.
“Oh, my niece… it seems you’ve recovered…” she said to herself, looking into the dream. In it, she saw Rainbow Dash, the dreamer, and Twilight Sparkle, a recreation of her, anyway, playing a game of dodgeball. They seemed to be having so much fun… Luna’s smile faded somewhat. “...I hope you can forgive my interruption.” she said before stepping through the bubble and into the dream.
The mostly still air of the Dream Realms gave way to a subtle breeze, warmed by evening sunlight. Twilight and Rainbow were far below on a tall, grassy plateau. The elevated terrain was surrounded on the left by an enormous forest that smothered rolling hills. Further in that direction were tall, gorgeous mountains. To the right was a seemingly endless ocean with the sun hanging motionlessly over it, maintaining a perpetual and serene scene.
Slowly, Luna lowered herself down to the grass and looked on at Rainbow expectantly, waiting for the pegasus to notice her. This happened when Twilight’s ball shot past Rainbow, who in turn turned around and ducked to grasp it. Her eyes spotted Luna, and she froze, the dream around them going still. Rainbow stood upright and smiled brightly. “Aunt Luna! Heh… figured this was too good to be real.” she said before looking back at the dreamt up Twilight, only to find she was gone.
“I am pleased to see you have conquered your nightmares, my niece,” Luna said with a smile before a frown overtook her features. “Though I am also deeply concerned by the fact that you have gone missing.”
Rainbow tilted her head in confusion. “Wait… ponies think I’m missing?”
Luna’s frown deepened. “You vanished from Ponyville without a trace while your friends were out of town. Nopony there has seen any sign of you all week, and Celestia is growing rather worried about you.”
Rainbow flinched and looked away. “Oh… uh, okay, I can explain,” she said, a small amount of nervousness creeping into her voice.
“I should hope so. After seeing you suffering from such horrific Nightmares so routinely, I am also rather concerned by your abrupt disappearance.”
Rainbow sighed and rubbed the side of her leg with another. “Yeah, sorry about that… We should be home sometime tomorrow.”
“Wait… ‘we’?” Luna echoed, her eyes narrowing somewhat.
Rainbow cringed. “Er… yeah. I’m with the girls…” she admitted nervously, taking a step back.
Luna’s expression hardened even further. “I see… would you like to explain to me why your friends lied to my sister about you?!” she asked sharply, taking a step forward.
“Look, if mom knew what we were up to, she would have ordered us back by a royal decree and none of us could have said no!” Rainbow shot back, her eyes narrowing a bit. “Yeah, I am technically going against her wishes here, but you know what?” she tapped the side of her head. “At least I’m not having nightmares anymore thanks to this little trip.”
Luna paused and wilted slightly before taking a deep breath. “...My apologies, I did not mean to anger you,” she said, her voice losing almost all of its strength.
Rainbow’s own tension swiftly gave way to a small sag. “...Yeah, me too. Look, I’ll fill you and mom in when I get home, okay?” she said solemnly, knowing she was probably in for a harsh scolding and possibly even some form of punishment. Celestia was a kind ruler and a loving mother, true, but it didn’t quell the fears in the back of Rainbow’s mind.
“Fears...” a new voice suddenly spoke, an ambiguous whisper of several tones and dripping with malevolence.
Rainbow felt her blood run cold and the hairs on the back of her neck stand on end. She looked up to Luna, who’s eyes had widened with shock and horror. “Luna… what was that?” Rainbow asked anxiously.
Luna turned her eyes to the sun, her pupils shrinking and her wings snapping open. “Oh, no… how?!” she asked before launching into the air on her wings, her horn lighting up with magic.
“Luna?!” Rainbow called after her aunt before spreading her wings to follow her. She then looked at the sun and froze, the blood draining from her face.
The sun was eclipsed, little more than a yellow ring of fire in the distance. That ring soon spluttered, flickered, and faded entirely, plunging the world into darkness. The wind, once warm and gentle, turned frigid and harsh, rushing by and tearing at Rainbow’s mane. She closed her eyes and shielded her face as grass, pebbles and dirt was torn away from the plateau and hurled past her.
“Begone!” she heard Luna’s voice calling from above. “Begone from this peaceful dream and return whence thou came!
“Fear… anger...” there was that voice again, stirring the most primal of emotions in Rainbow’s gut and filling her with dread. “I see it… I taste it… I shall consume it…”
Rainbow managed to open her eyes just enough to catch sight of Luna’s face, twisted with despair and guilt, partially obscured by a cloud of dark purple magic that was now reaching out to Rainbow like a hungry octopus looking for its next meal.
“TANTABUS! NO! LEAVE HER ALONE!!” Luna screamed out, though her words were lost to Rainbow. The cloud smothered her, drowning out her adoptive aunt’s shouts and the roaring winds of the windstorm beyond.
Rainbow screamed, but her voice was lost within the darkness.
The darkness was suffocating. Rainbow Dash tried to breathe, to cry out, but her breath was stolen at the same time that her body was constricted. She could feel this thing leeching at her, probing her mind for memories and violently extracting what it wanted. She could feel something stirring within her chest, forcing her heart rate to accelerate to such a degree that she was afraid that her heart may try to make a run for it.
“Starlight…” the voice said again. Rainbow shuddered uncontrollably when she realized it sounded like her voice, Twilight’s voice and Luna’s voice, all wrapped together. “...This really scares you, doesn’t it?” it continued on in some twisted version of Twilight’s voice.
Rainbow squirmed, unable to breathe or focus. Her eyes began to roll up into the back of her head, her head growing heavy.
“ENOUGH!” a voice pierced the darkness, followed by a bright blue light which forced the darkness to part around it. Rainbow gasped desperately as the constrictions around her body were released, allowing her to drop back down to the ground in a heap. She shook, not just from the panic, but also the unnatural chill that blanketed the landscape. A freezing gust whipped over her, making her shiver even more before she managed to look up. Luna now stood protectively in front of her, her wings spread out and her horn alight with furiously sparking magic.
“Why…?” the purple cloud of magic asked in a slow drawl made up of at least a dozen different ponies voices, shaking somewhat as if agitated.
Luna’s eyes narrowed dangerously at it, her teeth showing in a snarl. “You’re speaking through memories…” she observed carefully.
“Why?” The cloud asked again, shifting forward slightly, almost tentatively.
“This dream is not yours for the taking, Tantabus!” Luna barked, her horn emitting a spear of pale blue energy at the monster, now identified as Tantabus. The Tantabus morphed around the attack before lifting into the air and undulating.
“Why… not…?” it asked before fading away, the sky beyond remaining dark and empty. Luna slowly folded her wings at her sides before falling to her haunches, shaking. Eventually, she managed to look back to Rainbow Dash, who was gazing back at her with wide, frightened eyes.
“Luna… what the hay was that?” she asked in a shaky voice, scooting a little closer. Luna reached out with a wing and pulled Rainbow to her side, then draping it over Rainbow like a blanket to shield her from the vicious cold around them.
“...A creature of my nightmares. A parasite that creates fear and sorrow then harvests those feelings like a crop for its own consumption.” Luna explained, a small quiver working its way through her words.
Rainbow wilted and scooted closer to Luna’s side, not wanting any more body heat to slip away. “How did it get into my dream if it’s a creature of your nightmares?” she asked, her voice growing tired.
“I… don’t know, for sure. But I do know that I must force it back into my own dreams where it belongs, and spare you the pain it brings.” Luna stated with a new, fiery resolve in her voice. She stood tall and lit her horn once more with magic. In the sky, a full moon slowly phased into existence from the empty sky. Luna winced when the normally pale light of the moon was absent, replaced instead by a maroon glow.
Rainbow got up and looked to Luna with an incredulous expression. “Force it back into your dreams? Aunt Luna, no offense, but that sounds like a dumb idea. That thing needs to be destroyed!” she said bluntly before scanning her eyes over her once beautiful dream. “I mean, seriously! Look at what it did to my dream! This was nice, like, five minutes ago!” she gestured widely.
Indeed, the dream had gone from gorgeous and serene to decrepit and frightening. All of the grass was gone, the dirt below replaced by a brittle, wood-like substance that wrinkled and swirled on itself, crunching and snapping beneath their hooves like dried sticks and twigs. The forest in the distance had lost all of its leaves, the branches now curling up into the sky like claws reaching for a pegasus. The ocean had seemingly evaporated, leaving little more than a flat and massive expanse of emptiness.
Luna sighed at Rainbow’s proclamation before shaking her head. “...I can’t destroy it. As hard as it is to bear, it is a burden I must carry.” she said before unfurling her wings and lifting into the air. Rainbow was quick to follow her, looking unconvinced.
“Well, I hope you don’t mind me saying that I think that statement is complete and utter horse apples,” she said dryly before looking around at her vandalized dream. “Ugh… how do we find this thing?”
“I can hunt it down, but you shouldn’t have to suffer anymore because of me,” Luna replied solemnly, turning to her niece with a guilt that gave Rainbow pause. “Please, I beg of you… stay here. Should you find an opportunity to wake yourself up, I implore you to take it.”
“Luna-”
“The Tantabus is my responsibility. I won’t let the ponies I love get dragged down by it…” Luna cut Rainbow off with a shake of her head. “Please… don’t cause yourself any more pain on my account.”
Rainbow frowned, slowly drifting forward. “Aunt Luna… what are you talking about? What pain? In the nine months I’ve known you, the only pain you’ve caused me wasn’t even your fault. I was just waiting for you to wake up and I hate waiting,” she said before resting a hoof on Luna’s shoulder. “Plus, we’re family. I’m not going to just sit by and do nothing if there’s anything I can do to help you.”
Luna shifted away from Rainbow’s hoof, shaking her head more sharply while her ears fell flat against her head. “What about what I did to you as Nightmare Moon? How can you even look at me after all of that-”
“Luna!” Rainbow suddenly snapped, reaching out with both of her hooves and grabbing her aunt by the face. Luna’s eyes went wide and she gasped in surprise when she found herself peering deep into the eyes of a very unhappy Rainbow Dash. “...That’s your name. Not Nightmare Moon. You are my aunt, Princess Luna, and Nightmare Moon is gone. What that crone did was not your fault!”
Luna’s eyes widened a bit more before she slowly pried the hooves from her face with her own. “...I wish I could share that sentiment, my niece… truly I do.”
Rainbow grunted in mild frustration before shaking her head. “Oi… okay, fine, be mopey if you want. But you are not tackling this Tantabus thing alone, you hear me? Let me help you,” she said before her features softened a bit. She drifted around to meet Luna’s gaze again. “You know I won’t take ‘no’ for an answer willingly, so please… don’t shut me out.”
Luna looked away and shuddered again before nodding. “...Very well. But I insist you don’t take any unnecessary risks.”
Rainbow grinned. “Me? Unnecessary risks? Puh-lease!” she dismissed with an exaggerated gesture.
Luna shot her a look. “...I’m going to ignore that, for now,” she muttered dryly before closing her eyes.
Rainbow’s own expression grew serious as well. “So, how do we find it?”
Luna’s horn lit up with a glow at the very tip, gently pulsing with a steady rhythm. “The Tantabus isn’t very powerful right now. But if it is permitted to fester within your dream for too long, it will start to cultivate your deepest and darkest fears, allowing it to gain more power. This will be represented in your dream by it steadily growing larger and more resilient to our efforts to contain or remove it. As of now, it is small and easy to miss. Like the parasite it is, it may prove difficult to locate and extract it before it is too late.”
Rainbow faltered slightly, her expression growing anxious. “Okay, uh… what do you mean by ‘too late’? What’s gonna happen to me if we can’t stop it?”
Luna cringed and hesitated. “...Then you will suffer the same nightmare every night, each time just as horrific and demoralizing as the last, with the Tantabus magnifying those feelings and feeding off of them.” she finally explained.
“Oh… yeah, I’d like that to not happen.” Rainbow said simply, her ears drooping a bit while her eyes started shifting slightly at every single distant movement.
“As it is, the Tantabus is probably studying you and your psyche, trying to determine the best fears to try and cultivate. If you can recreate your worst fear, we may be able to lure it out into the open,” Luna explained before the pulsing of her horn stopped. “Right now, it is too small for me to locate it conventionally. Your mind is not mine, Rainbow Dash. I don’t have as deep a familiarity with it as I do my own.”
Rainbow nodded slowly before looking around. “Right… my worst fear, huh…?” she said uneasily, a tremor in her voice. She closed her eyes for a moment, thinking. When she opened them again, Starlight Glimmer stood before her in the air, flickering slightly. Rainbow was expecting her heart rate to spike, to hear that ominous laugh in her ears again, to see the world crumble and fade away into an endless white void as time was rewritten all over again…
But all she got was a feeling of mild discomfort. With a grunt, she let go of the thought of Starlight, and the recreation faded away. “...Twilight’s gone and killed that fear. Ugh… what else…?” she thought aloud, tapping a hoof to her head in thought.
“Twilight Sparkle?” Luna asked with a raised eyebrow. A thought occurred to her, then. “Didn’t you two practically grow up together?”
Rainbow nodded. “Yeah. When I got adopted, she and I were best friends within my first month. She… she really helped me, you know?” she explained, a small, fond smile appearing on her face. “And she’s helped me a lot more recently, too. Between coming to rescue me from Nightmare Moon, to saving me from Discord’s control and, most recently, helping me out with my, er, trip away from Ponyville…”
“She must be very important to you,” Luna noted slowly, looking back down to the plateau upon which Rainbow and a dreamt up version of Twilight had been playing when she had first arrived.
“She is… she really is.” Rainbow agreed absently, zoning out a little.
Luna felt a small tug of guilt for what she was about to do. “...Do you fear to lose her?”
Rainbow went stiff when a depiction of Twilight appeared in front of her, smiling widely. Rainbow turned her eyes back to Luna, seeing that her horn was lit up with magic. “I… I think so? I dunno...” she looked back to the depiction of Twilight and began to think. She thought back to when she and Twilight had just been enjoying each other’s embrace before falling asleep, and she remembered how, just before then, she had reached out to Twilight’s hoof, grabbing it.
She remembered how she had felt, then. She had felt a spike of fear, worried that Twilight would suddenly jerk her hoof away and walk away in a huff, leaving Rainbow alone in that room. She remembered worrying that she might have done something wrong just then, even though she knew that she hadn’t. And, of course, she remembered what she had said after letting go.
“N-no! ...I-I mean… I’m liking this. Can you, you know, s-stay? Just a little longer?”
And she had been scared of Twilight saying no.
Rainbow gasped when the look on the dream Twilight’s face soured into an angry glare. She huffed bitterly before turning her back on Rainbow and beginning to trot away. “W-wait! Come back!” Rainbow found herself pleading out before she could stop herself. She lunged forward, reaching out to Twilight, only for the mare to disappear in her hooves, fading into thin air.
“I do believe we have found your fear, my niece…” Luna commented seriously, prompting Rainbow to turn around and look at Luna. The lunar princess’s eyes were turned skyward. Rainbow followed her gaze and gasped at what she saw. There it was, again, the Tantabus, looming over them and shaking in anticipation.
“Fear… alone.” it cooed out in several voices, it’s formless body emitting an ominous pulse, the world around Rainbow quivering and rippling. Rainbow felt a heavy weight inside her body, forcing her to put all of her focus on her wings to stay aloft.
“Tantabus!” Luna barked, once more positioning herself between Rainbow and the cloud of magic. “It’s time for you to go home!”
The Tantabus recoiled slightly as if struck. Then, it pulsed again. With the pulse came a deep, otherworldly howl that sent a chill down Luna’s spine.
“Luna… Mom... Stay… just a little longer.” it said with Rainbow’s voice before swirling and launching forwards, reaching for Luna and the pegasus she guarded with tendrils of darkness, ready to make a meal of their worst fears.
Rainbow flinched back when the Tantabus reached for her and Luna, ready to bolt away as quickly as she could at a moment’s notice. Luckily, Luna formed a magical blue bubble around them, causing the Tantabus’ shapeless form to harmlessly bend past them. Luna turned around as the creature of nightmares reformed on the other side of the shield and grimaced. “Rainbow, seek cover! Let me deal with this!” she commanded before dropping the barrier and hurling a spear of magic at the Tantabus.
“No,” Rainbow replied dryly before turning her attention to the parasitic creature. “I’m helping! This is my dream!” with that, she focused on something, anything really, that could let her help Luna against this thing effectively. She grinned rather widely when an idea came to her. She refocused on the Tantabus, her grin growing confident and also kind of excited.
“Rainbow, what are you doing?!” Luna shouted when Rainbow suddenly shot towards the Tantabus at high speeds. Before she could try to stop her, Rainbow was enveloped in an enormous flash of multi-colored light that bathed the entire area in a kaleidoscope of colors. There was a deep and loud eruption of sound so loud that Luna’s ears began to ring. When the light faded, the Tantabus had retreated significantly, quivering in alarm.
Rainbow turned back to Luna before gesturing up with her eyes. “I’m being awesome. Duh,” she said as if it were obvious.
Luna’s face twisted somewhat as she tried to figure out how to feel about what she was looking at. “My niece… I…”
Rainbow chuckled before tapping a hoof to the new horn sticking out of her forehead. “I hope this doesn’t feel like this in real life. I’d never fall asleep again if I got one,” she commented before testing it out again. Magic flickered on the horn a few times, her aura colored a deep magenta.
Luna blinked before deciding to ignore the fact that Rainbow had just made herself an alicorn. It was Rainbow’s dream, after all. “...Very well. If you insist.” she stated before glaring to the Tantabus, which was now circling them cautiously. “I still ask that you let me take the lead.”
Rainbow rolled her eyes while taking up a position next to Luna. “You’re sounding like a broken record player, you know that?”
“What’s a record player?” Luna asked incredulously, glancing back at Rainbow.
Rainbow faltered slightly. “Wait, you mean they didn’t have them back-”
The Tantabus let out another howl before lunging forward again. Rainbow cut off her sentence before forcing some magic through her horn. She didn’t really know what she was doing with it, but she still managed to let loose with a powerful and focused beam of magenta energy. The Tantabus warped around it, the beam passing uselessly through the smoke. Rainbow grunted and dodged out of the way, as did Luna when the Tantabus soared by.
“Right. Talk later.” Rainbow said to herself while Luna growled and chased after the Tantabus. There were a few moments where Rainbow only watched, looking for an opening she could exploit. The Tantabus howled yet again before coming to a stop. The light it emitted pulsed again. As it did, the whole world around Rainbow began to ripple and shift.
Luna’s eyes widened before she turned to Rainbow Dash, looking desperate. “Rainbow! Drown it out! FOCUS!”
“What are you talking about-?!” Rainbow began before she felt a spike of pain in her head. She gasped and reached her forelegs to her temples, cradling her skull as her wings fell out of sync. She plummeted to the ground below, groaning in discomfort. When she hit the ground, it wasn’t the soft grass or brittle dirt she had been expecting. Her side collided instead with hard, smoothly cut stone. She groaned and opened her eyes, the pain in her head gradually subsiding.
She was no longer outside. Instead, as she looked around, she realized that she was in one of the rooms of the Castle of the Two Sisters. It looked a lot cleaner than she remembered, though. Gradually, she managed to stand up and dusted herself off. “Oi… what’s going on now?” she muttered in frustration before starting forward. “Aunt Luna? Where are you?!”
She heard Luna’s voice calling back, sounding like she was in pain. With her heart rate spiking again, Rainbow broke into a gallop, following the voice through the halls. Eventually, she came to a simple wooden door with metal reinforcements. With a grunt, she pushed them open and looked into the room beyond. Her eyes widened in shock at what she saw.
The room was an enormous hall, the ceiling easily two stories high. To Rainbow Dash’s left, Princess Luna stood at the top of a balcony that rose behind the two thrones of the room. The throne on the left was colored in yellows and golds, while the one on the right was blue and black in coloration. Tapestries hung over each one to indicate who would stand there. Behind Luna was a hole in the wall, where sunlight was streaming in. Luna looked back to Rainbow, her eyebrows twitching with strain and her whole body shaking.
Rainbow stepped forward, ready to aid her aunt however possible.
“Princess Luna!” somepony shouted out. Rainbow froze and turned her eyes to the one who had spoken. It was Twilight Sparkle, followed closely by the rest of their group of friends, charging towards the struggling lunar princess.
“Ack! R-rainbow!” Luna called out through clenched teeth, sweat dripping down her neck. “I am s-so sorry! Th-this is all my f-fau-” her words cut off with a loud scream. A sphere of darkness materialized out of nothing, encasing Luna before lifting into the air.
“LUNA!” Rainbow shouted, rocketing towards the spinning ball of shadows. A bolt of crimson electricity shot out of the orb, striking Rainbow in the chest and sending her to the floor below in a crumpled heap. Gasping for breath through the intense throbbing pain, Rainbow managed to look up into the sphere that held Luna. It began to emit a fiery red glow, emitting enough energy to shake the entire room.
Then the sphere dispersed, dissolving away as quickly as it had come. Rainbow tried to focus on Luna, but her eyes were refusing to cooperate. Finally, she managed to get a hold of herself and got back to her hooves. When she looked back to Luna again, she felt her blood run cold.
“Luna? Why would you be calling for that guilt-ridden fool?” the Mare in the Moon chortled in amusement before flaring out her pitch-black wings. A fang-toothed grin split across her face. “You remember me, don’t you, my niece?”
Rainbow felt her ears go flat against her head as she slowly backed away. “No way… No way, we got rid of you!” she shouted defiantly, though there was no strength in her voice.
Nightmare Moon grinned even wider before laughing that sickening, sadistic laugh. “Maybe you did… but so long as ponies have fears, I shall exist to make them real!”
“Rainbow, come on!” Twilight called, reaching into some saddlebags Rainbow hadn’t noticed and pulled out the Elements of Harmony. Nightmare Moon looked past Rainbow to the rest of them and scowled.
“Not this time.” she snarled before grabbing Rainbow Dash in her magic and forcefully yanking her away from the others.
The moment Rainbow felt that tingle around her body and the forces moving her against her will, she began to thrash and scream wildly. “PUT ME DOWN! PUT ME DOWN, DANGIT!” she begged, her vision already blurring with fresh tears. She could see them, her parents, on the ground before her, on that fateful day so long ago… motionless.
“RAINBOW!” Twilight called out, her own ears flattening back.
Nightmare let out a small hum of thought before smirking slightly. “Ah… I see you have a lovely horn… how wonderful.”
“Let me go!” Rainbow gasped out before whimpering, the same sorrow and fear she had felt so long ago returning in full force.
Nightmare Moon ignored her pleas, her eyes flickering with a threatening shadow. “Let’s draw out your true potential, shall we?” she then dropped Rainbow to the ground before lighting her horn with dark magic.
Rainbow looked up just in time for the magic to hit her on the horn. She locked up, her breath hitching in her throat. She felt a tug in her head. She felt a sudden rush of heat all through her body and a tingling along her scalp. She howled in pain and rage before the whole room flickered out for her. Rainbow struggled against the feelings rushing through her. Anger, rage, hate… they boiled past her feeble efforts to contain them.
Any color in the world around her was drained away, seemingly sucked into the sphere or twisted and distorted colors that now swirled around Rainbow Dash. The sphere dispersed after a moment, leaving the new pony within to slowly rise to her hooves. Nightmare Moon smiled proudly while taking a step back, admiring her handiwork.
Rainbow Dash was gone. The cyan in her coat had been replaced with a deep, dark blue, with the edges of her hooves fading into pitch black. Her mane and tail, now rainbow-colored once again, had taken on a sickly tint. They were frazzled and messy, partially obscuring her eyes, which now had reptilian slits for pupils, glowing intimidatingly in the darkness. Her wings unfurled slightly, many feathers falling out as she did so.
“And what is your name, my niece?” Nightmare asked almost affectionately. This newly fallen alicorn looked at Nightmare with an empty expression.
“...Shut up,” she said darkly, her words dripping with venom and malice.
Nightmare Moon flinched away, taken aback by the other pony’s tone. Her eyes then narrowed into a displeased glare. “I beg your pardon?!”
“Shut up. I want you to shut up.” ‘Rainbow’ said again before her horn lit up with a red glow. Nightmare Moon’s eyes widened before a blast of energy washed over her, blasting her through the wall behind her and into the recreation of the everfree forest behind her. ‘Rainbow’ then turned her gaze back to the mares before the throne.
“Rainbow Dash…” Twilight whispered, terror and sorrow in her eyes as she backed away, the others joining her in her retreat.
“Don’t call me that!” ‘Rainbow’ snapped, slamming her hoof down before her horn lit up again. Twilight’s eyes widened before she lit her own, trying to form a barrier. ‘Rainbow’ didn’t aim for her directly, though. Instead, she blasted a section of the ceiling above, knocking several large stones loose and sending them falling down towards the group of friends. Twilight looked up, her eyes widening with horror. She couldn’t dispel her barrier in time.
The debris fell onto the group, burying them beneath a pile of stone and rubble. For several moments, ‘Rainbow’ stood silently, glaring at the mound with disgust. She blinked. When she opened her eyelids again, her eyes were back to normal. “...Twilight…?” she breathed out in a shaky voice. She leaped from the raised platform to the carpet below, then breaking into a gallop for the pile of debris. She slid to a halt in front of it, tears coming to her eyes. “Twilight… no… what have I done?”
“You petulant, thankless brat!” came the voice of Nightmare Moon from the hole Rainbow had made in the wall earlier. She came to a rest and glared into ‘Rainbow’s’ back in a rage. “I grant you clarity and that is how you thank me?!”
Rainbow looked back at Nightmare Moon blankly. “...I don’t have a name.” she uttered, no emotion in her voice. Nightmare paused and leaned back a bit.
“...What?”
The other mare fell to her haunches and peered into the debris. “I don’t have a name. I never will… because I’m never going to exist.”
Light erupted from the alicorn, momentarily blinding Nightmare Moon. When the light faded, the nameless fallen alicorn was replaced by Rainbow Dash. Nightmare Moon watched as Rainbow began to tremble and sob quietly, reaching out to the stones in front of her.
“She doesn’t remember that this is a dream…”
Nightmare Moon grunted and flinched away. She reached a hoof up to her temple, hissing in discomfort. “N-no! Stop! You’re weak! I’m in control, you fool!”
“My niece needs me. Your turn is over!”
Nightmare Moon gasped once more before she froze like a statue. For a moment, she held that way. Then, when she moved again, her body melted away and vanished into the shadows in the corners of the room. Princess Luna, once more stood, in her place, looking on at Rainbow Dash.
“My niece?” she called gently, stepping down from the platform and letting her wings slow her descent. Rainbow looked back, only looking slightly relieved that Luna had regained control.
“Aunt Luna… what have I done?” she asked timidly, touching a hoof to the stones again.
Luna put a hoof to Rainbow’s back and shook her gently. “You have done nothing, Rainbow Dash. Remember, you are dreaming right now. Twilight and your friends are still safe and sound in the waking world.”
Rainbow visibly relaxed at the reminder, but she still didn’t exactly look happy. She shakily got to her hooves, Luna offering support. “Thanks, Luna… what do we do, now?”
Luna sagged and looked away, unwilling to meet Rainbow’s gaze. “...I do not know. I am so, so sorry that I brought this creature upon you… this is all my fault.” she managed, her voice shaking.
The howl of the Tantabus, far off outside the castle, grew louder.
Rainbow’s brow furrowed. “...Luna… you think this is your fault?”
“Of course!” Luna blurted out, tears in her eyes. “This creature is my responsibility! My burden to bear! And now it has infested your mind, and I don’t think we can contain it as we are now. It is going to force you into nightmare after nightmare, making your sleep a miserable and dreaded experience!”
The world shook slightly, and the howl sounded yet again, even louder. Rainbow reached out to Luna, offering comfort. “Hey, it’s okay-”
“No, it’s not!” Luna shouted, flinching away from Rainbow’s touch. “Because my creation is hurting the ponies I care about! Why?! Why is it that everything I do ends in the ponies I love suffering?!”
Rainbow jerked her hoof away, her eyes going wide. “...Your… creation?”
Luna locked up, snapping her eyes shut. With an uncontrollable shudder running through her, she nodded.
Luna didn’t answer, shrinking away even more from Rainbow Dash and shivering horribly.
Rainbow reached out with her hooves and put them on Luna’s shoulders. “Luna, why did you make this thing? What’s the point?”
Luna tensed under Rainbow’s touch and almost cowered under her words. She managed to find something of her voice, though, the words spilling out in an almost silent whisper. “...It is my penance.”
“Your penance?” Rainbow echoed with her brow furrowing in confusion. The Tantabus outside howled again, reminding the two mares of its presence.
Luna looked up into Rainbow’s eyes, tears spilling freely out of her own. Her whole body started shaking more and more as she began to speak. “I created the T-Tantabus to punish myself. To give me the s-same nightmare every night… so that I could never forgive myself for what I did as Nightmare Moon.”
Rainbow fell to her haunches, unable to believe what she was hearing. Luna kept going, despite her niece’s apparent shock.
“I created it so that I would never forget the suffering I brought on everypony else. So that I would not repeat my mistakes... so that the ponies I love wouldn’t be hurt by me anymore…” she looked down, unable to stifle a sob that rattled her entire body. “But it seems I can’t do anything right… now my creation has infected your dreams… and it’s all my fault.”
Rainbow Dash blinked, dumbstruck as Luna reached her forelegs up to cradle her head, desperately trying to quiet her cries. Another howl reverberated in the air, closer this time. Cracks began to appear along the walls of the throne room, and thunder boomed outside.
“I am so sorry… I am so sorry…” Luna was repeating those words over and over, as if in a trance.
Rainbow Dash managed to get a hold of herself, then. She set her jaw, reached out to Luna and dragged her into the tightest hug she could, wrapping her wings around the whimpering alicorn like blankets. Luna gasped from the sudden embrace before looking up into Rainbow’s eyes with confusion.
“Luna, I’m gonna be blunt here…” Rainbow began before squeezing Luna even closer. “But that has got to be the stupidest thing I’ve heard all year.”
“H-huh?!” Luna’s expression shifted slightly with confusion at the look Rainbow was giving her.
“NOPONY is blaming you for what Nightmare Moon did, Luna! Nopony except for you!” Rainbow said forcefully, shifting so she could better look into Luna’s eyes, her own burning with an intensity Luna had not yet seen from her. “I’m no mage, or scientist. I’m not an alicorn either, not really.” as she said this, the horn she had sprouted earlier crumbled away into dust. “But what I am is absolutely certain that you are NOT NIGHTMARE MOON!”
“She existed because of me, though!” Luna shot back before looking away. “Because I was too stupid and weak-willed to keep my own jealousy in check!”
“Stop that!” Rainbow snapped, reaching a foreleg up to Luna’s face and tilting her head so they were eye-to-eye again. “Stop insulting yourself! Maybe Nightmare Moon came from you, but that doesn’t matter!”
“How can you say that?!” Luna demanded, closing her eyes and grinding her teeth together in an effort to hold in her tears. “Look at what my actions have done to you! How can you honestly believe any of what you’re saying?!”
“BECAUSE YOU’RE TRYING TO STOP IT!” Rainbow shouted, causing Luna to go silent and gaze back at her with wide eyes.
The cracks in the castle wall expanded even more before an entire section of said wall crumbled away, purple tendrils of magic beginning to snake inside once again.
Rainbow glanced in the direction of the tendrils and then pointed at them before looking at Luna. “Look at that. You see that? The Tantabus?” she then reached her hoof over and jabbed Luna in the chest rather hard. “What do you want to do about that?”
“I… I want to get it out of your dream, of course,” Luna answered in a shaking voice, earning a sharp nod from Rainbow Dash.
“Exactly. Do you know what Nightmare Moon would be wanting to do about it?” she furthered firmly, not breaking eye contact with Luna for even a moment.
“She… she’d…”
“She would probably be spreading it,” Rainbow said simply before resting her forehooves on Luna’s shoulders and squeezing firmly. “Or she would have made it expressly for the purpose of hurting others. But not you,” Rainbow jabbed Luna in the chest again. “Because you are not Nightmare Moon.”
Luna wilted before looking away again, her eyes shifting wildly and her body shaking, her mind racing with a million and one thoughts and emotions. “I… I c-can’t…”
“Luna,” Rainbow continued, her voice much more gentle this time. She placed a hoof on Luna’s chin and drew her eyes back to look at her own one last time. “...That’s who you are, right? Princess Luna, the awesome alicorn who goes into the Dream Realm to vanquish nightmares and keep her subjects happy. That is you, isn’t it?”
Luna gazed past Rainbow then, at the Tantabus as it once more flowed fully into her line of sight. It was larger now than it had been before. Slowly, Luna removed herself from her embrace with Rainbow Dash and forced herself to stand tall. The Tantabus drifted forwards, quivering with curiosity and anticipation. Luna bit her lower lip for a moment before taking a deep breath. “I may not agree with everything you have said, my niece…” she began, her horn lighting up with bright blue magic. “But if there is one thing you are right about, it is this…”
The Tantabus pulsed and shot towards her, howling hungrily.
“I am the princess of the night, matron of dreams!” Luna declared, the light from her horn flaring to an intense degree. The Tantabus stopped in its advance and began to tremble away from her as if afraid. “I am the one who vanquishes nightmares, the one who walks among the sleep!”
“Mom…Luna… why?” The Tantabus asked in Rainbow Dash’s voice.
“I am not Nightmare Moon! I am Princess Luna!” Luna’s horn flared with a light so bright that Rainbow had to look away and shield her eyes. She could hear the howls of the Tantabus. Countless voices that it drew from memories began to ask for mercy and forgiveness, the words being drawn out and distorted before, at last, everything went quiet.
Rainbow opened her eyes and looked around. The castle they had been in was gone, replaced with that beautiful plateau she had started this dream on. It was all just as it had been before Luna showed up. The only different was that the sun had set, and in its place was a full, bright moon casting gorgeous silver light across the world. Rainbow then turned around to look at Luna, who stood with her shoulders hunched, her wings flared open and her head hanging low. She was breathing heavily, as if she had just run a marathon. “Woah… what did you do?” Rainbow asked gingerly while stepping up to Luna.
“I… I managed to pull it back into my own mind and sealed it there. It will trouble you no more.” Luna explained between her gasps before falling to her haunches.
Rainbow smiled slightly before reaching out with a foreleg and pulling Luna into a side hug. She nuzzled into her aunt’s shoulder affectionately before her eyes opened, now looking despondent. “Aunt Luna… why didn’t you say anything about how bad you felt?”
Luna tensed slightly and shook her head. “I… I did not want to burden you or anypony else. You’ve had to deal with enough because of me.”
Rainbow sighed softly and pulled Luna closer. “I’m no therapist, but I would have rather you told me straight away about all of this rather than leaving me in the dark… I would have helped you.”
Luna didn’t answer, but gradually lowered herself to lay on the grass.
“Does mom know, at least?”
“...No. My sister is not aware of this.” Luna replied regretfully, her ears drooping again.
Rainbow bit her lip. After a minute or so of silence, she looked at Luna a bit more directly and spoke up. “Hey, can I offer you some advice?”
Luna’s ears swiveled to Rainbow and she nodded.
“From what I’ve seen of them, you are fortunate to have such a wonderful niece and big sister. Do not be afraid to lean on them for support,” Rainbow said, doing a very poor impression of Luna. Said princess looked at Rainbow incredulously.
“Was.. was that supposed to be me?”
Rainbow snorted. “Hey, it’s good advice. I took it when you gave it to me. Now it’s your turn.”
Luna looked away, unsure. “I don’t know… I don’t want to burden Tia anymore than I already have. She suffered the worst because of what happened with me.”
“Doesn’t the fact that she suffered without you say alot about just how much she cares about you?” Rainbow asked softly, leaning back a bit. “Besides, she felt really guilty about what happened with you, too.”
“She… she did?”
Rainbow rolled her eyes. “Duh. She had to banish her only sister to the moon for a thousand years, an event that came about because, in her mind, she was neglecting her sister.”
Luna’s eyes widened a bit and she looked away again. “I… I didn’t know.”
Rainbow nodded slowly and pat Luna on the back. “Look, like I said, I’m no therapist. But when we’re done here, just… talk to mom, okay? Let her know how you feel.” she then got a small frown on her face and lightly smacked Luna in the back of the head.
“Ow!” Luna yelped before rubbing the spot that had just been struck and glaring at Rainbow.
“And get rid of the Tantabus, would ya? Like, destroy it. It won’t do you or anypony else any good.” Rainbow finished before smiling warmly.
Luna snorted and lowered her hoof back to the grass beneath her. “...I cannot promise anything, Rainbow.”
“You can promise to try,” Rainbow countered a bit more firmly. “And really, that’s all I want here.”
A small fragment of a smile appeared on Luna’s lips before she nodded. “Very well. I promise to try if nothing else.”
Rainbow grinned before looking out at the horizon again. For a good long while, the two were silent. Luna’s expression turned thoughtful before long. Rainbow glanced at her from the side. “Thinking ‘bout something?” she asked casually.
“I think I know how the Tantabus was able to jump from my mind to yours when I got here,” Luna said, shifting slightly to look up at the moon.
“Oh? Well, spill it then!” Rainbow asked with a deliberately pushy edge to her voice, trying to keep the atmosphere light.
“Do you remember when you came to visit me while you and Twilight were in Canterlot?” Luna asked, thinking back to the day in question.
“Yeah. What about it?”
“I was finalizing the restraints on the Tantabus when you came in. I stopped channeling the spell to avoid suspicion. It seems that such a sudden end to the stream of magic created a malfunction in the spell, permitting the Tantabus to slip into any dream I had entered. It must have taken a while for the Tantabus to notice this hole in its restraints, else it would have slipped into your dream the first time.”
Rainbow nodded slowly. “Well, I guess that makes sense. I’m not really magically literate, so…”
Luna chuckled good-naturedly before looking sideways at Rainbow Dash. “Before I go, Rainbow, might I ask you one question?”
“Sure.” Rainbow nodded along, crossing one foreleg over the other as she, too, lay down on her belly in the grass.
“...Why is your mane so purple? I have been meaning to ask for a while.”
Rainbow groaned and thumped her face into the grass. “I forgot about that!” she whined into the earth with embarrassment, her words muffled by the dirt in her face.
Luna giggled and leaned forward a bit, an expectant grin on her face. “I’m not going anywhere until I hear the story.”
Rainbow frowned up at Luna before sitting upright. “You wanna know why? It’s because Rarity dyed my mane before we left Ponyville. I asked her to.”
Luna blinked, then pouted. “Why?”
Rainbow wiggled her eyebrows tauntingly. “You’ll have to wait for me to get back to hear that story.”
Luna groaned in disappointment before standing up. “So disappointing…”
“Yeah, yeah. Go talk to mom, okay? The girls and I should be home tomorrow or the day after.” Rainbow called as Luna started lifting into the air on her wings.
“...Of course, my niece.”
“Right. Thanks, Luna!” Rainbow waved in farewell.
“No. Thank you, Rainbow.” Luna called back.
The dream ended.
Rainbow smiled pleasantly as she gradually woke up. She hadn’t felt this rested in a long time. She lazily fluttered her eyes open and discovered that Twilight’s own peacefully slumbering face was only a few inches in front of her own. Rainbow smiled softly and snuggled closer towards Twilight, enjoying the body heat. She briefly glanced at the clock on the nightstand. Seven in the morning.
She closed her eyes again and just enjoyed being close to Twilight right now. Of course, she remembered her dream. She remembered it quite clearly. She’d have to write Luna later, just to make sure that she talked to Celestia like Rainbow had asked. But for now, she had another hour or two before she had to get up, and she planned to take full advantage of the time.
The sun had just barely breached the horizon, casting the orange glow of morning across the tall, rocky peak of the mountain upon which Canterlot resided. Songbirds were roused from their slumber and, true to their name, sang their morning songs into the crisp, gradually warming air. Here and there, ponies were started to emerge from their homes, having gotten up at some point before sunrise to get an early start on their day. A few stray animals occasionally could be seen moving through the streets, looking for scraps and handouts.
Somewhere amid the slow and sleepy shufflings of Canterlot, secluded among back-alleys and popular establishments, just outside of an old, barely used warehouse, stood a skinny unicorn stallion with a dull blue coat, a black mane and tail and green eyes. On his flank was a cutie mark of a calligraphy pen drawing a thick line of ink in a graceful series of curves. On his back was a pair of basic, unassuming saddlebags with only a few basic items; a notebook, a pen set, and a small, unassuming black beetle on a string.
The stallion took a long, deep breath of the early morning air before letting it back out with a heavy sigh. It had been barely seven in the morning when he had been told to come here as quickly as possible. The pony shook himself a bit before reaching up with a hoof and knocking on the locked door of the warehouse. A few seconds passed in silence before the door opened just a crack, prevented from opening any further due to a thick chain securing the handles on the other side. The creature that gazed back at the pony narrowed it’s glowing violet eyes at him, looking annoyed before the door snapped shut again. There were a few seconds where the sounds of rattling chains and clinking metal could be heard before the door swung open with a loud creak.
“You’re late,” the creature said in a rough, guttural voice that was ever so slightly distorted into two tones. Its eyes were still the only thing visible to the pony as it ducked back into the darkness of the warehouse to avoid being seen by any potential onlookers. “Get in here, quick.”
The pony nodded, anxious, and stepped inside while closing the door behind him. He looked at the two orbs of purple light that glared back at him with scrutiny and flinched away somewhat.
“Drop your disguise, Thorax. We still have work to do.” the creature growled out bluntly before the two eyes turned away and the creature they belonged to moved deeper into the nearly pitch-black interior of the building. Two other sets of eyes could be seen ahead of it, both of them narrowed in irritation and impatience.
“R-right, give me a second…” the pony, now identified as Thorax, nodded timidly before closing his eyes and concentrating. A moment later, he was consumed in a swirl of green fire that faded just as quickly as it came. In the place of the pony that had been standing there was something completely different. He was creature of equine origins, unquestionably, with the same basic body shape and proportions as the typical pony. However, instead of a colorful coat of brightly colored fur, he was covered from horn to hoof in pitch-black chitin. His forelegs were covered with smooth circular holes that went all the way through, yet this peculiar structure did not hinder his ability to move in the slightest. Atop his head was a slightly curved horn that came to a sharp tip, and on his back buzzed a pair of insectile wings tinted in a light blue. When his eyes opened, there were no iris’ or pupils; just a pale blue orb that was somewhat brighter in the center in place of pupils.
“Hurry up, Thorax! We’re starting over here!” the other creature, visually almost identical to Thorax save for its eyes, called out.
“Sorry! I’m coming, Pharynx!” Thorax answered while breaking into a gallop for the other side of the room. Two other creatures, both with Thorax’s color scheme, came into view and glared impatiently as he came to a stop before them. “Sorry, I got turned around on the way.”
“We don’t want excuses, Thorax! Now shut up and put down your beetle.” One of the other creatures snapped in a scratchy voice, its wings buzzing with impatience. Thorax shied away but did as commanded. His horn lit up with sickly green magic, and the small, beetle-like object came drifting out of his saddlebags, held in a similarly sickly-green aura. He placed it on the ground at his hooves at a specific angle, then stepped back.
“Finally!” Pharynx grunted while placing his own beetle down as well. “Now we can get started.”
“Cut the chatter!” The one that had snapped at Thorax a moment ago snarled. “All of you. Let Spiracle give her report.”
The fourth creature, Spiracle, gulped audibly and nodded. The four beetles on the floor hummed with energy before they all snapped open their shells simultaneously. A putrid green stream of energy ran from one to the next until all four had formed a circuit. The four beetles then began to redirect the flow of energy into a point in the center of the square they created. The energy began to swell and grow, rising into the air as a sphere of undulating light.
A voice spoke from the sphere, and Thorax cringed away in fear. “You’re contacting me rather early, aren’t you?” the voice asked, feminine, curious and condescending. The other creatures visibly twitched with discomfort and anxiety when they heard her voice, but all held their ground.
“Forgive us if our message comes at a bad time, my queen,” the leader of the creatures said with a deep bow. “But Spiracle has made an important discovery. We may not need to wait as long as we thought to put our plans fully into motion.”
There was a hum of interest and consideration from the sphere as Spiracle slowly came forwards. “Y-your m-majesty,” she stuttered out, keeping her head low. “I overhead Princesses Celestia and Luna talking to each other yesterday while on infiltration. A-apparently, Celestia’s adoptive daughter, Rainbow Dash, is missing.”
The voice hummed again. “That is interesting news, to be sure, but how does that help our plan?” it asked with an edge of impatience.
Spiracle cowered to the floor. “U-um, Princess Rainbow Dash is one of the six bearers of the Elements of Harmony. If she’s missing, then w-we may have a window of attack where Equestria’s greatest weapon is useless.”
“I see… I take it you did your research to confirm this information?” the voice of the queen asked, an eager edge in her words.
“Y-yes, your majesty. I checked archived newspapers alongside Stinger, We can confirm that Rainbow Dash is one of the elements of harmony. As for her really being missing…”
“I had one of our scouts take a pass by Ponyville where she lives. Spiracle’s information holds true; Princess Rainbow Dash is not there and the inhabitants don’t seem to know where she’s gone and disappeared to.” Stinger, the leader of the four, answered with a firm nod.
The voice was silent before a sadistic chuckle worked its way through her. “I see… very well done, Spiracle. With such a powerful weapon now rendered obsolete, we can move our operation forward significantly faster than planned! You would do well to learn from her example, Thorax.” she said, spitting out the name as if it were distasteful.
Thorax bowed deeply, slamming his eyes shut and quivering with terror. “Y-yes, of course! I’ll try my best, your majesty!”
“Good. Pharynx! Stinger!” the voice barked.
“Yes, my queen?” Pharynx and Stinger both stood tall, ready for orders.
“I want you two to begin priming Canterlot for my arrival. Contact the forces in the caverns and start replacing the ponies of the city watch wherever you can. Try to replace ponies with loved ones in the city as a priority; spouses, friends, foals, it doesn’t matter. So long as they have somepony who loves them back with all their heart, they are a viable target. Collect that love and store it in the caves: We will be needing the meal before we begin the next step,” The Queen explained before her face became visible in the swirling ball of green magic. A ragged lock of a dark-teal mane hung over her reptilian eyes, which gleamed with predatory excitement. She licked her sharp fangs with a long tongue in anticipation. “I shall arrive within the week with a suitably large force. Make sure we are ready.”
“It shall be done, Queen Chrysalis. Canterlot won’t know what’s going on until it is far too late to stop us!” Pharynx thumped a hoof on his chest with a grin appearing.
“Good… soon enough Canterlot will fall, and so too will all of Equestria, and the changelings will be able to feed on their love for generations!” Chrysalis cooed before leaning back and laughing long and loud. The sphere of green magic spluttered, twisted, and then winked out of existence, plunging the warehouse into darkness.
Okay… I can do this. Rainbow Dash thought as she looked up at the sign of Tinker’s Bits and Bobs with a small tremble of trepidation in her chest. It was around eight in the morning and the shop had just opened about twenty minutes ago. Rainbow had snuck out of the hotel room, careful to not wake Twilight, before coming down here. She knew that this wasn’t really necessary of her, not at all, but it would make her feel better. She took a deep breath before reaching out to the door and pushing it open.
“Oh, good morning, there! Welcome to ‘Tinder’s Bits and Bobs,’ home of just about every knick-knack, thingamajig, and MacGuffin under the sun, at one point or another!” the voice of the owner called out from not far to Rainbow Dash’s right. “If you need help finding anything, just lemme know!”
Rainbow smiled at the mare, who was sorting out some of her merchandise on a table. “Hi! Uh, I am actually looking for something specific… well, somepony would be more accurate, I guess…” she said awkwardly before rubbing the back of her head with a forehoof.
Tinder glanced up with a raised eyebrow. “Uh, well, I don’t sell ponies, so…”
“What?!” Rainbow blinked and then waved her hooves in front of her dismissively. “No no no! That’s not what I-”
Tinder chuckled slightly, cutting Rainbow off before offering a sheepish shrug. “Sorry. My sense of humor is kinda whacky in the morning.”
Rainbow’s cheeks tinted a bit at realizing she had actually fallen for that, then cleared her throat. “Ahem… uh, I’m looking for somepony that works here. Purple unicorn?”
The corners of Tinder’s lips turned down into a frown, and she analyzed Rainbow a bit more intently. “What’d you say your name was again?”
“I didn’t. I’m Lilac Bolt,” Rainbow lied, her eyes briefly looking at one of the long locks of her still dyed mane. “And, uh, I may have given the pony a bit of a bad first impression.”
“Say something nasty to her?” Tinder asked with her brow furrowing a bit.
“Not exactly. I, well…” Rainbow took a moment before sighing slightly. “...I mistook her for somepony else, somepony I don’t like. It showed through, I guess, and I know that she didn’t like what she saw. I want to apologize to her.”
Tinder made an ‘o’ with her mouth before shaking her head. “Well, I dunno how to tell you this, but Starlight- oh, that’s her name, by the way,” she added sheepishly. “Isn’t here right now. She’s gonna be out of town for a few weeks. Used up all of her vacation days, she did.”
“Oh…” Rainbow muttered quietly before looking away.
“Yeh. Said something real nice and poetic about paying her past a visit or something.”
Rainbow felt her heart stop for a moment. Her blood began to run cold in her veins and she felt the beginnings of a cold sweat. “Uh… I’m s-sorry, what was that? I z-zoned out.” she lied, barely able to keep the shaking out of her voice.
Tinder’s frown deepened. “Uh… I said that Starlight made some real nice and poetic speech about visiting her past or something before she left to book her train tickets,” she stepped around the table and approached Rainbow carefully, eyeing her up and down. “Hey, you okay? You’re shaking something fierce.”
Rainbow’s eyes darted left to right frantically. “I… I have to go!” she suddenly blurted before rocketing out of the front door of the shop fast enough to knock it off of its hinges.
“Whoah! Hey!” Tinder shouted upon seeing her door now detached from the frame. She glared outside, eager to give that crazy filly a good hard scolding, but discovered she had already disappeared. “...What got into her?”
Outside, Rainbow was moving as fast as her wings could carry her for the window that would lead her to her hotel room. She was hyperventilating, her mind racing with a million thoughts a minute. Soon enough, she found her window and forcefully pulled it open.
“Twilight!” She shouted into the room as soon as she was in, startling the unicorn in question out of her sleep. Twilight yelped in alarm as she fell sideways off of the bed. She hauled herself back up, rubbing her eyes and shooting Rainbow a severely annoyed glare. The ire in her eyes gave way to worry when she saw just how distraught Rainbow was.
“Rainbow, what’s wrong?” she asked, standing up and cantering around her bed.
Rainbow took a deep, shaky breath before answering in a quivering, almost frantic voice. “Get the others. We have a problem!"
“Are ya kiddin’ me?” Applejack demanded about ten minutes later, her brow furrowing and her lips twitching into a disbelieving scow. “She seemed totally fine when we went to see her.”
The whole group was assembled in Pinkie, Rarity and Applejack’s room, looking on at Rainbow Dash with varying expressions ranging from shock to skepticism. Rainbow turned her eyes to Applejack, an apology hidden within them. “I’m sorry Applejack, I don’t want to say you, Rarity or Twilight is bad at judging character. All I know is that Starlight’s not here and she has something in store for her past.”
“Are you sure you heard the shopkeeper right?” Rarity asked carefully, Spike nodding along by her side. “It is possible that Starlight isn’t planning on going through time.”
Rainbow shot Rarity a hard look. “I’m not taking that chance, Rarity. Making sure that that doesn’t happen is the whole reason we came out here!” she snapped, an edge to her voice that made Rarity shrink away and lower her ears. Rainbow locked up, then took a deep breath. “Sorry…”
“It’s quite alright…”
Spike patted Rarity on the shoulder comfortingly before shooting a nasty look at Rainbow Dash. “Rainbow, you need to calm down.”
Rainbow grunted but said no more. A long, tense silence fell over the room.
“What do we do, now?” Fluttershy asked in an anxious whisper, breaking the silence and curling her tail around her legs while pulling it closer to her chest with her forehooves.
“We have to figure out which train she planned to leave on,” Rainbow began pacing around the room as she spoke, her body jittering very noticeably as she went. “If what the shopkeeper said is true, then Starlight booked her tickets. She might still at the station waiting for her train to show up. If we hurry, we can stop her before she can get out of our reach.”
Twilight got a stern and thoughtful look on her face, then reached out with a hoof as Rainbow passed and grabbed her by the shoulder, making her stop. “Okay, say we leave right now and find she’s there. What do we do then? Remember, we’re trying to cause as few disturbances as possible, so charging in muzzle-first would be a horrible idea.” she asked firmly.
Rainbow tensed under Twilight’s touch, then brushed her hoof away with a wing. “I know that. But we don’t exactly have time to figure out a subtle plan, now do we? The train is going to show up in ten, maybe twenty minutes. Once it shows up it won’t be long before it takes off again.”
Twilight recoiled slightly when she heard the intensity in Rainbow’s voice. She felt a small blade of fear work it’s way into her heart. “Rainbow…”
“Look, you all get your stuff and get ready to go. I’m going on ahead to the station to scout it out right now. If Starlight’s there, we need to know now.” Rainbow declared simply while cantering for the window.
“Rainbow, wait!” Twilight tried, but the pegasus was not deterred. The window slid open and Rainbow shot out of the hotel at almost sonic speeds. A sharp gust of wind battered the room for a moment, knocking several things over and forcing everypony to shield their eyes. A second passed in silence before Twilight lowered her foreleg to gaze at the spot where Rainbow had been just a second ago.
The floor was dented and cracked where Rainbow had jumped off from.
Rainbow took several long, deep breaths as she flew, doing her best to calm her shaking body and her frayed nerves. But no matter how hard she tried, she was unable to fully get the shakes that were rattling her body to stop, she was unable to get her ragged breathing under control. Moving as fast as her wings would allow without breaking the sound barrier, she was making good time. In only a few minutes she had closed the distance between the hotel and the train station, choosing to set down on the ground a block away. Several ponies cast her confused or curious glances when she burst into a gallop down the street, but most of them didn’t really give her much thought beyond that. Just another mare in a hurry among the hustle and bustle of Manehattan.
Finally, Rainbow came to a stop across the street from the train station to gasp for breath, trying to collect herself. She didn’t allow herself to rest for long, though. After only a minute she cantered through the doors of the building and into the spacious grand hall that made up the train station’s terminus. It was busy but not as busy as when she and her friends had initially arrived. Dozens of ponies went about their business, but compared to the hundreds Rainbow remembered, it was easier to scan the crowds for specific colors, shapes, and faces.
“Where are you…?” Rainbow whispered to herself while scanning the crowd. Finally, she spotted her. Starlight Glimmer was leaning casually against one of the support pillars on the lower floor of the terminal, looking into the pages of some book or other with a small, comfortable smile on her face.
A voice spoke over an intercom, informing all of the ponies inside the building that the ten o'clock morning train bound for Ponyville was pulling in. Rainbow’s face went pale when Starlight perked up at that announcement, her small smile growing somewhat.
“There you are!” The gasping voice of Spike managed through a series of exhausted gasps. Rainbow turned around to see the small purple dragon, along with the rest of the group, entering the station. Spike took the momentary respite of having caught up with Rainbow to lean against Rarity’s side to catch his breath.
“I found her,” Rainbow said in a hushed whisper, pointing to the unicorn in question. “She’s leaving on the same train we were planning on taking.”
“Then we should hurry,” Rarity said with a sharp nod. “We don’t want to be late going home.”
“Not the point!” Rainbow snapped before closing her eyes tightly and trying to compose herself.
Fluttershy hesitantly drew closer to her and offered what comfort she could with a side-hug. Twilight’s face soured with a despondent frown before she turned her eyes to Rarity. “Rarity, get our tickets set up. Make it quick!”
Rarity blinked, then nodded before galloping off. Applejack adjusted her hat slightly while Pinkie also moved forward to offer Rainbow Dash some comfort. “Hey, try to cheer up, Dashie. We’re here for ya,” she said softly, catching Rainbow off guard.
Rainbow smirked slightly at Pinkie. “Heh… not used to you being any kind of quiet there, Pinks.” Pinkie smiled warmly in response to the praise before reaching out offering what she could of a hug. For almost a minute they were content to stay like this.
The sounds of the train pulling into its spot could be heard a moment later, reverberating quite loudly in the enclosed chamber. The hug came undone when Rainbow locked her eyes onto Starlight, who was now holding a small suitcase next to her in her magic. Rainbow looked desperately to Rarity, who was now galloping back with their tickets held firm in her magic. “I got them!” she said as she came up.
Rainbow snatched up hers without a second thought. “Alright! Let’s go!” she said simply before breaking into a brisk gallop for one of the doors to the train that was now taking passengers, the rest of the group in tow. The conductor by their chosen door looked over their tickets real quick when they arrived before waving them in with a small nod.
Rainbow looked left and right as soon as she was fully inside, her eyes frantically searching for Starlight. It wasn’t until Twilight came into her field of view with a stern and worried look that Rainbow got a hold of herself. “Hey,” Twilight said quietly, putting a hoof on the back of Rainbow’s head. “We’re here, okay? We made it. The train ride is going to take a while, so we can afford to stop, calm down and think before we do anything else. Okay?”
Rainbow bit her lip and looked away, but eventually gave a small, shaky nod. “O-okay, okay. You’re right. C’mon…” she uttered before starting to trot down the rows of seats, eventually finding an empty one and sitting down. She locked her eyes on her hooves and didn’t move. Twilight’s ears drooped and her heart sank with them.
You were perfectly fine just yesterday, Rainbow… she thought to herself before looking back to the others, having a question but not sure how to ask it.
“Go on,” Applejack answered quietly for her with a small, reassuring smile. “Go to her. We’ll figure out where Starlight is and come back to y’all when we do. Then we can figure out a plan, okay?”
“Great idea, Applejack,” Rarity nodded before looking at Pinkie and Fluttershy. “Pinkie, Fluttershy, does that sound fine to you?”
Pinkie nodded chirpily while Fluttershy glanced past them at Rainbow Dash. “Um… uh…” she looked then to Twilight and made eye contact. She shuffled uneasily before nodding. “Okay. Take care of her, Twilight.”
Twilight was somewhat taken aback by Fluttershy’s choice of words. All the same, she managed a small, thankful smile to her friends and gave a quick nod. “I will. Try not to draw attention to yourselves, okay?”
“You too, darling,” Rarity smiled before looking down at Spike, who was tapping the tips of his claws together over his chest nervously.
“Twilight?” he asked, looking up at her with nervous eyes.
“Yes, Spike?”
He looked down then shook his head. “...Nevermind. Fluttershy already said it,” he muttered before looking up at Rarity. “I’ll go with you. I don’t think I can help her very much right now.”
Rarity patted Spike on the head with a hoof in a comforting manner before giving Twilight a confirming nod. She then turned and began to make her way deeper into the train, the others following closely behind her. Twilight watched them go until a door closed behind them. She then turned and made her way to the seat Rainbow had claimed, taking a seat right next to her. “How are you holding up?” she asked gently.
“Not good,” Rainbow admitted with a sigh, finally deciding to raise her eyes away from the floor. “But… I’ll be fine. Don’t worry about me.”
Twilight wrapped a foreleg around Rainbow’s shoulders and drew her close rather quickly, earning a surprised squeak from the pegasus. “Don’t ask me to not worry about you, Rainbow. Just don’t,” she whispered into Rainbow’s mane, nuzzling her affectionately. Outside, they could hear the words ‘all aboard’ being shouted, as well as the sound of the train starting to rumble once more into life.
“Twilight?” Rainbow asked, not sure what Twilight’s words really meant.
“I worry about you because I care, Rainbow. Don’t you dare ask me to stop worrying, okay?” Twilight continued, pulling Rainbow closer before pulling back a bit to look her in the eyes. “Asking me to stop worrying about you, especially when you're like this… it’s like asking me to burn a book, or asking you to become a fully certified botanist.”
Rainbow couldn’t help but snort at that. “Heh… yeah. Like any of that’s ever gonna happen.” she commented quietly, deciding to lean into Twilight’s embrace some more.
“Exactly,” Twilight answered, giving Rainbow a gentle squeeze with her foreleg. “So don’t ask me to stop worrying. I won’t. I can’t.”
Rainbow nodded slowly and closed her eyes. “...I’ll take your word for it.”
The sound of the loud whistle of the train being blown pierced the air. The train doors slid shut, the wheels began to turn and the train was put into motion.
Princess Luna stirred awake, her eyes slowly blinking open. She winced inwardly when she realized just how much crust had become stuck to her eyelids, probably because of her nightmare, alongside the increased weight it now seemed to have after her experience with Rainbow Dash and the Tantabus.
“Look, like I said, I’m no therapist. But when we’re done here, just… talk to mom, okay? Let her know how you feel. And get rid of the Tantabus, would ya? Like, destroy it. It won’t do you or anypony else any good.”
She bit her lip as she recalled the words of her niece. She hadn’t destroyed the Tantabus when she had emerged from the dream realm, nor had she gone to see Celestia. It had been little more than four in the morning when she emerged from Rainbow’s dream, and she had determined to let her big sister get her sleep before talking with her.
Shifting her eyes down, Luna noted the rays of fresh, early-morning sunlight that painted a section of her floor and wall in long, lightly shimmering stripes of gold. A few birds chirped beautifully outside Luna’s window, adding to the serene feeling of the still quiet morning. Luna let her head fall back to her pillow. It was still too early for her to get up and be comfortable with her day. Celestia could wait a little longer.
“...I cannot promise anything, Rainbow.”
“You can promise to try, and really, that’s all I want here.”
Luna winced as those words danced through her mind again. She had promised her niece that she would at least try and bring all of this up with Celestia, that she would try to seek help from those around her. She had seen this pattern enough in the many dreams she had scoured before her banishment; procrastination. Dutifully delaying what needed to be done until the last minute.
Here, like in the worst cases she had seen, there was that ominously looming possibility that if she waited too long to seek help, it would be too late to salvage the situation. Luna’s ears flattened somewhat before, with a tired groan and languid stretch, she sat up in her bed and rubbed the remaining sleep from her eyes. “...This cannot wait.” she murmured, dreading absolutely everything about what she knew she now had to do.
Slowly, almost as if she were afraid the floor would swallow her if she touched it, Luna managed to slide out of bed and set to work tidying herself up. She ran a comb through her mane and over the parts of her body where her coat was at its longest before stepping out of her room. She might have taken the time to shower or some other form of bathing, but decided it could wait. Now standing in the sizable hallway that shared the entrances to the three private chambers of the royal family, she eyed one of the doors with a hesitant, almost fearful gaze. Maybe she can wait just a bit longer… she found herself thinking, already doubting herself.
“Ah, your highness!”
Luna, startled, jumped slightly and whirled to the speaker. It was a gray pony in the dark blue armor of the Lunar Royal Guard that had spoken, bat-like wings at his side ruffling somewhat in his own mild form of surprise at the intensity of Luna’s reaction. He smiled weakly at her and stood tall. “I was not expecting you to be up so soon! Normally I’m relieved of duty by a solar guard long before you are up,” he explained, slightly nervous.
“Oh. At ease, gentlecolt,” Luna said after a moment, shaking her head somewhat with an exasperated, only slightly humored laugh. “I am not accustomed to such a loud greeting when I awaken… nor am I used to awakening at such an hour, as you observed.”
“Is something amiss?” the guard asked curiously, leaning forward just a bit. Luna eyed him with curiosity of her own. He was young; almost to the point that she was convinced he wouldn’t be the one in charge of guarding her chambers at night. There was an air of almost childish wonder in his eyes as he gazed back at her. He flinched away a bit, seemingly remembering who it was he was talking to. “Oh, ah, that is, if it is permissible for me to ask that of you, your majesty.”
“...What is your name, my subject?” Luna finally asked, genuinely curious.
“I’m Squall Dreamer, you’re highness,” the bat pony, now known as Squall, said with a smile. “It’s a pleasure to meet you.”
“Likewise...” Luna nodded before shifting to look back at Celestia’s door. Her brow furrowed in uncertainty.
“...Please forgive my nosiness, your majesty, but… is something troubling you?”
Luna flinched slightly, telling the guard everything he needed to know. He didn’t comment on it, though, awaiting the princess to answer for herself. Eventually, Luna turned to look back at Squall, once again with a question in her mind. “Squall, may I ask something of you?”
“Of course! You don’t even need to ask.” Squall nodded along, perking up somewhat.
“Do you have any siblings?”
Squalls smile turned mirthful. “Four of them, yeah. All sisters,” he said before giving an exaggerated roll of his eyes and distant chuckle. “Probably the biggest pain in the flank I’ve ever met. But hey, they’re family, and I love ‘em just the way they are.”
Luna smiled slightly, glancing back at to Celestia’s door.
“The youngest one,” Squall continued a bit more solemnly, drawing Luna’s attention again. “Her name is Wind Whisper. She’s just the sweetest thing, I swear…” his eyes went a little distant. “But she… has anxiety problems. You wouldn’t believe how many times I’ve walked in on her crying her eyes out because she was terrified of failing, or of making everypony around her upset…”
“That’s quite enough, Squall-” Luna tried, though she lost her voice when Squall met her gaze with his own.
“I know what that kind of crying sounds like, Princess Luna. I know it very well. It’s the worst sound in the world to me. I don’t want to hear it ever again… but I’ve been hearing it every night.”
“I…” Luna couldn’t find any words. She stared blankly at the stallion in front of her for several moments before taking a deep breath and nodding. “Thank you, Squall.”
He smiled at her and gestured slowly with his head to the door to Princess Celestia’s room. “You’re welcome, your highness.”
Luna took another deep breath and strode slowly towards the doors that would take her to Celestia’s personal chambers. The doors loomed over her, almost seeming to grow larger and more imposing as she stared at them. Finally, though, she mustered her courage and, with a slight tremble in her movements, she opened the door with her magic.
“Sister?” She called timidly as she slowly crept into her elder sister’s bedchambers, closing the door softly behind her. Celestia was standing by her own window, gazing out onto Canterlot with a thoughtful expression as the sun steadily rose into the air. She then turned her eyes away from the cityscape and smiled welcomingly at Luna.
“Ah, Lulu. Good morning. I wasn’t expecting you to be up quite so early.” she said while cantering over to the blue alicorn and giving her a warm, welcoming embrace.
“I would still be asleep, yes, were it not for some… pressing information I need to bring to your attention.” Luna began with a small nod into Celestia’s chest fur. Celestia leaned back and looked into Luna’s eyes a bit more seriously.
“Did you find her?”
“I did. She is fine and said she should be back in Ponyville within the next day or so.” Luna replied with another nod before disengaging from the hug, looking away slightly.
“Where was she, exactly?” Celestia pressed, tilting her head when she noticed Luna shying away slightly.
“She didn’t say exactly where she went, nor did she elaborate fully on why she left without saying anything, only that she’ll be home soon. I would not worry too much, though. She has her friends with her.” Luna replied, shifting uncomfortably on her hooves. Her wings ruffled slightly at her sides.
“...Luna? Are you alright?” Celestia asked slowly, moving forward while reaching out with a hoof. Luna flinched away from the touch, which in turn made Celestia take a step back and recoil. “Little sister, you know you can trust me, don’t you?”
Luna sighed, screwing her eyes shut. She hesitated, then took a very long, deep breath. She opened her eyes, one of them rendered invisible behind her ethereal mane as she turned her face to look back at her big sister. The same sister she had once come to resent and despise, a sister whom she had borne an overwhelming jealousy of. “...Sister… Am I… am I forgiven?”
Celestia tilted her head, looking confused. “Forgiven? I've already forgiven you a long time ago, Luna. You don't need to keep apologizing. You're my sister and I love you, and nothing you could do will ever change that..”
Luna shook her head softly. “I… wish I could agree with you, sister…”
Celestia sat down and reached out again, though not to touch Luna; to offer her an embrace if she desired one. “What happened to bring this on?”
Luna also sat down, refusing the embrace for now. Her brow furrowed and her eyes briefly misted over. She made a slight choking sound while running a foreleg over her eyes to clear away the obstruction, then took a shaky breath. “I… cannot forgive myself for what I did as Nightmare Moon!” she blurted out, her wings unfurling just slightly. Celestia’s eyes widened, but the dam had broken, the floodgates opened, and nothing could stop the onslaught of words as they poured out of Luna’s mouth. “I created something that I have named the Tantabus. It it is my penance. It gives me the same nightmare every single time I slip into sleep, making sure that I never forget what I’ve done, punishing me for my mistakes so that I can never repeat them again!”
She choked down a sob, but continued all the same. “I can’t forgive myself and I don’t see how everypony else can find it in their hearts to forgive me so easily! How? How?! How can you look at me and not cringe away with resentment and bitterness? How can anypony see me in the halls and not.. And not-”
“Luna!” Celestia interrupted her, reaching out and yanking the younger alicorn into a suffocating embrace, wrapping her up in her wings like a shield. Luna fell silent, shaking horribly and clamping her eyes shut. Celestia squeezed her close, taking a shaky breath. “Don’t… don’t say that-… please don’t say that you shouldn’t be forgiven. Please.”
“Sister…”
“Shhh,” Celestia whispered, giving Luna another squeeze. “It’s alright, Lulu. It’s okay.”
Luna sniffled, burying her face in the crook of Celestia’s neck. “Truly?”
“I would never lie to my beloved little sister,” Celestia replied solemnly, starting to rock both of them back and forth. “And I would never hold a grudge against her, either.”
Luna’s eyes teared up again. She remained silent, though from how damp her shoulder was gradually becoming, Celestia knew for sure that Luna was crying her heart out.
“Just let it all out, Lulu. Let it out. You don’t have to be quiet this time. You don’t have to be on your own.”
That did it. Luna sucked in a sharp breath through her teeth before a long, sorrowful wail tore its way out of her lungs. The sounds reverberated around the room, though they did not leave it. Celestia had had the foresight to soundproof the walls with a quick spell before she said that.
For almost five minutes, this carried on, with Luna crying openly into Celestia’s shoulder, finally able to freely let all of her pent-up sorrow, guilt and frustration spill out into the open. At last, her sobs and cries began to die down to little more than quiet whimpers, than shaky breaths. When Luna was at last quiet again, Celestia gave her another gentle squeeze. “How long have you been feeling like this?” she asked in a whisper.
“Since I came back…” Luna replied in a hoarse, broken voice.
“You mentioned something called the Tantabus?”
“Yes…”
“How long have you had it?” Celestia leaned back slightly so she could look into Luna’s eyes. Luna returned the gaze with puffy, bloodshot eyes with very distinct patterns trailing down her cheeks where the fur was matted down.
“...Not long. I only finished it a w-week ago.” she admitted guiltily, looking down and away from Celestia.
Celestia pulled Luna in close again, holding her close. “Oh, Lulu… I’m so sorry you’ve felt this way for so long. Thank you so much for telling me, though.”
“Thank your daughter,” Luna said simply, causing Celestia to perk up a bit and lean back with wide eyes.
“Rainbow Dash?” she parroted before a look of understanding sparked behind her eyes. “...What happened when you found her, sister?”
Luna got a small, wistful smile on her face. “More than you might think…”
And so Luna told her. She told Celestia all about Rainbow’s dream, how the Tantabus had invaded it by exploiting an opening in its own containment, and the, as Luna described it, ‘brutal pep-talk’ she had then received. All the while, Celestia’s heart swelled with more and more pride as the pieces fell into place.
Luna’s right. Thank you so much, Rainbow Dash… who knows how long this would have gone unnoticed for if you had not been there to help her. She thought to herself, a small smile appearing on her face as she once again held her beloved little sister, her little moon, close to her chest.
“What’s taking them so long?” Rainbow asked quietly, still leaning into Twilight’s side twenty minutes into the ride. Outside of the window to her left she could see green hills of the eastern coast of Equestria rolling by as the train went further and further along it’s tracks. She shifted slightly and then leaned past Twilight to look down the aisle of the train car, her brow furrowing. “They should have been back by now, shouldn’t they?”
“They’re fine, Rainbow. If anything, we should take the fact that they aren’t back yet as a good thing.” Twilight said gently, guiding Rainbow to sit back.
“But what if-”
“If something bad had happened, there would have been a commotion from the other passengers and you know it.” Twilight interrupted her before glancing back down the aisle herself.
“I… okay, you’re right,” Rainbow admitted, leaning back and looking at the roof of the train car. “I just hate waiting like this.”
“You and me both. But right now waiting is the best thing we can do, okay?” Twilight gave her a reassuring nuzzle. “Just try to focus on something else right now, okay?”
“Like what?”
Twilight’s muzzle scrunched as she thought about that question. She glanced around at all of the other ponies in their seats, and wilted slightly. With so many ponies in the car with them, her options of discussion were limited. She mentally scolded herself when she realized she had used Rainbow’s real name just a few moments ago. It was a good thing they were whispering, or that slip up may have drawn some seriously bad attention.
“What about… uh…” Twilight began before a thought occurred to her. She scooted back a bit from Rainbow, then lifted her left foreleg. “Hoof wrestle?”
Rainbow looked at the hoof for a moment and blinked. “Hoof wrestle? Twi, when was the last time you asked to hoof wrestle?” she asked incredulously, although the nostalgic smile on her face made it clear she wasn’t against the idea at all.
“About… I think it was about a month after the Summer Sun Celebration.” Twilight answered before wiggling her hoof a bit, as if in a provoking taunt.
Rainbow’s smile turned into a weak smirk. “Alright. Sure, why not?” she shifted as well and brought up her own left foreleg. Their hooves wound around each other while they stared competitively into each other’s eyes. “Ready to lose?”
“Cocky much?” Twilight countered with a raised eyebrow. Rainbow snorted.
“Ch’yeah.” she replied as if it were obvious before glancing down at their interlocked hooves. “So, let’s see you lose in three… two… one!” she then applied as much strength as she dared into her foreleg, not wanting to dislocate Twilight’s shoulder or something. To her surprise, Twilight was holding her ground quite well. Twilight’s teeth showed from the strain, her brow twitched along with her eyelids, and the way her breathing got just a little heavier from strain was not at all lost on Rainbow, but she was holding her own.
“Pretty sure… I’m still in it…” Twilight grunted, applying some more force and actually regaining some lost ground. “So… ha… your countdown… was wrong!” she gave a surge of strength, almost slamming Rainbow’s foreleg into the backrest of the seat.
A few of the other passengers were casually observing the contest with only a surface amount of curiosity. Twilight briefly took note of this, which gave Rainbow the opening she needed. Twilight’s leg gave out and was pinned to the seat by Rainbow, who was grinning widely. “Only by a little bit.” she retorted cheekily to Twilight’s earlier statement.
Twilight huffed indignantly. “Hey, seven seconds can be the difference between a successful landing and a pair of broken wings. Don’t mock it!”
Rainbow rolled her eyes and lifted her foreleg again. “Whatever. Rematch?” she asked, sounding more and more like her old self.
“Hmph. Sure.” Twilight said almost dismissively, though the small spark in her eyes and the smile that was growing on her face betrayed her enjoyment of their little contest. She brought her own foreleg back up, entwining it with Rainbow’s before they locked gazes again.
Rainbow’s smile faltered a bit when their eyes met. A slight trembling came to her hoof when she took a moment to just look. “Uh… Twi?”
“Hm?”
Rainbow looked at their hooves, then back up to Twilight’s eyes. The intensity in her grip lessened almost immediately, going slack to the point that it was only really Twilight’s grip that kept her hoof there. “I… I, uhm…” Rainbow tried, but she couldn’t figure out what to say. There was something burning in the back of her mind: a question, a statement, a suggestion… something. She just didn’t know how to word it.
“You okay?” Twilight asked softly, reaching out with her other hoof to touch Rainbow’s cheek.
Rainbow looked down, about ready to do perhaps the craziest thing she had ever done. She looked up, opening her mouth to say something.
The words locked in her throat as the blood drained from her face.
Starlight Glimmer was trotting right by them, glancing in their direction. She paused and smiled at Twilight, her eyes shimmering with recognition. “Oh! Hello, there!” she said cheerfully.
Twilight went rigid, looking into Rainbow’s eyes pleadingly, begging her to stay still and quiet. She let go of Rainbow’s hoof and turned to Starlight was an uneasy smile. “Oh, hi! I didn’t think you’d be on the train, too!” she said, though her words were clearly forced and fake.
Starlight noticed this, her brow furrowing before she looked past Twilight to Rainbow, who was still looking at her with wide, shocked eyes. “Is she okay?” she asked with a small amount of concern.
Twilight turned back to Rainbow, who remained unresponsive to her surroundings. “...Oh, no.” she whispered as it dawned on her.
Rainbow didn’t hear her. She couldn’t hear anything through the hammering of her heart in her ears, the ringing in her skull. She couldn’t feel Twilight shaking her by the shoulder from the sensations of weight that had filled her entire body. She could barely see Twilight’s eyes begging her to snap out of it through the white tendrils licking away at the edges of what she could see.
Her vision was then flooded by blinding white.
“You don’t know what it’s like-” Starlight seethed, her words distorted and slipping in and out of focus as the world shook and ripped around her. ”When I stop the Rainboom, you will!”
A scroll vanished from Spike’s claws and appeared before Starlight in a flash of blue magic. “When I destroy this scroll, there will be NO WAY FOR YOU TO CHANGE IT!!!”
The vision shattered, swiftly replaced by another. Rainbow could see herself, asking her friends at flight school what they knew about the alicorn and unicorn she had seen.
“Dash, you gotta stop thinking about that,” Gilda urged with a frown, her feathery wings ruffling against her back. “Your performance is going down. We’re getting worried about you.”
The world shook again and she was walking down the streets of Baltimare with her parents by her side. There would have been a bounce in her step, were her mind not preoccupied with wondering about what she had seen at her race.
“Rainbow, come on!” her father called back, her parents having gotten pretty far ahead of her when she slowed to think better. “We’re going to be late to the performance.”
Rainbow looked back up to them and took a step forward.
The world shook around her again. The vision of her parents bled away into dust, replaced by the scene of them on the ground before her, completely motionless. She was screaming and crying as she shook them one at a time, trying to get them to wake up. “MOM! DAD! PLEASE GET UP! DON’T LEAVE ME!” she begged, burying her face into her mother’s cold, still chest.
The world rippled yet again, and now she was floating away from her parents in the magical aura of another pony. She kicked, she turned, she flapped her wings as hard as she could… but nothing she could do brought her parents closer.
The world rippled and dissolved one last time, revealing the face of Starlight Glimmer staring back at her with a cold, malevolent sneer. Then that too bled away.
Rainbow blinked as she returned to the train, her breath becoming labored. Most of that… hadn’t been a flash, she realized. She had been remembering what had happened after she saw Starlight. She lifted her gaze to the unicorn in question, who was now looking back at her fearfully.
Make her pay…
Twilight’s eyes widened when she saw Rainbow’s coat bristle up and her pupils dilate with a primal anger and rage she had never seen before. She reached out to Rainbow and grabbed her by the shoulders. “Rainbow, wait-”
Rainbow suddenly shoved Twilight off of her, her teeth bared. A furious scream ripped out of her throat before, with a powerful beat of her wings, she hurled herself at Starlight.
Make her pay.
Starlight shouted out, frightened while scrambling back from the mare that was now trying to grapple her. Her horn lit up with blue light and encased Rainbow Dash in an aura of the same color. Rainbow’s eyes went wide, she inhaled sharply through her nostrils. “PUT ME DOWN!” she screamed, a foreleg swinging out and colliding with the side of Starlight’s head with enough force to daze her, causing her to slump dizzily into the seat behind her.
“Rainbow Dash, stop!” Twilight begged, reaching her forelegs out to wrap around Rainbow’s barrel as she fell out of Starlight’s magic.
“LET ME GO, TWILIGHT!” Rainbow shouted, struggling against Twilight while still reaching for Starlight, who was now coming to her senses. “LET ME GO!”
“Rainbow, please! You have to stop!”
Starlight’s ears perked up as she gazed into the hatefully glaring eyes of the cyan pegasus. Her eyes widened when she saw the small stripe of her hairline where her true colors were still visible. “Princess… Rainbow Dash?” she breathed out, her voice shaking with horror.
Rainbow twisted herself in Twilight’s grip before driving her elbow into Twilight’s nose, sending her back and breaking Rainbow free from her hold. Rainbow wasted no time and launched herself at Starlight again.
There was a flash of blue light when Rainbow got there, and her hoof connected with nothing except for the empty cushion of an unoccupied train seat. Rainbow’s teeth grinded together as she realized that Starlight had just teleported away. She stood straight and looked out the window before her. She could see Starlight shakily picking herself up on the grass outside, looking frazzled and terrified.
Make. Her. Pay.
Rainbow snapped her wings open and took a step back. “GET BACK HERE!” She shouted before flapping her wings and ramming her shoulder into the glass of the window. It buckled and shattered from the force of her tackle as if it were nothing. She zeroed in on Starlight, who was now turning to gallop away as quickly as possible, and dove for her. Starlight looked over her shoulder and, in a panic, lit her horn. Rainbow Dash found she was flying too fast to evade the shot of raw magic that was shot at her face. She struck it head-on, her world exploding into spots and mismatched colors as she fell head-over-hoof into the grass below.
She struck the ground and slid to a stop, her side exploding with agony when she finally came to a rest. Her eyes slowly opened, the world fuzzy and wobbling unsteadily. She managed to roll herself onto her back and looked around. Starlight now stood only a few feet away, looking at her in disbelief.
“I don’t understand…” she whispered, a hoof coming up to cover her mouth while her ears fell. “Why… why did you… oh my gosh, what have I done?!” her voice gained volume with panic as it dawned on her what she was looking at. Rainbow groaned in pain, reaching out to Starlight again. “I just attacked royalty…” Starlight breathed, shaking horribly. She looked at her hoof, biting her lower lip and looking like she was about to go into hysterics.
“Rainbow Dash!” a voice called out from the direction of the train, though Rainbow wasn’t sure whose. She was starting to lose consciousness. The sounds of the world began to become muffled and distant while her eyes slowly closed. She looked blankly up to the sky, just trying to breath. After what felt like hours, but was only a few seconds, the face of Twilight Sparkle entered her field of view, staring back down at her with eyes that bespoke a fear and uncertainty that Rainbow had only ever seen from her once before…
When in a moment of desperation to save her dearest friend, Rainbow Dash had sided with Nightmare Moon…
That face was the last thing she saw before her vision went dark, all sound bled away, and she knew no more.
Princess Celestia eyed the newspaper held in her golden magical with a creased brow and unhappy frown distorting her otherwise radiant features. Slowly, with a shaking breath, she set the paper back down onto the dining table and looked to Princess Luna, who was standing directly to her left in the large dining room with an uneasy expression on her face. “Luna… do you know what’s going on out there?”
Rainbow Dash and her friends had, despite the young Princess’ promise, not shown up when she said they would. The entire day had come and gone with not a single sign of them on the train. However, rumors had begun to circulate at a very rapid rate at some point during the day… rumors which were now plastered all over the headlines of the paper on the table, which had been put out this morning.
VIOLENT OUTBREAK ON FRIENDSHIP EXPRESS: PRINCESS RAINBOW DASH INVOLVED?
The article spoke of a violent altercation that broke out aboard the train returning to Ponyville from Manehattan, where a mare, seemingly without provocation, lashed out at another passenger in what had been described as a ‘hate-filled rage.’ What made matters even worse for Celestia was that another mare had tried to pry the assaulter off of her victim, more than once calling her ‘rainbow,’ according to witness accounts. The writer of the article was unsure, however, if the mare in question was indeed Rainbow Dash, or if, in the panic, ponies had become confused. After all, he had noted, the color of the aggressor's mane was not the prismatic range of colors Rainbow Dash normally had, but two shades of purple.
Luna sighed as she examined the page herself before her face turned grim. “...I know that Rainbow Dash’s mane was dyed to a lilac color recently… I fear that what these papers say is true. Rainbow Dash attacked somepony.”
Celestia wilted and ran a hoof over her face. She sighed heavily with exasperation, hiding her face from the world as the tried to think. “...What reason would Rainbow have to attack somepony? To pursue them so… so ruthlessly that she broke through the window of a moving train just to keep up the chase?”
Luna bit her lip at that question, taking a step back. She swallowed down her own unease and spoke. “I… may have a theory about that, actually.”
Celestia looked up from her hooves, expectant.
Luna took a slow breath and looked her sister in the eye. “Starlight Glimmer… Rainbow mentioned her more than once over the times I have visited her dreams. It seems she was absolutely terrified of her…” she explained carefully.
Celestia went rigid at the mentioning of Starlight. Her breath hitched in her throat and her eyes widened somewhat. As soon as Luna was finished talking, Celestia sat bolt upright, her ears falling flat against her head. “Rainbow Dash… oh, my daughter… what have you done?”
Luna shifted back even more, gravely concerned by the immense amount of intense dread Celestia was sudden putting on full display. “Sister…?” she ventured carefully.
Celestia stood from her seat, knocking it over in the process. Her eyes began to shake and dart around furiously, as if she were about to go into a panic. “No, no no… we weren’t supposed to interfere with her or act off of what we knew! Even having foreknowledge is incredibly dangerous! Acting off of it…” she began to mutter to herself, starting to anxiously pace back and forth.
“Sister, please!” Luna interrupted her firmly, coming forward and putting a hoof on Celestia’s chest, making her stop. “Get a hold of yourself!”
Celestia took a deep breath. Then another. Finally, she managed to calm herself and stood tall again, though a slight tremor in her voice could not be missed. “...Forgive me. But we’re dealing with the unknown, here. The moment we act based off of our knowledge of the previous world, everything can be thrown completely off-course. If the mare she attacked was indeed Starlight Glimmer, then…” she sighed and gazed out a nearby window. “Then I can not hope to predict what’s going to happen next, for better… or for worse.”
Thorax watched with a distant look in his insectoid eyes as a white pegasus stallion feebly struggled against the two changelings hauling him through the caves. He was confused and afraid, and any efforts to resist were weakened and misdirected thanks to Stinger’s magic. Finally, they stuck him against the wall, upon which were dozens of glowing green pods housing other ponies; mostly members of the royal guard. The changelings that had him restrained hissed at him, making him cower against the wall before the same green slime that made up the pods began to seep out of their fangs.
“What do you look so grim for?” Pharynx’s voice deadpanned as he strolled up to Thorax’s side. “You know what, forget that. Why aren’t you out there looking for someone to replace?”
Thorax shied away from Pharynx, his wings buzzing weakly on his back with discomfort. “I… I don’t know. I’m just worried about all of this. I mean…” he looked into the eyes of the pony that was now being adhered to the wall, saw the fear and confusion behind those eyes and looked away, shivering. “...Is this right?”
Pharynx’s hoof smacked Thorax harshly across the back of his head, sending him sprawling to the cave floor in a heap. The older changeling growled menacingly down at him while planting his strong hoof squarely between Thorax’s shoulder blades. “You watch it, little brother! Talk like that is likely to get you drained by the queen.” he snarled
“I know! I know!” Thorax gasped, squirming. “I’m sorry!”
Pharynx released his hoof from Throax’s back before helping him back to his hooves with an almost disgusted look on his face. “Why does it bother you so much?” he demanded in a somewhat quieter tone. “We’re changelings. This is what we have to do to survive.”
Thorax took a shaky breath, unable to look towards the wall of pods. Instead, he turned his gaze towards the rest of the large cavern chamber in which they stood. Dozens of changelings in there, all of them performing one task or another, but it harvesting and storing the love of the captured ponies, practicing their disguises, or sparring with each other to ensure they were ready for what was coming.
Thorax gulped.
“I dunno… I just don’t like seeing things so… scared.” he finally managed, expecting another smack.
“You think I like seeing our victims afraid?” Pharynx asked incredulously. Thorax looked back to him with a tilt of his head. Pharynx almost looked insulted. “I don't. None of us do. Fear tastes awful. Why do you think we use the pods?”
“I, uh… might have missed that part of training.” Thorax half-admitted sheepishly, rubbing the back of his head with a hoof.
“Oh my gosh, you are hopeless,” Pharynx snorted before grabbing Thorax by a hoof and practically dragging him over to the pods. Once they arrived, she forcefully shoved Thorax closer so he could look. “Take a look in there.”
Thorax shuddered somewhat, then did as instructed. He looked the pod up and down a bit before his eyes refocused a little, allowing him to see the faint trails of pink light that were steadily flowing out of the chest of the trapped pony. She was asleep inside the pod, a neutral look on her face. “Well… uh…”
“See the love in there?” Pharynx asked, gesturing to the pink trails of energy. “Well, we can’t exactly harvest love when a pony is terrified for themselves. Afraid for their loved ones, maybe, but the love becomes soured if we go that route. That’s what the pods are for, Thorax. Not just keeping prisoners, but harvesting what we need from them cleanly and without the pollution of fear.”
Thorax nodded slowly, biting his lip. “I see…” he managed to say with a weak voice before looking away.
Pharynx sighed. “Thorax, you’ve got the potential to be a great infiltrator, to do wonderful things for the hive. But if you keep second-guessing yourself and, more importantly, the Queen, you’re going to advertise yourself as a liability instead of an asset. I don’t want to lose my younger brother, okay?” he said in an almost worried way. Thorax looked to him, surprised, but Pharynx’s expression had already hardened again. “So stop moping around here! Go out there and follow your orders. You still need to find somepony to replace and you need to take care of it soon. Queen Chrysalis will be here in a few days at most!”
Thorax flinched back from his elder brother’s shouting, but nodded and broke into a gallop for one of the many exits that would take him back out to the surface. On the way, he was consumed with a swirl of putrid green flames. As the fires faded, he was shown to have assumed the form of a plain pegasus stallion with a light grey coat and icy-blue mane and tail. He took to the air with a flap of his wings, soon finding his way out of the caves.
His exit put him just outside the northern walls of Canterlot, at an old entrance to the caves first constructed back when they were used as an active gem and mineral mine. Looking up, Thorax saw the Canterlot weather teams going about setting up what looked to be some rainy weather for later.
He took to the air, flying easily over the walls with a practiced, casual posture. The various guards on the wall gave him glances as he went, but determined he wasn’t a threat as he went. Thorax sighed inwardly at that before settling down somewhere in one of the main and busy streets of Canterlot so he could lose himself in the crowd.
His eyes shifted around as he went, keeping a subtle eye out for potential targets. He cringed as he thought about that… but he had his orders, from Stinger and Pharynx, and if he disobeyed, he was likely to be drained of every ounce of love he had in him. An occurrence that many changelings were terrified of. The never-ending hunger of a changeling was bad enough, but to have what few scraps a common drone could feed on forcefully extracted until there was nothing left… it was a fate no changeling wanted.
“A mandatory measure to ensure the prosperity of the hive,” Queen Chrysalis had once said. “There is no room among our ranks for traitors or underperformers. Do what is expected of you for the benefit of the hive, or perish for the benefit of the hive. No matter the case, you’re contribution to our survival is assured…”
Thorax shivered as he recalled those words, spoken to the entirety of the hive so far away. I don’t want to end up like that…
“Dreamy!” a little filly’s voice snapped Thorax out of his ruminations. He blinked and looked to his right, where a little green bat-pony filly with a pale blue mane and tail had just tackled an adult bat-pony stallion.
“Hey, Wind Whisper!” the stallion replied, sounding like he was only just an adult. He returned the hug happily with a small laugh before setting the filly down. “What did we say about using my nickname in public, though, sis?”
“Oh!” the filly’s hooves clamped over her mouth, a small red tint coming to her cheeks. “Sorry, big brother.”
“It’s all good,” the stallion gave a nod and smile before giving her a little push. “You go on inside, alright? I’ll be right in. Just gonna check the mail first.” he said.
“Okay!” The filly hugged his foreleg and then darted into the house they had met in front of. The stallion chuckled lightly before turning to his mailbox. He caught sight of Thorax watching and gave a sheepish smile.
“Oh, good morning!” he managed before prying open the mailbox and withdrawing the contents.
“Heh, yeah, good morning,” Thorax replied anxiously, prodding at the ground with a hoof.
“I don't think I’ve seen you before. I’m Squall Dreamer,” the bat-pony, Squall, said with a friendly smile before extending a hoof. “Member of the Lunar Guard.”
Thorax blinked in surprise while meeting Squall’s hoof with his own. “The Lunar Guard? That’s a thing?”
“Well,” Squall shrugged half-heartedly. “Kinda. It only really got reformed a few months ago. Until Princess Luna came back, there hadn’t been a Lunar Guard since Nightmare Moon was initially banished. Most of the old Lunar Guard was relegated to the Solar Guard.”
“Oh. That’s interesting,” Thorax gave a small smile and nod. “I’m, uh…” he paused, trying to think of a name for himself. “Thunder Max,” he managed, inwardly cringing when he realized just how stupid that sounded.
“Thunder Max?” Squall snorted in mild amusement before reigning it in. “Heh. Sorry. Kind of an unusual name. Nice to meet you, Max.”
Thorax chuckled weakly, a small red tint coming to his cheeks. “Yeah, I don’t like to talk about it.”
Squall laughed heartily. “Yeah, I bet,” he looked at the contents of his mailbox before glancing back at his house. “Anyways, I’d love to chat some more, but my little sister’s waiting for me. See you around.” he gave a nod and wave before turning and disappearing into his house, leaving Thorax behind to look on.
“Yeah… heh… you too.” he said quietly before taking a step back.
He looked into the air and his eyes refocused. The sheer amount of pink energy, raw love that was filling the air right where Squall had been standing when he had hugged his little sister… it was drool-worthy, and Thorax’s mouth watered somewhat. He instantly felt a spear of guilt when he caught himself licking his lips instinctively.
“There is no room among our ranks for traitors or underperformers. Do what is expected of you for the benefit of the hive, or perish for the benefit of the hive.”
My orders are to find somepony to replace… somepony with loved ones… Thorax thought before looking at the house again. “...I’m so sorry…” he whispered under his breath before sulking off into the shadows of a nearby alley.
When Rainbow Dash awoke, it was with a sharp hiss of pain. Her eyes screwed shut on reflex as incredible pain erupted all across her left side, especially around the joint where her wing connected with her back. Rainbow managed to crack her eyes open just a sliver, the world blurred and unfocused as another spasm of pain rocked her system. She felt a hoof on her back when she tried to stand, holding her in place.
“Rainbow, try not to move,” a voice said firmly, the owner of the hoof. It was a voice that almost instantly calmed Rainbow’s nearly panicking mind, allowing her to slowly lower herself back to the ground with deep breaths. When she opened her eyes again, the world came back into focus. Twilight was lowering herself down onto her belly by Rainbow’s side, eyeing her with concern and another emotion that Rainbow couldn’t quite place. “You hurt your wing coming down. It’s dislocated.”
“Twi… ugh… what happened?” Rainbow muttered, shaking her head a little to clear the fog away. She took a moment to take in their surroundings. “And why are we in the woods?”
Twilight sighed and looked around, biting her lip uneasily. “You… I…” she sucked in a breath through her teeth, closing her eyes. “Rainbow… you attacked her.”
Rainbow blinked. “I… Twilight, are you okay?” she asked gingerly, reaching a hoof out to Twilight.
“No, I am not okay!” Twilight snapped, swatting Rainbow’s hoof away with her own. “What the hay were you thinking?! Why did you do that?! That was the OPPOSITE of keeping a low profile!”
Rainbow wilted under the lavender mare’s ire, shrinking into the dirt and looking away. “Twilight… Twilight, I-”
“Just-” Twilight hissed harshly, lifting a hoof before screwing her eyes shut and taking a long, deep breath. “Just… just don’t right now. The others are going to be back soon.”
Rainbow shifted slightly, afraid to look at Twilight. For a minute she remained completely still, looking at a root sticking up out of the soil as if it were the only thing that existed. Finally, she managed to muster some courage and spoke again. “How long was I out?”
“Almost twenty-four hours,” Twilight replied grimly, setting her hoof down and shifting so that her back was resting against the nearest tree. “You got bruised up pretty bad from your fall…”
“Twenty four hours…” Rainbow breathed, trying to stand, but thinking better of it from the harsh glare Twilight shot her way. She carefully settled back down before her ears stood up on end. “Wait, where’s Starlight?! What happened after I passed out?!”
Twilight looked at Rainbow incredulously. It was during this long stare that Rainbow saw the darker coloration on the unicorn’s muzzle. She remembered how she had driven her elbow into Twilight’s face and wilted even more. Still, Twilight answered. “Starlight ran away. I pulled the rest of us out of the train with a teleportation spell to make sure you were okay. We haven’t tried moving you very far because of that wing of yours. We could only manage this little forest here before deciding it would be better to wait for you to wake up. We didn’t want to risk hurting you even more…” Twilight said before looking away. “...even if some of us really would like to.”
“Twilight…” Rainbow whispered, tears coming to her eyes.
“She awake?” the voice of Applejack called, drawing Rainbow and Twilight’s attention. The farm pony was the first to rejoin them, followed shortly by Pinkie Pie and Rarity. Fluttershy was nowhere to be seen and Spike was hiding behind Rarity’s legs. All of the ponies had their saddlebags filled with what looked like various items found in these woods; wood, leaves, fruits and grapes, etcetera. Applejack looked on at Rainbow with a hard frown. “Ah see she is.”
Rainbow looked away.
“...Where’s Fluttershy?” Twilight asked curiously, getting back to her hooves. Applejack gestured with her head back into the woods.
“Talkin’ to some of the local critters. Figures we might have more luck gettin’ the help we need with Rainbow Dash if they know of any towns or villages nearby,” she said before sitting down and letting her saddlebags slide off of her back. “We got some food, and Rares thinks she can make some fancy tent or somethin’ out of the leaves she found.”
“I don’t think I can, I know I can,” Rarity corrected with a huff before looking to Rainbow and cringing. “Uh… are you feeling okay, Darling? You took quite the beating coming down.”
Rainbow closed her eyes. “...No,” she said weakly, curling up slightly.
Pinkie’s eyes turned sad. She let her own saddlebags drop to the forest floor before trotting carefully up to Rainbow’s side. “Hey, it’s all gonna be fine, Dashie, okay?” she tried, patting Rainbow on the head. “Once we get that boo-boo on your wing patched up we can go home, throw a party and eat candy. You can work with the weather teams and-”
“Pinkie,” Rainbow grunted, lightly shoving Pinkie’s hoof out of her mane. “Just… just leave me alone, okay? All of you just… leave me alone…” she pushed herself to her hooves and began to drag herself away from the others.
“Rainbow?” Applejack called after her weakly, then went quiet when Rainbow found a tree a dozen yards away or so and slumped behind it, just hiding away. Applejack turned to Twilight, helpless. “What are we supposed to do, Y'all? Ah’m drawin’ blanks here.”
Rarity looked at Twilight almost accusingly. “What did you say to the poor dear, Twilight?” she asked, narrowing her eyes.
Twilight didn’t answer, looking away. The others shuffled uneasily, each one wearing different expressions, none of them good. It was Spike that broke the silence. “Twilight, why don’t you go try to cheer her up?”
Twilight sighed. “No, that’s not a good idea, Spike,” she said, touching a hoof to her bruised nose and wincing in discomfort. “I’m… not happy with her right now. If I go to her, I know I’m going to say something that’s only going to make this worse.”
“But she won’t listen to any of us, Twily,” Pinkie added, downcast. “You two really click… if anypony can put that smile back on her face, it’s you!”
Twilight let herself slump back to the tree, covering her face with her hooves. “That’s the problem, Pinkie. We… we’re close… imagine how painful it’d be for her if I lost my temper and went off on her? Especially right now?” she groaned and let her hooves fall limply to her sides before looking up at the sunlight piercing through the trees. “...I don’t want to be responsible for that kind of pain, you girls.”
“So what are we gonna do?” Applejack ground her teeth together and stomped a hoof in frustration. “We jus’ gonna let her mope over there, all alone? Isn’t bein’ alone what she’s most afraid of?”
Twilight sighed heavily and looked at Applejack. “You think I want to let her be alone like that?! Of course, I don’t! I want to make her feel better as much as any of you, but there’s nothing I can do right now!” her voice had increased in volume before she stopped and took a deep breath. With a grunt, she got to her hooves and started trotting. “I need to clear my head… I’m going for a walk.”
“Don’t go too far,” Rarity offered softly with an understanding nod. “We don’t know what kinds of creatures lurk out here.”
“I’ll be fine,” Twilight said before venturing past their little clearing and into the woods.
The trees were beautiful, their green leaves dancing to and fro in a soft breeze. Their movements created a soft rustling sound, allowing Twilight’s mind to gradually relax. The forest floor was mostly dirt, grass and old scraps of wood or leaves that had long since blended together. It was calming, and the fresh air was nice, too.
Twilight wasn’t sure how long she had been going when she found a small stream weaving it’s way between the trees. After testing the water on her hoof and with her tongue, Twilight determined that the water was mostly safe to drink and lowered her head into the stream, greedily letting water pour down her throat. Once she was satisfied, she lifted her head from the water with a relieved gasp.
That gasp turned into a surprised yelp when she saw Starlight Glimmer standing on the other side of the river, looking back at her with exhausted, fearful eyes. For a long moment, the two stared at each other.
Starlight took a step back, looking like she was about ready to run.
“W-wait!” Twilight called after her, lifting a hoof. Starlight stopped, though she flinched from the volume of Twilight’s voice.
She looked away, her once-curly mane now hung limp, messy and unkempt. There were puffy bags under her eyes, which were bloodshot and unfocused. Her body was smeared in places with dirt and mud that she hadn’t had a chance to wash out yet. She bit her lip, her ears going flat before looking up at Twilight. “...Why are you following me?” she croaked out in a weak voice.
Twilight lowered her hoof and slowly sat down, trying to look as non-threatening as possible. “I…” she tried, but her breath caught in her throat. She took a deep breath. “Starlight, before I can answer that, I have to know something…”
Starlight also sat down, absently reaching a hoof down into the water. “What?”
“Are you… planning on going back in time?” Twilight finally asked, biting the bullet. Starlight’s ears stood upright and she looked at Twilight incredulously.
“Wha… what?”
“I’ll take that as a no,” Twilight sighed with a small amount of relief. She believed Starlight. “Okay… the reason we’re following you is that… well… you, or, well, a different version of you, went back in time and changed the course of history.”
Starlight sat upright, scrutinizing Twilight skeptically. “...What kind of sick joke are you playing here?” she seethed out.
“I’m not lying,” Twilight replied firmly before looking away. “...You know how Rainbow Dash is an orphan, right? How she was adopted by Princess Celestia at a young age?”
Starlight nodded slowly but said nothing.
“...Before history was changed… Rainbow still had her birth parents,” Twilight continued somberly, remembering several times when Rainbow had talked about them, usually struggling to hold in her emotions when she did. “But when history changed, she lost them… and your own future self was one of the two ponies who came back in time. The other one was my future self, trying to stop you…” Twilight touched a hoof to her chest, her ears falling flat. “...Evidently… I failed.”
“You… you can’t be serious,” Starlight scoffed, though she didn’t at all sound sure of what she was saying. “You’re saying I went back and rewrote history?! How does that even work?”
“I don’t know all the details. All I know for sure is what caused the change,” Twilight continued before setting her hoof down. “Rainbow Dash saw us. She wasn’t supposed to see our future selves, but she did, and everything changed as a result.”
“From something so small?” Starlight asked quietly, her voice losing its intensity as her ears fell again.
“Even the tiniest of changes can snowball into something much larger,” Twilight acknowledged solemnly. “It doesn’t help that it was in Cloudsdale. Unicorns aren’t exactly commonplace there.”
Starlight conceded the point with a small nod. “I guess…”
For a moment, the two were silent. Twilight sighed before speaking again. “Rainbow was afraid you’d do it again.”
“Change time?” Starlight chuckled humorlessly, looking at her reflection in the stream. “Me? I can barely start a conversation with another pony most days.”
Twilight’s first instinct was to point out Starlight’s natural ability with magic, as was evidenced by her reaction time back on the train, but decided against it. “We didn’t know that then,” she said instead. “We didn’t know who you were, really. Only that you came back once before and that Rainbow lost her parents as a result… she didn’t want to risk things getting worse. The plan, originally, was just to make sure you weren’t a threat from a distance and then go home.”
Starlight looked up at Twilight. “...I don’t know what to say,” she muttered after several seconds of silence.
“It’s okay,” Twilight offered up a small smile. “Now we know. We can leave you alone, now.”
Starlight slowly stood up. “You mean I, uh, won’t get in trouble? For, you know, blasting her like that?” she asked shakily. Twilight also stood up and gave a small nod.
“You were defending yourself, Starlight. I imagine Princess Celestia isn’t going to be too upset with you,” her smile faded as she thought of the princess in question. “...no, most of her anger over all of this is probably going to be at Rainbow and the rest of us… we weren’t technically supposed to go looking for you at all.”
“Oh…” Starlight blinked, then shuffled back a little. “Well… alright. I don’t really know how much of what you said I believe, but good luck. ...bye.” she turned her back and broke into a brisk gallop, moving deeper into the forest and soon out of Twilight’s line of sight.
Twilight returned sometime later, not sure what to feel. As she came back into the clearing where everypony else was waiting, she noticed that Fluttershy had come back, but Applejack, Spike and Rainbow Dash were nowhere to be seen. Rarity was busy sorting the contents of her saddlebags, humming and muttering to herself while trying to figure out what the best sorting scheme was for all of the big leaves and fibers. Pinkie Pie was looking bored and also a little anxious, shifting in place on her haunches, with her back resting against a tree. Fluttershy stood roughly in the center of the clearing with a bird resting on one of her hooves, which was lifted up in front of her face so they could communicate more easily.
“Where did Spike, Applejack, and Dash go?” Twilight asked with a slight edge to her voice when she spoke Rainbow’s name. She inwardly flinched at the venom in her words.
Pinkie hopped up, eager to do something. “Oh, Dashie said she wanted to take care of something. Applejack went with her to make sure she didn’t try to do anything as she said, ‘darn stupid,’ and Spike went with them, too,” she said with a small smile. That smile fell away when she looked off, presumably in the direction they had gone. “I… think he’s taking what’s going on a bit harder than the rest of us.”
Keep telling yourself that, Twilight thought regretfully before nodding. “Okay. How long have they been gone?” she asked vocally, approaching Fluttershy, who let the bird go into the air while turning to face her.
“They left just after I got back, so a little longer than you were gone,” she said before looking down and poking at the dirt with a hoof. “Um… I talked to some of the local critters. Apparently, Hollow Shades isn’t very far away.”
“Hollow Shades?” Rarity asked with a raised eyebrow. “Isn’t that the village founded by the, er, what were they called? Bat Ponies?”
“That’s a common nickname for them,” Twilight corrected with a nod at the fashionista. “But they’re actually called ‘Thestrals.’ They’re a reclusive bunch, usually keeping to themselves most of the time. There are a lot of negative stigmas directed towards them, too, sadly. Rumors and baseless assumptions, mostly. The only one that’s true is that Thestrals are typically nocturnal.”
“I bet that earned them brownie points after Nightmare Moon first showed up, huh?” Pinkie asked sarcastically before shaking her head.
“Yeah… Still, there were one or two that lived in Canterlot before Rainbow and I moved to Ponyville. I don’t know if they still live there or not, though,” Twilight furthered. “How far away is Hollow Shades, Fluttershy? For one thing, we need a doctor for Rainbow, not to mention we should probably get in touch with Celestia. My writing supplies were all ruined when we left the train, and I can't guarantee that something other than parchment will be legible if we send it through Spike. If the town is close, maybe we can make it there before it gets dark.”
“Ah wouldn’t count on it!” came the voice of Applejack as she and Spike came cantering back into the clearing from the foliage beyond. “It’ll be about twenty-four hours from here, give or take a few dependin' on weather and the like. If it were only one pony tryin' this trip with good preparations and no stops, they'd make it in just over twelve Ah reckon. But we're six mares and a dragon, we're sorely lackin' in supplies and preparations, and one of us is injured.”
“Wonderful,” Rarity breathed out sarcastically. “an entire day of walking through dirt, muck and other nasty substances while being surrounded by who knows what kinds of creatures.”
“It doesn’t help that we’re going to be in a Primal Zone,” Twilight furthered before biting her lip. “The regions between towns and cities often have routine patrols from each town’s weather teams, but Hollow Shades doesn’t have any railroads or major highways connecting it to the rest of Equestria. Until we’re actually there, we’re in primal territory.”
Applejack looked back over her shoulder and frowned. “Quit yer hidin’ and get over here, Rainbow Dash!”
There was a slight rustling of leaves before Rainbow Dash slowly stepped out of the brush, eyes turned to look at the ground beneath her hooves. Everypony’s eyes widened, save for Applejack and Spike’s. Rainbow’s mane and tail were dripping with water and, to the surprise of all, more or less back to normal. There were still several spots of lilac coloring in them, but beyond that, they had been restored to their usual prismatic selves.
Rainbow looked up and locked gazes with Twilight before wilting and looking away. “...Hey,” she mumbled quietly.
Twilight felt her heart break just a little. She took a deep breath before stepping forward. “Hey, Rainbow. You feeling okay?” she asked gingerly, managing to force down her own unhappiness with the pegasus for now.
“No,” Rainbow replied quietly, looking back down to the dirt and shivering slightly. Twilight then noticed the bandages wrapped around her barrel, keeping her wounded wing held in place.
“...Everything’s going to be fine, Rainbow,” Twilight offered her assurance lightly before turning to the rest of the group. “Come on, we should probably get a move on. If Hollow Shades is as far as Applejack says, we’d best start making our way there sooner rather than later.”
There was a general murmuring of an agreement, and everypony began packing up their things to move out. Twilight observed them for a moment before she felt a presence by her side. Looking, she saw Rainbow standing there, looking at her guiltily. More specifically, the bruise on her muzzle. “I… I’m sorry I hit you, Twilight…” she choked out before looking away.
“Is that all you’re sorry for?” Twilight asked bluntly, causing Rainbow to visibly twitch and cower away. Again, Twilight felt a spear of guilt for how harshly she had spoken. She took a deep breath and trotted past Rainbow, not wanting to hurt her anymore. She slipped on her own saddlebags, which had taken a significant beating in the escape from the train and mostly held a few notepads and quills for keeping track of their supplies.
Rainbow watched her go, her ears falling flat on her head before trudging after Twilight sluggishly. She couldn’t bring herself to speak anymore as the group set off on their new path into the woods.
That evening, in Canterlot Castle, Princess Luna stood upon the balcony connected to her bedroom, looking out onto the magnificent city spreading beneath her with a thoughtful look on her face. It would not be long, now, before it was time to raise the moon to begin the night. She was simply waiting for her older sister to lower the sun. As she took in the view, she took a deep breath. She needed to enter the Dream Realm tonight. She had neglected to do so last night on account of making sure the Tantabus was properly chained up and unable to exploit the gap in its restraints again.
Now, watching the shadows grow longer and longer, the light dimmer and dimmer, she thought back on what Rainbow Dash had said once again.
“She would have made it expressly for the purpose of hurting others. But not you,” Rainbow jabbed Luna in the chest again. “Because you are not Nightmare Moon.”
Rainbow Dash was wrong about that. Her words had meant well and had worked at the moment, but she wasn’t a scholar, an alicorn or a mage. How could she know? Luna and Nightmare Moon were one and the same pony. Everything Nightmare Moon had done had been a fully aware and conscious decision on the part of Princess Luna. She thought about it for a moment and likened it to being similar to a never-ending blind rage. Instead of rage, however, it was bitterness, jealousy, and resentment towards Celestia and the sun that had burned in her heart without ceasing only ever kindled and stoked by any resistance she had encountered.
The agony of an alicorn falling to the shadows cast by their very being was that the emotions never simmered down, and much like coming down from a violent and destructive rage, the exhaustion and guilt she had felt when all of that bitterness and anger was torn away from her by the Elements of Harmony was profound.
Luna had everything to be sorry for about Nightmare Moon; letting her exist in the first place, and not realizing sooner that what she was doing was wrong. How others were able to forgive her so easily still baffled her mind… it would be a long time before she could say she had truly forgiven herself for the evils she had committed.
But Rainbow Dash had been right about one thing...
“And get rid of the Tantabus, would ya? Like, destroy it. It won’t do you or anypony else any good.”
Luna slowly lowered herself to her haunches and lit her horn. She closed her eyes and focused. After a moment, the world around her vanished and she found herself stepping into a shadowy place within her own mind. The Tantabus floated before her, undulating and quivering at her approach. It spoke to her, it’s voice comprised of hundreds of others that Luna had heard over the years. “Mother?”
“Tantabus,” Luna began, setting her jaw and stepping forward. “...In my own self-loathing, I created you. Beset by my own guilt and remorse, I made you so that you would punish me, amplify those feelings and torture me with the memories of the horrible things I have done.”
The Tantabus shuddered, a part of it’s amorphous, misty body reaching out to Luna.
She swatted the tendril away with a hoof. “But one wrong won’t cure another. Torturing myself through you won’t make sure I repeat my mistakes… I see that now. I don’t need you to remind me of what I have done…”
“Mother-”
“Stop calling me that!” Luna snapped, her horn sparking to life. “You are not my child! No child of mine would ever be raised into a parasite that creates nightmares!”
The Tantabus howled with agony when its body was enveloped in a bright white light. Smoke and sparks of multi-colored magic began to erupt from it in massive amounts.
“Such a creation could only have been born of whatever remained of Nightmare Moon! By destroying you once and for all, I cast her out!” Luna growled, pouring even more energy into the spell until she was forced to close her eyes to avoid going blind.
The Tantabus’ howl peaked, then went silent, it’s final cry echoing in Luna’s mind for several long seconds. Soon, there was no sound… save for the gentle breeze of the approaching night washing over Luna’s face. Slowly, she opened her eyes to see that she was sitting on her balcony once more.
The sky was almost dark; it was time to raise the moon.
Rising to stand tall and proud, Luna’s horn began to glow with a gentle light; gentler than it had been even before. Slowly, the moon began to peak itself up from beyond the distant horizon, painting the world in the softer shades and subtle illumination that belonged to the night and the night alone. A time for contemplation, thought, and dreams. Not for tyranny, not for jealousy or hatred, and not for revenge.
As the moon was put into motion, Luna let it go for now. She would not need to tend to it until it was time for morning to come. She looked on and smiled softly, her horn glowing once more as she tapped into the fabric of the Dream Realm. The world faded away, dissolving into a blue void around her, filled with spheres of light and color.
She reached out to one such sphere as it passed, gazing into the dream of a mare who would one-day soon become a mother, then another of an earth pony stallion joyfully prancing along the clouds. Luna put on a charmed smile for several seconds before setting her jaw. “...This is my destiny… my path. I am the princess of the night… I vanquish nightmares. I don’t create them.”
With this resolution planted firmly in her mind, she focused on a spell, pulling her along through the Dream Realm to find the dreams of Rainbow Dash. When she fell asleep, Luna would be there. They needed to talk...
Before sunset that day, after many, many hours of trotting through the woods without stopping, Applejack, who had been jointly leading the group alongside Fluttershy, lifted a foreleg to call for the group to stop. She turned to face everypony, looking just as tired and ready to drop as the rest of them. “We’ve only got another couple hours of sunlight, Y'all,” she said simply. “It’s gonna be too dark to travel safely soon. Let’s set up camp.”
“Oh, I thought you’d never ask!” Rarity let out an enormous and dramatic sigh of relief, slumping slightly before disdainfully shaking her hoof to dispel some dirt and mud that had gotten caked on it from the hours of walking. “All of this travel has just been a nightmare on my hooves!”
“It’s been bad on your mane, too.” Pinkie pointed out with a wink before merrily pronking by Rarity, humming cheerily to herself.
Rarity touched a hoof to her mane and cringed. “Oh, I do hope she was kidding. Do any of you know how hard it is to keep it looking like this?” she whined out before looking to Twilight, who was just behind her. Rainbow was even further back, looking a little better now that she’d been hiking for most of the day.
“I have a rough idea,” Twilight answered honestly with a smile. “ I read about mane styling and the processes behind it a few times since moving to Ponyville. For something as curly as yours, it’s pretty rough.”
“Especially without a good brush or comb,” Rarity snorted under her breath, looking spitefully at the dirt beneath her hooves before glancing past Twilight to Rainbow Dash. “Feeling better, Rainbow?”
“A little,” Rainbow answered simply. She sounded exhausted, and still not all there, but at least she spoke. “Being grounded like this has already gotten old, but hey… it’s not the worst thing I’ve been dealing with all walk.” her eyes darted to look at Twilight guiltily as she said this before locking onto the roots of a nearby tree.
Twilight couldn’t bring herself to look at Rainbow, sagging and sighing heavily. “I… I’m going to go gather some firewood,” she said simply, trotting away. Spike scampered up to her side, glancing over his shoulder at Rainbow.
“Pinkie, why doncha go with er?” Applejack chimed in, glancing at the pink mare in question.
“Okie dokie, loki!” Pinkie nodded and resumed her bouncing, now doing so next to Twilight as they departed into the woods. Applejack then turned her attention to Rarity.
“Alright, Rarity, get out the leaves and stuff ya gathered earlier for shelter. Ah can assemble something functional, ah’m sure.”
“What about me?” Rainbow asked, looking eager to do something productive. She glanced over at Twilight hopefully. The hope drained a little bit from her face when Twilight didn’t look back at her.
Applejack’s brow furrowed. “No offense, but yer still in pretty rotten shape there, Rainbow. Just lay down and try to rest, alright hun?” she offered tentatively, lowering her head a little.
Rainbow sagged but nodded. “Okay, okay… I guess it wouldn’t do for the actual Princess of the group to work herself half to death, would it?” she tried to joke, but the small laugh that slipped out of her was anything but mirthful. In fact, it almost sounded more like a whimper. Dejectedly, she settled down on the dirt and rested her chin on her forelegs, looking at a lone blade of grass that was just barely poking up out of the forest floor as if it were all that existed.
Fluttershy, upon seeing this, let her ears fall and her face to twist with a worried pout. Slowly, gingerly, she approached Rainbow’s side and settled down next to her. Rainbow shifted to look at Fluttershy, then resumed looking blankly at the ground, poking at it idly with a hoof. Fluttershy let her ears lift up a bit, trying to be optimistic. “Hey, Rainbow.” she began.
Rainbow merely hummed, remaining still and gloomy.
“You, um, feeling okay?”
“I feel like garbage,” Rainbow replied in a solemn deadpan before letting her hoof rest again. Fluttershy’s ears fell flat against the sides of her head.
“Oh… um… anything I can do to help?” she tried, putting on an encouraging smile.
“...I don’t know,” Rainbow buried her face into the crook of her foreleg, closing her eyes. “If you come up with any ideas, though, run them by me.”
Fluttershy’s smile vanished. She scooted a little closer to Rainbow, making contact and trying to share some body heat.
Applejack watched with her own look of sympathy before turning her attention to Rarity and nodding. While the two pegasi were talking, Rarity had gotten to work bringing out the supplies they were going to use for shelter. “Alright, let’s hop to it.”
Rainbow Dash opened her eyes with a gasp of shock. The air was bitterly cold, made even worse by a harsh gust that washed over the pegasus’ face. Blinking a few times, Rainbow managed to focus her vision ahead and take in her surroundings.
Ponyville… She was looking at Ponyville, illuminated by only the last faint wisps of orange light from the sunset.
Turning around, Rainbow confirmed that she was directly in front of the Golden Oaks Library. Home. The lights were all on, and she could hear the voices of many ponies conversing with each other over the upbeat music playing inside, muffled by the walls and closed windows. “What the…? How did I get here?” she mused to herself before reaching out and trying the door. It was cold out here; she could use some warmth.
The door was locked.
Baffled, she tried the handle again and again, it did not budge. Grunting with annoyance, she lifted a hoof and knocked hard on the door. “Hey! Could somepony let me in?” she called out.
The voices swiftly were silenced and the music faded as if somepony turned down the volume. After a few seconds, the door clicked and swung open just a few inches. A purple eye framed by lavender fur peeked through and narrowed with disgust. Rainbow flinched when she saw the bruising on the face when the door swung open a little bit more.
“Oh… it’s you.” Twilight said bitterly, looking Rainbow Dash up and down.
“I… hey, Twilight,” Rainbow tried to sound casual, but her words were hitching in her throat. “Uh… can I come in? I’m freezing my tail off out here.”
“No.” Twilight answered simply, the bruise on her face darkening a little.
Rainbow felt sweat starting to form on her brow. “I… T-twilight, come on. I live here,” she said in a shaking and pitiful voice. The bruise on Twilight’s face began to spread, covering more and more of her face.
“Do you, though? I was under the impression you were living in your own little world full of anger and hatred.” she snarled, the whites of her eyes gradually starting to turn red with irritation.
“I… I’m sor-”
“What was that?” Twilight snapped, stomping forward and shoving Rainbow Dash hard with a hoof, sending her toppling backward onto the soil. “You’re sorry? Oh, excuse me, I guess that just fixes everything, doesn’t it?!” the bruise was almost pitch black at its center, the darkening colors spreading well beyond Twilight’s neck and shoulders now. “Does an apology fix THIS?!” she gestured at the bruise, at her eyes which now stood-out against her blackening fur.
“Twilight…”
Twilight stomped a hoof by Rainbow’s head, silencing her. The grass around the hoof began to die. “Stop. Talking. I don’t want to hear it and I don’t want to see any more of you. Go ahead and leave. I’m sure somepony here will be dumb enough to have pity on you.” As she spoke, her words became more and more twisted, like she was slowly turning into some kind of monster.
Rainbow reacted by instinct, trying to shove the now-monster off of her so she could have some room to breath. Her hoof connected with its face… and became stuck, the bruise molding around it like tar. “Huh?!” she shouted, trying and failing to yank her hoof free.
The not-twilight monster grinned at her, it’s pupils dilating with delight. “Or you could give me a reason to return the favor… that works, too.” It reared back one of its forehooves, which was also pitch-black at this point and prepared to strike.
“PLEASE! STOP!” Rainbow cried, yanking again.
The hoof came down.
Rainbow Dash screamed.
Rainbow Dash’s eyes opened with a blood-curdling scream, cold sweat suddenly breaking out all over her body. Her eyes darted left and right as she scrambled to her hooves, ready to fight or flee at a moment’s notice. She caught sight of several pairs of eyes looking at her, the owners of said eyes holding mixed expressions ranging from frightened to worried.She was in the forest, still. It was night time now, the last traces of the sun being little more than a soft glow on the horizon. crickets were chirping in the distance and a bright campfire sat in the center of their little region. Her friends were all looking at her.
“Rainbow, are you okay?” Fluttershy asked, quickly moving up to her but stopping just out of reach of her forelegs. “You’ve been mumbling to yourself… we didn’t realize you were having a nightmare.”
Rainbow’s breathing slowly began to get under control. She sat down on her haunches, the shaking in her legs beginning to fade away. “Y-y-yeah, I’m…” she sharply sucked in a deep breath, then let it out. “I’m o-okay. J-just a bad dream, heh.”
“Just a bad dream?” Spike asked doubtfully, pointing at Rainbow. “Waking up like that made it look like a bit of an upgrade from just a bad dream.”
Rainbow shivered and looked away, biting her lower lip.
Twilight’s eyes narrowed a little and she, too, began to approach. Rainbow spotted her and, out of reflex, gasped and shuffled back, trying to snap her wings open to fly away, only for them to hold against her sides thanks to the bandages, drawing a hiss of pain out of her. Twilight stopped, her eyes losing their intensity. Slowly, carefully, she lowered herself down to her belly and held out a hoof.
“Hey, it’s just me,” she whispered softly, trying to smile.
Rainbow watched her intently, shaking horribly. “I… I know…” she managed to stutter out, trying and failing to relax.
Twilight lowered her hoof, her ears drooping and her eyes widening with realization. “It was me… wasn’t it? You had a nightmare about me.”
Rainbow could only give a small, meek nod before looking away.
“Oh, my gosh,” Fluttershy breathed before shooting over and wrapping Rainbow Dash up in a tight hug. Rainbow returned it gladly, hiding her face in Fluttershy’s shoulder and shaking somewhat. As they were doing this, Applejack slowly trotted up to Twilight’s side and nudged her in the ribs with an elbow.
“Twi, you need to sort this out,” she glowered quietly, looking into Twilight’s eyes disapprovingly. “The tension between you two isn’t gonna solve anypony’s problems. In fact, Ah think it’s only makin’ our situation worse.”
Twilight looked down and sighed dejectedly. “I… I know. I’m just…”
“We’re all upset, Twi,” Applejack remarked sternly. “But if RD is havin’ nightmares ‘cause of how upset she is, nightmares about you of all ponies than it’s too much.”
Twilight looked to Rainbow and Fluttershy again, the two talking to each other in hushed whispers, much like she and Applejack were doing right now. Fluttershy looked at Twilight almost accusingly before returning her attention to Rainbow Dash.
“Alright,” Twilight conceded, sagging in defeat. “But maybe it should wait a little bit. Until morning at the latest. She needs time to calm down and I need time to think.”
Applejack scrutinized Twilight carefully before nodding slowly. “Ah’ll hold you to that. If Ah find out that you and her didn’t get this sorted out, Ah won’t be so diplomatic next time.” she spelled out before looking to Rarity and Pinkie, who were both watching on almost helplessly. “Ah’m hungry. Whos up for some grub?”
“Oh! Me!” Pinkie announced, perking up a little bit and waving erratically. Rarity gave a dainty nod and small, clearly forced smile.
In general, Nopony voiced any disagreement. So with that, Applejack, with some help from Pinkie Pie, set about preparing something to eat out of what they had managed to scrounge up on the way to this point. Berries, nuts, fruits, some flowers, among other things. As they worked, Twilight settled back down on the opposite side of the fire from Rainbow and looked at her.
Dinner that night had been a somber and mostly quiet affair. For her part, Rainbow barely ate any of what was given to her before she dragged herself away to curl up in the deepest corner of one of the pseudo-tents Rarity and Applejack had made. For a short time, she had rested there, afraid to close her eyes and go back to sleep, afraid she would have another nightmare. The need for rest eventually won her over, though, and she closed her eyes, drifting off to sleep.
When she opened her eyes again, it was with a sigh of relief upon realizing that she was not having another nightmare. She was standing in a small glade, surrounded by trees with blue leaves and long flower blossoms that emitted a soft, violet glow in the night. At the bottom of this glade was a small pond of crystal clear water. Several water flowers just breached the surface, glowing with blue light and casting beautiful reflections across the almost motionless water. A full moon shined down on her, just visible through the canopy of leaves and glowing flowers over her head.
“This is pretty…” Rainbow commented quietly to herself, relaxing somewhat. “A little too flowery for my tastes, though.” She then turned to look over her shoulder, knowing full well who was standing there.
“Rainbow Dash,” Luna greeted simply, stepping forward out of the foliage and into the moonlight. “In all fairness, this is not a creation of your dreams. It is a mirror of my own.”
Rainbow looked back at the little glade and gave a low whistle. “Well, I can see why it works for you…” she tried to laugh, but the sound died in her throat and her ears fell. “...I know I’m late.”
“That is hardly the worst of our concerns, my niece,” Luna pointed out with a stern look coming over her face. “There have been rumors spreading like wildfire that you assaulted an unarmed mare without provocation or clearly discernible reason. If we cannot curb these rumors soon the impact it may have on our ability to rule could be devastating.”
Rainbow shied away, her ears pinning themselves to her head even harder. “I… I-I’m sorry,” she choked out, unable to look at her adoptive aunt.
Luna’s eyes lost some of their intensity when she saw the horrible trembling Rainbow Dash was suffering from. “...What happened, Rainbow?” she asked more gently, slowly trotting forwards.
Rainbow backed away even more. “I… I… I did attack somepony… I attacked S-Starlight Glimmer,” she managed to stutter out, shuddering and then falling to her haunches. “I was just… I was s-scared… I… I didn’t mean to… I didn’t want to…” she looked at her hooves while stumbling over her words. Her eyes went unfocused. She snapped them shut and placed her forehooves on the back of her head as if trying to shelter herself from falling stones.
Luna’s eyes went wide with shock, completely caught off guard by how Rainbow Dash was acting. “Rainbow…”
“I hurt Twilight!” Rainbow blurted out before crumpling forward, covering her head and shaking with uncontrollable sobs wracking her body. “I’m so sorry! I shouldn’t have! I know, I know it was stupid, I know it was reckless and wrong and…” she couldn’t keep going, her words hitching in her throat.
Luna slowly came forward and sat down in front of Rainbow Dash. She reached out and touched her hoof to Rainbow’s mane, petting her lightly. Rainbow tensed under the touch, making Luna retract her hoof. “...You’re guilty.”
“OF COURSE I AM!” Rainbow snapped, looking up at Luna with anguished eyes. “OF COURSE I’M GUILTY! THIS IS MY FAULT! It was my stupid idea to go to Manehattan, it was my bright idea to try and find Starlight! If I’d just ignored what Discord said, left it all alone then… then…” she let her face fall so she was staring at the grass beneath her hooves. “...Then I wouldn’t have driven away my friends… I wouldn’t have made Twilight hate me…”
“Hate you?” Luna scoffed disbelievingly, reaching out and touching a hoof to Rainbow’s shoulder. “From what I know of her, she may be upset at you, but I sincerely doubt she could ever hate you.”
“Y-you haven’t seen how she’s been glaring at me… haven’t heard how she’s talking to me…” Rainbow said, quivering again. “I hit her and attacked an innocent mare… what kind of friend does that...?” she screwed her eyes shut, her voice rising in volume to a shout. “What kind of pony does that?!”
“One who needs help,” Luna asserted firmly before reaching out and yanking Rainbow into a hug. Rainbow gasped and tensed up in the alicorn’s embrace, but gradually began to relax and calm down when Luna spoke again. “It’s going to be fine, Rainbow Dash… we all make mistakes. Every single one of us screws up somewhere… the best thing we can do when we do is learn from our mistakes.”
For a time, the two remained silent, Luna gingerly gliding one of her hooves over Rainbow’s mane repeatedly, occasionally making calming sounds when the pegasus began to shake and whimper again. Finally, Luna drew back and gave Rainbow a reassuring smile. “Everything is going to be okay, my niece.”
Rainbow hiccuped by nodded slowly, though she didn’t seem to believe the sentiment.
“Where are you and your friends right now?” Luna pressed, giving Rainbow another comforting pet as she did so.
“Um… maybe half a day’s trot from Hollow Shades. I’m, uh… I’m actually injured in the waking world. I dislocated my left wing and we don’t have the supplies with us to fix it up. The p-plan was to get me to a doctor in Hollow Shades while Twilight sent you and mom a letter… so we could be taken home, I guess…” Rainbow explained tiredly, looking away towards the end.
“I see… I shall send a scroll to Spike ensuring you suffer no delays. I’ll also send a team of the Lunar Guard immediately; they can set about returning you to Canterlot as soon as you are travel-worthy,” Luna stated simply before reaching a hoof out to Rainbow’s chin, lifting her head so they were eye-to-eye. “And rest assured, Twilight will forgive for what you have done, given enough time, of this I am certain.”
“But what if-” Rainbow began, but was interrupted by Luna’s hoof pressing itself to her mouth.
“No buts, no ifs. If Twilight Sparkle represents the element of magic, the centerpiece of the elements then I sincerely doubt she could ever find it in her heart to hate you… not for long, at any rate.” Luna assured her before rising back to her hooves. “I must return to watching the Dream Realm; my duty does not permit me to put aside our subjects for long.”
“O-okay, Luna…” Rainbow muttered, letting Luna go as the alicorn rose back to her full height.
“You’ll get through this, Rainbow Dash,” Luna offered with a smile. “I’ll make sure of it. You’ve helped me a great deal, after all. It’s time I returned the favor.”
“Did you destroy the Tantabus? Talk to mom?” Rainbow asked weakly, a small spark of hope in her eyes.
Luna’s warm smile was the only answer she needed.
And then she woke up.
Rainbow gradually woke up, still curled up on the ground. Her muscles were stiff and sore. She gave a yawn and languid stretch before looking around a little bit. It was a misty morning and the sun had just started to come up, casting glowing rays of golden, shimmering light through the forest.
“You’re awake…”
Rainbow looked and saw Twilight sitting up not far away from her under the same piece of shelter, looking over a scroll. Spike stood just next to her, looking between the two nervously.
“Uh.. y-yeah…” Rainbow said, rubbing the side of one of her forelegs absently. “Um… did you sleep alright?”
“Sleeping on dirt, leaves, and roots for a mattress, no blankets, and Spike belching up this note a few minutes ago?” Twilight lowered the scroll and looked at Rainbow with a neutral expression. “I’ve had better nights.”
“O-oh,” Rainbow shuffled back a bit. “I, uh… I should-”
“Rainbow,” Twilight cut her off, her voice losing some of its edge. “...I’m sorry.”
Rainbow locked up, her ears standing tall. “Wh...what?” she asked uneasily, looking back into Twilight’s eyes.
“I’m sorry… I’m sorry that you're having nightmares about me. I am upset with you, Rainbow, don’t mistake that, but…” she sighed and shook her head. “But I’m not somepony you need to be scared of. I’m not going to hurt you, you know that, right?”
Rainbow looked down. “Well… I know that, yeah,” she said with a small nod. “But I hurt you… I mean, just…” she gestured vaguely at Twilight’s face.
“I understand, Rainbow,” Twilight said softly, leaning back a bit before bringing the note up to her face again. “...How did Luna even know where we were headed?” she mumbled thoughtfully.
“Oh, uh, I told her,” Rainbow said quickly. Twilight shot her a quizzical look, raising an eyebrow.
“...From all of these miles away?”
“Well, I mean, she is the Princess of the Night. What, don’t you know that she can enter dreams?” Rainbow asked incredulously, her face scrunching up just a little bit.
Twilight’s eyes lit up. “She can enter dreams?!” she asked with a small smile appearing on her face. “No way! I didn’t know that!”
“It’s kinda one of her biggest responsibilities,” Rainbow pointed out before glancing back out into the forest. “She told me before we left Canterlot that dreams have a lot of influence on the waking world. Happy dreams can brighten up the dreams of other ponies nearby; same with nightmares. It’s Aunt Luna’s job to root out the nightmares and get rid of them so that everypony can be well rested and okay in the head when they wake up.”
Twilight nodded, her smile growing. She then hesitated, her smile faltering somewhat. “...Heh. Funny. You knowing something I don’t…”
Rainbow’s own slightly lifted mood came crashing back down when she heard Twilight’s tone. She fidgeted in place a little. “Uh… y-yeah. But hey, now you know, right?” she gave a weak, half-hearted laugh. Twilight’s mouth twitched a little into a smile, the movement reminding Rainbow of the still dark bruise that smothered the unicorn’s face.
“...Yeah.”
Rainbow looked away, her ears falling flat.
“Guys…” Spike tried, looking between the two hopelessly. “C’mon… can’t you just hug it out? I don’t like seeing you like this.”
“If only it was that easy, Spike,” Twilight sighed heavily, patting the little guy on the head before looking at Rainbow Dash again. “...I wish it was.”
Rainbow flinched from the words, feeling as if she had just been struck. “You and me, both,” she muttered before rising to her hooves.
“Where are you going?” Twilight asked, her eyes narrowing a little.
Rainbow shook herself a little to dispel the excess dirt and bark fragments from her coat. “I’m gonna go wake up the others. If Aunt Luna is sending ponies to meet us there, then we should get going sooner rather than later,” she said before stepping out from under the canopy of the shelter. She paused for a moment and glanced back at Twilight. “And, uh… just so you know… I am sorry. For more than hitting you…”
Twilight’s ears perked up. Just a little bit. She looked at Rainbow Dash curiously. “Like what?” she pressed carefully.
“...I’m sorry I let you down. I’m sorry that I lost control back on the train and… I’m sorry I’ve been such a bad friend to you.” Rainbow said solemnly before turning to leave.
‘You’re not a bad friend!” Twilight countered, leaning forward with her ears falling a bit.
Rainbow paused again before shaking her head. “I wish that was true...” she said before trotting away, leaving Twilight and Spike in a cold, miserable silence.
“Wh… What’s happening?” Squall mumbled as he gradually began to come back to his senses. He opened his eyes, though he found he barely had enough strength to focus his eyes, much less keep the lids open. The world around him was a blurry, swirling blob of dull blues and grays, with spots of luminescent green piercing through the other colors like a unicorn’s light spell in a shadowy cavern. After a moment, his eyes refocused and he realized that he was indeed inside a shadowy cavern. His hind legs were jostled when they scraped over a section of raised stone. He was being dragged along by… something. He looked around again, the muscles in his neck barely responsive.
He caught sight of it, though. The creature hauling him along. It looked back down at him with orbs of pale-blue. It’s facial expression was unreadable to the delirious and weakened Squall, but the fangs were clear as day. A carnivore? A monster? “Let me… go…” he grunted, struggling to put force into his words. Any efforts to thrash against his captor were useless, sadly. He just didn’t have the strength in him to resist it as it pulled him along. Realizing that fighting back was hopeless, he tried to study his surroundings as best as his foggy mind would allow.
There were many of these creatures, all watching him and, more specifically, his captor with a wide range of expressions. Some looked surprised, others looked proud, while others looked unimpressed or dismissive. One of them, a creature with purple eyes, leapt off of an elevated platform in the enormous cavern chamber and glided down on buzzing insect wings to greet them. “Thorax… I’m impressed. Looks like you got a member of the Lunar Guard.”
Squall’s captor stopped moving and shifted slightly. “It wasn’t easy to do, Pharynx…” he said, sounding almost… guilty.
The one with purple eyes, Pharynx, snorted and put on a smirk. “He fought back, did he? You didn’t cause a big commotion acquiring him, did you?”
Thorax tensed a little, then shook his head. “No… no, I didn’t. As far as everypony is concerned, he’s on patrol somewhere in Canterlot.” he said, glancing down at Squall.
“What… what are you?” Squall murmured, trying to jerk away again. Thorax’s grip help tight and, in fact, only seemed to get tighter.
“Stop squirming,” Thorax hissed at him, though his words didn’t sound hostile, much to Squall’s surprise. “I don’t want to hurt you.”
Pharynx’s smirk gave way to a scowl. “Alright, that’s enough chit chat. Get him in a pod and show me that your disguise is accurate. We can’t afford any missteps here.”
“Right,” Thorax sighed before hauling a still feebly struggling Squall Dreamer up to a wall at the back of the cavern. Squall got a look at it, his eyes widening in shock. “I’m sorry.” Thorax whispered to him when he realized that Squall had seen it.
Dozens, possibly even hundreds of green, glowing pods rested against this wall. Each one had an unconscious pony stored inside. Stallions, mares, civilians, guards, foals… fillies. Squall gave another thrash. “What have you done to my sister?!” he snapped, actually gaining some of his strength back.
“I haven’t done anything to her,” Thorax replied in a low voice, pushing Squall against the wall and holding him there. “And I don’t plan to… it’s not my job.”
“You revolting creeps!” Squall managed to raise his voice to a shout, adrenaline pumping through his veins. His wings began to twitch and flutter at his sides, giving him some extra leverage against Thorax. “What are you?! What do you want?!”
Thorax, with a grunt of effort, drove his hoof into Squall’s stomach, wilting on the inside as he did so. Squall gasped, the breath escaping his lungs while we slumped against the wall. Thorax sighed, a green slime similar to the material of the pods began to drip out of his fangs. “...Not this.” he answered Squall’s second question before leaning down to apply the slime to his forehooves, adhering them to the wall of the cave as the slime solidified.
Squall managed to look Thorax in the eye when he pulled back. “...Then why?” he managed to ask in barely a whisper before closing his eyes and going limp, slipping out of consciousness once more. Thorax was silent for a moment, tuning out the movements of his fellow changelings behind him. This kind of struggle was nothing new down here… which means none of the others had paid it any mind, allowing him to say what he wanted to say to the lunar guard before him.
“Get him into a pod, Thorax. Spiracle, lend him a fang! I’ll be back in a minute to inspect your disguise, Thorax.” Pharynx ordered sharply before turning and buzzing off into the caverns. Thorax sighed and went about his task as ordered, Spiracle soon arriving by his side and using her own fangs to help construct the pod. Soon enough, Squall Dreamer was dreaming inside of a changeling pod, unable to wake, unable to feel fear.
Soon enough, like he had promised, Pharynx came back with a serious look on his face. “Alright little brother. Disguise up, now. Let’s see what you’ve got.”
Thorax nodded and closed his eyes, focusing on the appearance of the thestral trapped in a pod behind him. A few moments passed before, with a flash and swirl of green fire, he assumed the shape. He opened his eyes and stood to attention in front of Pharynx, who immediately began his inspection, using the real Squall as a reference for comparison.
“...Heh. If there was one thing you were always good at, Thorax, it’s good disguises. You’re a one to one clone, near as I can tell.” Pharynx said with a proud smile. Thorax put on a small, half-hearted smile of his own before letting the disguise drop, filing it away in his memory for later use.
“EVERYONE!” A new voice called out, sounding excited and frightened at the same time, the changeling it belonged to galloping into view from one of the higher platforms that overlooked the entire chamber. “THE QUEEN HAS ARRIVED! FRONT AND CENTER, ALL OF YOU!”
The entire cavern exploded into movement as hundreds of changeling drones quickly filed into the center of the room, forming dozens of organized rows. Thorax wound up near the back, while Pharynx was closer to the front. For several moments, all was silent. Then there was a sound that sent a chill into the spines of every single changeling present.
Hoofsteps. Each one was slow, methodical, heavy and cracked ever so slightly. From one of the many entrance ways into the chamber, a shadow could be seen being cast upon the roof. That shadow was soon eclipsed by the real thing. Queen Chrysalis emerged onto the platform with two drones following close behind, each one dressed in blue armor. Every single drone in the chamber immediately dropped into a deep bow, their noses practically touching the floor. Chrysalis eyed the assembled changelings beneath her with an almost disinterested look, leaning back somewhat and lazily peering around the chamber.
No one dared utter a sound.
Chrysalis grinned. “I’m glad to see that being away from the hive for so long has not dulled your understanding of your place, my subjects,” she called before gracefully lifting off of the platform and drifting down to the floor of the cave. “And it appears as though everything is in order for your efforts to be rewarded… excellent.”
The way she spoke was cold, condescending and almost mocking. She was daring any of her drones to get angry from how she looked down on them, inviting them to try and speak out or protest.
None of them did.
“Stinger, Pharynx, Trachea! The three of you are to report to me at once! I require an in-depth assessment of the city and it’s defenses, the abilities of Princesses Celestia and Luna, and the relative power of the civilian population!” Chrysalis called out before eyeing the back wall of the chamber. A toothy-grin split her face. “Although, judging from the number of ponies you have already captured, I am guessing they are rather pitiful…”
Stinger, Pharynx and Trachea, who was a few inches taller than the other two, came forward and bowed deeply to Queen Chrysalis. “It is an honor to have you here, your highness,” Stinger greeted her simply.
“Rise, you three,” Chrysalis commanded with a hoof gesture before turning and trotting slowly through the caverns, gesturing for the others to follow along. “Fill me in while I get familiar with the hideout.”
“The Canterlot Royal guard is surprisingly weak, majesty,” Pharynx began while falling into step behind the tall changeling queen. “Infiltration has been an easy task, and replacing members of their watch has proven to be remarkably simple. They seem to be more ceremonial than anything at this point.”
“So many centuries of peace and relative prosperity, especially when compared to the rest of the world, has led the ponies to grow soft and complacent,” Trachea furthered, his voice sounding more professional and sophisticated than the others. “Though, to be frank, they haven’t needed a powerful military. Princess Celestia alone has been a powerful reason for most enemies to keep their distance.”
“Her younger sister, Princess Luna, is also a matter for concern,” Stinger added with a small frown. “We don’t know the full extent of her power, yet. For most of her time back in Equestria, she has been in a deep slumber; presumably rejuvenating herself back to full strength.
“There is also Princess Cadance,” Pharynx pointed out before frowning, unsure. “However, she is easily the weakest of the three princesses in the city right now. She focuses more of tending to the social environment among the ponies, rather than the political ones.”
“She is far from a push-over, though,” Trachea pointed out simply. “From what I’ve been able to gather, she earned her alicorn status from being a pegasus. Such an ascension bespeaks a great deal of potential power. We should not underestimate any of them.”
Chrysalis hummed with thought. “...And Princess Rainbow Dash is still missing?”
“Yes, your grace,” Stinger nodded. “Several of our infiltrators have confirmed that the Princess isn’t in Canterlot, and we have spared a few scouts to keep an eye on Ponyville. She isn’t there, either. Wherever she is, she is far enough away that we’ll have the elements of harmony neutralized before she and her inner circle can arrive.”
Chrysalis grinned. “Wonderful… then I believe our course is clear. You have been storing the love of the captured ponies as I ordered, yes?” she asked, a hungry tone slipping into her voice.
“Yes, my queen,” Pharynx gave a curt nod. “We can continue to add to it for as long as you deem necessary.”
“Show me. If we are to do this properly, we will need to ensure that I am able to effectively battle against Princess Celestia.” Chrysalis ordered simply, allowing the three droned to take the lead and guide her from the main chamber and into a tunnel leading deeper into the system.
As they vanished away, the remaining drones gradually rose back to standing positions, talking amongst themselves with a mixture of anxiety, fear and excitement. From the platform Chrysalis had come from, several dozen additional drones, each one clad in that blue armor, came buzzing down into the chamber to begin preparations and inspections.
Thorax watched all of the activity with an uneasy expression. He looked over his shoulder to Squall Dreamer and sagged. He then turned as one of the blue-armored changelings approached him and stood to attention.
The swarm was growing excited, their hunger was palpable. Thorax would forever be ashamed of this, but in that moment, watching all of his fellow changelings flying about with growing anticipation and eagerness… he couldn’t help but feel the same. He had been starving, just like the rest of them, for so long… he licked his fangs instinctively.
Hollow Shades looked ominous, even from a distance. Between the thick covering of the forest, the settlement rested in and the spike-like rocks jutting out of the earth like enormous teeth all around it, it was no wonder that the other pony races didn’t come here often. Rainbow could well imagine this town being frightening at night even more so than it was now in broad daylight. The still relatively thick layer of mist smothering the earth wasn’t helping the eeriness of the town. Neither were the many pairs of glowing eyes with slit-pupils staring at the group as they arrived, either from the darkness of the trees or through the windows of the modest homes that seemed to blend in with the foliage.
The town looked to be built in four ring-shaped tiers, the ones further from the center rising somewhat higher into the air, forming a natural amphitheater of sorts. Along each of these tiers was a dirt road lined on either side with more Thestral architecture. In the very heart of the town, looking almost like it was pulling the world down with it, was an old well, seemingly no longer in active use, covered in cobwebs and archaic symbols.
Nopony else was in sight. Just the six ponies and their dragon, along with the many pairs of eyes looking at them with curiosity.
“I don’t like this,” Rarity whispered anxiously, her eyes darting to and fro as if expecting to be attacked at any moment. “Oooh… not to be offensive, but I can see why so many ponies steer clear of this place.”
“Be careful what you say, Rarity,” Twilight shot back quietly. “Different or not, they’re still ponies, just like us.”
“Then why are they hidin’?” Applejack inquired with a raised eyebrow, also looking a little unnerved. “Are they scared of us, too?”
“I don’t think so,” Twilight looked to one of the pairs of eyes, colored a bright, icy blue. “If they were afraid, they wouldn’t be letting us see any of them; glowing eyes included. I think they’re probably just curious.”
Spike tapped the tips of his claws together nervously. “Well, can they stop being curious? They’re creeping me out!”
“Maybe they’re planning on jumping out at us with a surprise ‘welcome to Hollow Shades Princess Rainbow Dash’ party?” Pinkie suggested hopefully, though she didn’t sound too sure of herself.
“Oh, I don’t think I could handle any surprises today,” Fluttershy admitted with a small shake. “Can somepony just get the help we need so we can move on?”
Twilight gave a curt nod and moved on to the front of the group, passing Rainbow on the way. She paused and glanced over at Rainbow, who winced and shied away when she did. Stifling a dejected sigh, Twilight came forward and procured the scroll Princess Luna had sent to Spike earlier that morning. “Hello? Anypony? This is Princess Rainbow Dash!” she announced out while gesturing to the pegasus in question. “She needs to see a doctor. Her left wing has been dislocated and needs attention!”
The many glowing eyes began to look between each other, almost as if in a silent discussion. After several seconds, the doors of a few homes swung open and the ponies within stepped out. Large, leathery bat-wings were present on the sides of almost every single pony present, their eyes being the most brightly colored parts of them. Their coats were duller than a typical pony’s was, same with their manes and tails. One of them, the mare whom the icy blue eyes belonged to, gradually stepped forward. She was a grayish green color with a darker teal mane and tail. On her flank was a cutie mark depicting a first-aid kit wrapped up in upside-down bat wings.
“Are you a doctor?” Twilight asked hopefully, taking a step forward.
“Yes, I am. My name is Moonflower Balm,” the mare replied, her voice cool, airy and professional. She looked at Rainbow Dash curiously, then put on a small frown. “Though I do hope you don’t mind my skepticism. It isn’t often that we get visitors here in Hollow Shades, and even less so from royalty. I presume you have proof that she is who you say?”
Twilight frowned at the mare’s blunt tone but nodded. “Yes, right here. This scroll came from Princess Luna and has everything you’ll need to confirm Rainbow’s identity,” she said while passing the scroll forward. Moonflower took it in a hoof and examined the seal first. While it had been broken once already, it was definitely the royal seal. Unraveling the scroll, she studied the contents, periodically glancing at Rainbow as if for comparison. Finally, she rolled the scroll back up and returned it to Twilight before grinning widely at Rainbow Dash, putting a pair of sharp fangs on display.
Rarity cringed.
“I see my doubts were unfounded. Welcome to Hollow Shades, your majesty.” she gave a bow as she spoke.
“Nope, nope,” Rainbow cut her off with a gesture of her hoof. “No bowing, no titles, nuh-uh, none of that. Just…” she gestured to her bandaged torso. “Help me with this?”
Moonflower rose to a standing position and nodded. “Of course, Rainbow Dash. Please, follow me. The Hollow Shades clinic is on the top ring of the town.” she said before turning and trotting onto one of the dirt paths. The group swiftly fell into step behind her.
Rarity shuddered. “Did you see those teeth?” she asked Fluttershy in an unsettled hiss.
“I heard that,” Moonflower called back, making Rarity clam up. The mare glanced back with a good-natured smile. “Don’t worry, we’re used to it. And you also don’t need to worry about our teeth; we may be a bit more omnivorous than the other pony races, but for the most part, our fangs are for helping us deal with the stubborn fruits and nuts we evolved around.”
Rarity relaxed a little bit, while Fluttershy shot her a disapproving frown. “Oh, aheh, my apologies then, miss Moonflower.” she jittered out with a sheepish laugh.
‘We’re all a little on-edge,” Twilight added with a slow nod. “It’s been a rough few days for all of us.”
“Well, I’m sure I’ll know all about it soon enough,” Moonflower said as they ascended a pair of stone steps carved into the side of one of the tiers, letting them rise to the next one. “Before we get there, are there any other symptoms I should know about, Rainbow Dash?”
“Just the broken wing,” Rainbow replied simply before looking over the town.
“Well, we’ll be there soon enough,” Moonflower hummed before picking up the pace. Rainbow picked up her own pace to match hers, as did the rest of the group.
The Hollow Shades Clinic was a modest two-story building sticking out almost like a sore thumb compared to the rest of the town. It was larger than every other building and was easily the most brightly colored. That aside, it was still notably darker than medical facilities in other towns like Ponyville or Canterlot. The inside was darker, as well, but in a more inviting way. The entrance lobby was colored mostly in rich browns and dark, vibrant greens, like the forest the town resided in. Most of the illumination came from lamps that hung close to the ceiling, which were wrapped up in orange paper that made the whole area feel like it was bathed in the soft glow of a campfire. Another thestral mare sat behind the counter and perked up upon seeing Moonflower and the others trot in.
“Moonflower! I wasn’t expecting you, today! ...Who are these?” she asked with a high-pitched, chirpy voice.
“This is Princess Rainbow Dash, Painkiller, checking in with a dislocated left wing. I take it room twelve is still open?” Moonflower asked simply to the mare, now identified Painkiller.
“PRINCESS?!” Painkiller squealed in delight, standing up tall and propping her front hooves on the counter. “OH MY GOSH! A PRINCESS-” she immediately went quiet when Moonflower gave her a less-than-approving glare. She quickly sat back down and chuckled sheepishly. “Oh, um, yes. Sorry, ma’am. Room twelve is still open.”
“Thank you,” Moonflower gave a small roll of her eyes. “Try not to squeal about this too loudly on your lunch break, would you?”
Painkiller gave a salute. “I shall do my best, ma’am!” she replied enthusiastically. Moonflower chuckled and then turned to Rainbow Dash.
“Alright, Rainbow Dash, if you’ll follow me. Unless the rest of you are suffering from some kind of injury or sickness requiring a doctor’s help, I’m going to have to ask you to wait here in the lobby until I’ve taken care of initial examinations and treatments,” she explained simply.
“That’s no problem,” Twilight gave a small nod before looking to Rainbow again. “You go get better, okay Dash? We aren’t going anywhere.”
Rainbow nodded slightly, still unable to meet Twilight’s gaze with her own. “Y-yeah… sure.”
Moonflower looked between the two curiously but opted to not question it. She gestured for Rainbow to follow her as she trotted to a wooden door on one side of the room, leading down a side hall. Rainbow hesitated, then followed her, glancing briefly over her shoulder to the others before the door swung closed.
The rest of the group shortly had their names taken by Painkiller before finding places to sit in the lobby. Twilight sat on a small cushioned bench to the side of the door Rainbow had disappeared through. Fluttershy sat right next to her, anxiously tugging on her mane and looking around occasionally. Rarity was trying her best to occupy her mind with what little reading material there was, glancing into magazines and the town’s only newspaper with curiosity.
Applejack, however, was looking at Twilight from across the room seriously. She had been at this for several long minutes, almost like she was expecting something. Eventually, she rose from her seat and slowly trotted over to Twilight.
“Hey, Twi?” she asked quietly once she was in front of the unicorn.
Twilight looked down a little. “I already know what you’re going to say, Applejack… please don’t.”
“Did ya talk to her?” Applejack asked anyway, narrowing her eyes just a little.
Twilight’s ears flattened. “I tried… but I didn’t know what to say. I told her I wasn’t somepony she needed to be scared of, that I wasn’t going to hurt her,” she said with a heavy sigh.
“Twi, that’s a lie an’ you know it,” Applejack snorted bluntly, her ears going flat.
“What? No, it’s not!” Twilight defended, leaning back with her ears drooping as well. “I’d never hurt her! We grew up together!”
“Then stop hurtin’ her!” Applejack snapped, leaning forward a bit. “Ah dunno what yer definition of ‘hurt’ is, Twilight, but not every wound can be seen.”
Twilight blinked, a little of the color draining from her face. Fluttershy whimpered from Twilight’s side. “Applejack, please lower your voice…” she whispered shakily, looking over the farm mare’s shoulder as if afraid.
Applejack looked behind her and saw that everypony else in the room was looking at her with varying degrees of disapproval. Painkiller, still behind the counter, just looked confused and uncomfortable. She made a few meaningless gestures with a hoof. “I, uh, I’m just gonna… gonna go, uh… gonna… bye.” she stuttered out before disappearing through a door behind the counter, closing it softly behind her.
Several seconds ticked by in silence before Applejack sighed and backed off. “Ah’m sorry, Twilight,” she muttered regretfully before backing away and returning to her seat.
Twilight bit her lip and looked down at her hooves on the cushion of her seat. “Yeah… so am I.” she whispered quietly.
A sound caught her attention, then. The door to her right clicked and swung open. For a second, Twilight thought that maybe it was Moonflower coming back to give them all a status update. When she looked, however, she wasn’t at all expecting what she saw.
Starlight Glimmer glanced to her left as she stepped out of the hallway beyond the door, one of her forehooves wrapped up in bandages. Her eyes locked with Twilight’s.
The tension was so thick that one would need something a little bit more substantial than just a knife to cut it. Starlight visibly gulped, her ears going flat against her head. Twilight slowly rose from her seat, stepping down onto the floor with very careful movements. “Starlight…? I didn’t think you would be here.” she started carefully, glancing past the mare in question.
“Uh… yeah, I’m, uh… I’m here,” Starlight said uneasily, her eyes darting between everypony else anxiously. “Where’s uh, Rainbow Dash?”
“Dashie’s back getting her broken wing looked at,” Pinkie said with a friendly smile, trying to ease some of the tension with an optimistic tone. “Don’t worry, she’s not going to try to punch you again or anything anytime soon.”
“Pinkie,” Rarity scolded while smacking the party pony with her magazine, which was now rolled up. “Have some bedside manner!”
“But we’re not at a bedside!” Pinkie wined pitifully before rolling her eyes and looking at Starlight and waving. “Hi! I’m Pinkie Pie. We never actually met, did we?”
Starlight blinked, seeming to relax a little bit. “Er, no, we never did. Frankly, I don’t even recognize most of you, much less know your names.” she looked around and shuffled uneasily in place.
“Oh, yeah… I never did tell you my name,” Twilight thought aloud before putting on a small, gentle smile. “My name’s Twilight Sparkle. These are my friends,” she began to gesture to them one at a time. “Fluttershy, Applejack, Rarity and Pinkie Pie. You, uh…” she lowered her hoof and looked down. “You’ve already met Rainbow.”
Starlight shuddered and cringed, then nodded. “Y-yeah…” she managed to mumble out, running a forehoof through her mane absentmindedly.
Twilight shook her head. “Anyway, if I’m being honest, It’d probably be for the best if you weren’t here when Rainbow Dash gets better… While I have my doubts that she’d attack you again, I don’t want to take any chances,” she explained her shoulders sagging.
Starlight perked up a little bit. “Oh, yeah. I’m way ahead of you on that one. I was actually just on my way to the chariot that’s going to take me to Canterlot,” she said before wincing a little. “Er, uh, I mean… Shoot, I probably shouldn’t have said that.”
“Canterlot?” Rarity inquired, perking up a little and leaning forward. “I do hope it isn’t too much to ask, but, what are you going there for?”
Starlight looked around for several moments before her eyes rested on Twilight. “I’m… going to a friend of mine.” she finally said distantly, closing her eyes and quivering a little.
“Sunburst,” Twilight deduced with a slow nod. Starlight’s eyes snapped wide open yet again and she took a step back, eyeing Twilight critically. “I’m going to be blunt with you, Starlight… I wasn’t being completely honest with you when I said I’d never heard of him back in Bits and Bobs,” Twilight continued with a slow movement of her hooves. “I… I never met him, but I’ve heard his name before. And I know he meant a lot to you in the original timeline, before everything changed.” as she spoke, Twilight glanced to the counter to ensure that Painkiller was still absent.
“He… was my only friend, growing up,” Starlight conceded, poking at the floor, a despondent frown spreading on her face. “But when he got his cutie mark he just… up and left. His parents sent him off to Princess Celestia’s school and I didn’t hear from him for years…” her eyes gained a small shine to them, her frown slowly being replaced by a fond smile. “That guy… he knew everything there was to know about magic, I swear. He was a genius and always knew the perfect bit of magic for every situation…” her smile faded again. “Heck. he got his cutie mark by using magic to save me from getting hurt by a collapsing tower of books.”
“Sounds like a good colt…” Applejack said with a small nod before slightly lowering her hat. “Kinda rotten of him to leave you hangin’ like that, though.”
Starlight shot Applejack a harsh glare before turning to Twilight to speak again. Her words caught in her throat when she noticed the distant look in her eyes, how they had gone completely wide and unfocused. Starlight frowned and waved a hoof in front of Twilight’s face. “Uh… you okay in there?” she tried.
Twilight audibly gasped and fell to the floor in a crumpled heap her hooves reaching to cover her eyes. A deep boom sounded in her ears while her heart rate began to rapidly accelerate, the organ hammering against her ribs. Her ears were filled with a loud ringing sound and everything else become fuzzy and muffled. White tendrils were licking at the edges of her vision and her limbs felt heavy. She managed to lift her gaze to Starlight and locked gazes with her.
Her vision exploded into white as the Flash commenced.
Ash. Dust. A frigid, biting wind.
All the world was little more than a barren, wind-blasted wasteland. A single tree bent horribly at an odd angle, jutted out from the barren, lifeless soil, the last remnant of the life that once thrived here, soon to be buried in the storm. The sky was smothered in brown and gray clouds, like the ash and dirt that rushed past the two mares and one baby dragon like a hurricane.
“I know I can’t stop you… but I thought showing you this might change your mind.” Princess Twilight said, briefly looking around the devastated region that had once been Ponyville with sorrow and resignation. The mare in front of her, Starlight Glimmer, went rigid before slowly turning around. Her pupils were dilated with furious anger and rage, her ears going flat against her head.
“Change my mind?!” she demanded coldly before taking a threatening step forward. “You don’t know anything about me! I was perfectly happy until you and your FRIENDS RUINED WHAT I BUILT!” her words escalated into an infuriated, yet saddened, scream that would have echoed all around them, had the words not been lost in the wind.
Twilight took a step back, taken aback by the way Starlight’s voice was starting to crack with emotion. “I-I don’t know what led you to make your village without Cutie Marks, and I’m sorry my friend and I had to take it away…” she admitted gently, trying to pacify Starlight.
Starlight’s teeth ground together angrily. “You want to know what happened to me?!” She shouted before her entire body was enveloped in a blue magical glow. She was hoisted into the air by her own magic and hovered above what looked like a magically projected map of Equestria that rested behind Twilight. “I’LL SHOW YOU!” she screamed out before a beam of magic shot into the map. The surface lip up, the sound of numerous clocks ticking away emanating from within the blinding light. Twilight, Spike, and Starlight were yanked roughly into the light, vanishing into the table.
For a moment, their reality was a vortex of chaotic turns and rotations, a tunnel of light and darkness before, rather unceremoniously, they were all spat out on their hooves. Twilight shook herself gently before looking up and examining their new surroundings.
The sky was a bright blue, the sun shining down at its summer height. Birds were chirping and before Twilight rested a small, cozy village. Homes made of yellowish-white bricks topped with red roof tiles were scattered around casually, a dirt road winding through the town like a thread through a needle. A few ponies could be seen light-heartedly going about their day.
“Where are we?” she asked, looking to her left at Starlight, who still wore an impatient and frustrated scowl on her face.
Starlight turned to Twilight and jabbed a hoof into her chest. “That map of yours is connected to every part of Equestria. And this part…” her voice faded and she began to slowly trot forwards toward one house in particular. “...Is my home.”
Twilight and Spike shared an uncertain glance before falling into step behind Starlight, curious about what she was going to show them. For a moment, Twilight was afraid they might be seen, yet nopony even batted an eye at them. It was like they didn’t exist. Soon enough, Twilight came up to Starlight’s side. The lilac unicorn had her forehooves resting on a windowsill, peering inside with a longing shine in her eyes, showing through her bitterness. Twilight looked in and blinked in surprise.
She saw two foals, a bright orange unicorn colt with white-tipped hooves and a fiery-orange mane and tail, and a little lilac unicorn filly with a purple mane and tail streaked with cyan. The colt was looking rather proudly at an enormous tower of books that rested atop the small round table he and the filly were sitting at, while the filly clapped her hooves together with delight and joy.
“Sunburst and I did everything together,” Starlight began, grabbing Twilight’s attention. Her eyes had lost most of their intensity now, replaced by a sort of sorrowful longing Twilight had never seen before. “In fact, I don’t remember us ever being apart.”
The little filly Starlight stood up and focused on one of the books in the tower, narrowing her eyes with concentration while her horn lit up.
“Until today.”
The filly managed to pull the book out of the tower with a deft use of telekinesis. However, she hadn’t chosen her target very well. With one of the tower’s supporting pieces gone, the entire thing began to wobble and sway dangerously. Starlight looked up, her eyes going wide with alarm as the tower of books came crashing down on her.
But no impacts came. For a moment, she merely sat there, quivering in expectation before cracking an eye open. Her eyes then shot wide open with awe and wonder as she realized what had happened. The entire tower, which itself almost reached up to the rather high roof, was floating in mid-air just above her, suspended in the yellow magical aura of Sunburst. The colt slowly lifted into the air with focus and concentration, his horn sparking. With a small twitch of his head and a flash of light, he managed to send each and every single one of the books flying into their rightful place on a shelf in the corner of the room.
When the light faded and Sunburst touched back down, his coat had acquired a new addition. A cutie-mark depicting a brilliant sun casting several rays of golden light had appeared on his flank, still twinkling in the aftermath of its appearance. He glanced down at it, his eyes widening with unspeakable joy.
Starlight went to thank him and congratulate him, but in his excitement, Sunburst barreled right past her and out onto the streets outside, rocketing by Twilight and the adult Starlight with a jubilant neigh. Starlight watched him go with a somber, nostalgic look on her face. “...and just like that, my friend was gone. His family recognized his magical talent and sent him off to Canterlot… I never saw him again.” she said, watching sadly as Sunburst was carried away by his parents in a glowing aura, all of them laughing and excited.
“Well… why not?” Spike asked carefully, taking a step forward.
Starlight whirled on him and Twilight, all of her rage returning in full force… along with tears starting to leak out of her eyes. “Because of his cutie mark! He got his, and I didn’t! He moved on, and I DIDN’t!” she took a step back, her entire body shaking with uncontrollable emotions. She looked down. “I stayed here and never made another friend because I was too afraid another cutie mark would TAKE THEM AWAY, TOO!” when she looked at Twilight again, she wasn’t even trying to contain the tears.
The world shuddered, and the vision shattered.
Twilight gasped again when she returned to her senses, shaking slightly. Her back was resting against the backrest of one of the chairs, everypony else standing before her with eager and worried looks on their faces. Fluttershy came forward. “Are you okay, Twilight?” she asked gently, touching a hoof to Twilight’s shoulder.
“Yeah, yeah I’m fine,” Twilight dismissed Fluttershy before looking to Starlight, who was hanging back with a confused look on her face. Slowly, gingerly, Twilight eased herself out of her seat. She wobbled when she was on her hooves, but after a moment found her balance and moved towards Starlight.
“What’d ya see, Twi?” Applejack asked urgently, trying to fall into step next to Twilight. She stopped when Twilight practically ignored her, continuing to trot until she was right in front of Starlight.
“Starlight… I am so sorry for what happened to you,” she whispered before reaching out, offering a hug if Starlight wanted one.
She backed away a few steps, her eyes shifting with confusion. “Huh? What are you talking about?”
“Sunburst… I’m sorry he left you like that. He didn’t even stop to say goodbye or let you thank him. He just… ran off,” Twilight continued before lowering her hoof to the floor. “For how little you were… there is no way that went well for you.”
“I…” Starlight gulped, her ears lowering slightly. “...How do you know?” she managed to ask, no longer able to meet Twilight’s gaze.
“My friends and I… we sometimes get little glimpses of the original timeline, before things changed,” Twilight said, glancing back at the others as if seeking their approval. While they all looked at her with eyes that begged her to use caution, none spoke out to stop her. “Echoes of another life, reminding who we are now of who we used to be. And… I just had one. I saw you showing me your own past… how Sunburst ran off. How it hurt you…”
Starlight began shaking, a small shine coming to her eyes. She wiped a forehoof over them and sniffled slightly. “Oh… I think I understand… heh. Considering all of the other crazy stuff you told me out in the woods, I don’t doubt what you’re saying…”
For a few seconds, everything was silent. Then Twilight’s ears perked up as a thought struck her. “Hold on… just then, before the flash hit me, you said you didn’t hear from him for years… did he get back in touch with you?”
Starlight blinked in surprise, then nodded. “Uh, yeah, kinda. He… sent me a letter a few years ago apologizing for losing contact. He said that something had happened that made him think about me… said it reminded him of how much he missed me.” her ears perked up and she smiled a little. “We’ve been trying to keep in touch as much as possible but, well, it hasn’t been easy. Between how far away from each other we live and, uh, other issues… it’s been difficult.”
Everypony looked away as Starlight said this, all of them getting a sort of guilty air about them. It was Applejack who broke the following silence. “Aw, shucks… We’re really sorry, miss,” she said, taking her hat off of her head. “We didn’t know…”
Rarity nodded along, grimacing slightly. “Yes, it seems we could have stood to do a bit more research before we went on this little mission of ours… my sincerest and deepest apologies, miss Glimmer.”
Twilight looked up as everypony else gave their own murmured apologies. “I’ll make sure Rainbow Dash knows… maybe someday she can apologize to you herself. But right now, I think we’ve kept you away from your friend for long enough,” she said before nodding for the door. “Go ahead. None of us are going to stop you.”
Starlight looked between all of them with wide, unbelieving eyes. “I… I don’t know what to say about all of this…” she said with an exasperated laugh while reaching a forehoof up to her temple.
“Don’t say anything, then,” Twilight smiled and gestured for the door. “Go. Sunburst is waiting.”
Starlight looked up at her, then nodded. “R-right… uhm… I guess this is goodbye? For real, this time?” she asked hesitantly.
Twilight shrugged. “For now, yes. But who knows… maybe we’ll see each other again someday.” she answered simply.
“Okay, then… Goodbye, Twilight,” Starlight said with a nod to her, then nodding to her friends before turning to the door and cantering out. Despite how absolutely ludicrous everything she had just heard sounded to her, Starlight believed every single word of it. She didn’t know why, really, but for some reason… she felt lighter. Like a weight had been taken off her shoulders.
With a small bounce in her step, Starlight descended the rings of Hollow Shades, making her way to the transportation office, where the chariot that would take her to see her oldest friend awaited her.
The sun had gone almost completely down at this point, what little of its light that remained visible in the darkening skies barely breached the canopy of the forest. Rainbow Dash glanced to her left out the window, her left wing was fully extended and encased in a thick brace, and a bored frown was on her face. The clinic room was simple enough with the standard assortment of typical medical equipment and devices, none of which Rainbow really knew what they did. The only sound right now was that of her own breathing and, if she held her breath and listened, the gentle rustling of the leaves and branches of the forest canopy, muffled into near-inaudibility by the windows and walls.
A knock on her door jarred her from her thoughts and she turned her head to the left to look at it. It clicked and slid open, revealing Doctor Moonflower and Twilight standing on the other side. The doctor gave Twilight a stern look, as if to remind her of some warning, before stepping back to let Twilight enter the room alone. Twilight stepped in, the door sliding closed behind her. For several seconds, she and Rainbow were silent, not quite able to meet the other’s eyes.
“Starlight was here,” Twilight said after several seconds, deciding to just get that particular bit of nastiness out of the way first.
Rainbow went rigid, her ears folding back. She inhaled sharply and screwed her eyes shut, a small tremor working its way into her body.
“She’s gone now, though,” Twilight continued before trotting around the bed and taking a seat on one of the room’s only two chairs. “She took a chariot to another town. I doubt we’re going to be seeing her again.”
Rainbow looked into Twilight’s eyes questioningly. “So… you’re sure she’s really innocent, huh?” she asked quietly. She shied away from Twilight when the unicorn’s eyes narrowed and her expression hardened.
“Very sure, Rainbow Dash.”
Rainbow sagged and let herself lay back on the headboard of the bed. “So… this whole trip was one enormous waste of all of our times, then?”
Twilight’s brow furrowed with mild frustration. “I never said that, Rainbow Dash. Even if this trip turned out going… uh… poorly,” she tried, though Rainbow still visibly winced as if she had been struck. “The reason we came to Manehattan at all was so we could help you.”
“And look at how well that turned out…” Rainbow snorted before letting her eyes close.
“Rainbow Dash, please…” Twilight ventured timidly, although a sharp snort from Rainbow told her the topic was no longer open for discussion. With an exasperated sigh, she leaned back into her chair and stared up at the ceiling. “...Ugh… how’s your wing?”
Rainbow opened her eyes and looked at the extended appendage. “Doc says it’s gonna take a few weeks to heal properly. Bunch of muscles were stretched and pulled in ways they weren’t meant to be or something, a lot of swelling… even when it’s healed I’m gonna have to baby it, apparently. No rigorous flying or exercise for at least a week after it’s healed up.”
Twilight winced slightly, looking down. “I’m sorry, Rainbow… ” she said before putting on a small, hopeful smile. “But maybe we can get you fixed up sooner than that.”
Rainbow raised an eyebrow in curiosity while looking over at Twilight again. “Really? How?”
“Well, the Ponyville clinic, from what I know, happens to have a healing magic expert as part of their staff,” Twilight explained while rolling her hoof. “Maybe we can arrange for Moonflower to let you out of here early. We could stop by Ponyville on the way to Canterlot to get you patched up by the doctor there and you might be able to fly within a few days instead of a few weeks.”
Rainbow gave a small smile and nodded. “Hey, that sounds like a plan. Did you tell her about this idea yet?”
Twilight’s smile faltered and she shook her head. “Not yet, no. I wanted to talk to you, first,” she said regretfully before putting on an encouraging smile. “But hey, it’s an option.”
“And it’s an option I rather like. I hate being grounded like this, and now it’s even worse because now I’m not allowed to leave this bed.” Rainbow grumbled irritably, looking straight ahead and giving her head an exasperated shake.
“It must be rough for you… I know how much you love flying. Losing that, even for a day is enough to drive you up the walls.” Twilight nodded along sympathetically.
“It’s not the worst thing I love that I’ve lost,” Rainbow muttered absently, her hooves curling to grip her sheets tightly.
Twilight’s ears snapped up and she looked at Rainbow curiously. She had been quiet, but Twilight had heard every word. Silence dominated the room for almost a minute before Twilight managed to find her voice. “Wh… what do you mean?” she asked carefully.
Rainbow Dash didn’t answer, her ears going flat.
“Rainbow?”
“Uh… I saw a chariot coming in through the windows earlier. The Lunar Guards showed up, didn’t they?” The pegasus asked abruptly, trying to change the topic. Twilight blinked before slipping out of her chair.
“Don’t change the subject,” she chided gently while coming up to Rainbow’s side. “Rainbow Dash… what did you mean?”
Silence.
“...you know, for a genius, you’re kinda dense…” Rainbow eventually managed to mumble with a half-hearted chuckle. The sound devolved into a withering sigh before she hesitantly lifted her eyes to look into Twilight’s own. Twilight’s ears splayed back when she saw just how… miserable, Rainbow looked. “...Or maybe you’re just overthinking it.”
Twilight blinked before a hoof slowly reached it’s way up to rest on her chest, where her heart rate had suddenly escalated dramatically. Her eyes shifted around sporadically as the realization clicked into place. “Are you… were you talking about me?” she breathed out, her eyes widening.
“Aced it, perfect score, like the A-plus student you’ve always been...” Rainbow grunted before looking down at her hooves again. “...Twilight, I screwed up… I screwed up big time.”
“Rainbow-” Twilight began in an uneven voice, trying to figure out what to say.
“Don’t beat around the bush or lie to me, Twilight. I screwed up. I screwed everything up,” Rainbow snapped, looking up at Twilight with a hint of frustration in her eyes. “I know I did and so do you. Don’t… don’t try to tell me I didn’t,” she looked directly ahead and shuddered. “I messed up by even listening to a word Discord had to say, I messed up by taking you all to Manehattan, I messed up by doubting all of you about Starlight, I messed up when I attacked her… I screwed up when I hit you, the mare who’s been with me from the very start, when you were trying to help me calm down and do the right thing…”
Twilight took a step back and recoiled, the hoof on her chest curling up. “I… Rainbow Dash, I-” she tried, her voice unsteady and weak. She was interrupted, however.
“I. Screwed. Up,” Rainbow reiterated one last time, her shoulders hunching up. “Don’t tell me I didn’t. Just don’t…”
For several moments, there was silence. Twilight’s mind was racing at a million miles a minute, desperately trying and failing to process the enormous bombshell that had just been dropped on her. She licked her suddenly dry lips and found her voice. “You… you did make some mistakes, Rainbow Dash,” she started in a quiet voice, slowly moving forward again. “But I’m still here, aren’t I? You never lost me.”
Rainbow frowned and shook her head dismissively. “I never said I lost you specifically… it’s what I had with you that I tossed in the dumpster,” she muttered quietly, her voice almost inaudible.
“Dash…”
“Just stop, Twilight,” Rainbow hissed through grit teeth, lowering her head even more. Twilight felt her heart sink into the pits of her stomach when she saw a tear slowly rolling down Rainbow’s cheek. “Just stop, okay? Don’t get my hopes up…”
The two were silent, every moment feeling like an eternity for both of them. Rainbow slowly lifted her head, just a little, then pointed at the door with a forehoof while sniffling.
“I think you should go, Twilight… I need… I need to be alone right now,” she said in a strangled whisper.
Twilight opened her mouth to say something, but no words came. She tried again and again to say something, anything, but nothing would come out. Finally, without another word, Twilight hung her head and trudged her way over to the door to step out. She paused very briefly to glance over her shoulder at Rainbow Dash before slipping out into the hall and closing the door behind her.
Rainbow, for all of her best efforts, was not able to suppress the agonized sob that forced itself out of her throat. More tears spilled out of her eyes, which she did nothing to try and wipe away. She let them roll down her cheeks and fall off of her chin to stain the fur on her hooves. “You see…?” she managed to choke out. “If I were wrong about any of what I had said… you wouldn’t have left when I asked you to. You would have stayed and… and tried to prove me wrong.”
With her heart well and truly crushed, Rainbow slowly slid herself fully under the sheets and screwed her eyes shut, silently weeping herself to sleep.
Twilight’s hoof was clutching so tightly to her chest that it was physically painful, and her back was pressed hard against the wall just outside of Rainbow’s room to make sure she didn’t collapse to the floor. Her breath was coming in deep, shaky breaths as she tried to not only contain her emotions but process everything that had just happened. She had started hearing quiet sobs from the other side of the door a few moments after she had stepped out, but those were slowly fading away into complete silence.
With her entire body feeling like it was filled with freezing lead, Twilight slowly dragged herself back towards the lobby where the rest of her friends were waiting. All the while she couldn’t stop thinking about the look in Rainbow’s eyes, the way her words sounded, especially now that Twilight knew why.
When she pulled herself through the door and out into the lobby again, she barely noticed Fluttershy almost instantly latching onto her side to ask her what was wrong. She barely even registered that her friends were gathering around her with looks of confusion and concern. It took a somewhat harsh shake from Applejack to snap her out of her trance.
“Twi, are ya okay?” Applejack asked gently before backing off once she had Twilight’s attention. “Ya look like ya just saw the ghost of a relative or somethin’. What did Rainbow say?”
Twilight gulped heavily, looking down at the floor. “She… I don’t…” she stammered, trying to formulate some kind of response.
“It’s okay, Twilight,” Fluttershy said in a soothing voice, giving Twilight a firm and comforting squeeze. “Take your time. We’re here. Would it help if you were sitting down?”
Twilight nodded and numbly followed Fluttershy’s guidance until she was seated in one of the lobby’s many chairs. She looked at the ceiling for another few moments before she took a deep breath and focused. Finally, with a great deal of effort, she managed to force her wildly screaming mind under control. She took another deep breath to ease the shaking in her body and then looked into the eyes of each of her friends.
With a tear forming in her eye, Twilight opened her mouth to speak.
Silence. Everypony looked at Twilight with unreadable expressions for almost a minute before a small, almost amused, smile appeared on Applejack’s face. “Uh, Twi… we already knew that.”
Twilight blinked and looked at Applejack like she had just grown a second set of forelegs. “Huh?” was all she was able to say with a flummoxed tilt to her eyebrows.
“Are you saying you didn’t?” Rarity asked pointedly, her brow furrowing in disbelief. “Have you not been paying attention?”
“I… what are you talking about?! Pay attention to what? What am I missing here?!” Twilight spluttered out, holding a hoof up to her chest in exasperation.
Fluttershy shrunk back from the volume of Twilight’s voice. “Well, uh, we didn’t know, exactly, but, um, we… suspected that Rainbow felt, uh, like that, about you,” she offered with an anxious grin.
“I mean, duh!” Pinkie added with a deadpan before her eyes lit up. “All the snuggling you two do? The fact Rainbow has never once tried to move out of the Golden Oaks? The playful banter and teasing? What about the fact that you two shared a bed and, according to Fluttershy over here,” Pinkie ruffled the aforementioned mare’s mane with a hoof, earning a dirty scowl from her. “You two looked reeeaaal happy about it.”
Fluttershy blushed slightly but nodded all the same. “Um… yes. I didn’t phrase it like that but, uh, yes. I’m sorry?” she shrugged her shoulders and took a step back.
Twilight looked at them all and then held a hoof up to her forehead to try and help reign in her now very flustered mind. “Okay, okay… so… everypony here knew or at least strongly suspected that Rainbow had feelings for me… except me.”
“Looks like it. If ah’m bein’ honest, we all thought it was a mutual thing,” Applejack added with a small smile before her face morphed into a more serious look. “Now, that’s all well and good, Twi… but Ah’m guessin’ yer chat didn’t go so well for ya to come stumblin’ back as pale and shooken up as you were…”
“I have to agree with Applejack,” Rarity sighed, her own mood falling along with everypony else’s. “For somepony who just realized that somepony loves her, you were awful… distraught. I would have been hopping and skipping down the corridor singing happily.”
Twilight gulped, her ears going flat. She had been about to go into how Rainbow Dash had asked her to leave with that horribly guilty look in her eyes. She had locked up when she told the others about Rainbow’s apparent feelings. “Well, uh… she… asked me to go,” she finally managed to force out, wincing as she did so.
“WHAT?!” Rarity shrieked, grabbing Twilight by the shoulders and shaking her harshly. “AND YOU DID?!”
Twilight tried to free herself from Rarity’s hold, but she was having no luck. “Ack! Rarity, put me down!” she snapped between startled wails, although the pearly unicorn ignored her demands.
“This won’t do!” Rarity seethed while putting Twilight’s head in a lock and dragging her back towards the door. “You simply have to go back and-”
“RARITY!” Twilight shouted before managing to free herself with a strong tug. She backpedaled away from Rarity and leveled an irritated glare at her. “For one thing, she’s asleep! Rainbow Dash needs her rest! And secondly…” Twilight clenched her teeth before taking a long, deep breath to calm herself. “...She doesn’t want to see me right now, and… I… I don’t know if I feel the same way about her.”
Everypony went quiet, with Applejack and Fluttershy each shooting Rarity their own looks of disapproval. The mare in question blushed slightly and lowered her head. “R-right… I’m sorry, darling, I just… I assumed…”
The silence began to fall over the room again. It was Pinkie who, thankfully, broke said silence by clearing her throat. “Speaking of sleep, we should head on over to the local inn. They’ve got nice comfy beds and some kind of cider made from Lunaberries.” she put forth with a hopeful grin.
“Lunaberries?” Applejack asked with a tilt of her head. “Can’t say ah’ve ever heard of those.”
“Lunaberries are a type of berry that only grow under the moonlight. Hollow Shades is one of the only places in all of Equestria where they can actually be harvested,” Twilight explained with that scholarly tint in her eyes again.
“I think the inn sounds divine. Shall we?” Rarity acknowledged her approval with a nod of her head towards the door.
“Yeah… probably a good idea. We can run my idea for moving Rainbow to Ponyville by the doctor in the morning,” Twilight nodded, beginning to realize just how tired she had gotten.
“Woohoo! Let’s go drink some drinks!” Pinkie proclaimed, trying her best to raise everypony’s spirits with some of her usual energy. The group began to talk amongst themselves while trotting out, though Twilight was the last to exit. She paused in the threshold of the door and, with a look of confusion and regret, glanced at the door that led deeper into the clinic.
“...I’m so sorry, Rainbow,” she whispered to herself before stepping out of the room and letting the door swing shut behind her.
“I’m sorry I didn’t know.”
“It’s still not enough…” Queen Chrysalis fumed under her breath while glaring impatiently into a green pod made of solidified Changeling mucus that was full-to-bursting with pink magical energy. “It’s close, but not enough…”
“With all due respect, my queen,” Pharynx began from a little ways back. “You don’t need to be her equal in terms of power. With as many of the royal guards replaced as there are, there is no way she’d be able to tell friend from foe. She’d be confused and vulnerable to attack.”
Chrysalis shot him a narrow-eyed look, turning slightly. Pharynx quickly bowed low under her forceful gaze, mentally scolding himself for speaking out of line. Still, Chrysalis gave a thoughtful hum. “...You are not wrong about the number of guards you have replaced and the ability we will have to subdue her underlings rather quickly… but this is the mare wholly responsible for raising and lowering the sun! A task that, if our research is anything to go off of, was only capable of being done by a select few unicorns who had to pool their power together to maintain the cycle before she came along. For one mare to be capable of maintaining such a cycle on her own for over a thousand years on its own is worthy of demanding every precaution, every failsafe.
“Further is her life-span. Princess Celestia has existed for well over a thousand years and, for much of that time, has been the one and only ruling monarch of Equestria. For any creature, pony or not, to hold such a long-lived reign is also worth every precaution and failsafe. Our solar princess here has both of these qualities under her wings, which means there can be no expense in our preparations!” Chrysalis finished her explanation before looking back into the pod and humming thoughtfully.
Pharynx slowly lifted his head, tentatively examining his queen’s posture. “I see your point, your majesty… forgive me. We’re just so hungry, here… I got impatient.”
Chrysalis looked back at him with an almost sympathetic smile. Almost. “I understand your hunger, Pharynx. So far away from the hive for so long… you have all done exceptionally well to contain yourselves. Although,” her eyes narrowed somewhat. “I suppose there is one exception to that rule, isn’t there?”
Pharynx swallowed heavily and lowered his eyes back to the stone floor of the cavern. “You are referring to Thorax, my queen?” he asked uneasily.
Chrysalis chuckled in bitter amusement while casually sauntering away from the pod and past Pharynx. “That little brother of yours is quite the conundrum, Pharynx. A drone who hatched with the strongest case of a pacifism defect I have ever seen in my life, yet one who is not only able to fabricate his own disguises out of nothing but perfectly mimic the creatures he is to replace… Were his potential not so vast, he would have been drained and thrown into the sands a long time ago.”
“He is making progress, your majesty,” Pharynx tried hopefully, doing his best to quell the rising unease he was feeling and the poorly timed shivers. “He recently was able to replace a pony without arousing any suspicion and is currently posing as him right now. The pony he replaced also happens to have a very loving little sister he lives with, which means Thorax is bringing in a not insubstantial amount of food.”
“So I have heard… maybe holding him in the hive for so long was a mistake,” Chrysalis mused, walking in slow, threatening circles around Pharynx. “Being out in the field might have forced him to quell that insufferable passiveness he displayed so frequently when he grew.”
Pharynx opted to not say anything as his queen stopped moving, standing directly in front of him. He kept his eyes glued to the cave floor.
“But infiltration and replacing a pony is one thing; if we are to truly get a worthwhile harvest from these creatures, we will have to subdue the lot of them. I do hope your younger brood-mate is up to the challenge of a battle, my ever-loyal Pharynx,” Chrysalis’ words took on an almost mocking edge. “I would hate for such potential to be wasted… do keep him in line, won’t you?” she lightly touched one of her hooves to the top of Pharynx’s head, making his entire body go rigid on reflex.
“O-of course, your majesty. Thorax is making good progress, as I said. With what’s coming I have no doubts that he will adapt to reality very quickly.” he managed to keep his voice steady, save for a small break of unease at the beginning of his first sentence.
“Good. Because if he falls short, it will be your responsibility to dispose of him,” Chrysalis said with a small snarl in the back of her throat. Her hoof ground a little into the back of Pharynx’s head, pinning him down.
“My queen?” he asked with a slight gasp of discomfort, though he did not dare budge an inch.
“If Thorax turns out to be a failure, I need to make sure that you don’t share his defect,” Chrysalis said almost as if she were bored, leaning down so her words went directly into Pharynx’s ear. “The rest of your brood mates have proven their unflinching loyalty to their rightful queen, and you have proven a similar loyalty. Although, I can’t help but remember a time when you were still but a tiny nymph, able to fit in the holes of my hooves, that you went out of your way to protect him… when he was nothing more than a sniveling, pathetic and cowering whelp who would rather play with dolls made of sticks and stones then stand tall with the rest of the hive.”
“H-he is my brother,” Pharynx began with a tremor clearly evident in his voice now. “A-and I could s-see his potential back then just as much as now! I saved him only when he needed the help!”
Chrysalis hummed in thought before slowly withdrawing from Pharynx. “I do recall that you were harsh on him even as you helped him…” a sadistic cackle sound emitted from deep in her throat. “And he has mastered his disguises very well since then. I do hope you understand my desire to be… cautious, however,” her eyes shimmered slightly brighter in the darkness. “After all… such protective instincts are not… common.” she flashed Pharynx a toothy grin before turning and trotting away.
Pharynx wisely did not rise from his bow until long after Chrysalis was gone.
Moonflower Balm rubbed her chin in thought while studying the base of Rainbow’s wounded wing, still encased in it’s cast, with a critical eye. It was morning now, the sun having just started to peak out from the horizon. The local weather teams were preparing some rainy weather for a little later, so what sunlight was slipping into the secluded town wouldn’t last very long. In the clinic room with Rainbow and Moonflower were the rest of the group, standing back a little while the doctor made her assessment. Of course, there was a… notable absence.
Twilight was not in the room with the rest of them. Upon arriving not long ago, Fluttershy had stated that she had decided to stay behind with the lunar guards Luna had sent, to be ready to go in the event that Rainbow was cleared for transport.
Disappointing, but unsurprising from where Rainbow Dash was looking.
“So, uh… is it safe to move me to Ponyville?” She finally broke the silence with a glimmer of hope in her eyes, glancing over her shoulder to look at her wounded wing.
“Hmm…” Moonflower examined the cast for several long moments before giving a slow nod. “Oh, I suppose. You’ll need to make extra sure that your transport is as smooth and bumpless as possible, though. The muscles are not ready to be jostled, not by a long shot. But if you have confidence in your guards to take you there without incident then I see no reason to stop you.”
Rainbow seemed to visibly relax a little bit. “Oh, thank goodness. No offense or anything, but I bet it’ll help me heal if I’m somewhere familiar, so the ponyville clinic is probably better for me on those grounds anyway.”
“You also live there,” Moonflower pointed out with a flat look before setting about disconnecting Rainbow from the monitoring devices she had been hooked up to. “So it would make sense that the clinic in the town where Princess Rainbow Dash lives is properly equipped to help it’s highest-profile resident.
“I mean…” Rainbow shrugged slightly. “You’re not wrong.” she gave a sheepish smile and then held still while Moonflower unplugged the last device.
“I know I’m not,” Moonflower said with an amused glint in her eye. Her face turned a touch more serious, though, when she shifted to look over her shoulder at the rest of the gathered ponies in the room. “If the rest of you would head out to the lobby and wait there while I finish up with Rainbow, we can get a move on much faster.”
There were no objections, although Pinkie and Fluttershy were visibly hesitant in leaving, the latter pausing in the doorframe to glance at Rainbow Dash with worrying eyes before following the others out.
Once the door was closed, Moonflower visibly sagged with a small sigh. “I know it’s none of my business, but do you mind if I ask you why I found your pillow absolutely drenched in tear stains when I woke you up this morning?” She asked gently while trotting over to counter in the back of the room. There was a sink and faucet along with some space for writing or sorting materials.
Rainbow went rigid and looked down. “...I do mind, actually. No offense, again, but… it’s not something I want to talk about,” she said in a tense voice.
Moonflower frowned to herself while she procured a clipboard with some paper on it. “I’m sorry. Seeing it just Reminded me of somepony close to me. Instinct demanded I at least ask,” she said simply.
Rainbow glanced up at Moonflower curiously. “Huh?”
“My youngest daughter, Wind Whisper… I haven’t seen her in almost a year, now, not since she went with her big brother to Canterlot. But while she was still at home with the rest of us she had… anxiety issues. There were times where I’d find her pillowcases absolutely drenched in the mornings after she ran off to school for the day,” moonflower shook her head with a small sigh before taking a pen attached to the clipboard in her mouth and writing some things down on the paper.
“Oh… uh… sorry, then,” Rainbow said meekly, looking back down at the sheets.
“It’s fine,” Moonflower dismissed before turning around and looking the clipboard in her hooves over one last time. Convinced that all was in order she tucked it under her leathery wing and trotted up to Rainbow’s side. “Now come on, it’s time to check you out of here.”
The two lunar guards, one a thestral, the other a pegasus, were… stunningly upbeat when Twilight mentally compared them to their solar counterparts. They were chatty, energetic and even friendly. They were also rather young, Twilight noticed. Of course, thinking back on it, it made a degree of sense. The lunar guard had, as far as she knew, only recently been reformed, and the ranks were slow to fill up.
Right now they were standing near the center of town, running some basic checks on their chariot to make sure it would be stable and a smooth ride if they were to leave. The two talked happily amongst themselves as they worked.
“Twilight!” a soft voice called, drawing Twilight’s attention towards the speaker. Fluttershy came swooping in from one of the higher levels and came to a gentle landing with a big smile on her face. “We’re all clear. Rainbow is checking out of the clinic right now.”
Twilight shared the smile on her friend’s face, although it was clearly smaller. “That’s great!” she turned to the two guards. “We’re good! Is that thing ready?”
“Just about,” The Thestral called back while tinkering with something on the underbelly of the chariot. “This thing is givin’ me a headache an’ a half!”
“What are you even doing down there?” Twilight asked with curiosity, trotting over to take a look.
There was a loud clang and click, loud enough to make Twilight jump back in alarm. The thestral scooted out, his already darkly colored face smeared with some kind of black grease. “Fixin’ the chariot. What did ya think I was doin?”
Twilight blinked and shrugged. “Uh… I don’t know. That’s what I asked.”
“I was fixin’ the chariot,” The Thestral gave a toothy grin before standing back up and rubbing a hoof over his face. He gagged at the sight of the grease staining his hoof. “Pluegh! Gross! Glider, you got a towel or somethin’?”
“Nope,” The pegasus replied with a small smirk. “You just get to look like the boogie-pony til we get to Ponyville.”
“Oh, my worst fear!” The thestral wailed in an overly dramatic fashion before casually sauntering over and rubbing his hoof on the pegasus’ shoulder.
“YOU SNOT!” he cried out in revulsion, smacking his companion away before glaring at the newly formed spot of stain and stink on his coat. “...thanks.”
“You’re very welcome,” the thestral laughed. His buddy tried to maintain his look of aggravation but soon joined in on the chuckles. Twilight and Fluttershy lightly giggled along with them, enjoying the entertaining display of banter.
“Looks like you are all having fun,” a new voice chimed in, high in pitch and energy. Pinkie Pie appeared by Twilight’s side, having seemingly just come out of nowhere. “You planning on sharing?”
“WAH!” Twilight yelped, jumping away from Pinkie in surprise. “Gah! Don’t do that!”
“Do what? Talk?” Pinkie asked with a teasing grin before looking at the lunar guards. “Oh, you two look dirty.”
“Pinkie Pie! Tact!” Rarity scolded as she came up as well, Spike scampering along next to her with Applejack and Rainbow Dash following closely behind.
“But I don’t wanna!” Pinkie wined before looking past her at Applejack and Rainbow Dash. Her smile faltered somewhat when she noticed that Rainbow’s eyes were locked firmly on her hooves.
Twilight gulped and slowly backed out of Rainbow’s forward line of sight, letting the two lunar guards step forward to address their princess. “Princess Rainbow Dash,” The pegasus greeted with a respectful nod of his head. “We are ready to depart whenever you are. Just say the word.”
Rainbow glanced up at the two with tired eyes, then nodded. “Well, we aren’t making any progress just standing here. Let’s get a move on, eh?”
“Yes, you’re highness!” The thestral gave a bow before turning to hook himself up to the chariot alongside the pegasus.
“What are your names?” Rainbow asked while climbing into the back of the chariot. The rest of her friends were not far behind her.
“I’m Scythe Glider,” the pegasus gave a sharp nod and friendly smile. “But just Glider is fine.”
“And I’m Stark Jumper,” the thestral followed his comrade’s example with the nod. “A pleasure to be of service.”
Rainbow nodded slowly before taking a quick headcount of the ponies and one dragon in the chariot with her. Fluttershy, Spike, Applejack, Rarity and Pinkie Pie were all seated with her in the back. It was a little cramped, but there was still room for one or two more.
So why was Twilight standing just at the edge of the chariot’s step, looking at something else entirely? “C’mon, sugarcube,” Applejack called to her gently while holding out a hoof. “It’s time for us to go home.”
Twilight took a deep breath and nodded. “R-right… sorry.”
She took Applejack’s hoof and was hoisted into the chariot before sitting down next to Fluttershy. Rainbow’s ears drooped just a little before she looked back to Stark and Glider. “Okay boys, let’s go.”
“Yes, ma’am!” the two said in unison before snapping out their wings and breaking into a brisk gallop. For a few seconds, the carriage was pulled along the road before, with a great upward tilt, the carriage was lifted high into the sky. Hollow Shades vanished from view behind it, obscured by the forest surrounding it. Rainbow Dash carefully turned herself around until she was resting her forehooves on the edges of the carriage, looking down onto the world passing by beneath her.
Princess Celestia looked down at the newspaper in her hooves with scrutiny and exhaustion. More rumors had sprung up about Rainbow Dash and the mystery mare on the train she had attacked and, as far as the public in Canterlot was concerned, both were still missing. The journalists had made some progress, discovering that neither Rainbow, Twilight or any of their friends were in Ponyville. Of course, Celestia knew why they were gone, but that did little more than make her discomfort worse.
What was worse was that she had been having trouble sleeping these last few nights, and it was getting worse. Beyond the almost offensive rumors, wild accusations and conclusion jumping that she was desperately trying to keep under control, there was something else… something she couldn’t quite place. It made her skin crawl whenever she took a moment to be alone to think. It was as if she were afraid the shadows themselves would take shape and attack her. Luna seemed to be in similar straights, citing that she felt as though she were being watched at all times.
Now both of them were seated in Princess Celestia’s personal study, examining the latest round of rumors, speculations, and theories in regards to the disappearance of Rainbow Dash, her alleged assault and, most bothersome, the other princesses continued silence on the matter.
Celestia sighed and let the paper drop to the floor. “What am I supposed to tell them?” she asked heavily, turning and dropping onto her haunches on one of the cushions in front of the room’s massive and ornate fireplace. “I always hate lying to my little ponies, but Rainbow Dash is my daughter… if I tell the truth about what happened, how well will that go over with them?”
Luna sighed solemnly while trotting up to Celestia’s side. “The best thing to do that I can suggest is to ensure that it never happens again, and let me break the news when the time comes.”
Celestia blinked and looked at Luna curiously. “I don’t mean to be rude, Lulu, but why you instead of me? She ismy daughter.”
“Yes,” Luna nodded along with a small frown. “She is your daughter, and she is my niece. It has less to do with who is closer to her and more… who is more familiar with what she is going through.”
Celestia’s brow furrowed in thought. “You… did mention that she’s been…”
“There is no easy or gentle way to put it, sister. Rainbow Dash… right now, she hates herself,” Luna said in a soft voice, though the words still felt like a stab in the heart for the princess of the sun. “She regrets what happened immensely, and the pain of the guilt in combination with her soured relationship with her friends and Twilight is… it’s hurting her.”
Celestia’s eyes narrowed a little with thought, but she otherwise opted to remain silent.
“I know how she feels, though… because even now I still struggle with looking at myself in a mirror,” Luna continued while closing her eyes. “I still see far, far too much of the monster I let myself become every time I do. I am reminded of the horrors I committed back then and when I came back from the moon. So if anypony can speak in a way, from a position, that can ensure the ponies withhold their worst judgments and retain their empathy and compassion,” Luna opened her eyes with a sort of fiery spark in them that Celestia had yet to see in her since her return. “It is going to have to be me.”
Celestia gave a slow nod before extending a wing and draping it over Luna’s back. “Very well, little sister. Once we’ve spoken with her, the task of speaking with the public shall fall to you.”
Luna smiled softly and nuzzled into her big sister’s neck affectionately. She would not lie and say that she didn’t have her doubts, or say she wasn’t afraid that her words would be insufficient in swaying the thoughts of the public, but she owed it to Rainbow Dash to at least try and save the respect she had earned for herself.
Rainbow had already done so much for her, after all. Sooner or later Luna would have to repay that debt.
It was getting on to the evening when, at last, the Chariot pulled in to Ponyville. Glider and Stark brought it in for a mostly smooth landing just in front of the Ponyville Clinic, the wheels kicking up some dirt in their wake. Rainbow had been silent for the entire trip, despite some of the idle chatter of everypony else. Now, with the ride over, she lifted her eyes to look at the clinic. She had been here maybe two other times to date: Once to make sure the lightning bolt she had taken from Nightmare Moon wouldn’t leave any lasting damage after the Summer Sun Celebration, and once for a regular checkup.
“We’re here, Rainbow,” Stark said while looking over his shoulder at her. “We’re to remain in Ponyville until you’re cleared to leave the clinic. After that, we’re supposed to take you on up to Canterlot.”
“I figured,” Rainbow said tiredly before hopping over the edge of the carriage. She landed on the dirt path with a slight wobble before grimacing at the building before her. “...I don’t think the rest of you need to come with me. Go on and head home, girls… I’m sure your friends and family would like to know you’re home safe.”
Without waiting for a response, Rainbow trotted forwards and vanished into the clinic. Fluttershy almost instantly went to go after her, though Applejack quickly reached out and stopped her. “Let her be, for now, Fluttershy,” she said solemnly. “Ah think she’s got a point. We could all use a little bit to ourselves. It’s been… a crazy few days.”
Spike wrung his claws together by Twilight’s side as they all piled on out of the chariot. “She’s gonna be okay, right?” he asked anxiously, watching her silhouette talking to somepony through the glass door of the clinic.
“She’ll be fine, Spike,” Twilight assured him with a comforting pat on the back of his head. “She’s tougher than that mane makes her look.”
Spike shot Twilight a deadpan frown. “Are you sure about that?”
Twilight didn’t answer. Her ears slowly drooped and she took a few steps back. “...Rainbow’s right, Applejack. We should get back to our homes… Come on, Spike,” she said before grabbing Spike in her magic and depositing him on her back. Then, without another word, she turned around and began to trot for The Golden Oaks Library.
“...You didn’t answer my question, Twi.”
“I know I didn’t.”
Spike sighed softly and tried to make himself comfortable on Twilight’s back. “...What’s gonna happen now?”
“...I don’t know. Right now, Rainbow needs to focus on getting herself healed up. Then…”
“That’s not what I mean, Twilight,” Spike sat up and frowned into the back of Twilight’s head. “I mean, what happens now between you and her?”
Twilight’s body visibly tensed at that question. She slowed slightly, letting the familiar ambiance of Ponyville wash over her. The birds singing, the sounds of ponies chatting in the marketplace a little ways away, the way the wind lightly rustled the branches of trees and bushes alike. She took it all in for a minute before she opened her mouth to speak. “I don’t know.”
Spike, disappointed with her answer but knowing she could give no others right now, nestled down into her back while she continued on her way.
To the side of the path, concealed by some foliage, an unassuming pegasus mare watched them trot by, a small bead of sweat dripping down her neck. “Oh, no… they’re back… her majesty will not like this…” she whispered before turning and galloping away.
The Golden Oaks Library…
They had been gone for only a week or two, and yet it felt like months since she had taken in the view of the large central room. The bust of a horses head carved out of beautiful yellow wood still stood in the center of the room, the books were all exactly as they had left them. Everything was exactly as she had left it.
As they had left it.
Spike slid off of Twilight’s back and looked around the room, looking almost like he was lost. “...It feels different,” he observed, his shoulder sagging.
“Yeah… it does, doesn’t it?” Twilight mused, scanning the books on the shelves that were carved into the walls while slowly trotting around the circumference of the room. “...But it’s exactly the same.”
Spike watched Twilight quietly for several long moments. He squared his shoulders and set his jaw before heading up the stairs to the loft and bedroom. Twilight glanced his way as he went but otherwise didn’t react. She eventually came to the adventure fiction section and, lo and behold, the Daring Do books were all there. A fond smile slowly appeared on her face as she thought about that series and how much she loved it. She remembered, also, how much Dash enjoyed it, and how the two of them had spent hours upon hours just chatting about the intricacies of the series while they were growing up.
She looked each one over for a moment before, with a heavy, relieved sigh, she flopped into her favorite chair and melted into the cushion. She let her eyes drift closed and took in a long, deep breath through her nostrils before letting it out through her mouth. She could pass out right here…
Something tapped against her hoof, making her crack open an eye. Spike was standing there, clutching something tightly in his claws over his chest. Twilight shifted slightly and opened her eyes the rest of the way to see what it was.
It was a photo album. The cover was facing Spike, who slowly turned it around and presented it to Twilight with a solemn, serious frown. “Look at this,” he said simply.
Twilight, curious, plucked the book from Spike’s claws and flipped it open to the first page. Her eyes immediately widened when the first photo she saw was a copy of the group photo depicting her with all of her friends huddled together, smiling happily in a group shot. Rainbow Dash and Twilight were front and center with Rainbow on the left and Twilight on the right. Their forelegs draped over each other’s shoulders and they wore a pair of happy smiles. Fluttershy was nestled down on her belly right in front of them, a far more reserved smile on display. Rarity sat to Twilight and Rainbow’s left, an almost flirty smile on her face. Pinkie Pie was standing on her hind legs behind the group, waving ecstatically at the camera with her trademarked enormous grin. On the other side was Applejack, sitting comfortably on her haunches with a smile of her own while winking cheerfully.
“This…” Twilight whispered, touching a hoof to the photo.
“Was the day we moved into Ponyville,” Spike finished for her while climbing up onto the sidearms of the chair. “You had me take this picture, remember?”
“Uh… yeah?” Twilight nodded slowly before looking up at Spike. “But why are you showing me this?”
Spike held up a red pen in his claws, one which Twilight had not noticed him carrying. “Because, Twilight,” he then reached down and swiftly drew a big ‘x’ over Rainbow Dash’s face, crossing her out.
“Spike?!”
“I don’t want that to happen.”
Twilight blinked, her ears drooping. “I… Spike, I-”
“Twilight,” Spike cut her off before reaching over and turning the page. “I don’t really do it as often as I should, but I do take pictures of some of the things we get up to. That’s what this album is for,” he said before pointing to the next page. “And they’re all in here… and I want you to look through them. All of them.”
Twilight blinked and looked over the photo album before her with shaking hooves. She didn’t say anything and began to look at each of the photos, one by one. With each one she looked at, her ears fell further and her eyes became harder and harder to keep dry.
“My queen!” Stinger’s voice urgently calling out broke the Changeling Queen out of her ruminations, causing her to look away from the pod housing all of the gathered love of the captured ponies.
“What is it, Stinger?” she asked sharply, not fond of the interruption of her contemplation.
“We’ve just been contacted by one of our scouts in Ponyville!” Stinger slid to a stop, having been mid-gallop when she had called out. She dropped into a deep, deep bow. “Princess Rainbow Dash has returned!”
Chrysalis’ brow furrowed and her teeth became visible as her lips peeled back in a disapproving snarl. “Our window of opportunity is almost gone. What is the Princess’ status?” she demanded, already impatient.
“She’s wounded, your majesty,” Stinger answered, lifting her head somewhat. “If what the scout reported is true, it will be at least two days before she is ready to leave their local clinic.”
Chrysalis hummed in thought before glancing back at the reservoir pod. “I see…”
Pharynx, who had been standing off to one side with Trachea, cleared his throat. “What would you have us do, my queen? We can not afford to wait any longer.”
Chrysalis’ wings twitched on her back before a sound, almost inaudible, came from her. It soon grew in volume, swelling into an eager, malevolent laugh that sent a chill down the spines of every single changeling that could hear it. Her pupils dilated with hunger and her long, forked tongue licked her lips in greedy anticipation. “We have waited long enough. The time to feed has come! Pharynx!” she turned her glowing green eyes on the purple-eyed drone. “Assemble your warriors; all of them. Brief them on the layout of Canterlot and begin organizing them to strike where it will disorient our prey the most!”
Pharynx threw a salute before turning and galloping swiftly out of the cavern. Chrysalis turned to Stinger. “Stinger, you are to send out all of your infiltrators. Ensure that they are in the city and ready for when the moment comes!”
Stinger rose to her hooves, saluted and also broke into a gallop out of the chamber. Chrysalis turned to Trachea. “You are to remain in these caverns, Trachea. A skeleton force shall be left in our wake to ensure that the pods are well protected. You are to be in charge of this force, understood?”
Trachea gave a low bow. “By your will, it shall be done, my queen.”
Chrysalis grinned widely before lifting into the air on her wings and flying out into the large chamber where all of their prisoners were held. She saw the swarm beginning to mobilize as Pharynx and Stinger shouted out orders left and right. She lifted into the air high over their heads, drawing their attention. The entire chamber fell silent and still.
Chrysalis let her grin devolve into a smug smile. “My drones, your patience shall soon be rewarded! The time to feed is almost upon us! When the sun rises tomorrow, our plans shall move forward, and the largest harvest our species has ever had the pleasure to reap shall be ours!” she set her hooves down on the same platform she had stood on when they first came to these subterranean caves.
“For so long have you waited under this mountain of cold stone and lifeless crystal. For so long have you all been forced to wait and watch your prey strut about over your heads with their noses held high! These ponies are weak, they are foolish, and they will never be a match for the wrath of the swarm! They are a species of love and friendship, a peace-loving people so enamored with compassion that they shall bring us more power than we could ever imagine!” She lifted one of her forehooves high into the air, her grin returning with sadistic glee burning in her eyes. “For so long you have starved… tomorrow, we lay claim to our harvest! Tomorrow, we feed!”
The chamber erupted into buzzings and cheers, the entire army of Changelings before her eager to begin.
The sun had set, the moon had risen and the residents of Ponyville were steadily beginning to retire to their homes to turn in for the night and get some much needed rest. Lights were flicking off one by one, slowly plunging the little village into darkness and silence. But the lights in the Golden Oaks Library hadn’t even dimmed.
Twilight sniffled slightly as she turned to yet another page in the photo album. She had been doing as Spike had asked, and he had stayed with her the entire time to make sure she did. Although he was starting to look a little guilty, as over the last hour or two, Twilight’s composure had gradually faded more and more. Finally, Twilight came to the last page that Spike had managed to get to with his photos, and her breath hitched in her throat.
It was a picture of the massive party they had thrown in Ponyville not even three weeks ago to celebrate the defeat of Discord. A small smile appeared on Twilight’s muzzle when she noted that she and Rainbow were locked in a furious hoof-wrestle in the shot, glaring with a sort of friendly competitiveness in their eyes. Rainbow’s face was a little flushed from the cider she had been imbibing in that night, and Twilight couldn’t help a small snort of amusement as she thought back on that night. It had been one of Pinkie’s best to date.
Her smile slowly faded, however, and with another heavy, shaking breath, she quickly flipped back to the first page, where the group photo stared back at her. The red x over Rainbow’s head stood out like an open wound.
“Oh my gosh…” Twilight choked out, a hoof flying up to her muzzle as tears began to form in her eyes. “...Spike… what have I done?”
Spike reached out a claw and touched it to Twilight’s shoulder in an effort to comfort her. “Nothing, yet… and that’s the problem.”
Twilight’s eyes screwed shut and her entire body shook from a sob that she couldn’t keep contained. She felt Spike’s grip tighten on her shoulder. “What… what do I do, Spike?”
“Go to her,” Spike suggested with a reassuring smile. Twilight opened her eyes and looked up at him questioningly. “Well, just as soon as you’ve cleaned yourself up, anyway. No offense, but puffy eyes and tear stains do not look good on you. Your mane is all kinds of messed up, too.”
Twilight managed a weak snicker at that before lightly smacking Spike’s claw off of her shoulder. “Hush, you!” she said before looking back down at the album and sighing. Her smile faded away. “...I’ll go to her tomorrow, okay? We could all use some rest.”
Spike frowned and crossed his claws over his chest. “You’re procrastinating,” he pointed out bluntly.
“I’m not, really!” Twilight defended herself while sliding out of the chair. “I just… I need to figure out what I’m going to say to her, not to mention how I feel about all of this. I promise, Spike, I will go to her tomorrow, first thing in the morning.”
Spike didn’t look convinced. “You also promised me you’d get rid of your Smarty Pants doll five years ago. Guess what I found hiding under your bed while I was looking for my album?”
Twilight blushed a little. “Sh-shut up,” she said while looking away. Her blush faded away as she focused her attention where it was needed. “Look… this is Rainbow Dash we’re talking about. She’s my best friend, and… she sees me as more than that, okay? This isn’t something I’m going to take lightly. Tomorrow morning. I promise.”
Spike slumped somewhat and dropped his arms to his sides. “I’ll hold you to that, Twilight. I grew up with you two… it hurts, seeing you two so… distant.”
Twilight’s ears drooped. “Yeah… it hurts being distant,” she muttered before a large yawn escaped her. “Oi… I think it’s time for sleep. C’mon.”
Spike hopped from the arm of the chair onto Twilight’s back with one motion. That done, Twilight ascended the stairs to her room.
Stars. All around her, for miles and miles, all Twilight could see were countless hundreds of thousands of tiny stars, ever so slowly drifting around each other in a mesmerizing slow-dance. Wisps and tendrils of pale blue light weaved through the expanse, creating solid surfaces upon which her hooves rested. “Wha… what is this place?” she asked out loud, taken aback than by how her voice echoed and reverberated all around her. “Where am I?”
“You stand in the Dream Realm, Twilight Sparkle,” a voice spoke gently from over Twilight’s head. Looking up, the unicorn spied a full moon turning into existence in the sky high above her. It shown with a brilliant, almost blinding light before slowly fading back to normal levels of illumination. In place of that bright glow, a dark blue alicorn with an aetherial mane and tale lowered down until she stood face-to-face with Twilight, her hooves lightly touching down on the glowing platform. “It has been a long time since we last met, Twilight Sparkle.”
“Princess Luna?” Twilight mouthed like a fish, trying to wrap her mind around what she was seeing. “Wha…?” After a moment, she regained her faculties enough to drop into a low, low bow.
“Rise, Twilight Sparkle,” Luna’s voice carried a slight edge to it that made Twilight stand upright without question. “Do you know why I am contacting you?” she asked, her eyes narrowed sternly.
“I… no, I don’t,” Twilight admitted hesitantly, shrinking back from the lunar princess’s harsh gaze. “...Well… I have an idea, actually…”
“Enlighten me.”
“...Rainbow Dash?” Twilight guessed solemnly.
Luna nodded slowly. “You guess correctly. Twilight Sparkle, have you any idea what my niece is going through right now?” she asked, no small amount of bitterness lining her words.
Twilight lowered her head and screwed her eyes shut. “I don’t need to be reminded, your highness. I know it’s my fault and I have every intention of going to her in the morning.”
Luna lifted her head a little higher, looking down on Twilight with scrutiny. “In the morning? You intend to put it off for so long?”
“We need the rest, Princess,” Twilight tried to explain, though she didn’t dare lift her head. “And… I have to figure out what I’m going to say to her. I need to figure out how I feel about this.”
“No.”
Twilight blinked. “...Huh?”
Luna’s eyes narrowed. “For every moment you waste trying to sort out complicated emotions that you have no experience with, my niece is suffering from nightmares and guilt the likes of which I had hoped to never see again. She has suffered far too much already and it is time that those pains come to an end.”
“What are you-”
Luna stamped a hoof down onto the glowing platform beneath her. The world shuddered and a thunderous crack echoed all throughout the abstract environment. One of the stars came racing out of the distance until it hovered just in front of Princess Luna. Within the small sphere of light, Twilight could see Rainbow Dash… crying. With her frown never wavering, Luna’s horn lit up with a blinding light. Twilight shielded her eyes as well as she could with a foreleg before the light faded as quickly as it had come. She peeked out from behind her leg, squinting slightly. Her eyes then widened and her jaw dropped.
“Rainbow Dash?!”
Rainbow Dash was sitting directly in front of her in a cold, empty cavern. The Pegasus, who was facing away from Twilight, went rigid. “No… please don’t,” she whispered between chattering teeth. She was freezing…
Twilight looked around, examining her environment. She stood inside of a small and empty cave, with a blizzard raging just outside of the entrance not far away.
“Just leave me alone…” Rainbow said shakily, not bothering to turn around. “Forget you ever saw me… please.”
“What are you going to do, Twilight Sparkle?” The voice of Princess Luna whispered into Twilight’s ear. “Are you going to let her be buried in the snows of her own guilt? Are you going to let her freeze with self-doubt? Or are you going to help her? Are you going to be there for her when she needs you most?”
For a moment, Twilight stood still, unable to form words. Rainbow glanced over her shoulder at Twilight, revealing lines running down her cheeks where the fur had been frozen. “Leave me, Twilight… you’re better off without me.” she seethed out through clenched teeth.
“You… you can’t be serious…” Twilight choked out, taking a step forward. “How… how can you say that?!”
“Because it’s true!” Rainbow snapped back at her, standing up and flaring out her wings. “What I did is unforgivable! I’m dangerous and I am not going to let myself hurt you again!”
“Rainbow Dash-”
“How can you look at me and not be angry with me?!” Rainbow demanded, a hoof flying up to her chest with tears streaming down her cheeks. “How can you stand to be around me?!” she looked down and drove her hoof into the stone floor of the cavern.
“Because, Rainbow, I-”
“YOU SHOULD HATE ME!” Rainbow Dash screamed, screwing her eyes shut. “I WENT AGAINST EVERYTHING I’M SUPPOSED TO BE! I was selfish, not loyal! I hurt you instead of protecting you! I dragged all of you down with me when it was my problem!”
“STOP IT!” Twilight cried out, lunging forward and yanking Rainbow Dash into the tightest hug she could. “Just stop it, right now! You hear me? Stop it!”
Rainbow squirmed, trying to pull herself out of Twilight’s embrace. “Let me go, Twilight!” she shouted, though her words were rapidly losing their strength.
“It’s okay, Rainbow, It’s okay,” Twilight began saying, keeping Rainbow close and starting to slowly rock back and forth. “I got you… it’s okay.”
Rainbow’s struggles swiftly vanished into nothing but uncontrollable shakes. “...How can you say that?” she whimpered, burying her face into Twilight’s shoulder. “How can it be okay… after what I did?”
“Because I forgive you,” Twilight whispered into Rainbow’s ear.
Everything went quiet. Even the blizzard raging outside the cave entrance seemed to die down to little more than a gentle breeze when Twilight said that. Rainbow leaned her head back and looked into Twilight’s eyes disbelievingly. “You… y-you wh-what?”
“I. Forgive. You.” Twilight reiterated before gently pulling Rainbow in again, running her hoof comfortingly along the back of the pegasus’ head. “What you did was wrong, yes, but… but it’s not worth losing you over.”
Rainbow shuddered slightly, a small sob rattling her system. “T-twilight…”
“It’s okay, Dashie,” Twilight whispered to her, nuzzling Rainbow atop the head. “Go ahead… let it out. Let it all out. I’m here for you.”
Twilight had never heard Rainbow Dash scream the way she did just then, letting out so much pent-up emotion and pain in one long, impassioned howl. And all the while, Twilight held her close and told her it was going to be okay.
The world shook and there was a deep boom that sounded from outside the cave, like an explosion. Twilight’s eyes widened when something tugged at her. “What the?!” she gasped when the cave wall behind Rainbow shattered and dissolved, revealing the Dream Realm behind her. Rainbow turned around, seeing the expanse. She wilted.
“Heh… should have known it was too good to be true,” she muttered in disappointment.
Twilight, despite the force trying to pull her out of Rainbow’s dream, managed to reach out and grab Rainbow’s hoof, holding on as tightly as she could. “Rainbow! It is true! I’m not a part of your dream!” she shouted, drawing the other mare’s attention. “I’m really here! I promise-”
The world was jolted to the side.
And the dream ended.
Twilight awoke in her bed in Ponyville, sitting bolt upright with a cold sweat breaking out all over her body and matting down her fur. Her breath was coming in ragged gasps and her whole body was shaking.
“Twilight?” Spike asked drowsily while lifting his head out from under his blanket. “You okay?”
“I… I think so,” Twilight breathed, putting a hoof on her chest and taking a deep breath. “What happened…?” she thought aloud. Glancing at a clock, Twilight sighed somewhat. It was about nine in the morning.
Outside of her bedroom window, Twilight heard a the shrill cry of a panicking mare. Slowly, on shaking hooves, Twilight slid out of her bed and looked out of her window. The mare in question had her back to the window, looking up towards Canterlot. When Twilight looked that way as well, her blood went cold.
Great pillars of black smoke rose out of Canterlot and into the sky. Even from here, Twilight could see the sickly green glows of the fires… she reached a hoof up to rub at her eyes as if to dispel some sort of optical illusion. “Green…?” she asked disbelievingly.
Her eyes did not deceive her. The fires were green.
Princess Celestia frowned in thought atop her throne in Canterlot Castle, taking what time she had before petitioners were to start being ushered in for the morning session to ponder the last few weeks. She closed her eyes and took a heavy breath when her thoughts led to Rainbow Dash. Despite knowing that Luna was doing everything she could to help her through the Dream Realm at this very moment, Celestia still couldn’t help a sense of guilt over Rainbow’s condition. I should have been there for her more, she thought to herself. I saw she was still shaken by what Discord did… why didn’t I suspect she was trying to bury the worst of it under her bravado?
“Princess Celestia?” Raven asked tentatively from beside the throne, a small frown appearing on her muzzle. “Are you feeling alright?”
Celestia nodded slowly and opened her eyes while looking at her assistant. “Yes, Raven. I’m fine. I’ll be ready to begin court shortly,” she assured the white mare with a warm smile before leaning back a little.
“Very well. It’s a pretty short docket today, so-” Raven’s words were cut off as the doors to the throne room were abruptly thrown open and two members of the royal guard came cantering in.
Celestia leaned forward and looked at the guards intently. “Is something wrong?” she asked simply as the two dropped into deep bows. She gestured with a hoof for them to rise.
“Not exactly, your highness,” one of them said before he stood to attention. “But a messenger from Saddle Arabia has arrived at the castle gates requesting an audience. She’s alone, but she says it’s urgent.”
“Saddle Arabia…?” Celestia thought aloud, glancing at Raven for a moment. “Was she able to provide some manner of identification? Who is she?”
“She has provided valid credentials; she is a servant of the King and Queen of Saddle Arabia. She says her name is Ill Daisy.”
“How strange… I don’t recognize the name,” Celestia mused, a hoof on her chin. “Did she elaborate on what was so urgent?”
“I’m afraid not, your highness,” The other guard added while too standing at attention. “But she seemed… frazzled. Almost paranoid. She was looking over her shoulder a lot and spoke in a jittery whisper. Something has her shaken. Horribly.”
Celestia’s brow furrowed before she nodded. “Send her in, then. Raven, notify the petitioners that court is to be delayed until this matter is resolved. I’ll not sit idly by while a messenger from one of Equestria’s friends is coming to us for aid,” she ordered firmly. Raven bowed deeply before cantering along with the guards out the large doors of the throne room. As they left, Celestia took a long breath and went into deep thought.
Saddle Arabia had not had very much direct contact with Equestria in recent years. Outside of caravans coming to the border for trade and the occasional group of tourists, the other kingdom opted to stick to itself most of the time, despite being on friendly terms with Equestria. Thanks to said caravans, even if details were scarce, there was usually a generally good sense of what was going on in the other nation. What could have happened that would make the King and Queen send a trusted servant to Equestria before anypony else even heard rumors?
Celestia only had a minute or so to ponder this before the doors to the throne room swung open again. The two guards were there along with the mare from Saddle Arabia. As was the norm for the other country, she was a horse that stood almost as tall as Celestia did. Her light purple coat was ungroomed and her long, purple mane and tail were messy and frazzled. Her eyes darted frantically at the shadows with every step she took, and there was a very clear tremble in her entire body.
“Ill Daisy, was it?” Celestia greeted while rising from her throne and trotting down to meet the horse in the middle of the enormous room. “I bid you welcome to Canterlot; although I must admit, your arrival is extremely unexpected.”
Ill nodded shakily, putting on a small, almost relieved smile. “Oh, m-my apologies for any inconvenience, your majesty. But the king and queen don’t think this can wait.”
Celestia smiled warmly and put a hoof on Daisy’s shoulder. “It’s going to be fine, Daisy,” she said reassuringly before looking to her guards. “Leave us,” she said to them simply. The guards looked at each other uneasily, then nodded before slowly backing out of the throne room and closing the doors behind them.
“Thank you,” Daisy seemed to relax slightly now that they were alone.
“You’re welcome. I can see you’re unsettled. Now, what’s been happening in Saddle Arabia that would have you sent to me so swiftly?” Celestia asked while taking a step to the side.
“It’s… hard to explain, but…” Ill Daisy began, looking down at the floor anxiously. “The King and Queen… they…”
There was a tremor in the floor. Small, subtle, but noticeable. The chandeliers on the roof swayed in place slightly and some dust was shaken off of them. Daisy went silent and Celestia looked up in confusion.
“What was that?” Celestia asked, her brow furrowing in thought. Another tremor came, this one stronger. The stained glass windows that lined the throne room rattled in their frames and, just beyond, a green glow became visible. Celestia turned and cantered for the windows, peering out into the city below. Her eyes widened.
There were green fires in the city, spreading rapidly with black smoke starting to pour from the buildings. Several buildings, mostly governmental structures, had their roofs caved in and were also being lit ablaze. In the streets wherever there were large groups of ponies, Celestia could see dozens, if not hundreds, of her subjects consumed with sudden swirls of similarly putrid green fire. When the flames swirled away, the creatures that stood in place of her beloved little ponies were enough to make her cringe in disgust. They were… attacking. Ponies were being tackled and pinned, unable to react to how suddenly everything had started happening.
“I would advise you to surrender, your majesty,” the voice of Ill Daisy spoke, her words no longer shaking or afraid. Celestia’s blood ran cold and she slowly turned to face the only other creature in the room. Daisy’s eyes were emitting a green glow exactly like the glow of the fires outside. “It would make things so much easier on you and your precious ponies.”
“What is the meaning of this? GUARDS!” Celestia shouted, her wings snapping open and her horn flaring to life with golden magic. The doors to the throne room were hurled open and the two guards from before, along with at least eight others, came galloping in, already having drawing their weapons.
In short order, Daisy was surrounded, spear tips pointing at her and the ten guards in the room scowling angrily. She didn’t lose her small smirk whatsoever or even look impressed. She barely even acknowledged the guards surrounding her with a fang-filled grin.
Fangs…
“Who are you?” Celestia demanded, taking another step forward. “And why are you here?”
The green glow in the horse’s eyes flared up and a twisted, distorted laugh rumbled from deep in her throat. It then evolved into hysterical cackles as green fire exploded across her body, burning away the visage of a horse of Saddle Arabia. In its place was an equine creature that stood at Celestia’s height. It was covered in black chitin, it’s acidic green eyes glowed with hunger, a reptilian slit pupil dilating in anticipation. Two sharp fangs jutted down from her upper lip. A long, dark teal mane hung over her shoulders and face, ragged and messy. A tail of similar colors brushed against the ground as if the creature was impatient. A long and crooked horn rose out of its head and insectile wings buzzed eagerly upon her back.
The creature grinned widely. “I am Queen Chrysalis, and I am here for you and your ponies, Celestia,” she cooed before licking her fangs hungrily. “Oh, I can already taste the love you have for all of them… this is going to be delicious.”
“Take her!” Celestia snapped angrily, readying her horn to fire a shot of magic if she needed to. She was not expecting five of the guards to turn towards her and lunge with their spears. Biting back a shout of shock, Celestia was barely able to rise into the air with a flap of her wings. She looked on in confusion as all ten of the guards in the room began to look at each other suspiciously, turning their spears on each other. “What is the meaning of this?!”
“I could tell you,” Chrysalis hummed in amusement, looking at the confused group of guards before her wings began to lift her into the air to be even with Celestia. She locked eyes with the Solar Princess and grinned. “But where’s the fun in that?”
“Why are you doing this?!” Celestia demanded again, her horn glowing again. “What do you creatures stand to gain? Or is this mere bloodlust?”
“Oh, nothing so barbaric,” Chrysalis chortled before her eyes glowed again. “You ponies have something we need, and we will take it from you one way or another. I say again, princess Celestia,” Chrysalis’ horn ignited with green magic. “Surrender. Or this is going to hurt everypony far more than either of us would like.”
“No,” Celestia snarled back, her eyes gaining a slight glow to them as well. “I will defend my little ponies to the very end from any and all evils that would threaten them. I will never surrender to you, insect!”
“How rude,” Chrysalis snorted mockingly, her eyes narrowing.
“And if there is one thing I know about insects…” Celestia continued while the light on her horn morphed into a bright orange fire. Chrysalis tensed and braced herself.
“It’s that they are helpless without their queen!”
Princess Luna was snapped out of the Dream Realm and back into her bedroom when the entire castle shook. Startled and confused, she rose from her sitting position and back to her hooves while looking for the source of the disruption. Looking to her left she saw the green glows of the fire in the city, as well as the remnants of an explosion of golden magic and orange fire.
The door to her room swung open, revealing Squall Dreamer on the other side looking about ready to panic. “Princess Luna, the city is under attack!”
“I can see that,” Luna replied through grit teeth. “What are we up against?”
“I don’t know!” Squall replied, cantering forwards. “All I know is that guards are just spontaneously turning into these things out in the halls! It’s absolute chaos!”
As if on cue, one of the black chitinous equines came barreling through the open door, teeth bared. It snapped its fangs at Squall, who in turn scrambled back and away from it. It narrowed it’s glowing purple eyes, hissed and lunged for Luna.
“BEGONE!” Luna bellowed, her eyes glowing white with power as she unleashed a shockwave of concussion magic from her horn. The creature was hurled back out through the open door and into one of many small pedestals, each one holding an exquisitely carved bust of a horse’s head. The pedastal wobbled and fell to the side, the bust crashing to the ground heavily. Luna turned to look out of her bedroom window again. “That light… my sister is fighting! I have to get to her!”
“I’ll go with you.” Squall said simply, giving a sharp nod.
Luna turned to the window and shoved it open with her magic. She spread her wings and took a step forward, preparing to fly out and join the fray.
She never got the chance to.
The horse head bust that had fallen out in the hall lit up with green magic, flew forward and struck her in the back of the head, shattering from the force of the impact. Luna crumpled to the floor with little more than a gasp of shock, well and truly unconscious. Squall sighed, a putrid green glow fading from his forehead before he was consumed by green fire. From that fire, Thorax emerged, looking down onto the Princess he had just taken down with regret burning in his blue eyes.
“Ugh… nice job, Thorax,” Pharynx commented while slowly dragging himself back into the room. “Get her into a pod, quickly.”
“What about you?” Thorax asked, already letting the green slime drip out of his fangs.
Pharynx grinned before a swirl of green fire whipped around him. When the flames vanished, a perfect copy of Princess Luna, albeit bruised and battered looking, stood in his place. “I am going to go help our queen,” Pharynx said in Luna’s voice before trotting out of the bedroom window and lifting into the air with a mighty flap of his wings.
Thorax watched him go, then lowered his head to the real Princess Luna to encase her in the slime falling from his fangs.
Celestia ground her teeth with frustration as Chrysalis managed to deflect another one of her spells with a green magical barrier, redirecting the lance of golden magic through a nearby cloud, obliterating it. This queen was agile and swift, though aside from an opening exchange, she had been on the defensive for most of this encounter. She was powerful, but Celestia was confident she could take her down if she kept the pressure on.
The two were flying around each other in the air high above Canterlot, exchanging spells in a deadly dance. The pegasi of the royal guard didn’t dare draw closer to the two, knowing that they wouldn’t make any difference. Instead, they were focusing on trying to evacuate the civilians; this was easier said than done, of course, as it was practically impossible to tell who was one of the enemies and who was an actual civilian until it was too late. The streets had exploded into bedlam and pandemonium so quickly that most of the guards weren’t even sure what was really happening.
Chrysalis looked down towards the city while ducking under another beam of magic from Celestia. The very tip of her tail was caught in the beam and was promptly incinerated. Growling under her breath, Chrysalis folded her wings to her sides and entered a free-fall dive for the streets below. Celestia chased after her, her horn sparking dangerously.
Chrysalis flashed Celestia a grin before spreading out her wings and arcing up to fly along one of the busiest roads in Canterlot just as Celestia’s spell went off. The golden beam of magic pierced the roof of the building the queen had been diving for, lighting some of it on fire.
“No!” Celestia shouted while spreading her wings to slow her descent. Her hooves crashed heavily onto the roof of the building and she looked inside to assess the damage. Nopony had been inside, thank goodness for that. She then lifted her gaze to the Changeling Queen, who was quietly chuckling under her breath with amusement. “You coward!”
“A coward?” Chrysalis lifted a hoof to her chest in mock offense before her forked tongue clicked against the roof of her mouth. “I do believe you are mistaking cowardice with practicality, your highness.”
Celestia shouted with anger before she hurled herself at Chrysalis with a powerful beat of her wings. Chrysalis didn’t have enough time to prepare a proper defense, and Celestia tackled her head on while arcing skyward. Shaking her head to clear the stars that had exploded across her vision, Chrysalis locked eyes with Celestia and snarled like a feral animal. She then opened her mouth and bit for Celestia’s shoulder.
Acting quickly, Celestia managed to kick away from Chrysalis and evade the sharp fangs that had been on a direct course for her throat. Still, her horn flared to life and she released a blast of concussive energy directly into her opponent. Chrysalis yelped in pain as the force of the blast sent her spiraling head over hooves through the air. Her wings snapped back out and beat quickly, sending her flying back down to the streets.
“Oh no, you don’t!” Celestia snapped, reaching out and ensnaring Chrysalis’ tail with telekinesis. She pulled her high into the air before throwing her hard through one of the windows of Canterlot castle. The glass buckled and shattered under the impact. It didn’t even slow Chrysalis down, and when she hit the wall on the other side of the window, the force of the impact left spiderweb cracks along the surface.
Not letting up her offensive, Celestia flew through the broken window and set down in the hallway, her horn lighting up with blazing fire. Chrysalis had slumped to the floor and glared up at Celestia angrily. The alicorn took the look in stride before the light on her horn flared up even brighter.
There was a swirl of green flames, and Queen Chrysalis was replaced by Princess Rainbow Dash, staring up into her mother’s eyes with terror in her own.
Celestia hesitated, her eyes widening.
That hesitation was all the disguised queen needed. Chrysalis lunged and slammed a hoof into the side of Celestia’s face, sending her stumbling to the side. She shook her head and turned back towards her adversary, about ready to end this fight.
Chrysalis took a step back, still disguised as Rainbow Dash. “Oops. Did I hit a nerve?” she asked mockingly before the floor beneath her ignited in a sizable circle of yet more sickly green fire. Laughing sinisterly, Chrysalis began to sink into the flames like it were a pool of water.
Celestia growled and fired off her spell directly at Chrysalis. It impacted a barrier, which had been hidden and then pierced through it. Chrysalis shouted in pain in Rainbow’s voice when the beam struck her, and smoke and light exploded from the point of impact, forcing Celestia to take a step back and shield her face with her wings. A second passed before she gave her wings a hard flap, dispersing the cloud of dust and smoke.
Chrysalis was gone.
“You really are a coward, aren’t you?!” Celestia shouted, her nostrils flaring with every agitated breath she took. “Hiding behind the homes of my subjects, using the face of my daughter as if it were a shield. You disgust me!”
“I aim to win, Celestia,” Chrysalis’ voice taunted her from the walls, echoing all around her. “I don’t care what methods I have to resort to; if it will bring me and my kind one step closer to ending our eternal starvation, then I will stoop to any low, resort to any dirty tactic, go to any length!”
“Starvation?” Celestia questioned, her eyes narrowing. “If it is food you need you could have come to us peacefully! We would have been open to discussing trade!”
“We do not feed on cupcakes and hay like you do!” Chrysalis voice seethed bitterly before the wall next to Celestia erupted into green fire. Chrysalis shot out of it, tackling Celestia in the side and back out through the window, sending them both into a free-fall as they grappled and struggled.
Celestia grunted and managed to kick Chrysalis off of her before righting herself in the air and using her wings to come to a steady hover. She glared up at Chrysalis, who was now hovering a little ways above her. “Then what do you eat? Meat?”
“As lovely as that sounds,” Chrysalis growled before her horn lit up with magic again. “We cannot eat that, either! We are Changelings! We consume love!”
Celestia blinked and narrowed her eyes. “Love?” she asked curiously.
Chrysalis chuckled in amusement. “For once I encounter a monarch who doesn’t find that sentence entertaining,” her face hardened into a bitter scowl shortly after. Her chuckling devolved into a snarl. “Yes, pony. The Changelings are sustained by emotions; specifically, love. Much like your beloved magic of friendship, other emotions generate power, and the power of love is what my species needs to survive!”
Celestia eyed Chrysalis warily, though when she spoke next, her tone was significantly more diplomatic. “If that is the case, why then did you launch a full-scale assault on my city? What do you intend to gain from such an action? You’re only going to sow and reap fear and hatred.”
Chrysalis snorted in annoyance, though she lowered down to Celestia’s eye level. “I would not expect a creature like you to understand. This is how it has always been for us! We take the strength we need because there is no other way!”
Celestia frowned disbelievingly. “Have you ever even tried?”
“If such an option existed,” Chrysalis snapped, a hiss slipping out of her throat. “WE WOULD HAVE LEARNED ABOUT IT CENTURIES AGO!” green energy shot out of her horn at Celestia, forcing the alicorn into a dive to get out of the way. Chrysalis gave chase, her pupils dilated.
Celestia grunted with effort as she spun into a dodge roll. Glancing towards the ground below, she barely had time to let out a shout of surprise and break her fall before her hooves slammed down hard on the surface of one of Canterlot Castle’s lowest balconies. Cracks appeared where her hooves made contact, running in patterns for several feet in all directions. She then lifted her head to face Chrysalis, who was still shooting for her like a thrown javelin. With a grunt of effort, Celestia’s horn ignited once more before an enormous beam of magic shot towards the advancing queen.
Chrysalis countered with her own, slowing her flight to a stop with her wings just in time to avoid plowing into the attack face-first. The two beams struck and, for a moment, they seemed to be even. Then, with a throaty growl, Celestia pushed more energy into her attack. Chrysalis’ beam was quickly overwhelmed and, with horror in her eyes, the changeling queen took the full force of the blast head-on, consumed in an explosion of smoke and golden light.
With smoke and steam rising from her body, Chrysalis fell out of the cloud and to the balcony below. She hit the floor on her side, crumpling into a heap. Now shaking horribly, Chrysalis began to struggle back to her hooves, glaring hatefully at Celestia. “This isn’t o-over!” she hissed venomously.
“It is over,” Celestia countered bluntly, stepping forward slowly. “You know, I feel that you might have been able to approach us peacefully. There is an abundance of love in Equestria, and we would have been more than happy to share with you.”
“Don’t lie to me!” Chrysalis shrieked, managing to get back to her full height. “Even if you would have been fine with such an arrangement, you cannot say the same for your subjects! Many would be afraid of us, would hate us for how different we are! We would starve long before we could earn such affections!”
“You underestimate our capacity for compassion,” Celestia countered coldly, magic appearing on her horn again. “But you have wasted your opportunity. You have invaded my city, hurt my ponies and attempted to defeat me. You will receive no sympathy from me.”
Chrysalis growled angrily, her horn sparking to life as well.
“Now give up,” Celestia continued. “It is perfectly clear that you cannot win against me. You are beaten. Surrender now and I promise you that you will be treated fairly.”
“No,” Chrysalis hissed through clenched teeth. “I will not stop hunting for food for me or my subjects! I will topple any and every obstacle that stands between me and that goal! I will never surrender to you, pony!”
Celestia sighed. “Then so be it…”
“Sister!” came the voice of Princess Luna from overhead. Celestia turned and looked in surprise, and relief, as her little sister came in. Celestia noted the bruises on her body, but she seemed to be otherwise fine.
Chrysalis eyes widened and her pupils dilated. Her eyes refocused so that she could see the pink trails of magical energy, the love, drifting off of Celestia’s body, and she saw just how much more intense they became when Luna announced her presence. Chrysalis licked her lips and opened her mouth wide, drawing the energy in.
Celestia cried out in pain when this happened, the pink energy becoming visible in the air as it was forcefully pulled out of her. With an alarmed shout, Luna swooped forward and fired a blast of green magic into the ground directly in front of Chrysalis, kicking up dirt and dust and forcing her to break her focus and back away. Coughing now, Celestia gave Luna a small smile.
“Thank you, little sister,” she said while pulling herself back to her hooves.
Luna glared at Chrysalis hatefully. “So, this is the monster that led the assault on our city?”
“It is,” Celestia replied, her horn lighting up again. Chrysalis looked at the two fearfully, all of her confidence melting away. “Luckily, this battle is now over. We win.”
“Yes,” Luna said simply. Celestia’s breath hitched in her throat when a beam of magic struck her in the back of the head from Luna’s horn, sending her down to the ground in a dazed heap. “We do.”
Chrysalis’ fear instantly was wiped away with a sadistic smile, and she sauntered towards Celestia, who was struggling to move her body. That spell… it had paralyzed her!
“What’s the matter, Celestia?” Chrysalis taunted while driving a forehoof in between Celestia’s shoulder blades. “You were so confident a second ago. Where’d all of that go, huh?”
“Luna…” Celestia managed to choke out in a wheeze, her eyes looking towards her sister in shock and confusion. “Why?”
Green fire swirled around Luna’s body, burning her image away to reveal another changeling, this one with purple eyes. He snarled down at Celestia before bowing to Chrysalis. “Princess Luna has been captured, your majesty,” he reported simply.
“Marvelous,” Chrysalis laughed before lowering her teeth to be next to Celestia’s head. “And now it’s your turn, my little pony…” she stood tall and pulled a large chunk of the broken balcony, about the size of Celestia’s head, over to her with magic. “Sweet dreams.”
She drove the heavy piece of stone into the back of the alicorn’s head. The last thing Celestia saw were the green glows of the flames burning within her city and the giant plumes of black smoke rising into the air.
Screams. From where he stood on the balcony just outside of Princess Luna’s personal bedroom, the screams of thousands of innocent ponies being attacked, subdued, and imprisoned by the Changelings was all that Thorax could hear. There wasn’t even the sound of spells going off in retaliation, as the Royal Guard had lost all of their organization not long after Celestia had been taken down. They had crumbled and been subdued, and now, barely twenty minutes later, the civilians were unable to offer any meaningful resistance and their Princesses had both been captured and entrapped in the throne room of the castle; with Queen Chrysalis. And so, with all of their hopes crushed, the ponies did the only thing they could... they screamed.
It was the worst thing Thorax had ever heard. It made his chitin crawl and his wings buzz in agitation. He screwed his eyes shut and drove a hoof into the stone floor beneath him with a frustrated growl. He hated this. He hated this! He wanted nothing more than for all of this senseless violence to just stop!
But there was nothing he could do about it. He was just a lowly, stupid infiltrator drone. He didn’t have power, he didn’t have allies and he didn’t get any sympathy from the other drones. His eyes slowly slid open, his ears folding back against his head as he heaved a sigh. This was his lot. He could either accept his place and live with it or turn his back on the hive and be little more than a snack for the queen.
His eyes wandered the streets of Canterlot far below, sorrowfully observing his fellow drones hunting down every pony in the city, pinning them down and encasing them in those revolting green pods. They were chasing families… foals… Thorax gulped heavily and turned around to trot back into Luna’s room. As he did so, green fire slowly began to appear on his body, burning away the image of Thorax and replacing it with that of Squall Dreamer. He stopped part way in and looked at the tall mirror that rested next to the bed.
He heard the screams outside, including the crying of a filly.
“No,” Thorax said to himself through grit teeth. He turned and trotted back out onto the balcony. “I won’t be a part of this anymore…” spreading his fake bat-wings wide, he stepped off of the balcony and glided down into the city for one very specific home.
On one of the many streets of Canterlot where most of the ponies had already been entrapped, a patrol of three changeling drones stalked along, eyeing each house as they went with scrutiny, looking for any strays to add to the harvest. “Let’s check this one!” One drone called out to the rest of his team as they passed by one such house, a small, modest place. “I don’t think anyone’s gone in here yet.”
The other two changelings he was with nodded and the smaller of the two went to the door. Unsurprisingly, it was locked. “Gah! It’s locked!” he seethed through gritted teeth. The third, who was notably taller and burlier, stepped towards the door and pushed him aside.
“I got it,” he said before lowering his head and charging the door. Cracks appeared along the wooden surface on impact, and a high pitched scream came from the other side of the barrier. “Looks like we’ve got another one!” the big drone grinned before stepping back and ramming the door again. This time, it splintered and came off of its hinges.
“LEAVE ME ALONE!” The only current occupant of the building, a little green thestral filly, screamed. She stood in the farthest corner of the first room, huddled down under a table. Tears were in her eyes and she was hyperventilating. “GO AWAY!”
The big drone chuckled while entering the house. “Not a chance. Come here!”
“HELP ME!” The filly cried out, closing her eyes and covering her face with her hooves while the drone shot towards her. The table she hid under was lifted and toppled to one side before the hard, chitin-covered hooves on the drone came down and picked her up her.
“Hold still, you stupid thing!” the drone growled while his horn lit up, the filly kicking and screaming frantically against him.
“SQUALL! HEEELP!”
The Drone grunted with effort one more time before a cry of pain left his mouth. The filly had just bitten his foreleg. He recoiled and dropped her, growling in anger while she scampered away. “You little-”
The drone’s cut off when a gray blur shot through the door and tackled him. He shouted in surprise and lit up his horn to counter, but he never got the chance. The pony that had just tackled him drove a hoof into his gut, making him double over with the breath leaving his lungs. The pony then, with a growl of anger, struck him in the back of the head, knocking him down and out cold. For a moment, everything was still and silent within the house.
“Squall!” The filly squaled, hurling herself at her big brother and wrapping her forelegs around his shoulder in a tight hug. “Oh, thank goodness! You came for me! I knew you would!”
Squall’s ears folded back a little, but he nodded and returned the hug gratefully. “Sorry I took so long, Whisper. Are you okay?” he asked, looking her over uneasily.
“No. The bug thingy didn’t get a chance to do anything bad to me. I bit him, just like you told me to do if somepony ever tried to take me away!” Wind Whisper replied, looking like she was proud of yourself.
Squall blinked in surprise, then chuckled lightly. “Okay, nice work. Now come on, we have to get out of here,” he said before moving Whisper until she was resting on his back and then began to trot for the door.
“But what about the Princesses?” Whisper asked worriedly. “Isn’t it your job to protect them?”
Squall stopped in the door and heaved a heavy sigh. “...I failed to protect Luna, Wind. She’s gone, and so is Princess Celestia. But I am not going to fail to protect you.” he explained before poking his head out of the house and looking both ways. Laying on the ground just outside of the door were the two changelings that had been with the burly one, both housing large bruises on the backs of their heads.
“Okay…” Whisper nodded from his back and held on tight, wrapping her little forehooves around his neck. Squall took a long breath to calm himself, then broke into the fastest gallop he could muster down the street. He went straight for a good block or two before noticing the shadows of more changelings being cast along the road. Grunting, Squall stopped and hooked a sharp right into a narrow alley.
“Are we going to be okay?” Wind asked quietly from Squall’s back, shifting slightly.
“Yeah, if I have anything to say about it,” he replied while slowing his gallop down to a canter so he could more easily listen to their surroundings. “Okay… ah… I think I can get us to the city wall from here without leaving the alleys. Keep your ears peeled, okay? I don’t want any of these things sneaking up on us.”
“Alright,” Wind nodded and perked her ears up, listening carefully to their surroundings as they went deeper and deeper into the alleys. From here, the screams in the city were muffled and distant, not to mention they were growing quieter all the time.
After a few minutes, there was movement. A few rats scampered out from under an old and discarded piece of cardboard that was leaning against the wall of a building. Squall jumped back a little as they ran by, barely able to keep a startled yelp from escaping his lungs. As the rats vanished around a corner, Squall let a small laugh slip out of his mouth before he focused and kept moving.
Finally, after what felt like an eternity of sneaking and listening, they managed to reach the city wall. It was tall, rising well above the tops of even the tallest buildings in this part of the city. Squall eyed it hesitantly before peering back out into the sky over the city. There was still a lot of changelings up there, zipping around and looking for any stragglers they could catch.
“...They might see us if I fly…” he muttered weakly, glancing back to the filly on his back. “But it’s our only option. Are you ready?”
“I’m scared, Dreamy…” Wind whimpered shakily in response and buried her face in his neck. Squall tensed and reached a forehoof up to pat what he could reach of her mane, trying to comfort her as well as he could.
“I know, Wind, I know. I’m scared, too… alright, hold on tight and don’t let go. I’m going to fly us over the wall,” he said to her gently before unfolding his wings and giving them an experimental flap. “We’re going to be fine, I promise.”
Wind Whisper nodded and tightened her grip around his neck with a very faint ‘mm-hmm’ sounding from her throat.
Nodding to himself and taking a deep breath, Squall crouched low and then shot into the air with a flap of his wings. With the cover of the alley gone, they would be really easy to spot if any changelings looked their way. Squall rotated in the air to check and see if they had any pursuers. Thankfully, they seemed to be far enough away from the center of the action that they went unnoticed. Not wasting any more time, he gave his wings another hard flap, which gave them enough speed to sail over the top of the wall. Now over the top of the wall, Squall scanned the immediately surrounding landscape for someplace that could provide cover. A little down the mountainside was a series of platforms jutting out of the slope, each one covered with dense foliage in a sort of tiered forest.
With his destination in mind, he folded his wings against his side and entered a nose-dive for the forest canopy and only opened them at the last moment to slow their descent. He grunted in discomfort when they passed through the canopy, with twigs, branches, and leaves slapping him in the face as he went. On his back, Wind Whisper cried into his mane fearfully, her grip tightening even more to the point it was almost choking. At last, thankfully, Squall managed to touch his hooves down onto the grassy ground under the trees and came to a stop, gasping for breath. For a good minute, he stood there, just breathing and letting his adrenaline wear off. As it did, it occurred to him just how tired he was. He lost his footing and fell to sitting on his haunches.
“Squall?” Wind asked anxiously from his back. “A-are you okay?”
“I’m okay, yeah,” he said between pants. “Just... out of breath. Give me a second and… and we can keep going... okay?”
“Okay,” Wind Whisper murmured while slowly sliding off of Squall’s back. Once on the ground, she took a step away and looked around at the small patch of trees they had hidden away in. “What are they?”
“We’re-” Squall began but then bit his tongue, his eyes closing tightly. He then opened his eyes back up and tried again. “...I’m not sure. All I know for sure is that ponies just started... transforming into them on the streets and in the castle… We never had a chance.”
“What do we do?” Wind asked, looking back at Squall with desperate, helpless eyes.
“For right now, we need to get someplace safe,” Squall answered before slowly standing up. “We can figure out what to do next after we’ve done that.”
Wind opened her mouth to say more, but the words froze in her throat when somewhere nearby, there was the sound of something snapping. Squall and Wind both went rigid at the sound. Nervously, Squall craned his neck to look in the direction of the noise.
“Wind, I want you to run and hide. Right now.”
“But-”
“I’m not going to let you get hurt, too!” Squall shot back at her, his wings flaring up. “Go run and hide! I’ll be fine and I’ll come get you, okay? I promise! But you need to hide!”
With tears forming in her eyes, Wind Whisper nodded, turned and galloped off deeper into the small forest. Once the sound of her tiny hooves faded entirely away, Squall heaved a heavy, trembling sigh. Turning back towards the sound, he saw two purple eyes glaring back at him from the shadows. With a grimace, green fire enveloped Squall’s body, revealing Thorax in his place when it faded.
The purple-eyed changeling stepped out of the shadows and into plain sight. “...Thorax. What are you doing?” he demanded simply.
“I…” Thorax looked down and shied away from the fiery intensity in his big brother’s gaze. “I’m…”
“It looks to me like you’re trying to save a pony and run away,” Pharynx snarled, taking another step forward. “Am I wrong?”
Thorax flinched as if struck, then shook his head. “No. You’re right,” he said before his eyes narrowed slightly. He stood up tall and locked gazes with his big brother. “I’m leaving, Pharynx. This is wrong and I won’t be a part of it anymore.”
“You’re turning your back on the hive, you idiot!” Pharynx snapped, his wings flaring open.
“Yes, I am!” Thorax shot back, his own wings snapping open. “There has to be a better way! These ponies have done nothing to deserve what we’re doing to them!”
“Haven’t you been paying attention?!” Pharynx stepped forward until he was right in Thorax’s face. “If you go through with this, I’m going to have to drag you back to the queen! She’ll destroy you! Is that what you want, huh?! Do you want to let the whole darned hive down? To let me down?!” he shoved Thorax harshly, sending the deserting drone down to the ground.
Now on the ground in a shaking heap, Thorax looked up at Pharynx defiantly.
“There is no way for you to follow through with this stupid idea of yours that doesn’t end with me losing my little brother! Stop this and come back with me right now, Thorax! The queen doesn’t have to know if you give this up!” Pharynx continued, his voice losing some of it’s anger to something more akin to… begging, almost.
Thorax sighed. “...No, Pharynx. I’m not going back. Not willingly,” he said solemnly while pulling himself back up to his hooves. “I’m not going to leave Wind Whisper all on her own out here, either.”
“The filly?!” Pharynx hissed, looking past Thorax incredulously. “What’s so important about a foal that you’d throw your life away?!”
“Because I took her brother away from her!” Thorax angrily snapped back. “The only pony in this city who actually seems to really care about her, and I took him away and took his place! Neither of them deserved that and as long as he’s trapped, I’m going to take care of her for him!”
“You’re being an idiot!” Pharynx snarled through clenched teeth, his horn sparking to life with purple magic.
“And you’re being a monster!” Thorax rebutted with tears forming in his eyes.
Everything fell quiet between them. A stiff breeze blew through the collection of trees, rustling the leaves.
Pharynx’s eyes narrowed and he took a threatening step forward, while Thorax took a step back. Pharynx’s horn sparked to life, about ready to paralyze Thorax so he could drag him back to Chrysalis like he had been told then. He looked at Thorax for several agonizingly slow seconds. He looked into the eyes of his younger brood mate... His little brother. The little nymph who he had defended from other drones in the past… Pharynx’s teeth showed in a frustrated scowl before the light on his horn fizzled out and he let his wings flick back against his sides. “...Get the hay out of here, Thorax.”
Throax’s eyes widened in shock at those words, and he looked at his brother in disbelief. “Wh-what?”
Pharynx growled and shoved Thorax hard, making him stumble back. “I said get out of here! Turn around and run away before I change my mind!” he shouted, baring his teeth.
Thorax took a few more steps back, then nodded with a small smile on his face. “...R-right. Thank you, Pharynx.”
“Don’t thank me for anything. You’re dooming yourself to starvation, you know. And if we cross paths again, I won’t just let you go...” the elder changeling spat before narrowing his eyes. “Now get!”
Thorax didn’t need to be told again. Turning around he broke into a gallop after Wind Whisper, with green flames enveloping his body, replacing the image of Thorax with that of Squall Dreamer.
Pharynx watched him go, then took off into the air with his buzzing wings, doubling back for the now silent city of Canterlot.
“This is bad, this is bad, this is bad!” Twilight Sparkle repeatedly told herself the obvious as she galloped frantically down the streets of Ponyville for the train station. Not long after the fires had started up in Canterlot, she had caught sight of a train heading down the tracks on the mountain, making its way for the Ponyville train platform. By now ponies were out in droves on the streets, watching their capital city smothered in smoke and emerald flames with shock and horror. Many of them were whispering to each other, speculating about what was going on up there.
The sound of the train whistle blaring silenced most of that chatter, all eyes turning towards the vehicle itself as it pulled to a stop at the station. Twilight arrived at about the same time, sliding to a halt on the wooden surface of the platform just as the train doors were forced open by frightened, near panicking ponies. They spilled out of the train, some of them breaking into a hard gallop for shelter somewhere in town, while others sought out specific individuals from the crowd of ponies surrounding the station.
“What’s going on up there?” Twilight urgently asked the first pony to pass her way, a stallion who looked to be a little more composed than the others, albeit only a little. He still looked frightened and anxious, and when he looked at her, it was with tired and weary eyes.
“I-I have no idea, miss. I just saw p-ponies burst into fire, green fire, then transform into… into monsters!” he shook his head in exasperation and put a hoof to his temple. “They… th-they started attacking everypony in sight! It was absolute chaos! Even some of the guard just… changed... We… we g-got lucky. The train was already pulling out of the station when the, uh… when everything started. I guess those things thought we weren’t worth the effort… eheh” he laughed half-heartedly, took a shaky breath and then shoved past Twilight on unsteady legs. “N-now excuse me, I h-have to find my family…”
Twilight watched him go, her ears going flat against her head. She had no idea what to think about this. Ponies bursting into flames? Monsters appearing in their place? She’d never heard of something like that, before. Sure, transfiguration magic could have such an effect, but on such a scale that the entirety of Canterlot was in chaos in a matter of minutes? It didn’t make any sense!
“Twi! There ya are!”
Relieved at the familiar voice, Twilight turned to face the speaker and spotted Applejack, Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie and Rarity all galloping towards her. It had been Applejack that had called out to her, though they all looked relieved to see her unharmed, and horrified by the situation in the mountains. Twilight opened her mouth to say something back, though opted to remain silent when Fluttershy tackled her with a tight, fearful hug, one which Twilight returned.
“Oh, thank goodness you’re alright, Darling!” Rarity sighed with relief, joining in on the hug. “We were worried that whatever’s going on up there might spread down here.” she then backed out of the hug and eyes Canterlot with apprehension, biting her lower lip. “Whatever in the wide land of Equestria is going on up there, anyway?”
“Ah’d like to know, too. It looks like Canterlot’s become a gosh darned warzone,” Applejack noted tensely, her eyes narrowing in thought.
“A war zone?” Pinkie echoed, looking at Applejack, appalled. “But there hasn’t been a war in Equestria in, like, a really long time!”
“From what I just heard, it is a war zone,” Twilight replied while giving Fluttershy a reassuring squeeze. She then removed herself from the embrace and also looked up at Canterlot. “Somepony told me that ponies up there were just bursting into flames and transforming into monsters of some kind.”
Fluttershy quivered, refusing to move away from Twilight while cowering under her mane. “M-m-monsters?” she jittered out. None of the others looked much better than the panicking pegasus, either.
Twilight sighed heavily and closed her eyes. “I don’t know any details, and these ponies look way too shaken to be of much help here.”
“We should tell Dashie about this, right?” Pinkie asked suddenly, her hooves fretfully shifting under her. “I mean, she is a princess. She should know about this, right?”
Twilight winced somewhat but nodded. “Y-yeah… yeah, you’re right. Let’s go,” she said, hesitating a little before rising back to her hooves and stepping off of the platform towards the Ponyville clinic with the rest of the group following closely behind her.
Rainbow Dash had been aware that something was wrong for a while now. Between the occasional voice of a distraught nurse or doctor talking outside of her room and the subtle almost imperceptible tremors that occasionally ran through the building, it was pretty clear that something was going on and that it was the opposite of good. At first, she had optimistically thought that, maybe, it was something Ponyville dealt with on a regular basis. Some wild creature wandering out of the Everfree Forest, like a manticore or parasprites, maybe a wild storm, or perhaps even a stampede of cows that Applejack would now be furiously trying to redirect.
But as time went on, those suspicions crumbled away. Now, with the last of her patience wilted away, Rainbow Dash decided she was done sitting around. Pushing away the sheets, Rainbow slipped off of the clinic bed, careful not to bump her wing, which was still in a cast, on the way down. She wasted no time and cantered for the wooden door of the room. She put an ear to it, hearing more uneasy and anxious whispers on the other side from the staff. With a huff of indignation, Rainbow pushed the door open and stepped out.
“What’s going on out here?” she asked loudly, her voice echoing in the sterile room and drawing the attention of every single pony present. Several nurses and doctors looked at each other, unsure. “Well?”
“Rainbow!” the voice of Twilight Sparkle cut through the tense silence. Rainbow looked over and tensed visibly when she saw Twilight and the rest of their friends cantering towards her with expressions ranging from terrified to determined. “How’s your wing?” The lavender mare asked more gently once she was closer.
“It’s… better,” Rainbow half-lied, glancing back at the appendage. In truth, the doctor’s healing magic had done wonders to speed along the healing process, though she was under doctor’s orders to not use her wounded wing for anything for at least another day. “But that’s not important right now. What’s happening? Why is everypony so… scared?”
“Didn’t you look outside?” Pinkie asked, her eyes widening a bit. “Canterlot’s on fire!”
Rainbow blinked and looked at Pinkie with a blank stare for a few seconds. A crooked smile appeared on her face. Then she laughed. “Heh… yeah, sure it is. What’s really going on?” she asked between giggles, that lopsided grin never leaving her muzzle.
“She isn’t kidding, Rainbow,” Twilight said sternly, a harsh frown appearing on her face. “There’s green fire and smoke pouring out of the city. Monsters are attacking every pony in Canterlot, according to some refugees who just got her by train a few minutes ago.”
Rainbow’s grin persisted for a second. It then slowly melted away to a dawning look of horror and dread. “Oh shoot, you’re serious…” she choked out in a trembling voice.
“Why would we lie about somethin’ like that?!” Applejack asked incredulously, marching up a little closer.
Rainbow’s ears folded back and she looked down at the ground. “S-sorry… I…” she stuttered before falling silent. Silence dominated the room for a few seconds before Twilight gestured for Applejack to back off a little, which the farmer did with an apologetic look on her face. After a moment, Rainbow Dash turned and gestured for the door she had just stepped out of. “Come on. We can talk in here.”
Twilight and the others followed her in, the door closing behind them with a small flick of Rarity’s magic. Rainbow Dash sat down heavily on the edge of her bed and looked at the rest of her friends with a serious expression. “Okay. Hit me. What are we dealing with here?”
Everypony looked at each other anxiously for several moments, nopony really sure what to say. It was Twilight who spoke, naturally.
“We don’t know, not for sure,” she began. “All we know right now is what I managed to get out of one of the refugees. He said that ponies in Canterlot suddenly burst into green fire and were replaced by monsters, which then started attacking everypony they saw. He didn’t go into much detail about said monsters, though, stumbling off to find his family once he told me about that.”
“Turning into monsters?” Rainbow echoed, her eyes shifting erratically while her brain worked to think of an explanation. “...maybe transfiguration magic? Could somepony be turning ponies into monsters from the inside?”
“Possible, but highly unlikely,” Twilight replied with a shake of her head. “Transfiguration magic typically requires visual contact and a significant amount of power to transform even small inanimate objects, like a salt shaker or a teacup. It would take an insane amount of power to perform a full transfiguration on a living pony. It also doesn’t typically manifest as green fire, or fire of any color for that matter. Plus, changing something’s shape via transfiguration magic doesn’t necessarily change its inherent qualities, especially if it’s a living thing, so all of the ponies that transformed suddenly becoming aggressive doesn’t make a whole lot of sense. They’d still have the same mind, just a different body.”
“What other explanations do we got, though?” Applejack asked in exasperation, sitting down on her haunches and punching the smooth floor. “Ah doubt we can fix somethin’ we don’t know anythin’ about.”
“Wait, you can’t?” Pinkie asked with a raised eyebrow. “If something’s broken I can just fix it by slapping it with a fish. Works every time.”
“What about mind control magic?” Rainbow pressed, leaning forward a bit. “Something could be- wait… a fish?” she looked at Pinkie, bewildered.
“What? It’s true!” Pinkie groused indignantly while folding her forelegs over her chest.
“Focus, please!” Twilight interjected with a frown, making Pinkie clam up with an apologetic smile. Once she was sure that that was done, Twilight continued. ”Rainbow, mind control magic is just as unlikely as transfiguration in this case. It is an extremely sensitive type of magic, requiring intense focus and energy to bypass a pony’s natural mental defenses, and if they’re a unicorn, those defenses can be reinforced with magic. Not to mention that mind control magic has a habit of being an absolute power-hog. To hit enough ponies to send Canterlot into that much chaos goes well beyond what even the Princesses can do.”
Rainbow was nodding along with Twilight’s explanation, not fully grasping most of it but getting the gist. However, when Twilight mentioned the princesses, Rainbow’s eyes snapped wide open and a gasp tore its way out of her lungs. “Mom! Aunt Luna! Oh my gosh, they’re both up there! Are they okay? Have we heard from them?! Please tell me that they’re okay!!” she began asking in rapid succession while hopping off of her bed and looking to all of her friends in a near panic. “They might be hurt!”
“Now, now, I’m sure they’re fine, dear,” Rarity tried to assure her, putting her hooves in front of her in a placating gesture. “Princess Celestia raises the sun, after all. I have every confidence that she’ll have this whole situation resolved in short order.”
“We don’t know that,” Rainbow countered, sweat appearing on her brow. “We don’t know what we’re up against! What if she got hurt?! What if… Wha… W-we have to do something! We need to get up there and help!” she turned and began moving for the door at a brisk canter. Twilight was quick to put herself in Rainbow’s way.
“Rainbow Dash, calm down,” Twilight advised her softly, reaching a hoof out. “We’ll figure this out, we just need-”
Rainbow recoiled away from the touch as if it burned. “No! I’m not calming down! My mom and my aunt are up there and they need my help! They need our help! They need the Elements of Harmony!”
“How are we even supposed to get there?” Twilight asked seriously, straightening up her posture and narrowing her eyes. “It looks like you’re still in no condition to be flying, and I don’t think that the trains are going to just take us up there! And besides, it’s too risky!”
“I can’t lose them!!” Rainbow shouted, tears appearing in her eyes. She moved forward and tried to shove past Twilight. “I won’t lose my family! Not again!”
“And we can’t lose our friend!” Twilight countered, holding firm against Rainbow’s shove before reaching out and yanking her into a tight hug, eliciting a startled squeak from the pegasus. Everything fell silent when Twilight nuzzled the side of Rainbow’s head affectionately. “I can’t lose my friend, either… not when I just got her back…”
Rainbow Dash froze, her ears standing perfectly straight. Slowly, ever so slowly, looking like she didn’t believe what she had just heard, she leaned back and looked Twilight in the eyes. “...Wha… huh?” she whispered, her voice cracking with emotion.
With a soft smile on her face, Twilight reached one of her hooves down to Rainbow’s, touching it very gently. She then guided Rainbow’s hoof up and held it in both of her own. “...I told you I was really there, didn’t I?”
Rainbow’s eyes widened in shock and her jaw gaped open. She looked Twilight up and down for several seconds before a small sound escaped her throat. It was a peculiar noise, sounding like something between an agonized sob and a joyful laugh.
Twilight pulled Rainbow in again, and this time, the cyan mare eagerly returned the embrace, burying her face in Twilight’s shoulder, quietly crying. Except these tears weren’t of regret, sorrow or guilt. Everypony else looked on, not entirely sure when the two of them had made up but pleased to see the tender moment all the same.
“Awwww,” Pinkie’s voice cut through that silence like a serrated sword, thoroughly ruining the mood and drawing extremely annoyed glares from the two hugging mares. She put on a big, cheeky grin and shrugged her shoulders innocently. “What? It’s sweet.”
“Ah get the feelin’ the rest of us are missin’ some context, though,” Applejack pointed out in confusion, though still with a warm smile on her face. “Does one of y’all wanna fill us in?”
“We’d love to,” Twilight nodded before looking at Rainbow with a question in her eyes.
Rainbow hesitated, then nodded with a smile appearing on her muzzle as well. “Sure…” that smile then melted away, replaced by a tense grimace. “But, can it wait until later? We still have the attack on Canterlot to worry about.”
“Fair enough,” Pinkie chirped with a shrug and perky smile before looking out the window. “Soooo… what is the plan for that, exactly?”
Rainbow took a moment to think, her expression hardening with thought. “Well… if Canterlot is under attack, then obviously we need some way to figure out what’s going on and who we’re up against. But… until then…” she looked up to all of her friends gathered in the room, looking to each one individually. All of these ponies that she couldn’t bear the thought of losing… that thought only grew stronger when her gaze rested on Twilight. “...We… we should evacuate Ponyville.”
Twilight blinked, and everypony else vocalized their own surprise at that very unexpected statement. “That’s… not what I thought you were going to say,” Twilight managed to reply with a raised eyebrow.
“Look, Ponyville doesn’t have its own security force, alright? No guards, no soldiers, and barely any law enforcement. It’s never needed it before, given how small and peaceful it tends to be. But if we’re dealing with a hostile force of any kind then Ponyville is going to be a sitting duck, and the ponies that live here aren’t exactly fighters,” Rainbow explained her reasoning while getting back to her hooves and pacing around the room. “I don’t know what we’re dealing with, and until I do I am not going to put anypony in harm's way…” she then looked to everypony else in the room. “Especially not my friends.”
“Wait… you mean we’d be evacuating too?” Pinkie asked in surprise, lifting a hoof to her chest. “Who are you and what have you done with Rainbow Dash?! There is no way you’d ever run away from danger! You’re Rainbow Dash for pony’s sake!” she demanded, pointing an accusatory hoof at Rainbow.
Pinkie was shot deadpan frowns from everypony else in the room before Rainbow deigned to answer her. “I never said we’d be running away from the danger, Pinkie. We all need to stay close to the city anyway. We need to find out what we’re dealing with and get the Elements of Harmony. The ponies that live here need to be taken someplace safe, though. Safer than here, at least…”
“Where would be safe for them, though?” Rarity pondered aloud, touching a hoof to her chin.
“And how would they get there?” Fluttershy added, finally gaining the courage to speak.
Rainbow hummed in thought for several long moments before shrugging helplessly. “Ugh… I’m open to suggestions, here,” she said with a small, fake smile.
“What about Manehattan?” Twilight suggested, perking up a little. “The city is enormous, and it has a pretty tough lifestyle for its population. Ponies there are tough and would be better suited to defend themselves and their town than anypony in Ponyville, and the train tracks go right to it. Plus, Manehattan has a pretty large security force to deal with the higher crime levels that city has to deal with.”
“Twilight, you’re a genius,” Rainbow complimented with a big grin splitting her muzzle. “I like it. And we can head to the Castle of the Two Sisters as our hideout until we can get to the Elements.”
“Isn’t that in the middle of the Everfree Forest?” Fluttershy squeaked tensely, hiding in her mane again.
“That’s the point,” Rainbow nodded along. “One of Equestria’s most dangerous primal zones surrounds that castle for several miles in every direction. Any road that goes there is going to include Dangerous creatures, unpredictable and extreme weather, and that’s not to mention that the castle is pretty well hidden, to begin with. It would be a good deterrent to anything trying to follow us, which would buy us some time, and we know we can make the trip. We’ve done it.”
Twilight slowly nodded in agreement. “I think she has a point. If nothing else, it’s remote and hard to find without a guide.”
“Right. So, any objections?” Rainbow to the rest of the group, looking for ideas and input. Nopony spoke up, and despite looking uneasy and anxious, they seemed determined and ready to get to work. Rainbow’s smile grew. “Alright. It’s decided, then. Let’s get to work, ponies!"
It was approximately three P.M, now, and the first batch of Ponyville civilians had at last been led onto the first of the three trains that Rainbow had ordered repurposed for this one job. The absolutely packed train was now speeding away down the railroad for Manehattan, blowing its whistle as it went. Rainbow watched it go from the platform, her eyes downcast and her ears wanting to droop low. Everypony was understandably frightened and with still no word from Celestia, Luna or even Cadance, that left Rainbow Dash in charge.
And she was terrified.
All of these ponies were looking to her to keep them safe, to guide them and lead them, to make the right choices and ensure that Equestria came out on top. But with her track record as it was, especially in the last two weeks, she was not able to share their confidence in her ability. With a huff, Rainbow turned away from the tracks and looked out over the rest of the proceedings.
The next train was already being loaded, though it was going to take a while to get everypony inside and accounted for. Twilight and Rarity were jointly overseeing the statistics, making sure everyone was accounted for, while Applejack and Pinkie were sprinting all over town, trying to make sure that everypony was up to speed on the plan and that nopony was left behind.
Fluttershy was doing what she could to offer comfort to the population by standing by the door of the train and offering kind gestures and words where she thought they were needed the most. Frightened foals, mostly.
As for Rainbow Dash, she was overseeing everything with Spike always close by, just in case one of the other Princesses managed to get a message through to him. So far there hadn’t been any contact, or word from Canterlot of any kind, outside of what the refugees from the city in question had said. Sadly, none of them had anything substantial to add to what they knew; just more of the same.
Rainbow turned her eyes away from the crowds of ponies to look up at Canterlot. The fires looked like they had been put out for the most part, but smoke still billowed out of the city, painting the sky over the mountain an ominous and threatening black. Like the gaping maw of a hungry dragon, ready to consume anypony foolish enough to stray too close.
“Your Highness!” the voice of Scythe Glider cut through Rainbow’s thoughts, making her turn and look at the pegasus. He looked eager and almost excited as he led another pony in lunar guard armor towards her.
“Who’s this?” Rainbow asked curiously, tilting her head at the newcomer. He was a thestral of a neutral gray coat, icy blue eyes, and a dark blue mane and tail, both cut relatively short. On his back was a little green thestral filly who looked to be asleep.
The guard bowed. “I’m Squall Dreamer, your majesty. I just got here from Canterlot,” he said, a slight tremor in his voice. Rainbow’s eyes widened, her brain latching onto that last part in favor of his bowing.
“You were in Canterlot?!” she asked in a near shout, drawing the attention of Twilight and Rarity not far away. “What’s going on up there?!” she then demanded anxiously, leaning forward with a small glimmer of hope in her eyes.
“W-well… the…” Squall slowly stood up tall, though his eyes remained locked on his hooves. “...Canterlot has fallen, Princess. I think my little sister and I were all that made it out alright. Everyone else…” he shook his head.
“Even my mother and my aunt…?” Rainbow breathed in disbelief, taking a small step back. “They… they’re not, you know… they aren’t… are they…?” she couldn’t bring herself to say it; the implications of it were just too horrible to imagine.
“They’re alive,” Squall replied, lifting his eyes towards Rainbow’s just slightly. “But… all three of the other Princesses are trapped. The changelings captured them.”
“Where?!” Rainbow’s voice raised a few decibels and an octave when she asked this, her eyes burning with a worrying amount of intensity.
“Th-the throne room, your highness!” Squall replied, shying away from Rainbow’s loud question. “They’re being kept in the throne room the last I heard. They might have been moved, though…”
“Changelings?” Twilight asked while stepping forward, an inquisitive look on her face.
Squall jumped slightly at her sudden arrival but nodded. “Y-yes, Changelings. I, uh… I o-overheard some of them say that word while I was leaving. I guess it makes sense, given that they can shapeshift,” he stuttered out nervously, looking back and forth at Rainbow and Twilight.
“Shapeshifting… what else can you tell us about them?” Twilight pressed, a hoof rubbing at her chin in thought.
“Uh… I think one of them said something about their queen. I think they called her C-c-Chrysalis, b-but, uh…” he was visibly shaking now, looking at the little filly on his back almost desperately. “I-I’m sorry, Highness, but I need to take care of my sister. E-excuse me-”
“Woah woah woah,” Rainbow interrupted him when he turned to leave while putting a hoof on his shoulder. “Take it easy, your gonna be fine. But we still need to know more. Uh, would it help if you sat down? The lobby in the station’s pretty empty right now. It’s quiet, too.”
“I… I…” Squall gulped heavily. “I suppose… thanks,” he finally said weakly. Rainbow gave him a reassuring smile before urging him to head towards the door that would go to a small sitting area inside the train station. While he was doing that, escorted by Glider on the way, Rainbow turned to Twilight with a small look of pleading in her eyes.
“What do I do?” she asked quietly.
“He’s pretty shaken,” Twilight noted, thinking carefully. “It would probably be for the best if only one of us talks to him. I’ll go take care of that; You should probably go see your doctor. Your wing still needs treatment, right?”
“But I… ugh!” Rainbow grunted in discomfort when said appendage, which was still in a cast, twitched. Searing pain danced up and down the still tender and damaged muscles for several seconds before gradually dying down. “Y-yeah, you’re right,” Rainbow grumbled in frustration before turning around. “Let me know if he tells you anything important, eh?”
“I will, Rainbow. Get going.”
Rainbow nodded, a sour look on her face before she cantered further into the town. Her doctor would be leaving on the last of the trains, by his insistence so she could get at least one more healing session.
This is bad, I’m gonna get caught! Thorax thought to himself, barely able to contain his borderline panic. His plan had been to swing by and give some information to Princess Rainbow Dash, then get as far away from Canterlot as possible. As long as he was anywhere near that war zone, he was putting not just himself, but Wind Whisper at risk. Now he was stuck here in this room, waiting for somepony to come and ask him questions about the attack. Mentally he was desperately trying to formulate a convincing story that would also give these ponies enough information to have a fighting chance.
With any luck, this little questionnaire would go off without a hitch and he’d be able to sneak away with Wind Whisper, find somewhere safe to hole up and wait for all of this to blow over. He lifted his eyes from the wooden floor of the room and to Wind Whisper, who was curled up into a ball on one of the chairs in the sizable lounge room, sleeping peacefully. The little filly was exhausted and should have been terrified, but she wasn’t. She was nervous, sure, but she trusted Thorax to keep her safe.
No, she didn’t trust Thorax. She trusted Squall. Thorax felt his stomach churn with revulsion directed entirely at himself with that little bit of self-correction. Thorax had taken Squall away from her without her ever even knowing it had happened. With every step they took away from Canterlot, they were getting farther and farther away from her real big brother, who was still trapped and comatose in a pod deep within the Canterlot mountains.
But going back to try and rescue him would be a stupid idea; he’d never make it past all of the guards. He’d be caught and dragged before Queen Chrysalis for punishment before he could even get halfway there. No, rescuing him, as much as it pained Thorax to admit it, was not an option. He’d have to just keep Wind Whisper out of danger until the ponies could take Chrysalis down… assuming they even could. Then he could go find the real Squall and give Wind Whisper back.
Assuming he lasted that long… the hunger of a changeling could never be fully satisfied, and on his own Thorax had no idea if he’d be able to keep himself fed long enough to see this plan through all the way to the end. As if to punctuate that point, his stomach gave a low grumble and his tongue twitched erratically in his mouth.
The door to the room suddenly swung open, snapping Thorax out of his inner turmoil. He looked up and spotted Twilight standing there with a warm, reassuring smile on her face. Without a word, she closed the door behind her and trotted towards him. A simple wooden chair on the other side of the room was quietly lifted into the air in her magical aura before being set down right in front of him. Twilight set herself into it and held out a hoof. “I’m Twilight Sparkle. You said your name was Squall Dreamer, right?” she asked in a quiet voice, being mindful of the sleeping filly not far away.
Hesitantly, Thorax reached a hoof out to shake hers. “Yes, miss.”
“It’s nice to meet you, Squall. I just have a few questions for you on behalf of Rainbow Dash, okay?”
“S-sure.”
Twilight smiled while procuring a clipboard with some paper on it and a pen from the empty ticket booth. Flipping over the paper so she had some writing space, Twilight cleared her throat. “Okay, first things first: these changeling creatures. Can you describe them for me?”
“Yeah, uh… They’re about the same size and shape of a pony, but… more like a bug? I guess? They’re covered in dark chitin instead of fur, they have these fin-like ridges along their heads in place of a mane, their legs have these weird holes tunneling through them and their horns are sharp at the tip. They have insect wings and sharp fangs,” he explained without any hesitation, with Twilight furiously scribbling away with the pen at the paper.
“I see… you mentioned they can shapeshift?” she asked, briefly glancing up at Thorax from her notepad.
“Yes. I don’t know if there are any limits on that ability, though,” he lied, knowing full well that a Changeling could shapeshift into virtually anything with enough power and practice with the ability.
“Hmmm…” Twilight’s muzzle scrunched up in thought. “You also mentioned that they could talk… did you happen to hear any of them mention a motive or goal of some sort? A reason for this attack?”
Thorax went rigid and his breathing hitched in his throat. “Uh… I…” how much could he get away with telling her? The more the ponies knew, the better their odds of fighting back, but if he told them too much, they might get suspicious about how well informed he was. He’d be caught and his entire plan would be out the window.
Twilight’s posture softened somewhat when she saw how distraught he was getting. “Hey, it’s okay Squall. We’re not in Canterlot, alright? You’re safe here.”
Squall flinched back from Twilight’s words and the look on her face. Such an open gesture of kindness, trying to reassure what she saw as a member of the lunar royal guard made his stomach growl again. He became acutely aware of just how hungry he was and had to bit down on his tongue to keep it from flicking at the air like a snake’s. “No… no, I’m not,” was all he could manage in response to Twilight’s words.
“Squall?” Twilight ventured out of her chair and slowly stepped forwards, reaching a hoof out to him.
Thorax screwed his eyes shut and smacked Twilight’s hoof away with his own before rocketing off of his seat for the nearest exit. Instinct was kicking in; he had to get away from her or he’d lose control! He could hear Twilight crying out in surprise behind him before he barreled through the door. His eyes were still tightly shut, so he didn’t see it coming when his head collided with the sturdy wooden back wall of the ticket booth. He toppled back onto his haunches, the world spinning and his head throbbing.
“Squall, what’s gotten into you?” Twilight asked anxiously while cantering up to the door, peering inside tensely. “What’s-”
“Please, stay away!” Thorax begged her, trying to reign himself in. He was failing. “S-s-stop being nice to me!”
Twilight glanced over her shoulder at Wind Whisper, who was still sleeping. She then looked back at Thorax and slowly stepped into the room with him. She closed the door behind her and slowly sat down, trying to look as non-threatening as possible. “Squall… what’s wrong? It’s okay, you can tell me.”
Thorax took a long breath, keeping his eyes tightly shut. His entire body was shaking horribly from his own inner conflict. His forelegs twitched, wanting nothing more than to launch him at Twilight so he could consume some of the love she had buried in her heart. He opened one of his eyes and looked back at Twilight shakily.”P-p-p-promise me y-y-you won’t a-attack me?” he choked out in a jittering croak.
Twilight blinked and leaned back a little, taken aback by the question. “Huh? Why would I-”
“PROMISE ME!” Thorax snapped before closing his eye again and curling up in an effort to contain himself. Twilight flinched away from him, her ears folding back.
“I… I promise, Squall, I’m not going to hurt you.”
“That’s not my name,” Thorax said, before a little bit of green slime began to dribble out of his mouth. He heard Twilight’s gasp of shock and felt an intense rush of panic. Thinking fast, Thorax shifted and spat the large glob of slime over his left rear hoof, pinning it down to the floor. He quickly did the same thing to the right one before looking up at Twilight again. She looked horrified and disgusted, a hoof covering her mouth and her eyes wide open. With her efforts at being compassionate swiftly fading away, Thorax was getting some self-control back. With a heavy sigh, he flopped back down onto the floor. Closing his eyes, he let his disguise vanish in a swirl of green fire.
Twilight gasped rigidly and stood up, her eyes locked on Thorax in terror. However, when he didn’t go to attack her, that terror slowly bled away to anxiousness, then curiosity. “Are… uh, are you…?” she asked hesitantly, slowly taking her hoof away from her mouth.
“Uh-huh. I’m Thorax, and I’m a changeling,” he said simply, opening his eyes and glancing down at Twilight. There was a desperate shimmer in those pale blue orbs, one that made Twilight’s eyes lose some of their own intensity. “You have to believe me, I’m not here to hurt anypony.”
Twilight blinked slowly. Her horn lit up and, after a few seconds, the clipboard and pen from earlier came drifting in through the window of the small room. “Then why are you here?” she asked with a strange mix of suspicion, trepidation, and… not-very-well-hidden scholarly excitement.
“How’s it looking?” Rainbow Dash asked about an hour later, glancing back at her wing with a strained expression. It was out of its cast and Doctor Horse, a light brown unicorn stallion with a dark brown mane and tail, had his horn gently pressed to the feathered appendage. Golden magic streamed from his horn and into the wing, the feeling of this energy pouring through her muscles and bones making her entire body rigid. They had been at this off-and-on for the last hour, with the doctor periodically stopping the flow of magic to allow Rainbow to calm back down.
The doctor pulled his horn away from Rainbow’s wing with a small frown, allowing Rainbow’s tensed muscles to visibly relax and a relieved sigh to slip out of her lungs. “It’s better than it was. Theoretically, you should actually be capable of flight now, although I would still strongly advise against doing so unless you absolutely have to.”
Rainbow gave a slow nod before sliding off of the empty wooden crate she had been sitting on and giving a slight stretch. “Well, that’s good to know. Thanks, doc.”
Doctor Horse’s frown deepened. “I know you likely won't budge on this, but I must still insist that you let me stay with you. You still need treatment, but I can’t provide any if I’m being stuffed into a train for the big city.”
Rainbow shook her head sharply. “No, not a chance. I told you already, I’m not risking anypony in this town if I can help it, and that includes you.”
“But I-”
“Doc,” Rainbow cut him off sharply, and he shut his mouth instantly from the firm look in her eyes. “No means no. That’s…” Rainbow paused and gave a small sigh. “That’s an order.”
Doctor Horse hesitated, but relented and bowed his head. “Of course…” he said quietly before turning to go. “My train is going to be leaving soon, isn’t it? I should probably get going.”
“If it makes you feel better,” Rainbow called after him. He turned and raised an eyebrow in curiosity. Rainbow put on a reassuring smile. “You can always give Fluttershy some notes on how to keep my treatment going. She mainly deals with animals, yeah, but I’m sure she can pull something off.”
Doctor Horse pondered this for a moment, then gave a small nod. “Alright, I guess that’s my only option. I’ll talk to her before I go,” he said before bowing his head again. With that done, he turned and left for the train at a brisk canter. Rainbow’s smile fell away and she ran a hoof over her face with a frustrated groan.
She spent a little bit just calming her already frayed nerves before opening her eyes and setting off for the station herself. The last group of civilians was about to leave and Squall was apparently still inside with Twilight. Whatever they were talking about, Rainbow had decided she was done being out of the loop.
Twilight bit her lip heavily, looking over the extensive notes she had taken while talking with Thorax. They were still inside of the ticket office, with Thorax still pinned to the floor by his own doing. He had explained that he had done this in an effort to restrain himself. Maybe ten minutes into their little interrogation he had shifted back into the form of Squall Dreamer, in case Wind Whisper woke up. Slowly lowering the clipboard, Twilight looked into Thorax’s eyes naturally. “I have to admit, I believe you.”
Thorax visibly relaxed at that statement, with a flicker of hope in his eyes.
“But I can’t just let you walk.”
Thorax’s hopeful look vanished, replaced by one of fear. “W-what? B-but I told you everything!”
“Yes, you did. You told me how you’re species needs love to survive, how your queen is strict and powerful. You told me all about your magic- thank you for that, by the way,” Twilight’s face briefly shone with a smile before hardening once again. “And you told me all about how you feel over your part in the fall of Canterlot, and that you want to make up for it by keeping Wind Whisper safe.”
“And you believe me, don’t you?” Thorax tried hopefully.
“Yes, I do,” Twilight’s eyes narrowed. “But that doesn’t excuse the role you played. You’re the one who abducted Wind Whisper’s big brother, you’re the one who took his place and lied to her, and you’re the one who took down Princess Luna!” Twilight’s voice rose a little with that last point, and she rose from her hooves. “I appreciate that you’re trying to atone for what you’ve done, and I do believe in redemption stories, I really do, but…” she paused and sighed heavily, letting her eyes slide closed. “But I can’t trust you to keep doing the right thing if I let you go.”
Thorax looked down at the floor and sighed. “I… I understand,” he managed to mumble out, burying his face in his forehooves. “...I guess I’m your prisoner now, huh?”
“Not quite,” Twilight replied, a soft edge of sympathy in her words. Thorax looked back up at her quizzically. She smiled back at him encouragingly. “I believe that you want to do the right thing, and the best way to start is by helping us get to the Elements of Harmony so we can stop Chrysalis.”
“Help?” Thorax wilted. “I… I can’t go back there! They’ll have the Elements on total lockdown with an entire swarm of changelings ready to fight off anything that gets too close!”
Twilight’s face twisted as she considered that information. “Well… whatever the case, you’re going to have to stick with us. And… Rainbow will have to know about you at the very least,” she finally said, slightly nervous at the prospect.
Thorax opened his mouth to protest, but nothing came out. He grunted in defeat and flopped back to the floor. “Okay, okay… I’ll try to help you, but… just promise me one thing, okay?”
Twilight raised an eyebrow. “What?”
“Please don’t let Wind Whisper know about me,” Thorax solemnly begged, closing his eyes. “She’s had it bad enough… I don’t want to deal with the guilt of seeing her face if she realized that her brother was gone…”
Twilight slowly stepped towards Thorax. “...I can promise not to tell her, but she’s going to have to find out sooner or later. You know that, don’t you?” she asked while her horn lit up to peel the green slime away from his hooves.
“Yeah… yeah, I know. I just want to wait for her to be back in her brother’s hooves, first. Maybe she’ll understand, then…” Thorax muttered before opening his eyes again and looking up at Twilight.
“...Okay. I promise,” Twilight smiled before reaching down and helping Thorax back to his hooves. “Now, we need to talk to Rainbow and the others so we can come up with a plan.”
As if on cue, the sound of the entrance to the lobby being opened reached their ears. “Yo, Twilight! You in here?” Rainbow’s voice called out.
“Back here,” Twilight answered before using her magic to open the door to the ticket room and stepping out, Thorax following closely behind her, looking nervous.
On the chair she had been sleeping on, Wind Whisper gave a cute little yawn and sat up, having been roused from her slumber by Rainbow’s not at all subtle entrance. She rubbed her eyes with her hooves before blinking a few times. “Huh? Why’s it so noisy in here?” she complained drowsily.
Rainbow chuckled sheepishly while trotting by. “Sorry, squirt. Didn’t know you were sleeping,” she stated before returning her attention Twilight and Thorax. “What were you two doing back there?”
Twilight, thinking fast, pointed at Wind. “We didn’t want to wake her up, so we went to the other room.”
Rainbow gave a small shrug and nod. “‘Kay. So, Squall, whaddya got for us?”
Thorax looked away, shifting uncomfortably on his hooves. “Uh… about that…”
Twilight was quick to step in. “W-well, uh,” she glanced over at Wind Whisper and winced. “C-can we step outside for a second?”
Rainbow raised an eyebrow. “Uh… what for?”
“What I have to report is k-kinda, uh, disturbing,” Thorax lied with a fake grin. “I don’t want to upset my little sis by talking about it around her. She’s had it rough enough.”
Rainbow didn’t look convinced, and her expression flattened. Finally, though, she puffed out a breath through her nostrils and turned slightly. “Okay, over here.”
Wind gave a languid stretch before hopping off of the chair and scampering to catch up with the group. Thorax turned to her and knelt down as she approached. “Hey, you need to wait in here, okay?” he said softly, earning a pout from Whisper.
“Why? I wanna come with you!” she whined, thumping a hoof against Thorax’s shoulder. He chortled lightly and scooted her back with a hoof.
“Royal guard business. Top secret stuff. Shhhhh,” he put a hoof to his lips and then poked Wind Whisper on the tip of the nose with it. “I’m not going far. I’ll come get you when we’re done, alright?”
Wind snorted at the unexpected boop and stuck her tongue out. “Okay, Dreamy. Come back soon!” she then lunged forward and hugged him tightly around the neck, drawing another small laugh out of him.
“Ack! Sure thing, but I’m gonna need you to stop choking me first.”
“Oops!” Whisper let him go and backed up, putting on an apologetic smile. “Sorry!”
Thorax smiled back at her and ruffled her mane with a hoof before standing back to his full height and heading for the door, following Twilight and Rainbow Dash outside.
Rainbow eyed Thorax like a vengeful hawk, her left eye twitching occasionally as he and Twilight recounted everything they had already talked about. In truth, it was mostly Twilight who did the talking while Thorax only spoke if he had to to correct her on something or to answer a question. At one point,, Thorax had dropped his disguise to affirm what Twilight was saying. That had been about the time that Rainbow’s demeanor went from curious and confused to quiet and threatening. They were currently standing inside of one of the tents in the marketplace, which they had cleared out and closed for this discussion. Light poured in through the tan fabric, painting everything in a gentle yellow glow.
Once Twilight wrapped up her explanation, the unicorn and changeling watched Rainbow Dash nervously. Thorax shrunk back when her eye twitched again and Twilight’s attempt at a reassuring grin was nothing short of colossal and hideously fake.
“Twilight,” Rainbow began coldly before lifting a hoof. “I am going to punch him in the face. After that, he can start helping us.”
Twilight blinked in confusion before the entire tent sounded with a very loud smack. Thorax yelped in pain and discomfort and stumbled back, holding a hoof up to his cheek. “AAAH! OW!”
Rainbow gave her hoof a little jerk as if she were flicking off something that had stuck to it, then set it back down on the grass. “That was for aunt Luna,” she said simply.
“Rainbow, was that really necessary?” Twilight demanded in a thoroughly displeased voice, giving Rainbow a rotten look.
“No,” Rainbow replied before putting on a small smile. “But it felt good and now it’s over. You said your name is Thorax, right?”
Thorax, still hissing in discomfort from what would undoubtedly become a nasty bruise, looked up at Rainbow Dash and nodded.
Rainbow smiled and held out a hoof. “Well, welcome to the team.”
Thorax eyed the hoof warily, then, with a reluctant shake, reached out his own hoof to shake. Instead of a shake, Rainbow bumped her hoof against his, resulting in a loud clop sound inside the small tent. Thorax looked at his hoof, bemused, then put on a small smile of his own. “Uh… thanks?”
Rainbow’s smile faded to a more serious expression. “Don’t make me regret this, Thorax. Now, then…” she glanced to Twilight. “Twi, do you mind taking this dude to the library real quick? I’m gonna go roundup our friends and bring them over just as soon as the last train’s gone.”
‘What about Wind Whisper?” Thorax asked abruptly, taking a step forward. “She’s still at the train station, and I don’t want to leave her alone for too long.”
“We can pick her up on the way,” Twilight replied simply, giving him a reassuring pat on the shoulder before ushering him out of the tent. She paused and glanced back at Rainbow with a small frown. “For the record, Dash, punching things isn’t exactly a productive solution.”
“Neither is standing around to snark at me about it,” Rainbow countered with a small smirk while trotting by. She stopped by Twilight’s side and hesitated. She shifted slightly and looked into her eyes. “...Uh… Before we go, Twilight… about what I said in Hollow Shades… in the clinic-”
“It can wait,” Twilight interrupted her gently, putting a hoof on Rainbow’s back. “We’ve still got work to do.”
“I know, I know, but… I just…” Rainbow sighed and rubbed a hoof into her temple to quell a rising headache. “...It’s been bugging me all day. I feel like I shouldn’t have said that. Any of that…”
“Rainbow,” Twilight said just a little more firmly. “We can talk about it later.”
Rainbow looked away and nodded. “Okay… okay, fair enough. Does tonight sound good?”
“We’ll see,” Twilight replied before lightly smacking Rainbow on the back to get her moving. “Now let’s go,” she said before trotting after Thorax, who was waiting on the other side of the street.
Rainbow looked down into the dirt and grass for a moment before setting her jaw, straightening her should and setting off down the street to find the others.
It was night time, now, and Ponyville was completely and utterly silent. The last of the residents of the small village, a certain set of six mares, a disguised changeling, a little filly and a baby dragon, were all resting inside of the Golden Oaks Library. Despite some initial confusion over how the day and night cycle was still in motion if Celestia and Luna were out of commission, Thorax, still disguised as Squall to most of them, had put forth that Chrysalis had likely assumed control over the rotation after Celestia and Luna were defeated, draining the power out of them to do it.
They had then spent the better part of what remained of the daylight hours hashing out a plan, and what they had managed to agree upon after much consideration was simple enough for now. They were going to wait until the first light of dawn, then head for the Castle of the Two Sisters as quickly and as quietly as was possible. Once there, they’d be able to figure out a better plan. Once that meeting had been adjourned, all of them got cozy in beds, sleeping bags or, in the case of Thorax and Wind Whisper, the couch.
However, one of them was having a hard time sleeping.
Opening her eyes and glaring bluntly up at the ceiling of the bedroom she had shared with Twilight since they moved into Ponyville, Rainbow Dash pondered the merits of asking Twilight to cast a sleep spell on her so she could actually get some rest. Looking over, Rainbow took note of the fact that the unicorn in question was managing to look peaceful in spite of everything going on. Her eyes were closed, her chest was rising and falling with each and every breath she took. Rainbow started zoning out, just staring at her for a good long while. Twilight shifted just a little, and a strand of hair in her mane slid down her face a few inches.
Rainbow caught herself and turned her eyes away from her sleeping friend and back up to the ceiling before snorting with frustration. Grumbling to herself mentally, she slipped out of bed and headed for the largest window in the room, lightly stretching her wings as she went. From that window, she had a good view of most of Ponyville and, more importantly, Canterlot, up in the mountains.
For a good minute or so, she just looked at it. The smoke had long since stopped, but that didn’t remove the notable appearance of damage and devastation. One of the guard towers had collapsed at some point about halfway up its height, and what was left of it stuck up towards the moon in the sky like a jagged, broken tooth.
“Can’t sleep?” Twilight’s voice drowsily asked from behind Rainbow, though the pegasus wasn't at all surprised. In all honesty, she had been hoping Twilight would notice her restlessness.
“Nope,” She replied in a deadpan. She turned her back on the window and sat heavily against the wall, looking at Twilight in exhaustion. “There’s just way too much going on in my head.”
Twilight sat up, an adorable yawn disrupting whatever she was going to say. She regained control of her mouth after a second and gave a pleasant if kind of loopy smile. “Well, to be fair, I’m having a hard time sleeping, too.”
Rainbow frowned skeptically at her lavender friend. “You sure? Cause you looked pretty passed out and peaceful, to me.”
“Tossing and turning only makes it worse, you know, so that’s why I was holding still,” Twilight commented before sliding out of bed herself and stretching. “But if I were a betting mare, I’d say everypony downstairs is having a hard time sleeping, just like us.”
“Hmm,” Rainbow hummed simply and let the back of her head thump against the wall.
Twilight came over and then joined her against the wall, sitting down side-by-side with Rainbow. For an indeterminate amount of time, the two were quiet, just thinking. Then, Twilight broke that silence with a small, almost imperceptible sigh. “Well, since we’re both here… do you want to talk about it now? You know… what happened in Hollow Shades?”
Rainbow looked over at Twilight, a solemn look on her face. Then she looked straight ahead and nodded. “Sure. Might as well…”
“I’m listening,” Twilight urged her on gently.
“Right… first off, I… I’m sorry for how I just... dropped how I felt on you in Hollow Shades like that,” Rainbow began, leaning forward slightly and setting her forehooves in front of her. “It wasn’t a good time to bring it up, and it definitely wasn’t fair of me to shoo you out like that… especially considering I actually really wanted you to stay with me just then...”
“We were all under a lot of stress, Rainbow,” Twilight assured her gently. “I’m not mad at you or anything...”
“I know, I know,” Rainbow nodded and closed her eyes. “But still… I could tell it… it hurt you when I… when I asked you to go. I could see it in your eyes and the way you moved… the fact that I had just dropped how I felt about you only moments earlier didn’t help at all… I felt really rotten after you left,” she poked the floor with a hoof absently, her muzzle scrunching up a little.
“Rainbow, you can just say it,” Twilight said with a smile giggle. She reached a hoof out and touched it to Rainbow’s back. “We’re not school fillies, here…”
“But it’s just so… uegh,” Rainbow stuck her tongue out in playful disgust. “It’s the mushiest of all the mush bombs somepony can drop.”
Twilight giggled again and let her hoof glide down Rainbow’s back in a comforting petting motion. “Well, if you mean it, it shouldn’t be hard to say, should it?”
Rainbow relaxed under Twilight’s touch and slowly leaned back again. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath. “...You’d think so…” she then opened her eyes and looked at Twilight again. “Fine, but just this one time, okay? Nopony else can know that I said this. Deal? I have an image to maintain and all that.”
Twilight outright laughed at that before nodding. “I mean, your image is kind of broken to our friends anyway, but okay, deal.”
Rainbow pouted at Twilight, then took a long, deep breath. Her body started shaking a little bit at about the same time a small blush started to form on her cheeks. “Okay, okay… I… I…” she looked into Twilight’s eyes. “...I love you, Twilight.”
Twilight nodded slowly, her face twisting with uncertainty.
Rainbow’s own ears drooped a little. “...I guess all I need to know now is… how do you feel?” she asked quietly, looking away. “I know you said you forgave me, but… that’s not the same as… well… loving them...”
“I do forgive you, Rainbow,” Twilight countered simply before reaching out and pulling Rainbow into a side hug. “As for how I feel… I… don’t really know. This is unfamiliar territory for me.”
Rainbow slowly nodded, looking disappointed. “I gotcha… It’s all pretty new to me, too…”
“How long have you felt this way?” Twilight asked after a moment, nuzzling into the top of Rainbow’s mane.
“Frankly? I don’t know,” Rainbow replied with a nonchalant shrug of her shoulders. “I think it started to really show up in full when you and the others came for me after Nightmare Moon foal napped me, though.”
“Given the fact that you were willing to submit to Nightmare Moon’s demands to save me at first? I believe it,” Twilight nodded in thought. After that, the two fell into a long silence, just enjoying the other’s company and pondering what the other had said.
“That’s… not the only thing that’s bothering me,” Rainbow suddenly spoke up, shifting slightly so that she could stand up.
Twilight looked up at her curiously, an eyebrow raised. “Your responsibilities are getting to you, aren’t they?”
“To put it mildly,” Rainbow replied bluntly while turning around to look up at Canterlot through the window again. “Everypony’s looking at me to make the right choices. They’re all counting on me to lead them and see this all through. But…” she looked down at Twilight’s face, where the remnants of the bruise on her muzzle were still clearly visible. “...I’m not cut out for this. I’m a Princess by family relation to Princess Celestia, and that’s only because she adopted me… I was never meant to be in this kind of position, and I was never really taught how to be a good leader for most of my life. Mom gave me a basic crash course once, yeah, and I crashed through it, but I’ve always wanted to be an athlete over being a leader... And the last time I led a group of ponies…” she closed her eyes and sighed. “...the last time I led something, I attacked an innocent pony, hurt you, and caved under my own… insecurities.
“I am not the right pony to lead us. I can’t be put in charge of Equestria, Twilight. I’ll just… I’ll break something important before I even fully understand how all of the pieces work,” Rainbow shook her head in exasperation.
“For what it’s worth,” Twilight said soothingly while also standing up. “I think you’re doing pretty well so far. Evacuating Ponyville was probably the best thing you could have chosen to do, and it was the first thing you did.”
Rainbow shook her head again. “Yeah, but how long will it last before I screw something up again? One day of doing okay does not mean I’m going to make a good leader! Especially in what’s basically a war!” Rainbow pointed up at Canterlot. “I mean, look at Mom. She has an entire council of advisors to help make sure she is aware of everything she needs to know, and she has Raven as a personal assistant. Me?” Rainbow glanced up at her mane and puffed a breath up at it. “I’ve got some colorful hair, a knack for flying quickly, more emotional issues than I will ever be comfortable admitting, and a phobia of contact with magic.”
“You also have us,” Twilight countered in a firm voice while putting a hoof on Rainbow’s shoulder. “We’re all here for you. I’m here for you. And I believe in you. We may not be royal advisors or anything, but for Celestia’s sake, we’re your friends. You’re not alone here, so, please… don’t act like you are.”
Rainbow blinked and nodded. “I know that Twilight, and I really do appreciate it… I dunno what I’d do without all of you, You’re the best friends a mare could as for,” she glanced out the window and up at Canterlot. A small fire flickered in her eyes, just then. A flash of resolve. “But…” she reached a hoof up and put it to the window. “...I also know we’re not going to be enough. Not nearly enough.”
“Huh? Rainbow, what are you doing?” Twilight asked quickly while reaching a hoof out to stop Rainbow's. Rainbow froze for a few seconds before closing her eyes and taking a long, deep breath. On her exhale, she opened her eyes halfway.
“...Ever since we took out Discord, all I’ve done is make one mistake after another, and each one was bigger than the last. I drank so much cider I got the worst hangover I have ever had, I let Discord’s blabbering get under my skin, I took you with me to encroach on the privacy of Starlight Glimmer, then left Canterlot without spending basically any time with my family there. I left Ponyville without saying anything to mom, I dragged all of you along on a mission based off of a hunch and a chaos spirit’s drivel. On the way home, I attacked Starlight and hurt you in a crowded, public train. Did you know that the rumors that sprung up around that made my mom and aunt’s lives a lot harder? They had to deal with intrusive journalists and rumors spreading about me and them like wildfire... I’m done letting myself be buried by my own failures,” Rainbow spelled out slowly and methodically. She reached out her free hoof and brushed away Twilight’s, looking into her eyes with a fiery determination that gave the unicorn pause. “I’m not going to leave anypony else behind. It’s the middle of the night, I’m the fastest pony there is; I can get in there and save somepony; I can bring back mom, or aunt Luna, hay, even Cadance! We’ll have a better chance against the Changelings, then!”
“No,” Twilight said sharply, shaking her head. “Rainbow, don’t you dare! You’ll get caught, or hurt, or worse! And what about your wing?! It’s still hurt!”
“My wing can handle the trip! And don’t forget, I’m also the element of loyalty, remember?” Rainbow closed her eyes and took another slow, shaky breath. “...I’ve been way too selfish lately... It’s time that I made up for my mistakes.”
She gave the window a shove and it swung open. The cold night air rushed in to greet their faces, and Rainbow relished the feeling. It was invigorating, and her wings snapped out quite eagerly to emphasize this. Twilight reached out again and grabbed Rainbow by the shoulder tightly. “Wait!”
“Let go of me, Twilight.”
“Rainbow…” Twilight said in barely even a whisper before closing her eyes, seemingly in thought. When she opened them again, there was that same burning intensity that Rainbow’s eyes were displaying. “I’m going with you.”
“What?” Rainbow took a step back, baffled. “No, you stay here! I’m not putting you in danger!”
“Tough luck,” Twilight retorted simply. “I’m going, or this little mission of yours isn’t happening at all. Besides, you’ll need my magic if you want to go undetected.”
“How?” Rainbow asked, still bewildered by Twilight’s sudden shift in demeanor.
A smirk appeared on Twilight’s face. “Like this,” she said before her horn lit up with purple light. She was briefly enveloped in her own aura, then vanished from view completely, leaving Rainbow Dash alone in the bedroom.
She blinked and looked around in utter confusion. “Uh… Twi? Where’d you go?”
Two eyes then appeared floating before her in mid-air. “There we go,” the voice of Twilight said.
“WAH!” Rainbow let out a very undignified shriek and flailed back in surprise, her wings spreading wide and one of her forelegs rising over her face. “WHAT THE HECK?!”
“Invisibility spell,” Twilight replied simply before ending the spell. The rest of her body became visible again with a slight shimmer. “Because of how light and vision work, you can’t turn the eyes invisible without going blind for the duration of the spell, but it makes moving around without being seen a lot easier.”
Rainbow blinked again, still looking a little grossed out. “...Huh. Okay. Uh… when did you learn to do that?”
“About the same time I learned the failsafe spell,” Twilight answered before stepping forward and putting on a look of determination. “Now… are you going to let me come, or are we shutting this operation down?”
Rainbow gradually relaxed, letting her wings fold back up to her sides. She looked unsure for several moments before a large, cocky grin split her face. “Heh… Killjoy. Climb on.”
“Ooh, haven’t heard that nickname in a while,” Twilight remarked teasingly before doing as instructed and clambering onto Rainbow’s back. Once she was settled, Rainbow strode towards the window and looked out towards Canterlot again.
“...You ready?” She asked, unfurling her wings and letting the breeze catch them. The many individual feathers on the two appendages gently swayed back and forth from the air gently moving into the room, catching Twilight’s eye. She watched them for a second, mesmerized by the movement.
“Yeah… go.”
Rainbow backed up until she was on the other end of the room, then broke into a full-speed gallop. Just as she was about to reach the window, she bent her legs and crouched low, her wings tensing and ready for take off. Then, Rainbow kicked off and away from the floor with a powerful flap of her wings.
The force of the flap created a gust of wind behind her that knocked the blankets off of the beds and tossed some loose parchment on the desk into the air, although neither Rainbow or Twilight were present to observe the carnage they had created in their exit. They were soaring high into the sky at almost sonic speeds.
Rainbow couldn’t help the small, delighted shout that tore itself out of her lungs at the familiar sensation of tearing through air at high speeds like this. It felt like it had been ages since she had last really cut loose and flew as fast as her wings could allow. Upon the jubilant pegasus' back, Twilight couldn't help the small smile that spread on her face.
She then glanced back at Ponyville, watching the small village disappear into the distance behind them as they shot for the city of Canterlot, high in the mountains above them.
“Okay, slow down!” Twilight said in a raised voice to be heard over the winds rushing by. With a snort of disappointment, Rainbow followed the command and slowed to a halt in mid-air, then dropped down to one of the forested natural cliffs that jutted out of the side of the mountain, her hooves impacting the grass and dirt with the earth hard enough to kick up some dust. Twilight took a moment to slide off of Rainbow’s back and steady herself.
“Okay, since you insisted on tagging along, how do you want to play this?” Rainbow asked seriously, glancing up at the walls of the city with narrowed, intense eyes. “Because we only have four hours before sunrise, and that’s assuming Chrysalis is holding to the same schedule that mom did.”
“With any luck, we can be in and out in one,” Twilight replied before shaking herself to clear away some leftover vertigo from their flight. “Give me a second, though. The world’s still spinning.”
Rainbow huffed and shook her head at Twilight. “Oi… I really need to drag you through the sky more often if that is all it takes to make you airsick.”
“Shut,” Twilight shot back before taking one last deep breath. “Okay, okay… alright, the invisibility spell is a pretty big energy hog, so we’ll have to make the trip to the castle in short bursts if we want to keep it ready. I can make us both invisible for maybe thirty seconds before I’ll have to let the spell drop.”
“Thirty seconds eh? If we use alleys or buildings for cover, that shouldn’t be too big of a problem, and I can get us to the main castle entrance in three bursts, four tops,” Rainbow replied before looking up at the city again. “We’ll probably want to use something other than the front door to enter, though.”
“Suggestions?” Twilight enquired while trotting back for Rainbow Dash. “I mean, I’m pretty sure that there aren’t a whole lot of entrances to the castle aside from the main gates.”
“There’s a few; mostly the balconies that connect to the royal suites. There is also one entrance to some old, unused mines somewhere in the castle, but I never bothered to find it. A balcony is our best bet.”
Twilight smiled slightly, feeling a spark of pride in her chest at seeing Rainbow so focused and determined while hashing out the plan. She really had come a long way. Twilight dropped her smile and nodded before putting a hoof on Rainbow’s back. “Alright, give me a second and I’ll be ready.”
Rainbow nodded, patiently waiting while Twilight climbed on and got secure.
Twilight hesitated once she was on Rainbow’s back. “Rainbow… I don’t know how you’ll react to the spell. If it’s too much for you, we should head back, okay?”
Rainbow tensed slightly. “Twilight, I came this far. We came this far. We’re not going to back out at the point of entry because of my phobia. If it’s too much, we’ll think of something else,” she replied curtly before taking a long breath to steel herself for the spell. “Now do it.”
“Alright…” Twilight said, worried about her friend. Still, they had come this far, just like Rainbow said. Closing her eyes, Twilight began to channel magic into her horn, prepping the invisibility spell. She put it on herself, first, swiftly shimmering and vanishing from Rainbow’s back. Then she reached the spell down to Rainbow’s body.
The second the magic made contact with her skin, Rainbow went rigid and she sucked in a sharp breath through tightly clenched teeth. Her entire body began shaking and her heart pounded against her ribs fast enough to hurt. She felt another time, another place, trying to assert itself over the here and now. She was screaming and crying as she shook them one at a time, trying to get them to wake up. “MOM! DAD! PLEASE GET UP! DON’T LEAVE ME!” she begged, burying her face into her mother’s cold, motionless chest.
Then it was over. Rainbow gasped heavily when the real world re-asserted itself. She opened her eyes and lifted a foreleg to wipe away a few tears that had started to leak out of them. She briefly paused when she realized that she couldn’t see her own hoof, then smiled.
“I’m so sorry. Are you okay?” Twilight asked quickly, giving Rainbow’s barrel a tight squeeze from her back in an effort to comfort her.
Rainbow nodded, the shaking in her body slowly dying down. “Y-yeah. Yeah, I’m o-okay,” she said before looking up at the city. “We’re wasting time. Let’s go.”
Her wings snapped open and, with a grunt of effort, Rainbow shot into the air like a rocket. The world plummeted beneath them before she altered her angle and sped over the streets of Canterlot proper.
Seeing it up close made a pit form in Rainbow’s stomach. The once beautiful city was still standing, but its beauty had been lost to the ugliness of destruction and damage. Here and there, Rainbow’s searching eyes spotted movement; shadowy figures with blue glowing spheres for eyes patrolling the night. Changelings. It took a lot of self-restraint to fly down and knock some of their heads together, but they had a job to do, and a confrontation would only serve to undermine the whole point of this mission.
“Rainbow, we need cover,” Twilight hissed in a strained voice, sweat forming on her forehead. “I can’t keep this up any longer.”
“Right!” Rainbow replied before pivoting in the air and soaring down into a series of back alleys. She flared out her wings in her descent, slowing their fall until they came to a gentle landing. As soon as her hooves touched the cobblestone, the two mares became visible again. Rainbow turned and helped Twilight slide off of her back, the unicorn gasping for breath. “You alright?”
“I… I’m okay,” Twilight replied between breaths. “Ugh… just… between spell exertion and air sickness… uuugh…” she groaned queasily before starting to topple over to the side.
Rainbow was there, catching her and stopping her fall with her forehooves. “Woah, there. You sure you’re up for this?” she asked tenderly, looking Twilight over for any other noteworthy symptoms.
“I just need a minute,” Twilight stated as her breathing finally started to calm down. “It’s a lot freakier than you’d think, flying through the air without being able to see the pony carrying you.”
“I wouldn’t know,” Rainbow shrugged noncommittally. “I have wings. If I fly, it’s under my own power.”
“Lucky you,” Twilight snorted, pouting with envy. For about a minute, the two kept to that one spot, listening carefully for any incoming patrols or scouts. So far, they hadn’t had to deal with anything of the sort. After a short time, Twilight got back to her hooves and dusted herself off. “Okay, I think I’m good. Are you?” she asked.
“As I’m gonna be,” Rainbow replied while also rising back to her hooves. “Hop on.”
Twilight wasted no time in returning to her place on Rainbow’s back. A short confirmation later saw her igniting her horn with magic to cloak the two with invisibility yet again.
Rainbow cringed and gasped when it was her turn. “MOM! DAD! PLEASE GET UP! DON’T LEAVE ME!” she begged, burying her face into her mother’s cold, motionless chest…
“We’re in,” Rainbow whispered to Twilight maybe ten minutes later while lightly touching down on the balcony of Princess Luna’s bedroom. She felt Twilight nodding against her neck, then crouched low so she could slide off.
“Okay. The throne room is where Thorax said they’re keeping Celestia, Luna, and Cadance. I doubt they’re going to be unguarded…” Twilight replied while dropping her invisibility spell and scanning the room cautiously. “Our best chance would probably be to try and get to the throne room quietly, then grab the three of them and teleport out before the guards can get a chance to stop us.”
“Yeah,” Rainbow nodded simply before slowly heading for the door. “Hush for a sec,” she whispered before slowly opening the door just a sliver and peeking out. After a moment she opened it the rest of the way and nodded back to Twilight. “Okay, we’re clear. Let’s go.”
The two stepped out into the hallway that housed the royal suites. Any torchlight that might have existed here once was now snuffed out, casting the entire area in darkness. At least, it would have, were it not for the gently glowing green pods with ponies stuffed inside of them. Twilight gasped in shock before cantering up to one of the said pods and looking it over. “...This is… this is Spearhead,” she choked out, looking at the somewhat familiar earth pony stallion inside. “He’s a member of the royal guard. My brother’s good friends with him!”
Rainbow looked around at all of the imprisoned ponies, abhorrence and revulsion twisting her face into a horrified grimace. “...They’ll pay for this,” she seethed under her breath before her eyes rested on the door that led to her room. She paused for a moment, then trotted up to the door with a nostalgic look in her eyes. Curiously, she tried the handle. It was unlocked, to her surprise.
“Rainbow, what are you doing?” Twilight asked in a harsh whisper, cantering after her. “We don’t have time for side tracks!”
“I know, I know,” Rainbow shot back sternly before looking around. “There’s just something in here I need to grab real quick.”
She stepped deeper into the room until she came to a stop right next to her bed. On the bedside table, right under the unlit lamp, was a miniature dust-covered strongbox. Rainbow touched a hoof to the box, and an audible click sounded from the lock. Satisfied, Rainbow opened the lid and peered inside.
Twilight looked over her shoulder, eyes wide. “Wow… A touch-based lock? That’s pretty advanced magic- woah... I’ve never seen that, before,” her inquisitive analysis of the strongbox died away and was replaced by awe at the item contained within.
“Because I never actually bothered to wear it,” Rainbow replied while procuring the crown from inside. It was simple enough, by her request when it was being forged. It was a circle of gold that would fit nicely over her head with an embedded pattern of abstracted lightning running along it, inlaid with silver. There were only four points sticking up out of the crown, each one bearing a small ruby. Rainbow looked it over with a distant look in her eyes. “...I always hated this thing.”
“Then why are we stopping for it?” Twilight asked curiously, studying the item with great interest, if also impatience.
“Because” Rainbow said before looking over at Twilight flatly. “I am done running from my obligations. I’m a princess of Equestria… it’s time I started acting like it.” she then eyed the crown again, then turned fully to Twilight. “So… yeah.”
Twilight put on a small smile, then turned to the door. “...We should keep moving,” she said simply before cantering out. Rainbow watched her go, then looked down at her crown one more time. Then, with her face hardening with resolve, she placed the crown atop her head and followed Twilight out.
The halls were remarkably devoid of changeling security, although the closer the two got to the throne room, the more frequently the green pods with ponies held inside became. Rainbow wanted nothing more than to bust out every single one of them right now, but she knew, as much as she was loathed to admit it, that doing so would be more detrimental than anything else right now. They couldn’t afford to draw attention to themselves, and for every pony, their odds of detection would increase by several orders of magnitude.
Finally, though, they found the entrance to the throne room. The vast majority of the pods around here contained members of the royal guard, although one of them also held some unfortunate maid. The doors were ominous in the green-tinted light, looming over the two mares like a colossal beast.
“Fifty bits says Queen Chrysalis is behind those doors,” Rainbow whispered to Twilight.
Twilight hummed in response, looking the door up and down. “And so are the other princesses… okay, hold still. I’m gonna cloak us, then we can-”
“Oh, I wouldn’t try it if I were you,” a feminine, condescending voice echoed all around them. Green fire exploded from the floor directly in front of them, causing Rainbow and Twilight to jump back in alarm. The fire sputtered and undulated before the silhouette of a tall changeling could be seen rising out of it. “You’d only be wasting your energy…” Chrysalis cackled before the flames vanished around her.
“Twilight, get behind me, NOW!” Rainbow shouted, spreading her wings wide open and backing up.
“Rainbow!” Twilight exclaimed fearfully, glancing back and forth. Changelings were starting to crawl out of the walls it looked like, slipping into the hall from behind and between the various green pods.
Chrysalis smiled sweetly, her eyes lidded as she looked down at Rainbow and Twilight. “I would advise you to surrender, your highness,” she said before her eyes angled and her lips peeled back in a hungry grin, revealing her razor-sharp teeth. “Things will be much easier for you if you do…”
“Run,” Rainbow said through clenched teeth, looking over her shoulder at Twilight.
“Wha-”
“RUN!” Rainbow shouted before turning around, grabbing Twilight and launching for the doors that would take them out to the entrance hall with a quick burst of her wings. Sadly, their escape was blocked. The candlesticks next to the doors were consumed in yet more green fire, replaced by hissing and snarling changeling drones.
“You have nowhere to run,” Chrysalis taunted in delight, sauntering forward. “And nowhere to hide…” a sadistic giggle bubbled up from her throat before her long, forked tongue snaked out and licked her lips.
Rainbow quickly put herself in front of Twilight defensively, locking eyes with Chrysalis, doing her best to stand her ground, despite the fact that her heart rate was escalating and she was on the verge of panicking. Chrysalis noted this and grinned even wider.
“My, my, aren’t you the protective one?” she cooed out before craning her neck to be closer to Rainbow’s eye level. “Is this mare important to you?”
“Sh-shut up,” Rainbow stuttered out in a quivering, powerless voice. She took another step back, eyes wide with terror and fear. I screwed up, she thought. I shouldn’t have come up here… this was a mistake. We’re going to be captured, our friends are going to be sitting ducks, Equestria’s going to fall and it’s all my fault!
Something snapped in her then.
“Rainbow, wait!” Twilight called out, but her words fell on deaf ears. Rainbow Dash lunged at Chrysalis with a powerful flap of her wings, a guttural scream ripping out of her throat.
“Rainbow, wait!” Twilight called out, but her words fell on deaf ears. Rainbow Dash lunged at Chrysalis with a powerful flap of her wings, a guttural scream ripping out of her throat.
Chrysalis only grinned.
With a sadistic laugh, she quickly shifted herself to the side, evading Rainbow’s attempted tackle almost casually. Her horn igniting with furiously burning green magic just as Rainbow shot by her before the pegasus was encased in the same green glow, freezing in mid-air. Rainbow’s eyes went wide when she felt the constricting force holding her suspended in the air. Her scream of anger melted away into one of terror and anguish as she thrashed desperately against the energy that had her trapped. “PUT ME DOWN!” she screamed out in desperation, even as the world around her bled away to that all-too-familiar scene…
“Oh? What’s this?” Chrysalis hummed with thought and raised an eyebrow in curiosity. Pulling the thrashing pegasus closer, Chrysalis eyed her like a scientist would her latest creation; with intrigue and delight. Her smile only grew. “Afraid of magic, are we?”
“STOP IT!” Twilight shouted, trying to charge the queen. She was forced to stop her advance short as several drones quickly moved to block her path, hissing and snarling angrily at her and forcing her to retreat. Backing up several steps, Twilight dared to let her eyes flick to look past the drones at Rainbow, her ears going flat as she saw the mare squirming and screaming. “Please, stop! You’re hurting her!”
Chrysalis glanced over at Twilight with a bored expression. She scoffed dismissively and waved a hoof at Twilight and the drones around her. “Would one of you shut her up, please?” she asked flatly before returning her attention to Rainbow Dash, her expression shifting from one of mild boredom to one of predatory hunger. “I’d like to enjoy my meal in peace...” Green fire swirled around her as she said this, and Queen Chrysalis was replaced by Twilight Sparkle.
The real Twilight took another step back, her horn lighting with magic. “LEAVE HER ALONE!” she bellowed before closing her eyes tight with concentration. A changeling drone hissed aggressively and lunged at her, fangs bared and hooves outstretched. There was a bright flash of light where the unicorn stood. When it faded, Twilight Sparkle was nowhere to be found.
Chrysalis deigned to turn her eyes in that direction before snorting and rolling her eyes with a disgruntled frown appearing on her face. “She couldn’t have gotten far. Find her and bring her in!” she demanded in Twilight’s voice.
“Yes, my queen!” One of the drones gave a salute before they all bowed deeply, then turning and moving to buzz off deeper into the castle, leaving Chrysalis alone with Rainbow Dash. The pegasus’ cries and wails had died down to pitiful, quiet whimpers and sobs. She was curled up in a fetal position, her entire body was shaking violently and she was barely able to breathe through the spastic convulsions in her chest and lungs.
Chrysalis’ horn abruptly lost its light, and the light entrapping Rainbow faded with it, letting her drop to the floor in a crumpled, useless heap. She shifted slightly after a moment, trying to get her hooves under her so she could stand up. Chrysalis smiled softly, then changed her expression to one of worry and concern. “Rainbow, are you okay?” she asked urgently, reaching down and touching a hoof to Rainbow’s shoulder.
Rainbow jerked back, opening her eyes to look at Chrysalis with eyes that burned with furious hatred. She paused for a moment when she saw Twilight looking back at her, her eyes widening and the intensity fading somewhat. No… It’s a trick, she told herself, gritting her teeth and bracing to lash out.
Chrysalis’ horn lit up again, and a green beam of energy shot out of the tip and struck Rainbow between the eyes. She cried out as she felt something worm its way into her thoughts and feelings, purging any feelings of fear or anger, and any recollection of the changeling queen she had been facing just a moment ago. She tried to resist, but it was no use; the power was too much, and soon, Rainbow’s eyes lost focus, a slight green tint coming over her pupils. “Wha… Twi...light?” she mumbled, lifting a hoof to her forehead to try and quell a rising migraine. “What happened…?”
“Sshh, it’s okay,” ‘Twilight’ cooed softly, reaching a hoof out to gently stroke Rainbow’s jawline. “You’re okay. I’m here.”
“But… but what… uh…” Rainbow tried to voice the questions in her mind but found that she was unable to do so. Twilight’s hoof snaked over to the back of her head, then pulled her forward.
And then Twilight kissed her.
Rainbow’s eyes went wide and her mind blanked when her lips touched those of the mare in front of her. Her entire body went rigid and her wings snapped open. For several moments, she sat there, tense and not sure what to do. Then her muscles relaxed completely as she melted into the kiss, returning it eagerly and wrapping her forelegs around Twilight’s shoulders, humming quietly in content.
Something’s wrong… she thought to herself somewhere deep in the back of her head, but she couldn’t figure out what it was. It only took a few seconds for that thought to be purged from her mind and discarded in favor of just enjoying the contact with Twilight, savoring their first kiss. After several, wonderful, ecstasy-inducing seconds, Twilight pulled away from Rainbow with a warm, loving smile on her muzzle. “You don’t have to say anything, Rainbow…”
“I… uh… okay,” Rainbow nodded dumbly, still quite confused but, at this point, no longer really caring about her questions. She gladly accepted it when Twilight pulled her in for another kiss, holding her close, even as her mind grew clouded with fog.
Why was she so tired all of a sudden? Her muscles were growing weak and it was getting hard to keep her eyes open. Oh well, it didn’t matter. Twilight was here, holding her tight. Everything was okay. Everything was perfect. Nothing was wrong.
The sense of tranquility was broken when Twilight suddenly got yanked away from her. A loud shout came from the startled mare’s mouth as she was hurled away by a blast of purple magic that had come from the left and struck her in the head, knocking her into the far wall. Rainbow blinked as the world around her became blurred and unfocused. She fell forward, barely catching herself with her forehooves before looking around in a state of dazed confusion. She couldn't tell what she was looking at, and she was suddenly feeling incredibly dizzy. “Twi… Twilight?” she asked nervously, shifting forward slightly. “What happened…? Where are you? Twilight?!”
A voice echoed in her ears, muffled and distant like it was spoken into a pillow from deep within an enormous cavern. There was a colorful blob of purple by Rainbow’s side, and the world shook sharply, making her head throb in protest. Her eyes slowly and lazily looked up at the colorful mass, unable to properly decide on a consistent size, shape or shade for whatever it was she was seeing. “What’s going on…?”
Slap!
“OW!” Rainbow’s mind suddenly snapped back into place when a sharp pain exploded across her right cheek. Everything came rushing back into sharp focus and the fog smothering her thoughts was lifted. Still reeling from the rather hard slap she had just received, Rainbow stretched out a foreleg to catch herself from falling to the floor.
“Rainbow, we have to go! NOW!” Twilight shouted, yanking Rainbow back to her hooves with a hard tug on her other foreleg. Rainbow grunted in surprise from the force of the tug, shaking her head while coming back to a standing position.
“What happened?” she asked, her words slightly slurred while her brain tried to reboot.
“Ask me later,” Twilight barked before giving Rainbow another hard tug for the throne room. “For now, we have to GO!”
Somewhere behind her, Rainbow heard an agitated hiss and growl. It reminded her of the kind of sound an angry snake might make, and her blood began to run cold. That was all the incentive she needed to do as Twilight said, and she broke into a gallop alongside her for the open doors of the Canterlot Castle throne room. She wasn’t steady on her hooves yet, however, and stumbled on the way through before tripping forward and slamming into the red carpet face-first. Spots and colors exploded across her vision and her skull protested heavily with intense pain. Rainbow groaned in pain, her ears ringing. Once said ringing died down, she heard the sound of massive reinforced doors slamming shut and some kind of spell being put into motion by Twilight.
“Rainbow, grab somepony and get close to me!” The mare in question shouted, a great deal of strain in her voice. Rainbow looked up and spotted Twilight channeling a steady stream of magic into the now closed doors of the throne room, keeping them shut and projecting a lavender barrier around them. “Hurry! I can’t hold her off for long!”
Rainbow nodded, then looked on at the throne room. Her ears drooped against her head. The left side of the room saw a giant hole blasted into the wall, looking like the stone had been melted from the inside by some kind of powerful spell. Rubble was strewn all about, and hanging from the walls and ceiling were more of those disgusting green pods. Still dazed, Rainbow stumbled over to the nearest one of the green pods and grabbed it with her hooves. She gave a flap of her wings to help her drag it towards Twilight, then let out a short yell of pain when her left side and wing flared up with white-hot agony.
There was a loud bang from the door and cracks appeared all along Twilight’s barrier. “Gah! Come on!” She cried out between grit teeth, pain in her voice. The light from her horn flared up considerably and colorful sparks came off of it in droves, casting enough light into the room that it made Rainbow squint if she looked. Shaking her head and gritting her teeth to brace herself, Rainbow gave another hard flap of her wings despite the pain. This time, she was able to haul the pod until they were right next to Twilight, within hoofs-reach.
“Okay, whatever you’re doing, do it now!” Rainbow hissed while putting a hoof on Twilight’s back and bracing herself, while her other hoof stayed firmly on the pod. Twilight nodded and dropped her barrier spell. Less then a second later, the doors buckled and exploded inwards among a billowing cloud of putrid green fire. As the debris fell away and slid along the floor, Queen Chrysalis could be seen on the other side with a crack visible on the chitin covering her cheek from where Twilight had blasted her a minute ago.
“You worthless, mewling grub!” she shouted, her horn igniting with yet more fire. “You’ll pay for this!”
“Twilight?!” Rainbow pressed, looking on in terror as the changeling queen readied her spell. They weren’t going to make it!
Chrysalis howled with rage and fired the spell, a massive beam of acid green energy that barreled towards Rainbow Dash and Twilight at incredible speeds. Everything around the beam was reduced to little more than a very fine, burnt dust.
Rainbow closed her eyes, believing this to be the end. There was a rush of magic over her body, her mind buckled in pain as she saw her parents’ motionless bodies one more time.
Then the blast hit.
There was a sizable explosion from the point of impact, green fire, smoke, and dust billowing outwards and filling the entire throne room. Chrysalis was breathing raggedly with residual anger as the dust gradually began to settle. Then a lopsided, victorious grin appeared on her face. ”...It looks like I win…” she chuckled sadistically before standing upright and trotting forward to examine her work.
She froze, however, when she saw only a burning, partially molten crater in the floor where her prey had been. The ponies, however, were noticeably absent; as was the pod Rainbow Dash had been holding.
Rainbow was unsure if she believed that she was actually waking up again. She remembered the blast that Chrysalis had hurled at her and Twilight, she remembered feeling the onrush of heat and magic, and then everything going dark. She was sure she had been seeing her life flash before her eyes right before the end, but here she was waking up again, with the world rocking and swaying a little bit around her. When she opened her eyes, they were met with the sight of mangled Everfree trees slowly moving by with morning sunlight piercing through the branches, along with what looked like the frame of a stretcher. She was laying on the stretcher on her side, so she put a hoof under her barrel and pushed herself up a little to get a better look around.
“Woah Nelly! Twi, she’s awake!” Applejack’s voice said from the back of the stretcher. Rainbow looked around again as the movement came to a stop, trying to make sense of her surroundings. She was on a stretcher indeed, and Applejack was one of the two ponies carrying her with it. The other one was Thorax, still disguised as Squall Dreamer. Wind Whisper was curled up on his back, watching Rainbow curiously from behind her tail.
“Oh, thank goodness!” Twilight’s voice called out, the mare it belonged to galloping up to the side of the stretcher and looking Rainbow Dash over carefully. “How are you feeling?” she asked urgently, reaching a hoof out and touching it to Dash’s shoulder.
“Ugh… I’m alive, I think,” Rainbow replied in a dry voice, slowly sitting up while Applejack and Thorax set the stretcher down. “But… I’m confused. What happened?”
“You passed out when I teleported us out of the castle,” Twilight replied gently, sitting down by Rainbow’s side while everypony else slowly gathered around. Spike shot forward past Twilight and wrapped his claws around Rainbow’s barrel in a relieved hug. Twilight smiled at him, then kept going. “Between… whatever it was Chrysalis did to you and all of the magic you were exposed to, I guess my teleport was the last straw. You crumpled as soon as we came out the other side. It was… difficult to get you and safely back to Ponyville without getting caught, but we did it.”
“Oh…” Rainbow replied quietly, gently patting Spike on the back of the head. “How long was I out?”
“About seven hours,” Pinkie Pie chimed in with a smile before trotting up and giving Rainbow a hug of her own. “We were all really worried about you.”
“Don’t you ever do that again!” Spike suddenly shouted, slamming his fist into Rainbow’s shoulder while his body started shaking. “Either of you!”
Rainbow’s ears drooped and she shook her head. ‘Sorry, Spike… I had to try, at least…” she sighed and closed her eyes. “...We didn’t get Mom, Aunt Luna or Princess Cadance, though…”
Pinkie gave Rainbow a reassuring squeeze before reluctantly letting go and stepping back. Spike, while hesitant, went along with her while wiping the back of his claws over his eyes to wipe away some fresh tears that had formed. He came to a stop by Twilight’s side and settled for letting her pull him closer with a hoof.
Rarity then cleared her throat from not far away, drawing the attention of everyone else. She was hooked up to a wagon that would normally be used for carrying gems, but currently was carrying the green pod they had taken out of Canterlot. “Well, darling, if it makes you feel any better, your mission wasn’t a… total failure,”
Rainbow’s eyes widened and a small, almost disbelieving smile appeared on her face. She gave a sigh of relief. “We saved somepony…” she breathed out before shakily getting to her hooves. She wobbled as she did and almost fell back down. Fluttershy chose that moment to step in, putting herself next to Rainbow for support and helping her stay on her hooves. “Thanks, Flutters.”
“You’re welcome,” Fluttershy smiled gently before helping Rainbow over to the pod so she could have a look at the pony they had managed to rescue.
Rainbow’s brow furrowed in confusion as they drew closer, though. “Why are they still in there? I would have thought you’d have let them go free the second you got the chance.”
“It’s… w-well, you see…” Rarity stuttered out, looking rather nervous all of a sudden. In fact, everypony, sans Thorax and Whisper, looked pretty nervous and unsure.
“What? What’s wrong?” Rainbow asked before drawing close enough to peer into the pod. As she did so, her eyes snapped wide open and her blood ran cold. “No… no way…” she rubbed a forehoof over her eyes, trying to dispel what she was hoping was just an optical illusion. The image persisted, however, and she took a step back, shaking slightly.
For held within the green, slimy pod, slumbering peacefully away, and completely oblivious to the outside world, was Starlight Glimmer.
There were several long moments of silence.
“What are the chances, am I right?” Pinkie pie asked with a hopeful, disarming grin.
The rest of the trip had been made in almost complete silence, with Rainbow opting to take the lead of the group while Rarity stayed in the back with Starlight’s pod. Rainbow’s reaction to Starlight’s presence had been surprisingly tame, Twilight had observed, as she had simply asked Rarity to keep the pod away from her and not let Starlight out for the time being before going to the front. If nothing else, she hadn’t gotten openly hostile when she saw Starlight, so that was a huge improvement over the last time the two had crossed paths.
Now, after a few hours of more trudging through the foliage of the Everfree Forest, they at last came out of the shrubbery to behold the Castle of the Two Sisters, sitting majestically atop a rugged mesa that itself rose out of the center of a sizable dent in the ground. The bridge that once connected the two ends of the circular ravine, having been severed by Nightmare Moon during their last visit was, regrettably, still broken.
Wind Whisper propped herself up on Thorax’s head, resting her forehooves on his mane and squinting at the castle. She then leaned back and gasped slightly with huge, awestruck eyes. “Wooooaah… it’s so big!” she declared while pointing excitedly at it. “And… kinda crummy looking...” her muzzle scrunched up. “Is it supposed to look like that?”
“Well, yeah. I mean, It’s been abandoned for over a thousand years,” Thorax replied with a small smile on his muzzle. “Things tend to get kinda… dusty when left alone for that long.”
“Oooh, I see,” Whisper smiled and rested her chin on top of Thorax’s head, opting to watch from his perspective for a while.
Thorax frowned, though. He craned his neck so he could look at Rainbow Dash, who was presently inspecting the bridge and the fog-smothered ravine it was hanging uselessly into. “Are you sure this castle is a good hideout? We got here pretty easy and the changelings are bound to be looking for us after your mission into Canterlot.”
“I’m sorry to admit it, but Squall might have a point,” Twilight added, studying their surroundings very critically and wincing. “The Everfree is dangerous, but after what I’ve seen of her, I doubt it would even be an inconvenience to Chrysalis and her minions. Plus, the castle is in really rough shape. It wouldn’t be able to stand up against a siege at all if the changelings find us here.”
Rainbow Dash grimaced and backed away from the edge. She sighed heavily, absent-mindedly kicking a stray pebble into the ravine. “Yeah, you’re right… but right now, it’s all we’ve got. Once we’re in, we should go the castle’s library and look around. Atlasas, maps, anything that could point us to someplace where we’ll be safer.”
“Speakin’ of gettin’ in,” Applejack commented while glaring at the bridge distastefully. “How are we gonna do that? The bridge is still out.”
Rainbow Dash hesitated before looking down to her left wing. She took a deep breath and gently tried to unfurl it from her side. All at once, she regretted that decision, as the muscles in and around the appendage spasmed and tensed with white-hot pain from the movement, making her inhale sharply through tightly clenched teeth. Fluttershy was by her side in an instant, looking at the wind and offering her a comforting, if stern, expression. Rainbow managed to regain the ability to speak a few seconds later with an exhale. “Y-yeah, no, I’m not flying,” she managed to growl out before gently letting her wing curl back up to her side, the pain gradually subsiding. “I think I overdid it up there…”
“You did overdo it,” Fluttershy scolded gently while looking the wing over again, taking note of some very clearly visible swelling around the base. A mildly displeased frown slowly formed on her muzzle before she made eye contact with Rainbow. “You strained the muscles way more than they were ready for. The first thing we should do when we’re inside is make sure that you are taken care of.”
Rainbow glanced at Fluttershy and smiled softly. “Hey, if you can make this pain stop, go for it. I ain’t complaining. But we have to find the library first. You can check out my wing while the others are poring over books or whatever.”
“That plan would be helped along greatly if we could actually get inside,” Rarity noted, looking at the ravine with her snout scrunched up with disgust. “And honestly, I am getting rather tired of trekking through all of this icky much. Ew.”
Pinkie hummed thoughtfully before trotting up to the stone posts that the ropes were tied to, studying them rather cartoonishly. She then looked across the ravine to the castle itself. “You know, the last time we were here, after queen meanie broke the bridge and Fluttershy saved us, we climbed up some stairs that were carved into the side of the mesa that the castle’s on to get inside,” Pinkie pointed out before peering down into the fog. “So… maybe there’s another way down, then we can take those stairs up?”
“Huh… ya know, ah didn’t think of that,” Applejack thought aloud with a hoof to her chin. “And she’s right, too. We did find stairs headin’ up. Maybe she’s onto somethin’. Ah think it’s worth a shot. How’s it sound, y’all?”
“Yeah, yeah,” Rainbow said, her voice still a little strained from the residual throbbing in her wing. She looked at the fallen bridge with a thoughtful eye, then nodded curtly. “...Okay, fair enough. Let’s-”
“Pinkie!” Rarity suddenly shrieked with a hoof flying up to cover her muzzle while her eyes snapped wide open with shock and horror. Rainbow followed her gaze just in time to see Pinkie vanish from view, having just jumped over the edge of the cliff.
“What in tarnation?!” Applejack shouted, galloping up to the edge and looking over with everypony looking on in either confusion or severe alarm. After a second, Applejack visibly sagged before letting a little-relieved chuckle slip out, then looked over her shoulder at the rest of them. “Ugh. She’s fine, Y'all.”
Pinkie’s head popped up from the ledge, smiling widely. “Well, duh, I only found the stairs, silly!” she chirped while gesturing with a hoof to the surface she was standing on. She nodded happily before popping back down and bouncing along the mentioned stairs she had just found while singing a little tune to herself. Like the ones they had taken to reach the castle before, these stairs were carved into the cliff-side.
Rainbow ran a hoof over her face in exasperation while Fluttershy frowned disapprovingly. “Pinkie Pie, you shouldn't scare us like that!” she called after her, though her voice didn’t have enough volume to reach the happy pony’s ears.
“Let’s go, girls,” Twilight butted in before anypony could start dwelling on the fact that Pinkie Pie had almost given them all an enormous heart attack. “We’ve got no time to waste.”
The castle was just as they remembered it; old, decrepit, and practically falling apart. But as the group of ponies explored the halls, looking for the library, they noticed that under the golden glow of sunlight, much of it’s ominous atmosphere was replaced by a noticeably more… serene one. A few songbirds had made a nest atop one of the broken sections of the wall, tending to their eggs. A few mice scampered through the empty halls while the group made their way through, and Fluttershy, at one point, confirmed that there were bats napping peacefully in the darker recesses of what was left of the roof.
Rarity was unamused by that fact, especially since she was now carrying Starlight’s pod in her magic, having had to abandon the wagon during their ascent. More than once she had complained about the weight, but insisted on carrying it herself, saying that Twilight should rest her own magic as much as possible after their life threatening trip to Canterlot.
“You know,” Twilight eventually thought aloud while lightly sliding a hoof along one of the walls, where moss and vines had grown over centuries. A few leaves went with her hoof, and she took a moment to study them with a small, contemplative smile. “This place is… actually sort of beautiful, now that I’m really looking at it in the daylight.”
“Took the words right outta my mouth, sugarcube,” Applejack replied with a smile of her own. She took a moment to put a hoof on one of the walls, pushing on it a little as if to admire the construction. “Ah hafta admit, even Ah can appreciate how this all looks, ‘specially since alotta it is still pretty strong.”
“I suppose I can see your point,” Rarity added while looking around a little, some of the disgust and displeasure she had been openly displaying giving way to a more thoughtful and appreciative expression. “I still think it could use a good dusting, though.”
“I think it’s lovely,” Fluttershy said meekly from near the back of the group, smiling at a few bats who were silently sleeping in the rafters.
“There are so many rooms!” Whisper pointed out rather loudly from Thorax’s back, making said bats fly away down the hall with some parting squeaks of alarm. Now getting irked glares from everyone, Whisper cleared her throat and sheepishly looked around for something to change the subject with. She peered through a door as they passed and saw what looked like an old small storage room filled with dusty old crates and barrels, each one covered with a thick layer of cobwebs. “Hide and seek would be amazing in this place!”
“Oh, you read my mind!” Pinkie squealed happily while coming up to Thorax’s side. She grinned eagerly at Wind Whisper, practically vibrating. “I’m super good at hide and seek! Wanna play?”
Whisper gave a jubilant gasp and started to rapidly poke Thorax in the back of the head while repeating the same question over and over. “Can we, Dreamy? Can we can we can we can we-”
“Stop poking my head!” Thorax protested, grunting in discomfort with every tiny hit the back of his cranium had to suffer. Whisper withdrew her hoof and hid her face behind it. Thorax looked back at her, then looked at Pinkie. “...Alright, go ahead. But…” he looked deeply into Pinkie Pie's eyes while narrowing his own. The look he gave her made it quite clear in no uncertain terms that if anything bad happened to Wind while this was going on, he’d get her back for it. “Don’t go too far, okay?”
“Don’t worry, we’ll be safe!” Pinkie said nonchalantly before beaming down at Wind Whisper. “So, you wanna do the seeking or the hiding?”
“Hiding! I’ll find somewhere!” Whisper smiled enormously before jumping off of Thorax’s back and breaking into a brisk gallop down the old hall. “No peeking!”
Pinkie waved after her, then looked back at Thorax with a somewhat more reserved smile on her face. “She’s been through a lot, hasn’t she? A game of hide and seek is just what she needs to start smiling some more!”
Thorax nodded slowly. “Thanks, Pinkie. I hope you’re right… just don’t get into any trouble, okay?”
“We won’t!” Pinkie saluted, then slinked off into the storage room to begin her countdown. Thorax still looked uncomfortable as the group pressed on, routinely looking over his shoulder to see if he could spot them.
Noticing this, Fluttershy made her way over to trot by his side. Once he noticed her, she smiled softly. “Don’t worry, Pinkie is the best at hide and seek. One time, she found Angel Bunny even though he was in a completely different town. Your sister is going to be just fine,” she informed him before looking back the way they came. “And she’s right; that little filly could use a little play time.”
“I know. I’m just worried about her… I swore I’d take care of her,” Thorax sighed before shaking his head and looking down at the ground.
“You’re just being a good big brother, Squall,” Fluttershy replied while putting a hoof on his shoulder. “In fact, i think she’s a very lucky filly to have a brother like you.”
Thorax flinched and side-stepped away from Fluttershy’s hoof. “Th-thanks, Fluttershy… um… uh… yeah, thanks… I appreciate it…” he muttered uneasily before increasing his pace to move further ahead.
The next few minutes were fairly silent, everypony opting to focus on looking for the entrance to the library in favor of making small-talk. Eventually, though, Twilight’s brow furrowed with thought. She looked over at Rainbow, who was trotting right by her side.“So… I’m curious,” she began, drawing Rainbow’s attention. She looked over at Twilight and nodded for her to continue. Twilight slowed down a little and looked up at the ceiling, where a small hole could be seen letting in a shaft of sunlight. “Why did Celestia abandon this place? Did she ever tell you?”
Rainbow sighed slightly and paused in her trotting to look up at an old tapestry that hung just to the side of the hole in the roof. It was a beautifully woven piece that depicted Celestia and Luna flying after each other’s tails in a circle, with the background split evenly down the middle with gold and dark-blue colors to represent day and night. “She did… sort of. She didn’t want to go into a lot of detail at the time, but the basic gist is that between feeling bad for banishing her own sister, and some sort of residual dark magic that Nightmare Moon left behind starting to make it dangerous to live here, she decided that the castle just… wasn’t worth the effort and resources it would take to maintain.”
“Dark magic?” Fluttershy squeaked out, having been listening in to their discussion. She shrunk back to hide behind her mane while her eyes darted fearfully at every shadow. “Is it still here?”
“Might be,” Rainbow shrugged with a small frown. “Might not. I dunno, really, and it doesn’t matter. Even if it is here, it’s gonna be way too weak to be worth our time.”
Twilight hummed quietly to herself and looked around again. Her eyes settled on an unassuming wooden door set into the wall not far away. It stood out to her, somehow. Curious, she made her way closer so she could examine it better, with Rainbow and the others curiously watching her as she went. The wood had been dyed to be a pale shade of purple and the handles were elegantly curved and colored a lovely gold, even if one of them had long ago been snapped in half. On the wall just above the door was a plaque, well worn and covered in dust. The letters were archaic and illegible, though Twilight recognized them as being written in old ponish.
Acting off a hunch, Twilight pushed the doors open with her magic. The sight beyond made her eyes light up with joy.
“OH MY GOSH!” she cheered, elated, before galloping past the frame into the room proper. “I FOUND IT!”
Rainbow glanced back at the others, put on a cocky grin, then followed Twilight. True to the bookworm’s word, it was the library they had been searching for. A long, central floor-space spanned the middle of the enormous room, dotted with tables and chairs, some of which still had books open on their surfaces. A large, artistic statue of an alicorn horse dominated the center of the room, it’s head low to the ground in a deep ceremonial bow.
Then there were the books.
On the ground floor, on the left and right sides, were rows upon rows of bookshelves that were perpendicular to the central seating area, and each one was packed to the point of bursting with ancient tomes and dust-covered scrolls. There was a second floor as well, though it seemed to be a bit more compact, with the shelves running parallel to the carpet instead of perpendicular and limited standing space in the form of fairly narrow walkways. Towards the back of the room, a staircase split off to the left and right to connect to the walkways of second floor. Just above said stairs was a towering window frame, the glass having long ago burst out due to a lack of maintenance.
Twilight was, predictably, galloping around, giggling and jabbering to herself like a school filly who had been left in a candy store with a hundred bits and told to buy as much as she wanted.
“So many ancient books!” She yelled out while standing up on her hind legs to look at one of the higher shelves. “This is wonderful! I can’t believe it! WOO-HOO!”
“Yo, Twilight!” Rainbow called to her like she might call to a pet while the group piled in, drawing the ecstatic mare’s attention. Wearing an ever-so amused smirk on her face, Rainbow waved her over. “Calm down, would ya? We get it, it’s exciting, but we’re here for a reason.”
“B-but,” Twilight stuttered before absently prodding one of the books on the shelf in front of her. “...Books!”
Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes. “Oh, you… never change, you hear me?”
“I hate to cut this moment of delight short,” Rarity suddenly cut into the discussion with a strained grunt. ”But can I put this down, now? It’s heavier than I would like.” she asked in a deliberately whiney voice while slightly swaying the pod with Starlight in it for emphasis.
Rainbow blinked, having forgotten about it there for a moment. “Oh! Uh, yeah, sure, thump her on a table or something,” she said while eyeing the pod carefully. Rarity, thankful for the newly granted reprieve, set the pod down on the nearest table before the blue light finally faded from her horn.
“Whew! Thank goodness! My neck was getting sore…” She muttered in a grouchy voice while rubbing a hoof along her neck to work out the alleged stiffness.
Twilight returned to the group, pouting pitifully at Rainbow Dash, who simplu rolled her eyes and lightly smacked Twilight in the back of the head with a hoof, then cleared her throat. “Alright everypony, we’re trying to find someplace a bit safer to use as a hideout. We’re going to need atlases, maps, and maybe even journals of ponies that you’d expect to have done exploration and stuff like that. If anything looks promising, anything at all, speak up and let everypony know. We all clear on what we’re doing?”
There were no complaints or questions. Everypony was ready.
“Okay… let’s get to work. Fluttershy, let's get my wing looked at, eh?"
“Anything yet, girls?” Rainbow Dash called out from her cushion on the second floor of the library before peeking out over the edge to look at her friends below. Her left wing was once more bound to her side by bandages at Fluttershy’s behest. They had been at this search for several hours now, and during that time Pinkie Pie and Wind Whisper had met back up with the rest of the group and the sun was starting to dip for the horizon. Thus far, outside of being examined by Fluttershy (who made meticulous use of Doctor Horse’s notes), who had bound her wing back to her side with some bandages she had had the foresight to pack when they were leaving Ponyville, Rainbow had been sitting on the sidelines by Twilight’s request and doing nothing. She was stressed, tired and had an injured wing. Despite all of her protests, Twilight had insisted that Rainbow sit out their search for a while to rest.
Down below, Rarity huffed with frustration and looked up at Rainbow Dash. “Nothing over here,” she called up before turning to the next page in her book. She lightly gasped and wrinkled her nose when a small cloud of dust was knocked up into the air from the movement. “Oh, I really wish I had brought a duster with me or something…”
“We get the picture, you don’t like dust,” Pinkie chimed in before looking down at her own book and frowning. “I don’t either. Unless it’s dust bunnies. Those are fun. But yeah, I haven’t found anything either. Nothing helpful, anyways,” she turned her book around. “I did find some funny jokes in this journal, though! Whoever this guy was, he had a good sense of humor!”
Twilight sighed and shook her head while closing her own book and stifling a yawn. “I haven’t found anything that could help us, either. Most of the locations that I find references to are either really easy to get to, completely in the open, don’t even exist anymore, or too far away to be good options...”
“Well that’s really not helpful,” Rainbow grumbled and retreated back from the rail. “We’re sitting ducks here!”
“We know that, RD,” Applejack called up before thumping the book she was looking at closed and glaring at the cover. “We’re doin’ our best.”
Silence consumed them after that, with everypony continuing their search. At one point, Thorax came trotting out of one of the aisles with a scroll held carefully in his mouth. When he reached his table, he unrolled it, revealing it to be a map, then studied its contents with bored eyes. Those eyes lit up, however, when he spotted something… different. “Huh… What’s the ‘Crystal Empire?” he asked quizzically.
“Crystal what?” Rainbow raised an eyebrow and lifted herself back off of the cushion she had been resting on. Looking down from the edge once again, she found that Twilight and Applejack were also heading in Thorax’s direction, curious looks on their faces.
“The Crystal Empire,” Thorax reiterated while poking the map with his hoof. “It’s on this map, marked as a city with its own sovereign territory up on the edge the frozen north. It looks kinda important, but I’ve never heard of it.”
“Me neither,” Applejack muttered while getting a closer look at the map. “Weird… ah’ve heard of lotta places, considerin’ how many of my relatives live all across Equestria, and ah have never heard of that place before, and it’s definitely not on any modern map of Equestria that ah’ve ever seen…”
“Huh… The Crystal Empire, huh? Hmm… might be worth looking into. I’ll get started looking for other references or information on it,” Twilight stated before turning to head for the history section of the library. “The rest of you keep checking for other leads.”
There was a general vocalization of agreement, and the group scattered to continue their search.
“You called me, your highness?” Pharynx announced his presence carefully as he trotted into the throne room of Canterlot Castle, doing his best to keep the anxious tremor out of his voice. He looked around at the room, curiously taking it all in. He hadn’t been inside of it since the battle and he couldn’t help but note how the three princesses of Equestria were all suspended and comatose in thick green pods that dangled from the ceiling. Those pods glowed with a slowly pulsing green light, indicating the special enchantments woven into them to harden the shell and make escape extremely difficult. Queen Chrysalis stood by the enormous hole in the wall that Celestia had created when they began their battle, looking out over the city beyond with an unreadable expression on her muzzle. Her ears twitched somewhat when Pharynx spoke.
“Yes, Pharynx. I was hoping you might have some… insight, for me,” she said cooly, looking at Pharynx out of the corner of her eye. He shifted back and gave a low bow, awaiting her to continue. She did. “Not long ago, It was brought to my attention by several of the drones that worked with him that Thorax had mysteriously... gone missing,” she then turned to face him more directly with a scowl upon her face. “And the night after I hear of this, Princess Rainbow Dash and one of the other wielders of the Elements of Harmony came marching into the castle on a direct route for the throne room, presumably on a rescue mission. They didn’t waste any time or take any side-paths, either, as if they already knew where my most precious morsels are being stored…”
Pharynx tried to hold a straight face, but the small bead of sweat forming on his forehead betrayed his nervousness. Chrysalis’ frown grew darker. “So, I would like to know if you have any idea where your little brother went, and why?”
Pharyn stiffly shook his head. “N-no, my queen… I don’t know…” he said in a shaking, weak voice.
Chrysalis narrowed her eyes dangerously. For several moments she glared down at him, then made a show of slowly reaching a forehoof up to touch the still healing cracks on her cheek, making sure that Pharynx noticed the motion. “How… disappointing… I had been hoping to find them so that I could pay that lavender maggot back for how she humiliated me, andI had hoped you could keep a better eye on your own little brother… especially after all of that talk you made of your confidence in him and his loyalty to me.”
“Forgive me, my queen,” Pharynx apologized while lowering his bow to the point that he was practically laying on the floor, his muzzle touching the partially shredded red carpet beneath him. “I made an error in judgment… I am sorry, and I swear it will not happen again.”
Chrysalis looked at herself in the reflection of what was left of one of the stained glass windows, then down at Pharynx with a small, sweet smile appearing on her face. “Indeed, it won’t happen again,” she said in a comforting coo, slowly sauntering towards him. “I know you won’t let me down again, my loyal Pharynx… after all…” she placed a hoof on the top of his head and started petting him like he were a dog. “...you value the position and respect that you’ve earned for yourself far too much. Letting me down would…” she leaned down so that her muzzle was right next to his ear, grazing her fangs along it. “Jeopardize that almost luxurious life of yours… wouldn’t it?”
“Y-yes, of c-course, your majesty…” Pharynx stuttered out , trembling and quivering under the gentle touch of Chrysalis’ hard hoof pressing into his head, and her breath and her teeth on his ear. “I promise, will not fail you. I’d do anything for you…”
“Good boy,” Chrysalis murmured directly into his ear before standing back to her full height, using his head as a stepping stone as she did so. Despite the pain that pierced his skull from that contact, Pharynx refrained from even so much as breathing, too afraid of his queen to risk showing signs of weakness, especially now that she was angry with him. Chrysalis eyed Pharynx critically for several moments, then turned her back on him. “Now, I have a special mission for you.”
“Mission, your majesty?” Pharynx asked and hesitantly lifted his head so he could look at Chrysalis. She casually glanced back over her shoulder at him and flashed him a sadistic smirk.
“Yes. I want you to hunt down and find your runaway little brother of yours, and bring him before me to answer for his betrayal.”
“But, my queen,” Pharynx licked his lips, his mouth suddenly going dry. “I… I don’t know where to look, or even where to start. I’m not an infiltrator or scout. I’m-” Pharynx’s words hitched in his throat when green fire erupted along Chrysalis’ horn, and she turned on him with fury in her eyes.
“YOU ARE MY DRONE!” she roared furiously, encasing Pharynx in her magic and forcefully hauling him to float before her in the air, his front legs pinned to his sides. She snarled angrily into his face, her lips curled back to reveal her teeth. “And I thought you just said you would do anything for me! So unless you were lying to me, then I expect you to start somewhere! I couldn’t care less what your position in the hive is, you are a drone, and you will serve your queen without question, so if I tell you to do something, YOU DO IT! Do you understand?!”
“Y-yes!” Pharynx gasped in terror, nodded quickly. He instinctively squirmed in her grip as adrenaline began pumping through his veins and his heart hammered against his ribs like a blacksmith working on his newest masterpiece. “My sincerest apologies, my queen! I spoke out of line!”
“You are doing a lot of apologizing today! How about I give you a reason to be sorry?” Chrysalis snarled before her mouth opened wide. Pharynx’s eyes widened in shock, then horror when he felt something inside of his chest being tugged on. Indescribable agony erupted all across his chest and inside of his stomach, making him thrash and let out blood-curdling screams as a steady stream of pink energy flowed out of his chest and into Chrysalis’ mouth.
His body twitched and convulsed for several seconds, his screams never letting up until Chrysalis ended her spell and dropped him to the ground in a weakened, trembling heap. She glared down at him with disdain and anger. “Now get on your hooves, Pharynx,” she barked, kicking him in the ribs as if he were little more than a piece of stray trash. “Get up and bring me your little brother so I can deal with him. If you return to me empty hooved, or if I find that you went missing as well, then the pain you just suffered will seem like the highest form of bliss compared to what I will do to you!”
Pharynx looked up at Chrysalis, trembling and gasping for breath. Chrysalis scowled bitterly down at him. He was always so proud and sure of himself, a stoic and professional warrior of the hive. Now he was curled up and sniveling beneath her wrath.
Exactly where every creature before her belonged.
Chrysalis bared her teeth when he remained unmoving. “What are you waiting for? GO!”
He didn’t question her this time. With his tail tucked between his legs and his lungs struggling to take in air through his terrified, panicked gasps, Pharynx got onto shaky and unsteady hooves and galloped frantically from the throne room, leaving Chrysalis behind to glance at sideways at her reflection in the mirror, where she could still see that blasted crack.
“The Crystal Empire was an independent city-state that had strong political ties with Equestria,” Twilight recited from the book she held to everypony else several hours later, all of them gathered around one of the tables that had managed to go unused during their search for information. “Apparently, they were close allies with Equestria and had a powerful enchantment that let the empire reflect the emotional state of its population across the surrounding environment for miles upon miles. This allowed for unprecedented levels of harmony and coordination between the main pony races in Equestria, and mitigated border friction with the Griffins.”
“Oh, it sounds like an absolutely divine place!” Rarity said, looking like she was swooning at just the idea. “And with a name like the Crystal Empire, it must have been a fabulous place!”
“But what happened to it?” Rainbow asked with a frown on her face. She put a hoof on the table and glanced down at the map that was spread out on the wooden surface, her eyes resting on the Crystal Empire in the north. “I mean, mom never mentioned it to me. Did something bad happen there?”
“Yeah, it did. That’s one of the few things this book actually talks about,” Twilight continued while turning to another page in the book and setting it down. “The book doesn’t go into a lot of details about the ponies who lived their, their culture or traditions, or even the city itself. I guess they were a reclusive group. But the book does cover what happened to them,” she then pointed at one of the pages and the illustration on it. A pony, a unicorn by the looks of it, with a dark grey coat and a pitch black mane and tail. His horn was curved and came to a fine tip, and he was dressed in plate armor and a flowing red cape. “This is King Sombra… who he is, where he came from and what his goals were aren’t known by the author, but apparently, he took over the Crystal Empire sometime before Luna turned into Nightmare Moon.”
“So the Empire became a bad place, then?” Pinkie asked with her muzzle scrunching up. “Pew, no thanks.”
“It’s more complicated than that,” Twilight Said before turning to the next page. “It says here that Sombra was overthrown, but that just before his defeat, he somehow ‘took the empire with him.’ The entire city and all of its inhabitants just… vanished.”
Applejack gasped audibly and trotted over to Twilight’s side. “Say what?” she asked, looking over Twilight’s shoulder at the page with wide eyes. “Yer sayin’ he destroyed an entire city before bein’ taken out?”
“Not destroyed,” Twilight corrected before pointing at the page again. “It vanished. There weren’t any ruins left behind. It’s like the whole thing was just erased from existence. Then Sombra was, according to this, turned to shadow and banished to the snow of the frozen north.”
“Turned to shadow?” Fluttershy asked uneasily, playing with her mane to vent some of her nervousness. “What does that mean?”
“I… don’t know,” Twilight eventually sighed in defeat before closing the book and putting it down, looking disappointed. “But that’s all I was able to find. It’s not really a good lead, is it?”
“No, it’s not, but thanks for trying,” Rainbow stated with a small nod. She then shifted and looked up and out the library window before cringing when she saw the moon starting to come out. “Ooh, it’s getting late. We should probably put out our candles and get some sleep.”
“Oh, before we do that,” Pinkie suddenly called out, having slipped away from the table at some point. Everypony looked over at her and saw that she was right next to Starlight Glimmer’s pod. “What do we wanna do with this? It’s kinda…” she sniffed it heavily, then stuck out her tongue in disgust. “Ew. It’s kinda gross.”
Rainbow went stiff, looking at the pod uneasily. Starlight Glimmer was in that pod, and every time Rainbow had passed by her, she had felt that burning on the back of her head, felt the anger Discord had stirred in her bubbling back up to the surface. Even though she knew full well that Starlight was innocent. “...We… uh…” she stammered, her ears going against her head.
“Rainbow Dash, we need to let her out,” Thorax said simply from her side. When she looked at him, he leaned over added in a whisper: “If she was being held in the throne room, it’s because she was deemed a large threat. Large enough that the queen wanted to deal with her personally. If that’s the case, she’s probably really powerful, and we could use some powerful help right now.”
Rainbow slowly nodded, then looked across the table at Twilight and Applejack. Both of them gave slow nods of encouragement. They were right. They needed the help… she just hoped she could keep her emotions under control. The last thing she wanted as an encore of her performance from the train.
She took a deep breath. “...Okay, fine. We’re letting her out,” Rainbow sighed, then looked down again. Carefully and slowly, she dragged herself over to the pod. As she went by, Twilight fell into step next to her, offering her a reassuring smile and nudge.
“We’re all here for you, Rainbow,” she said quietly when they finally came to a stop. “Don’t worry. We won’t let anything bad happen to you,” she then draped a foreleg over Rainbow’s back in a comforting side-hug.
Rainbow nodded gratefully to her, then looked at the pod critically, studying it for weak points. After a few seconds, she carefully lifted a hoof and prodded the transparent front of the pod, testing its strength. It was thick and strong, but it bent a little under her prodding and felt kind of like wax if it were slimier. After a few more seconds, she threw caution to the wind. With a grunt of exertion, she pushed her hoof into the barrier with enough force to rip through it, allowing green slime to spill forth from the tear and splatter across the table and the floor. It bubbled out in egregious amounts, staining Rainbow’s hooves and foreleg even as Twilight jumped back with a grossed-out yelp.
With another grunt, Rainbow gave a hard pull and ripped the pod the rest of the way open, undeterred even as yet more green slime and some foul-smelling, unidentified fluid splashed against her chest and legs. She then reached into the pod and carefully hooked her forelegs under Starlight’s so she could haul her out. She felt the back of her head heating up and those words echoing in her head again.
Make her pay.
Rainbow grit her teeth and shook her head. No, she wasn't going to listen to that again. The last time she had, she had almost ruined everything. With a long and tense groan from the resistance the pod was offering, she finally pulled Starlight out of the pod, the contents within squelching and crunching as she slipped so. Pinkie Pie trotted forward and helped Rainbow by taking Starlight’s hind legs, keeping them from hitting anything too hard. “Ugh, gross!” she whined when her hooves came into contact with the green mush.
“Just get her on the floor,” Rainbow snarked out through grit teeth, stumbling back a little bit.
Soon, Starlight Glimmer was set down on her back on the library floor, her body still dripping with green slime and putrid liquids. Rainbow Dash looked down at her for several long seconds. She puffed out a breath and tore her eyes away from the unconscious unicorn, choosing to look over at Thorax instead. “Any idea how long until she wakes up?” she asked him simply.
“Oh, uh, not long, probably,” Thorax replied while cantering up. “...That’d be my best guess, at any rate.”
Rainbow looked at Starlight’s unconscious body again, then looked down at the floor. “...Right. Somepony get her a blanket and move her to one of the couches or something,” she muttered before looking down at her hooves. “I’m gross… did anypony spot a washroom on the way here?”
Despite the tense atmosphere, Twilight managed to smile at Rainbow Dash, feeling her heart swell with pride. Rainbow was handling this extremely well.
A towering spire of magnificent blue crystals jutting out of the snow, shining as a beacon of hope and love for miles and miles in every direction. A city of ponies that shimmered like the most resplendent of gems and jewels just beneath said spire. A shadow winds its way through the city and it’s population, tainting them with fear and hatred. A flash of light from the top of the spire blinds everything, and as it fades, the city is gone with it.
“The Crystal Empire! Go to it! Maybe the magic that erased it can be undone!” a feminine voice echoed over the snow, urgent and pained. “If you can do so, then there may yet be hope! The power of the empire may be enough to repel our enemies!”
Green fire burst up out of the snow, melting much of it into steam as a swarm of hornets, bees, locusts and other aggressive insects swirled into the air in such enormous numbers that, in only a matter of seconds, the whole world was smothered with darkness.
“GO!”
The dream ended.
Twilight’s eyes snapped open and a ragged, shocked gasp tore itself out of her lungs. With her mind reeling in confusion, she took a long, deep breath and looked around, trying to regain her bearings. It was still night by the looks of it, and everypony else was still asleep, most of them resting on chairs or couches. Twilight herself had opted to make use of a stray cushion that she had placed at the foot of the couch Starlight was sleeping on. Eventually, after a few minutes, her breathing calmed down, as did her mind, and she went through everything she had just seen in her dream once again. The voice that had spoken to her… it had sounded like Princess Luna. Had she contacted her…? “Seek out the Crystal Empire…?”
“Huh?” another voice groggily said from just above Twilight’s head on the couch. Shifting, she looked up and saw Starlight Glimmer starting to sit upright on the couch, rubbing her eyes with a hoof. “Wha… where am I?” she mumbled, looking around in confusion.
Twilight looked over her shoulder, confirmed that Rainbow Dash was still sleeping on the second floor, then turned back to look at Starlight. Their eyes met. Both of them froze. For a few tense seconds, neither of them dared to speak a word or utter a sound. Then, Twilight lightly coughed and smiled sheepishly. “Uh… good morning?”
“What…” Starlight blinked, looking around in confusion. Her eyes darted around and narrowed with suspicion. “What am I doing here… what are you doing here?!” her voice gained an edge and she quickly jumped off of the couch, backing away from Twilight with her horn sparking to life. Twilight shrunk back and lifted her hooves in a placating gesture, now fully awake at the sight of the angry and defensive unicorn.
“W-woah! Easy! Y-you were caught by the changelings who attacked Canterlot! Rainbow Dash and I rescued you,” She tried in what she hopes was a soothing voice before looking over her shoulder again to make sure nopony had been roused by the sudden movement and sound. None of them had, thankfully.
“You and Rainbow Dash?” Starlight scoffed disbelievingly, looking around her surroundings in agitation. “No, I don’t believe you. Why would Rainbow save me? She hates me!” her horn flared up even brighter, making Twilight scoot back in alarm.
“She doesn’t hate you,” She tried again, slowly lowering her hooves to the floor. “She’s just… afraid of what you remind her of… but she does not hate you, trust me. If she did, you would never have been let out of your pod.”
Starlight growled and backed up even further, glaring past Twilight at the green pod she had once been entrapped in. She grit her teeth and took another defensive step back, looking about ready to run away. Twilight’s ears flattened and she bit her lip, trying to think of something she could say to calm the other unicorn down. “Starlight, please, calm down. You’re safe, okay? None of us are going to hurt you. I promise!”
Starlight looked at Twilight again, scrutinizing her for any sign of deceptions. She must not have found any, because she visibly relaxed after several seconds, the sparking light on her horn winking out of existence. Starlight took in a deep breath and let it out in a heavy sigh. “Okay… okay, I’m trusting you… but can you tell me what’s going on?”
Twilight nodded slowly, smiling in relief, before glancing over her shoulder at her still sleeping friends. “Sure. But can we take it outside, first? I don’t want to wake my friends up.”
Starlight looked past Twilight at her friends, the hesitantly nodded. “S-sure… lead the way, I guess.”
“So these ‘changeling’ things attacked Canterlot because they need the love that ponies feel,” Starlight recounted about thirty minutes later, looking out at the Everfree forest from the balcony she and Twilight had decided to use for their chat. The first glow of the coming sunrise was starting to paint the horizon in soft shades of gold and blue. The air was cool and crisp and there were only a few clouds in the sky. Starlight looked up at the few stars that were still visible and frowned. “And they captured everypony they could so they could ‘harvest’ them. Then you and Rainbow Dash came in on a rescue mission for the princesses, but got me instead…”
“That about sums it up,” Twilight nodded slowly. “We were confronted by the Changeling Queen. There was no way we were going to be able to fight her off for long, and the Princesses pods were heavily reinforced and protected by enchantments to prevent anypony tampering with them. We only had a few seconds, so I told Rainbow to just grab somepony and get close to me so I could do a teleport. She grabbed you.”
“Huh… I see,” Starlight muttered before letting her eyes droop to look down at the floor. “So… what happens now?” she eventually asked, sounding resigned and scuffing a hoof along the stone floor.
“Well... we’ve been looking for other places to hide out since we got here. This castle is spooky, yeah, but it’s not exactly a good long-term hideout,” Twilight explained, her brow furrowing. “I… think I have an idea about that, but before I talk about that, I need to ask you something.”
“What?”
“...Will you help us?”
“What?” Starlight repeated incredulously, looking at Twilight like she had just spoken absolute nonsense.
Twilight was quick to speak up again. “I know that we haven’t exactly made good impressions on you, and I’ll understand if you don’t want anything more to do with us, Starlight. But you’re good with magic; really good. Chrysalis was holding you in the same room as the Princesses for pony’s sake. We could use that kind of help right about now.”
Starlight blinked at Twilight and stared at her disbelievingly for a few long seconds. Then she turned and peered over the edge of the rails on the balcony, seeming like she was thinking it over. A cool morning breeze blew through the area, rustling the branches of the forest below and creating a whistling sound as it wound through the ancient castle, sounding almost like a ghost calling out. After a while, when it seemed like Starlight wasn’t going to answer, Twilight sighed and turned to walk away.
“I’ll help you,” Starlight suddenly said, drawing a surprised gasp out of Twilight. She turned to gawk at Starlight like a deer in a train’s headlight as Starlight turned away from the balcony with a look of determination on her face. “These ‘changeling’ things attacked Canterlot, hurt a lot of innocent ponies, and abducted Sunburst. If what you’re telling me is right, they aren’t going to stop there, and I don’t intend to sit on my rump and do nothing about it…” her expression hardened a little bit before she stepped a bit closer to Twilight. “But just so we’re clear… I’m not doing this for Rainbow Dash or your friends. The only one of your group I know or trust is you, and even then… I have my doubts about you. I’m doing this for the sake of Equestria, and my friend. Got it?”
Twilight winced a little at Starlight’s blunt explanation but nodded in understanding. “That’s all I could have asked for. I don’t blame you for feeling the way you do, so… Thank you, Starlight.”
Starlight’s expression lost some of its intensity, and a ghost of a smile tugged at the corners of her lips. “No problem. Now, about this idea of yours?”
Twilight nodded and gestured with her head for the doorway heading back into the castle. “We’ll need everypony else. And they’ll need to know you’re helping us anyway. Come on.”
With that, the two disappeared back inside the ruins of the Castle of the Two Sisters.
“Everypony, it’s time to wake up!” Twilight called out once she and Starlight returned to the library. The room’s occupants gradually rose from their slumber, some a bit more quickly than others. Pinkie Pie was already wide-awake the moment she heard Twilight’s voice and practically launched herself off of her chair, eager to begin a new say. Rarity mumbled something incoherent and very unladylike under her breath, groggily stumbling off of the couch she had been using. Applejack was a bit quicker to rise, along with Fluttershy. Thorax was wide-awake at the same time Pinkie was, lifting his head from where it had been resting to cover Wind Whisper, who was curled up against his side and seemed to sleep right through Twilight’s declaration.
“Ooh, Starlight’s awake!” Pinkie announced with a big grin while bouncing towards the two unicorns. “Hi! How are you doing? I’m doing fine. Do you like cupcakes? I love them maybe I should make you some when all of this is over as a way of saying ‘sorry for spying on you and letting Dashie try to hurt you’ and then we can all be friends and-”
“Pinkie, Pinkie!” Rarity scolded while dragging the excitable mare back by the tail with her magic. Pinkie pouted at Rarity and got a harsh glare in response. “Tone it down, would you? Give the dear some space.”
“Space?” Pinkie asked like it were a completely foreign work, looking at Rarity with a raised eyebrow.
“Ugh…”
Twilight simply rolled her eyes and then looked up towards the second floor, where Rainbow and Spike had been sleeping. “Rainbow Dash, Spike, get down here!”
On the walkway itself, Spike walked up to the edge and looked down at Twilight, then giving her a wave and smile before a big yawn worked its way out of him. Once that was done, he turned to Rainbow Dash and frowned in disapproval. She was still out like a light, snoring peacefully away. One of her hind legs twitched a little. With a look of annoyance on his face, Spike marched up and gave Rainbow a harsh shake.
“Wha?!” Rainbow Dash snapped awake and sat bolt upright, having not been expecting the contact. She glanced down at Spike and pouted pitifully at him with a long whine sounding from the back of her throat. “Ugh… Spike, why did you…” she wound up yawning as well, then smacked her lips together when it ended. “Why’d’ya wake me up, you doof?”
Spike pointed over his shoulder with a flat look on his face. “Twilight’s calling us. It’s time to get up.”
Rainbow complained with another whine before groggily standing up. She yawned again, then stretched out her wings and back before trotting to look over the edge of the rail. For a moment, her mind blanked when she spotted Starlight, and the back of her head tingled. She quickly bit down on the inside of her cheek to force herself to focus. Ignore it, she told herself firmly. Just ignore it. She’s innocent and we need her help, anyway. With that mental scolding done, Rainbow turned and moved briskly for the stairs so she could rejoin the others on the ground floor.
While Rainbow was making her descent, Starlight eyes Thorax with curiosity. “Oh, hello. Uh, who are you?” she asked with a raised eyebrow when Thorax approached. Wind Whisper was still snoozing on his back.
“Oh, I’m Squall Dreamer,” he lied before holding out a hoof and offering a friendly smile. “Lunar Royal guard. With the rest of the Princesses down, I, uh, guess it’s my job to protect Rainbow Dash,” his words became very awkward and tense as he spoke, and his smile turned a little crooked. A tiny, nervous laugh was barely suppressed.
Starlight eyed him uneasily for a few seconds, but pushed her hoof to his and shook anyway. “A… pleasure. I’m Starlight Glimmer.”
“I know,” Thorax replied, looking over at Rainbow Dash. “They’ve… talked about you.”
Starlight followed Thorax’s gaze and affixed hers on the blue pegasus. She felt her heart rate spike for a moment when she remembered that… horrific, rage-filled scream that she had heard Rainbow emitting just before attacking her. She remembered the hatred burning in her eyes, and she remembered how much it had hurt when she had punched her in the face. “I… I bet, eheh,” she chuckled nervously and took a few steps back to be farther away from Rainbow.
The whole room went quiet as everypony noticed the tension. The two mares were looking at each other very carefully, with Rainbow’s expression being a mix of anger and regret, while Starlight’s expression was that of a frightened mare trying not to provoke an unstable animal. Eventually, though, it was Rainbow Dash to break the silence and tension when she sighed and looked down at the ground. “Starlight… I’m sorry.”
“...Fwah?” Starlight blinked and took another step back, not really sure she had heard that right. “I… I’m sorry, what was that?”
“I’m sorry,” Rainbow said again, looking up into Starlight’s eyes. The regret in her own was enough to give the unicorn pause. “I attacked you on that train, and it was the biggest mistake of my life… I…” she looked away from Starlight and at Twilight, her ears falling flat against her head. “...I almost lost the ponies that matter most to me because of how stupid and reckless I was. I’m… I’m sorry… you didn’t deserve what I tried to do to you.”
Starlight’s eyes widened considerably and she looked around for several seconds as if trying to find something to help her make sense of what she had just heard. She then coughed into her hoof and scratched the back of her head. “Uh… wow… uh… I just got an apology from a princess… uh… apology accepted? I think? Did I say that right?” she stuttered out, not quite sure how to respond to this development.
Luckily, Pinkie was there to break the awkwardness in her typical fashion.
“Awwww,” she drawled out happily before darting over and throwing her forelegs around Rainbow Dash’s shoulders in a tight hug. “Little Dashie went and said she’s sorry! Oh, she’s coming so far! Maybe I should throw you two a ‘congratulations on making up’ party when this is all over! A good way to make these once-enemies into best friends!”
Rainbow looked sideways at Pinkie with a deadpan look. “If you could stop hugging me, Pinkie...” she left the sentence incomplete.
Pinkie got the message all the same. “Sorry!” she squeaked and quickly let go, backing away and grinning sheepishly with a tiny red tint on her cheeks.
Rainbow snorted at her, then looked at Twilight and Starlight again. It felt so… weird seeing the lilac unicorn again, especially after how their last meeting had gone. In truth, she had hoped to never see her again. But she was here, now… and didn’t seem to be in any hurry to leave. Rainbow coughed into her hoof and gestured at the two of them. “So… what’s the story? Is Starlight sticking around?” she asked almost timidly, not quite able to meet either of their eyes with her own.
Twilight looked at Starlight questioningly, who nodded back at her in confirmation. With that done, Twilight cleared her throat and began. “Starlight said she’s going to help us, and I think I may know where we can go.”
“Really? Where?” Applejack asked, cantering forward with Fluttershy by her side.
“Is it somewhere nice?”
“Not exactly,” Twilight shook her head. “Remember the Crystal Empire?” Everypony nodded their heads in acknowledgement, save for Starlight, who just looked kind of confused. “We go there,” Twilight continued simply.
“But didn’t the whole thing vanish?” Thorax asked with a raised eyebrow. “It’s just going to be a field of ice and snow. Not really a good hideout, unless we want to be frozen solid.”
“That’s the thing,” Twilight continued before looking at Rainbow Dash and smiling softly. “I got contacted by Princess Luna via a dream. She says that the magic that made it vanish… maybe we can undo it. Thinking about it, it makes sense. Nothing just disappears. You can’t make something out of nothing, or turn something into nothing. It had to have gone somewhere, and a conventional teleport spell probably wasn’t the culprit behind the vanishing act. If we go there, there’s a good chance that the spell will still be in place and, if so, maybe I can undo it. If it’s been a thousand years, then the spell is bound to have gotten weaker by now.”
“That makes sense,” Starlight cut in, stepping forward a little bit. “I don’t really know what the Crystal Empire is, but if it’s as big as it sounds and the whole thing just ‘vanished’ because of a spell, the magic must have been really powerful. That would definitely leave an imprint that could be exploited.”
Rainbow’s brow furrowed in thought for a few moments, then she looked over her shoulder at the rest of the assembly of ponies. “I’m in. What about the rest of you?” she asked simply, looking at each of them in turn.
“Rainbow,” Applejack began with a cocky smile splitting her muzzle. “Ah think Ah speak for all of us when Ah say… where you go, we go, your highness.”
“Mhmm,” was Fluttershy’s admittedly lackluster response, but despite how timid and nervous she looked, she managed to put on a solid look of determination which burned especially bright behind her eyes.
“We’re with you all the way, darling,” Rarity confirmed with a smile. “And if we can bring this Crystal Empire back, well, count me in!”
“Sounds like fun!” Pinkie Pie agreed while bouncing in place. “Count me in! I can’t wait to see all of those sparkly crystal ponies!”
“Heh. It’s my job to go with you,” Thorax said, though her visibly tensed as he said this. Rainbow nodded to him sympathetically, then turned back to Twilight and Starlight.
“Like I told you before, back in Ponyville,” Twilight said before trotting until she was directly in front of Rainbow Dash. “You’re not alone. You have us.”
Rainbow smiled before reaching out and pulling Twilight into a warm embrace. A second later, she leaned back and nodded to the rest of the assembled ponies. “Alright, everypony! Pack whatever you’re taking! We’ve got an empire to visit!”
The room exploded into cheers from most of its occupants. Only Starlight, Thorax and Wind Whisper opted to stay out of the cheering. This noise was what finally roused the filly from her sleep. She poked her head up, blinking groggily at everypony else. “What are we yelling about?” she asked sleepily.
As the group set about preparing to leave, one thing was clear in Rainbow Dash’s mind: There was no looking back, now. What was done was done. Her ultimate mistake on the train was in the past. Her long-term wayward disregard for her position as royalty had come to an end. The battle for Canterlot was over, and they had lost. It was time to let the dust settle on those events and focus instead on the future, and doing the best that they could.
It was with that resolve burning in the back of her mind that Rainbow led her friends from the Castle of the Two Sisters, with Twilight at her side, heading for the north...
“Where could they have gone…?” Queen Chrysalis snarled bitterly to herself in the middle of Ponyville, glaring around at the empty streets while her drones picked away at the village for any sign of hiding stragglers. She hadn’t been expecting the town to be evacuated so quickly, given Rainbow Dash’s reckless nature. Of course, she was less concerned with the town’s population then she was with the absence of the wielders of the Elements of Harmony, who had seemingly fled the moment Rainbow Dash and her purple friend’s rescue mission ended.
“My queen!” A drone suddenly called out, knocking Chrysalis from her ruminations. She turned and spotted him galloping up to her and then dropping into a low bow in front of her. “Reports have just come in from our scouts in the Forest. They claim to have found tracks going in and out, estimated to be less than a week old, heading north,” he recited professionally. “Based on the number of tracks, they’re estimating the group had five to eight ponies.”
“Is that right?” Chrysalis asked sweetly, the frown of confusion on her face slowly changing into a twisted and vile smirk. “Well, then, I do believe we have found the scent… Have the scouts who found those tracks follow them. I’m curious to see where our runaway princess has gone,” she ordered, giving her wings a sharp buzz.
“Of course, my queen! Right away” The drone stood up, turned, and galloped away to do as instructed. Chrysalis watched him go, then turned her eyes up to the sky, casually observing her drones as they darted back and forth across the sky. It is to be a hunt, then…? Good. She licked her fangs and her pupils dilated. I do so enjoy the rush of a good hunt…
“And you all made fun of me for packing so many scarves,” Rarity called out over the rushing howl of the blizzard, smiling from under her four or so scarves that were wrapped around her neck and face.
Applejack groaned and shot her a dirty look. “Yeah yeah, ya don’t have to rub our faces in it, Rarity!” she shouted back, shivering against the cold as another biting gust tore by, almost knocking her hat off of her head. “Gah! Anythin’ yet, you three?” she called up to the three ponies at the head of the group, Twilight, Starlight and Rainbow Dash.
They had been at this for hours, now, searching the wind-blasted tundra of the Frozen North for any signs of the spell that had made the empire vanish oh so long ago. After a whole week of trudging through open countryside, they had finally managed to get to the region that they needed to be in. Now they just had to figure out where the empire used to be in this wasteland of ice, snow and frigid boulders. Twilight and Starlight were leading the charge on this front, scanning the area carefully with magic of their own, while Rainbow kept a careful eye out for anything out of the ordinary that might help them narrow down their search.
“I’m not seeing anything,” Rainbow called back to Applejack before looking over Twilight’s shoulder at the map she was holding. She squinted for a few moments before leaning back “But we’re close. I can tell.”
As if on cue, Starlight’s horn suddenly flared up immensely with light and energy, and a small gasp escaped her lungs. “Woah, I got something!” she yelled, lowering her horn closer to the ground and sweeping it around like a bloodhound trying to find a scent.
“Where, where is it?!” Twilight asked eagerly, passing her map to Rainbow and cantering up to Starlight’s side to join her. Her horn also flared up, and her mind reeled with excitement at the sensation. They were close, alright.
“Not far,” Starlight replied before looking up a little. “Just past those rocks. Let’s go!” she then broke into a gallop with Twilight by her side and Rainbow Dash and the others following along shortly behind them. After a short time, they came over the top of a small hill that was peppered with loose rocks. Beyond the hill was an enormous natural valley that could easily hold a city even larger than Canterlot. The air was so saturated with the magical imprint that even Rarity was detecting some of it.
Twilight beamed. “I think this is it!” she shouted before looking to Starlight happily.
“Yeah, it is,” she confirmed and let the light dissipate from her horn. “Now we just have to undo the spell… any ideas?”
Twilight paused, then hummed and closed her eyes while reaching out with her magic, carefully examining the intense magical signature in the area. For a minute or so, she remained silent, careful not to rush her analysis of the energy. “There is one principle in big spells like this that I think we can make use of here…” she muttered as she did this. “Big spells are typically made up of ‘pieces,’ so to speak. The more complex it is, the more moving pieces there are. The foundation of a good counterspell is always finding and breaking the weakest link quickly and efficiently… not always easy, but if we can find the weakest link of this spell…” Then she found what she was looking for; a weak point, a part of the spell’s framework that had indeed corroded and aged with time. Now she just had to break it…
The light on her horn suddenly flared up to be so bright it forced everypony to shield their eyes. She channeled as much magic as she could into breaking that link, in the hopes of unraveling the entire spell. Despite the corrosion, though, the spell was still absurdly strong and refused to break easy. A terribly painful throb shot through her skull from the base of her horn from the effort, and the rest of her body was starting to feel like it had lit on fire. Still, she could feel the link starting to buckle under her magic “I… think… I…” she groaned out through grit teeth, her legs bending slightly, sweat starting to drip down her forehead and the back of her neck in large amounts. The link may have been buckling, but there was no way she’d be able to undo it with the magic she had at her disposal.
Suddenly, though, The weight on her mind and body felt much lighter, and the resistance being put up by the link was practically cut in half. It was still strong, but now it was manageable. Curious, Twilight looked to her right to see Starlight’s horn glowing with a similar light. The two locked eyes and Starlight nodded. All at once, the two sent one last surge of magic into the weak point.
Something shattered.
The flow of their magic abruptly cut off and their heads snapped back, the perceived weight from the intensity of the spell being undone all at once. Twilight was breathless and disoriented in the aftermath. Her vision became blurred, and for a moment she lost track of everything that was happening.
Somepony caught her as she fell backward, keeping her from falling into the cold snow and holding her close. She could hear a heart beating in her ear. “You… you did it!” Rainbow’s voice said from just above her. Twilight groaned and shifted to look on at her handiwork, though her vision was still blurry, and all she could see was a bright, fuzzy light.
“It’s magnificent! Absolutely GORGEOUS!”
“Ah’ll be… ah was startin’ to think we wouldn’t find it.”
“Oh my gosh, it’s so SPARKLERIFIC!”
“It’s lovely…”
Twilight’s eyes finally refocused, and she gasped when she saw what she and Starlight had done.
Centered in the valley they had stumbled into was an enormous city made of gorgeous, sparkling crystals. The main road system bore a structure similar to that of a snowflake fractal, with hundreds upon hundreds of carefully crafted buildings dotting the streets, each one seemingly cut by a master. Even from this distance, the ponies that lived there could be seen starting to exit their homes and stumble out into the streets, probably very confused. In the middle of it all, a colossus of a tower rose into the sky. It stood on four supports that surrounded a large central plaza at the heart of the city, and those four supports each fed into the main body of the tower. The whole thing was made pale blue, almost white colored crystal that reflected the light of the sun across the landscape around it, making everything feel just a little livelier. The snow around the edges of the city had all melted, leaving fresh and health green grass blowing gently in a breeze completely removed from the blizzard. a bright light being emitted from the very top of the towering spire, like a lighthouse.
“It’s… It’s beautiful…” Twilight breathed out while being helped back to her hooves by Rainbow Dash. She was unable to take her eyes off of it, absolutely awestruck.
“It is…” Rainbow agreed simply before smiling at Twilight. She leaned over and nuzzled her affectionately on the top of her head before taking a step forward. “...We made it. Let’s go.”
Nopony said anything. The group of ponies began their descent down the hill, making their way for the empire in the snow.
As they went, Rainbow Dash thought back on the journey leading up to this point. Many little choices had led all of them to where they were now, and the consequences of many of her actions had already been felt, while still more were beginning to manifest themselves. But they had come this far, and maybe with the help of this Crystal Empire, they would be able to face those consequences, and come out on top when all was said and done.
She looked over at Twilight Sparkle, trotting closely by her side, and smiled. No matter what the future held, she knew she wasn’t alone…
