> Heart of Loyalty
>  by PonyAmorous
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

> Prologue
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Slow, methodical hoofsteps struck against the cobblestone street, echoing a steady beat through the late morning air as Fluttershy made her way to the Ponyville library.  It was a familiar route, one she had traveled many times before, but now the trip was overcast by a unique shadow of unease and anxiety.

Fluttershy was no stranger to fear and anxiety, and had become intimately familiar with the thousand different shades and subtle sub-varieties.  She had become something of a connoisseur of fear.  There was the fear of heights, fear of the dark, fear of dragons, the numerous flavors of social anxiety, and many more.  Today’s course was a hearty blend of social confrontation and the fear of the unknown, stemming from the package hanging from a string in her teeth.  A package she was currently delivering to Twilight.  A package whose mysterious contents she had puzzled over for the last three days since finding them in the woods.


* * *


“Alright everypony, listen up!” Rainbow Dash barked at her team of emergency response pegasi.  “First of all, great job getting the forest fire contained and extinguished.  You all put Hoofington's response team to shame.  No time to pat yourselves on the back yet though.  We still need to do a standard search of the area to determine the most likely cause of the fire.  Fluttershy here is our local ecological expert, and is here to examine what we've determined to be ground zero.”  

A faint, barely audible “hello” squeaked out from the butter yellow pony hiding behind Rainbow Dash. 

“Now I want this done right.  I don't want to get chewed out by some Canterlot bigwig and have to drag everypony back out here again because one of you can't handle a standard sweep.  Flitter, Cloudchaser, you're with me in the sky.  Okay everypony, let's get started.”

With that, the pegasi split up and began to comb the forest, leaving Fluttershy behind to examine the charred and twisted wreckage.  The partial remains of some currently unidentified animal tracks littered the area.  That was why she had been dragged along as an expert on local wildlife.

As she shuffled about the piles of ash and charred splinters, Fluttershy attempted to make sense of the scene.  Even with her expert eyes, details were hard to come by.  What the fire and ash hadn't disturbed, the runoff from the rainwater used to put out the flames had smeared into a muddy mess.  In addition, some of the more careless members of the group had left their hoofprints scattered all over her workspace.

At least one set of tracks was easy to identify.  The deep impressions indicated that it was something very heavy, and a few bits of burnt stinger confirmed that it must have been a manticore.  There were several smaller sets of tracks, at least three, maybe more, significantly smaller and all from the same kind of animal.  None of the prints were in good condition, but a few partial samples looked to be canine in origin.  Probably timber wolves.  

It would make sense since they tend to move in packs.

Turning to the splintered base of what was once a large tree, Fluttershy saw something that made her stomach turn.  Blood.  It was burnt black, useless to anypony who may have wanted to take a sample for lab analysis, but still unmistakably recognizable as blood.  There had obviously been some kind of fight here, but the wound must not have been that serious.  A deep wound would have left far more than the few scattered drops that littered the ground.  Fluttershy had patched up her animal friends' injuries enough times to tell the difference between shallow and deep cuts.

Rainbow Dash dropped out of the sky and trotted up beside her.  “Hey Fluttershy, what have you got for me?”

“Well, there was a manticore here.  A couple of other animals too.  Timber wolves I think, but I'm not sure.  Whatever they were, there was a big fight.”

“Some fighting animals, got it.  Keep up the good work and let me know if you find anything else.”  Rainbow Dash took off like a rocket, shooting through the canopy once again to coordinate with the other teams.

Fluttershy looked back towards the ground.

Something here just didn't seem to make sense.  Timber wolves didn't have blood like other creatures. Being made of wood, they just bled sap.  That left the manticore, but a creature that large should bleed a lot more, especially with the exertion of a fight with multiple opponents.

It was possible that it was just a very minor scratch, but it seemed unlikely.  Even something as powerful as a manticore wouldn’t escape a fight with a pack of timber wolves without some injuries.  And timber wolves made very large injuries.  Maybe she was wrong in her assumption that they were timber wolves. 

Or maybe there was something else here.

Circling the area again, she ascended a slight slope to find a path to the east where the tracks looked a bit more intact. There was at least enough directionality to determine that this was where the smaller creatures had entered the area from.

Following the trail a little further, she was rewarded with a set of undamaged tracks that confirmed her timber wolf hypothesis.  She also noticed a clear set of hoof prints along the trail.  She was about to dismiss them as belonging to another member of the pegasi team when she noticed the spacing.  Whoever this pony was, they had been running at top speed.  The surrounding wolf tracks gave a good guess at to why.

Turning around and following back a bit, Fluttershy expected them to become lost in the mess of hoofprints from the other pegasi at ground zero.  Instead, the tracks came to an abrupt stop just a short distance off from the big mess, right next to a very pronounced manticore print.  Fluttershy wrinkled her nose in confusion.

Looking to either side of the path, a slight reflection caught the corner of her eye.  Sitting in a bush, somewhat damaged by the fire but still mostly intact, was what looked like a very strange pair of goggles with a few light specks of blood on them.  Though the blood concerned her, she saw something else that immediately caught her attention.  When taken in combination with the specks of blood, it caused a momentary rush of panic to wash over her.  Caught in the cinches on one of the straps, were a few strands of very familiar lavender and pink hair.  Twilight's hair.

Twilight had been here?  Was this her blood?  Was she hurt?!  Or worse?!  No.  Fluttershy had just seen her this morning.  Yesterday had been spent putting out the fire and by the time it was completely extinguished, Rainbow Dash had judged that they didn't have enough daylight left to begin a proper search until the following day.  Fluttershy had made a quick visit to Twilight's house that morning to see if Twilight wanted her to pick up any rare herbs while she was in the Everfree forest, and Twilight had been there, excitedly working on some project.  Whatever it was, Twilight had been eager to get back to it, and had sent Fluttershy on her way rather quickly.

Still, Twilight had been here, running from timber wolves, getting batted about by a manticore.  Did she have something to do with the fire as well?

A shout in the distance tore Fluttershy out of her contemplation.  She quickly turned and ran back to the meeting area to find Blossomforth and Thunderlane wildly gesticulating and shouting something about a cave.

“One at a time!  Slow down!”  Rainbow Dash attempted to calm the two frantic pegasi.  “Now, what is this about a cave?”  The next word out of Thunderlane's mouth made Fluttershy's wings clench involuntarily.

“DRAGON! There's a big angry dragon in a cave a little ways to the north!”

“You saw a dragon?”  Rainbow Dash asked.

“Well we didn't exactly see it,” Blossomforth added, “but we heard it from the edge of the cave!  It seems to be staying inside, but it's really angry about something!”

“Angry dragon huh?  Fluttershy, you said there was a fight here right?  Could a dragon breathe enough fire to set off this blaze?”

“Oh, a dragon could easily do that.  But-”

“Alright looks like this mystery is solved then.  Good job everypony.”

“But there are no dragon tracks around this area.”  Fluttershy's meek comment went unnoticed as the pegasi packed up and headed home.  She knew she should speak up and say something, at least mention the goggles she had found, but something stopped her.  Part of it was her natural shyness, but there was something else as well.

Twilight hadn't told anypony she was going into the forest alone.  She must have had a good reason right?  Still, she had to tell somepony didn't she?  But would she be getting Twilight in trouble?  Would Twilight be angry with her?

Fluttershy didn't know what to do.  Soon her indecision made the choice for her.  The last of the pegasi had dispersed, leaving her to carry the troubling contents of her saddlebag home.  There she would fret over them for the next three days until she finally decided to return them to their owner.


* * *


Apprehension growing with every step, Fluttershy now approached the library.  She stopped a few paces in front of the door and tried to get her nerves under control.  Despite how nervous she was, it was far from the worst she had experienced.  It was nothing compared to another trip she had made to the library one night.  She recalled with a smile how well that particular night had turned out.  The smile quickly turned into a frown as later, less pleasant, memories came to mind.  She shook the memories out of her head, getting back to the task at hoof.  

“Hello, Twilight.  Umm, I found this the other day.  I think you may have lost it.”  Taking another deep breath and picking up the string with her teeth once again, she took the last intimidating steps up to the door, extended a hoof to knock, and paused.  She could hear a frustrated voice coming from the other side of the door.  It sounded like Rainbow Dash.  She didn't want to interrupt, so she decided to wait.

Even though she had never been one for eavesdropping, the sounds coming through the door awakened the curiosity within her.  Fluttershy soon found herself peeking just above the bottom edge of a side window.

She saw Twilight and Rainbow Dash standing together, Rainbow looking like she was trying to say something.  Fluttershy still couldn't hear what was being said, but that didn't matter as she was quickly overcome by the shock of seeing Rainbow Dash lunge forward to kiss Twilight.  A deep, passionate kiss that seemed to go on forever.  Fluttershy's eyes widened in shock, then her vision blurred as tears began to fill them and an old scar on her heart that she had thought healed tore itself open.

She turned and flew away as fast as she could, completely forgetting about the small package she had dropped into the bush.
> Chapter 1
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	Warm. That was the only thought that floated through Twilight’s semi-conscious mind, though calling it a fully fledged thought might have been a bit of an exaggeration.  

Still mostly asleep, her mind was unable to draw on the vast reserves of what she knew about temperature and thermal conduction. She couldn’t appreciate the long journey the photons made, all the way from Celestia’s late morning sun, to her bedroom window.  She only knew the pleasant tingling sensation in her face, brought about by their final collision.  No thought was paid to the insulating properties of the blankets, wrapped tightly around her like a cocoon, that were responsible for the blissful sensation she was immersed in.  “Cozy” she might have called it, if she were able to conceptualize words.  

A second sensation intruded, a sour, discordant note in her perfect harmony of comfort.  A slight irritation at the end of her nose had made itself known with all the grace and charm of a clown at a funeral procession.  She attempted to snuff it out with a twitch of her nose, but it remained persistent, drawing her further and further out of her comfortable sleep.

New tactile sensations streamed in at an alarming rate.  The sheets gained texture and weight.  She was suddenly aware of the positioning of her head and limbs.  With the flood of new sensory information, her brain began to activate more sub-systems to make sense of it all.

The source of irritation continued unabated.  Tactile reports from the nose indicated that the source wasn’t internal.  Some foreign body was brushing against it in a rapid, but steady rhythm.  Having regained partial muscle control, and a rough degree of coordination, Twilight’s half awake mind organized a strike.  A hoof struck out in a lazy arc in front of her face.

Success!  For a brief moment the sensation stopped. But before her mouth muscles could pull into a tiny smile of victory, the sensation returned with renewed vigor. There was no choice left.  She would need visual confirmation to defeat this foe.  With a shudder, as if lifting an enormous weight, Twilight Sparkle slowly opened her eyes.

The first thing she noticed was a color.  

Blue.

That was what her slowly reforming memories told her the color was called.  The blue resolved itself into a shape.  The label ‘pony’ was quickly found and applied, with the sub-label of ‘pegasus’ added soon after.  As Twilight’s vision finally cleared, she was able to make out a huge grin, a pair of magenta eyes and a splash of colored mane.

A rainbow.

Her synapses flared to life in a cascade of associations: Joy, frustration, heartache, love—all coalesced into one unifying concept.  One name that encompassed them all.

Rainbow Dash.

As soon as the thought passed through her mind, she saw the mouth in front of her move as her ears received their first audio input of the day.  Twilight’s now awake brain got to work on the translation, turning the pressure waves into pitches, and finally words, carried through her head by the most beautiful voice in the world.

“Good morning sleepy head.”


***


Rainbow Dash stared at the sleeping form in front of her.  She wasn’t normally one to use words such as ‘cute’ or ‘adorable’, but was at a loss for any other words to describe the scene in front of her.

Twilight could probably list off ten.  

Blankets wrapped tightly around her body, only Twilight’s head lay exposed: her very own oversized purple caterpillar.  The violet mane, splayed wildly across the pillows, only added to the unbearable cuteness of the scene.  As amusing as watching Twilight sleep was, however, an awake Twilight was still a lot more fun to hang out with.

The smile on her face taking on a more mischievous bend, Dash extended a wing and began to brush her primaries across Twilight’s nose.  She immediately had to stifle a giggle at the twitches the nose gave in response, followed by the scrunching face and incoherent moans of irritation from her sleeping victim.  Increasing her pace, Dash saw the sheets loosen as Twilight squirmed within her cocoon.

Dash pulled her wing back as a purple hoof lazily reached out and swiped at it, accompanied by a faint “ehh”.  Rainbow Dash split her focus between not bursting out laughing, and not dying of a heart attack.  

Sweet Celestia! That was the most adorable thing I’ve ever seen. And I’ve seen Fluttershy drink juice!

Resuming her efforts, it wasn’t long until she saw Twilight’s eyelids give a small flicker.  Soon they began to rise, and Dash could see the beautiful purple pools beneath, staring up in a haze of unfocused confusion.

Dash smiled back at those eyes.  “Good morning sleepy head.”  A small grin was all the warning Rainbow Dash had of what happened next.  It wasn’t enough.

With a burst of speed she would never have thought the bookworm capable of, Twilight leaped into a flying tackle that caught her straight in the chest.  The next few seconds became a chaotic flurry of limbs, feathers, magic, and sheets.  Rainbow Dash wasn’t exactly sure what happened, but by the end of it she found herself on her back, bed sheets tying her wings to her sides with her forelegs over her head, and Twilight standing over her wearing an evil smile.

“Good morning to you too Dash.”

Giving her wings an experimental flex, Rainbow Dash was shocked to find that Twilight had surprisingly good knot work.  Nothing she couldn’t get out of with a little work though.  She had spent enough time with Applejack to pick up a few things.  If she could just keep Twilight from noticing her movements, and picked the right time to strike, she could still turn the tables.

The interesting thing was that she couldn’t think of any reason why Twilight of all ponies would have tying restraints as part of her skillset.  She had pulled it off so quickly and efficiently as well.  Did she practice this kind of thing in her spare time?  Rainbow Dash briefly wondered what scenario the over-prepared Twilight had been expecting to encounter and gave a brief blush at the speculation.   Twilight didn’t seem to notice, and gave a dramatic clearing of her throat.

“AHEM!  Bedroom court is now in session.  Honorable judge Sparkle presiding.”  Twilight gave a dramatic flourish with her hoof before shoving it in Dash’s face and putting on her most judicial look.  “Rainbow Dash! You stand accused of the unforgivable crime of disrupting my sleep!  Do you have anything to say in your defense?”

You got this Dash.  Just stay cool and keep her talking.

Flashing her sexiest grin, Rainbow Dash gave her response.  “It was a community service.  More time asleep is less time with me, and it would be terrible if anypony missed out on even a second of my awesomeness.”

Twilight gave a brief sigh and a roll of her eyes.   “Plea rejected!”  A quill rose up off of a nearby table and floated to her side.  “Now for your punishment!”

Dash squirmed and writhed under the vicious tickling assault that followed, but refused to give her tormentor the satisfaction of making anything other than a few pained grunts.  Although it strained her concentration, it also allowed the perfect cover for her to work at her bonds.  Soon the little egghead would get what was coming to her.

“Hmm…didn’t somepony once say something about having their hooves touched?”

Rainbow Dash stopped cold.  “You…you wouldn’t.”

“I think it was something like ‘I really really love it when ponies touch my hooves.’”

“No! I-” Dash’s further protestations were cut off by peals of girlish squealing as Twilight renewed her assault.  “OKAY! NO! NO! STOP! LET ME TRY AGAIN! LET ME TRY AGAIN!”

“I’m listening.  Do you have a good reason for interrupting my beauty sleep?”

“It’s…uhh…umm…redundant!  Yeah!  And inefficient!”

Twilight raised an eyebrow.  “Oh?”

“Yeah!  It’s an inefficient use of your time to sleep any more than you really have to when you could be out being brilliant and awesome and making Equestria a better place.  I mean, you’re already the most beautiful pony there is, so it’s not like beauty sleep can really do anything more for you.”

Twilight was struck silent.  Ears lowered and face turned slightly away in embarrassment, her cheeks burned red.  “Dash…you…you really think I’m beautiful?”

“Of course!  And…I really want to tell you that I…I…” 

“Yes?” Twilight leaned closer.

“I…”

“Yes?”  Twilight stared down, completely enraptured, straining to hear Dash’s next words.

NOW!

With Twilight distracted and off balance, Rainbow Dash pulled her hind legs up and bucked Twilight off and over her head.  Wasting no time, she sprung up and used her teeth to pull loose the knots binding her before turning on the still disoriented Twilight.  In a flash, she had her pinned.

“I got you.”  She briefly wondered what she should do with her prize before a grin began to creep across her face.

“Twilight Sparkle!  You stand accused of being too damn sexy!  You are also charged with theft for stealing the heart of one Rainbow Dash, world's greatest flyer and all around most awesome pegasus.  The loss of this eligible bachelorette comes as a crushing blow that the mares and stallions of Equestria may never recover from.  How do you plead?”

“Guilty!  I throw myself at the mercy of the court!”

“There is no mercy! There is only…THE RASPERRIES OF JUSTICE!”

The various pieces of bedroom furniture sat in solemn observance as the defendant’s sentencing was carried out.  The walls of the makeshift courtroom reverberated with the sounds of justice.  Incidentally, justice sounded like the shrieking giggles of a young unicorn as she suffered a savage oral assault to the stomach.

Ha!  Take that miss sparkly magic flanks!  Rainbow Dash always comes out on top!

Having finished her momentary pause for breath, Dash lowered her head for another strike when her target suddenly vanished in a blinding flash of light.  At the same time, a new weight appeared on her back and drove her face forward along its original path,  straight into the mattress.  A pillow moved to cover each of her wings, each weighed down by a hoof, as a third hoof planted itself in the small of her back, effectively pinning her.

“Unicorns are dirty cheaters,”  Dash grumbled through a face full of bed sheets.  A cheerful voice answered back.  Dash couldn’t see, but she could easily picture the smug grin and a stuck out tongue.

“Well you know what they say.  All’s fair in love and war.”


***


Twilight beamed as she ate her waffles. The chocolate chip stuffed morsels were delicious enough on their own, drenched in sweet syrup, but the sweetest taste of all was that of victory.  She had done it.  She had won.  After years of suffering and heartache, she had finally made her dreams come true.  Dash was hers, and now she could finally enjoy their life together.

She would have called it the first day of the rest of her life, but aside from being terribly cliche’, she wasn’t sure it was entirely accurate.  Did yesterday count as day one or day zero?  It certainly was the sort of thing worthy of starting a new calendar system, to start with the day Dash had flown over to deliver her confession of love.

But that could wait.

Most of the rest of the day, whatever it was, had been spent in bed, save for the occasional ventures made downstairs to get food and water.  Several attempts at finishing a board or card game ended in failure, and the playing cards and game pieces lay strewn about from when they would inevitably toss them aside and race back up the stairs.

Twilight smiled.  It had been a VERY good day.  As wonderful as yesterday had been though, a whole new set of experiences lay ahead.

From now on, we’re an actual couple, in an actual relationship!

Twilight had often struggled to picture what life with Dash would be like.  Now it was no longer a matter of academic speculation and idle fantasy.  She would finally be able to experience it for herself.  

As excited as she was about the start of her new life, Twilight’s attention was quickly being monopolized by the delicious meal in front of her.  Her taste buds sang in delight, while her stomach was grateful for any offering after the appetite she and Dash had worked up earlier.

“These waffles are amazing!” Twilight choked out through a mouthful of syrupy goodness.  “I can’t believe I never thought of adding chocolate chips before!”

“I’ve been doing it for a while now,” Rainbow Dash managed to respond between mouthfuls of her own.  “I find that it really gives me that extra bit of energy I need for intense morning flight practice.”

“Well you certainly know how to improve a meal.”

“I sure do.  My awesome presence makes any dining experience 20% more enjoyable.”  Dash gave a small flutter of her wings and shot a cocky smirk across the table.

“I was referring to the addition of chocolate,”  Twilight responded with a flat look.

“Yeah, that works too. Chocolate does seem to improve anything it touches.  We’re kinda alike like that.”

Twilight raised an eyebrow in amusement.  “Sooo...what happens if both Rainbow Dash and chocolate are used at the same time?  Are the bonuses additive or multiplicative?”

Dash gave a grin as she casually inspected a hoof.  “Well that probably depends on how close the two are.  If chocolate and me come into contact, you’re probably going to get some synergistic effects,” she said with a wink.

Twilight stared, mouth hanging open in shock.  While a small part of her was making a mental note to conduct empirical testing at a later time, the majority was wondering where Rainbow Dash learned to use ‘synergistic effects’ correctly in a sentence.

“What? Why are you looking at me like that?”

“It’s just...how...why...where did you learn about synergy?”

“From you silly.”

“What?”

“Yeah, a while back we were talking about large scale weather effects and how you calculate wing power for large groups of pegasi. You said something about it not being as simple as just adding them together.  What was it?  Non-linear systems?  Second-order effects?”

Twilight reached back in her memories.  That brief conversation had to have been at least two months ago.  “You...you actually remembered that?”

Dash gave a quick roll of her eyes.  “Yes.  I am actually capable of learning things you know.  Especially when you explain them so well.”

Twilight could feel a faint burning sensation on her cheeks.  “I didn’t think anypony really listened when I start rambling on about things.  I assumed they just tuned me out and waited till I was finished.”

“No way.  I always listen when you talk.  You’re always so excited about whatever you’re talking about that it’s kinda infectious.  I might get a bit lost in some of the technical stuff, but I like hearing you explain things.”

To say that Twilight was ‘happy’, would be an understatement.  In fact, calling that description an understatement, would itself be an understatement.  Her face stretched with a smile so large that it felt like her eyebrows and the corners of her mouth would stretch themselves right off her face.  She hadn’t thought it physically possible to love Rainbow Dash more than she already did, but it seemed Rainbow Dash made a habit out of achieving the impossible.

“WOULD YOU LIKE TO SEE MY LAB?!”  Strange.  She had meant that to come out at a normal volume.

“Uhh...sure?”  Rainbow Dash replied with the kind of caution one might reserve for dealing with a crazed animal. “Just, err, let me up first?”

Twilight glanced down to see that she was currently standing on top of her marefriend, who was flat on her back on the kitchen floor.  What she had intended to be a casual leaning over the table, had in fact been more similar to a pounce.  Trying not to die of embarrassment, she quickly backed away to let Dash up.  

“Sorry about that.  I guess I got a little overexcited.  You don’t really have to see the lab if you don’t want to.”

“No no.  It sounds pretty cool actually.  But later in the day we should head over to my place.  I’ve got a pretty awesome surprise planned.”

“What is it?”

“...”

“Right.  It wouldn’t be a surprise if you told me.”

Twilight ran a hoof through her now sticky coat.  In her excitement, she had accidentally knocked over the plates, spilling syrup on both of them.

“Sorry about this too.  Looks like we may need to add a quick shower to the start of that list.”

“Sounds good to me.  I’ll go get that started.”

As Rainbow Dash trotted up the stairs to the bathroom, Twilight reflected on the morning so far and the rest of the day yet to come.  First she would get to show off all of her work to the pony she loved.  Maybe Dash would even want to help her out in some future experiments!  Then there was this mysterious surprise Dash had planned for her.  Whatever it was, it certainly looked like it was going to be a good day.

The sound of running water reached Twilight’s ears, along with a voice.  “Hey Twilight!  You coming or what?”

Yes.  It was going to be a very good day.


***


Fluttershy collapsed on her couch with a sigh. Mornings were happy occasions, to be greeted with a warm, bright smile, but today she wanted nothing more than to stay in bed and sulk.  But however much she wanted to spend the day hiding under her sheets, she had her responsibilities.  The animals had to be taken care of, so she had reluctantly pulled herself out of bed and got to work.

She made sure all the animals were fed and their homes cleaned.  She tended to the sick and injured, dispensing medicine and changing bandages where needed. The sun was at its midday peak by the time she had finished all her duties and let herself fall onto the couch for a rest.

A few seconds after burying her face into the cushions, something struck her lightly in the back of the head.  Fluttershy looked up to see an annoyed looking white rabbit sitting on top of the back of the couch, and a carrot resting beside her head.

“Angel?  What is it?  Is there—” Fluttershy was interrupted by the grumbling of her own stomach.  Angel pointed at the carrot and then at her.

“Oh.  Right.  I guess I got carried away and forgot to make myself breakfast again.  Thank you.”  With a nod, the white rabbit hopped away.  Fluttershy took the carrot between her hooves and began taking dainty little bites off the end.  As she nibbled, her mind began to wander.

Try as she might, she couldn’t help but be drawn back to yesterday.  She thought she had gotten over this.  She thought she had moved on.  It had been what?  A year?  A year and a half since she and Twilight had broken up?

You mean since Twilight dumped you, a small voice in her head reminded her.

They had since patched things up and gone back to being good friends.  It had hurt for a while, a long time in fact, but she had survived.  Eventually, the wounds in her heart had healed, life had gone back to normal, and she had emerged a stronger mare from the experience.  Or so she had thought.  What she had seen yesterday had torn open those old wounds like a jagged knife and caused them to bleed anew.

What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger...feh!  She had tended to too many injuries to ever believe that old cliche'.  More often than not, what didn’t kill you left you scarred at best, and crippled at worst.

Fluttershy tried to force herself to think of something else, but what she had seen through that window replayed itself over and over in her mind.  It was like seeing an entirely new side of Twilight.  She had shown so much passion!  So much love!

She was never like that with me.

Having finished her carrot, she threw herself back down on the couch and closed her eyes.  The memory continued to replay itself with crystal clarity.  Twilight and Rainbow Dash with their forelegs wrapped around each other, kissing each other again and again with complete abandon as they stumbled around the room.

What she hated most of all was the small spark of anger it stoked within her.  A bitter sea of jealousy rose up inside her and poisoned her thoughts against her best friend.

Ever since they were little fillies, Rainbow Dash had been there for her; there to chase away the bullies. There to lend comfort and support when she was feeling down. There to believe in her and give her the needed push when she was unable to believe in herself.

Rainbow Dash?

Yeah?

Why do you hang out with me?

What?

I mean...you’re brave and strong, a great flyer, and really cool.  I’m none of those things.  Why do you bother to hang out with me?

What do you mean? You’re cool!

No I’m not.

You calling me a liar?!

No! I-

Listen.  I wouldn’t hang out with a pony if I didn’t think they were cool, and I’m definitely the leading expert on the subject.  So it doesn’t matter what anypony else thinks, it doesn’t even matter what you think, cause I think you’re cool.  If anypony says otherwise, they’re an idiot.  It’s okay if you don’t believe in yourself.  Just believe in the Rainbow Dash who believes in you.

Now, for a few sporadic seconds at a time, she actually felt ill will towards her oldest friend, and hated herself for it.  She wanted all her friends to be happy, Twilight and Rainbow Dash especially.  She wanted to be happy for them; part of her was.  But jealousy twisted and agitated her mind towards unkind thoughts.

Fluttershy rolled over onto her back and blew long pink strands of mane out of her eyes.  Keeping this all to herself couldn’t be good for her.  She considered whether she should talk to somepony.  Then again, she didn’t want to bother anypony with her problems.  Who would she even talk to anyway?  Rainbow Dash and Twilight were off the table for obvious reasons.

Pinkie Pie?  Pinkie would probably throw a party together the second she heard a word about Twilight and Rainbow Dash getting together.  Fluttershy didn’t know if their relationship was supposed to be  secret or not, but memories of her own traumatising experience made her quickly abandon the idea.  Besides, even if Pinkie promised to keep it a secret, she wasn’t exactly the first choice of mares for advice and support with romantic issues.

Rarity?  Rarity would normally be the perfect choice for confiding her troubles.  Unfortunately, as much as Fluttershy loved Rarity’s companionship, their heartfelt conversations, and their trips to the spa, she also knew that her friend was a terrible gossip.  It would be the second fastest route, next to telling Pinkie herself, to ensure the entire town knew.  Worst of all, Rarity might offer to “help” in her own unique way.

Applejack?  Fluttershy thought for a while.  Applejack had always been a good listener, and she always gave practical, level headed advice.  Furthermore, she had always shown the utmost discretion.  There probably wasn’t any good advice to be given.  There probably wasn’t much more to be had than some kind words and a patient ear, but it was more than she had at the moment.

With a sigh, she rolled herself off the couch and stood up.  “I’m going out for a bit Angel.  Look after the house while I’m gone okay?” she said before closing the door softly behind her.


***


“And here are the centrifuges.  They separate compounds of different mass through centrifugal force.  They take a while, so I’m usually working on something else while they run.  Ooh! And over here we have the spectrometer and the x-ray diffraction setup!”

Rainbow Dash simply nodded as Twilight continued to show off every piece of equipment in the room.  It was certainly well stocked.  She might not know what half of these things were, much less what they were used for, but it was an impressive setup all the same.

The best part was watching Twilight hop around like an excited filly showing off her toys.  It was a sight she couldn’t help but smile at.  Images of a younger Rainbow Dash,  gushing over the Wonderbolt memorabilia littering her room, rose from her memory.  Though their backgrounds might be different, there was that same twinkle of excitement that lit up the eyes.

That was probably what she loved most.  Those deep violet eyes.  They always shone with curiosity and wonder; one could almost see the never ending hunger for knowledge.  A hunger that would never be sated until every last secret of the natural world was revealed.  Those eyes saw every day as an opportunity for discovery and improvement, not just on a personal level, but for all of ponykind.

As much as she could have sat there and watched Twilight for hours, a glance at the clock revealed that the time was slipping away from them.

“Twilight?”

“LASERS! I should show you the lasers!”  Twilight ran over to a pair of cabinets.

“Twilight.”

“I have a red one AND a green one.  They’re both helium-neon though, so-”

“TWILIGHT!”

“Hmm?” Twilight questioned as she momentarily paused, dusty padlock suspended in the air.

“As awesome as lasers sound, and they do sound pretty awesome, I think it’s about time we get going.”

Twilight scrunched her face in confusion.  “Get  going? Get going to where?”

“To my place of course.  I’ve still got that cool surprise for you.  Now come on!”  Rainbow Dash said before grabbing a mouthful of purple tail.

“B-But the science! The sciieeence!” Twilight weakly protested as she was dragged out of the room.  “Alright, fine.  But we’re definitely continuing this later.”

Rainbow Dash released her grip and sighed.  “Don’t worry, I’m sure all your egghead toys will be here when you get back.”

“Hey!”

“Now come on, let’s get going.”

With only a small amount of grumbling, they finally left the library and began the modest trek to where Dash’s cloud house was parked.  Though the trip itself was uneventful, Rainbow Dash felt her insides buzz with nervous energy.

I hope she likes it.  What if she doesn’t?  Nah, she’ll totally love it. Of course she will.

She had been thinking about this ever since she had woken up in the middle of the previous night and had difficulty getting back to sleep.  Instead, she had been content to watch the steady breathing of the sleeping unicorn beside her.  It had got her thinking.  

Regardless of whether it was strictly necessary, given the rapid escalation of their relationship to its current state, a mare like Twilight deserved some first class wooing.  She needed to come up with some kind of gift, date, romantic gesture...something that would really wow her.  But what could she possibly give to Twilight that the unicorn couldn’t easily get for herself?

Finally reaching their destination, Rainbow Dash wasted no time springing into action.

“Okay, so should I close my eyes or WHAAAA-!” Twilight’s question was interrupted as Dash flew down, wrapped all four legs around her torso, and launched up into the sky. “WHOA!  Dash! What are you doing!  You better not drop me!”

“Relax.  I won’t drop you.  Well, except for a little bit right here.”  Dash released her grip, but only allowed Twilight to fall a couple feet before she pulled a tight loop and flew underneath to catch the falling pony on her back.  After a moment of disorientation, Twilight caught on and wrapped her hooves around Dash’s neck in a tight grip.

With her passenger secure, Rainbow Dash began flying in earnest, reveling in the wind rushing past her face.  She was back in her element, the one thing she knew she could do better than Twilight.  Better than anypony else.

As she weaved through cloudbanks, diving and corkscrewing through the air, she felt the grip around her neck loosen from a panicked death grip to one of tense excitement.  She could almost make out shouts and cheers mixed in with the sound of wind rushing past her ears.  Her suspicions were confirmed as she paused momentarily at the apex of a steep climb.  She felt Twilight lean forward to whisper one beautiful word into her ear.

“Faster.”


***


It wasn’t a long journey from Fluttershy’s cottage to Sweet Apple Acres.  Not in terms of physical distance anyway.  With both locations sitting right on the edge of the Everfree Forest, Applejack was actually her closest neighbor.  Still, the snail’s pace at which Fluttershy proceeded down the worn dirt road dragged the trip out to a length that most ponies would find disagreeable, and Rainbow Dash would consider intolerable.  It didn’t matter.  She wasn’t in any particular hurry.

Passing over the last of the small hills, her destination finally came into view.  Hundreds upon hundreds of apple trees stretched out as far as the eye could see.  Down below,  Applejack, a tiny orange figure, loaded the last of several large baskets, brimming with freshly bucked apples, into the back of a cart.  She then circled around front and began attaching the harness.  From the looks of it, she was just getting ready  to finish up her work for the day.

Fluttershy gave a small sigh.  Part of her had been hoping that Applejack would be far too busy to talk, giving her an excuse to go home.  After taking a deep breath and exhaling slowly through her nose, she made her way down the rest of the path and up to the picket fence.  It didn’t take long for Applejack to take notice and give a friendly wave, shifting course slightly to greet her at the gate.

“Hey there Fluttershy!  What brings you around?  You need anything or are you just popping in for a friendly visit?”

“Oh, hi Applejack.  I just wanted to talk. That is, if you’re not too busy.  If you’re busy I can come back later. It’s no problem really.”  Already, her natural cringe had shifted into a quarter turn, preparing to turn around and head home.

“Shucks. Ain’t no problem at all.  I was just about to drop this last load off in the barn and call it quits for the day.  It’s a bit too toasty out here to really be pushing too hard anyway.  Just follow me on over and then we can hang out as much as you’d like.”

Fluttershy silently fell into step beside Applejack as they made their way to the large red barn, newly raised from the most recent disaster that had demolished the old one last month.  After the last cart of apples was safely stowed away, Applejack turned to say something, but the words died on her lips as she caught a closer look at Fluttershy.

“Are you alright there sugarcube?  You look a bit...down.  Is something wrong?”

Fluttershy cringed and attempted to hide behind her mane.  “Is it that obvious?”

Applejack simply nodded.  “Anything you wanna talk about?”

“I...c-can you keep a secret?”

“Well I don’t usually care to keep many of my own, but I ain’t about to go blabbing any other pony’s business if that’s what you’re wondering.  Don’t care much for gossip.”

“Well, It’s not exactly my secret.  Actually, I don’t know if it’s really supposed to be a secret or not.  I mean, it’s about somepony else.  OH! But it’s not gossip!  At least I don’t think it counts as gossip. I just mean that I...uh...I think that...”  An orange hoof gently pressed itself against her mouth.

“Hold on there sugarcube.  Why don’t you just tell me what’s bothering you?”

“O-Okay.”  Fluttershy took another deep breath and attempted to calm her nerves.  “Yesterday I was going to Twilight’s place to...um...visit.  When I went to knock I heard...I mean I saw...I mean I heard, and then I saw through the window...not that I was spying or anything!  I definitely wasn’t spying!  I just heard weird noises and then I looked through the window and saw...”

“What?  Twilight ain’t hurt is she?”

“Oh no, she’s fine.”

“She’s not summoning and making pacts with demons or something?”

“Oh goodness no!  Nothing like that. It’s nothing bad really.”

“Landsakes!  What is it girl?!”

“Well, Rainbow Dash was there with her.” Fluttershy nervously ground a hoof into the ground.  “They were talking, and then they...”  she mumbled something incoherent  and turned a bright shade of red.  Any attempts by Applejack to get her to repeat herself only made her blush further.

Seconds passed as Applejack sat in confusion, wheels turning in her head as she tried to make sense of the story.  “What?  What did they....oh....ohhhhh!” she exclaimed as she finally caught on, a mild blush starting to form on her own cheeks.  A moment later, the last piece clicked into place and her features shifted from surprise to gentle concern.  “Oh.”

A weak “yeah” was all Fluttershy put up in reply.

“Well, better follow me then. Come on.”

Applejack walked with mysterious purpose towards the Apple family house, trailing a confused but obedient Fluttershy behind her.  Fluttershy followed her into the kitchen where she was directed to take a seat.  She watched as Applejack pulled various ingredients, bowls, pans, and mixing tools out of the many cabinets.  After a flurry of activity, Applejack put something in the oven before turning around and placing two large mugs of cider down on the table between them.

“Part one.  A large, frothing mug of Apple Family Cider.”  She pushed one of the filled mugs across the table to Fluttershy, who cautiously began to sip at it.  After a minute or two of quiet sipping, Applejack spoke again.

“So.  Twilight and Rainbow Dash huh?”

Fluttershy simply nodded.

“Well I guess I can’t be too surprised really.  I knew Twilight was carrying a torch for Dash for quite a while a ways back.  Least I had my suspicions.  I just thought if anything were to come of it, it would have already.”

“I’m happy for them,” Fluttershy mumbled as she swirled her cider.

“Now I know that ain’t the truth.  Not all of it anyway.”

“I am.  Kinda.  I mean, I know I should be.”

“There ain’t no ‘should’ about it.  You feel how you feel and that’s it.  You can talk about actions all you want, but ain’t no pony got the right to tell you how you should feel about anything, so don’t make yourself feel any worse by adding unneeded guilt into the mix.”

Unsure what to say in response, Fluttershy simply lifted her mug for another drink.

“Now I ain’t gonna be so bold as to say I know exactly what’s going on in your head, but I’m guessing from the fact that you’re here now that this news don’t quite sit right with you.  You wanna be happy for your friends, but the whole thing just digs up some unpleasant memories?”

Fluttershy nodded. “That sounds about right.”

“Well I ain’t gonna sugarcoat it, there’s no simple solution for it.  There’s no magic words I can say that’ll make it all better.  The best I could say is something about how time heals all wounds, but time is a pretty lousy doctor.  It usually gets the job done eventually, but never anywhere near as fast as we’d like, and its bedside manner ain’t exactly gentle in the meantime.  Point is, there isn’t anything I can really do to fix your problem.”

Fluttershy seemed to deflate even further. “That’s okay.  I didn’t really expect anything.”  

“But that don’t mean I can’t try to cheer you up a bit, using a tried and true Apple family secret.”  The buzzing sound of a timer rang through the kitchen.  “Speaking of which...”  Applejack got up and retrieved the pan from the oven.  After carefully transferring the contents onto a large plate, she retrieved a tub of vanilla ice cream from the freezer, dropping several large scoops on top of the hot pastries.  Turning around, she placed the large plate down on the table between them.

“Part two!  The special ‘heartbreak remedy’ apple turnovers, topped with vanilla ice cream!  And while we enjoy these, step three.  Tell me everything about what’s been going on with your critters lately.”

The two ponies wasted no time digging into the delicious treats.  The small packets of apples, cinnamon, and sugar, cooled from their near molten state by the ice cream, made it hard to focus on any depressing thoughts, and talking about the exploits of her beloved animal friends made her troubles even harder to remember.  After a few hours of storytelling and shared laughs, Fluttershy left with a genuine smile on her face and a package of apple turnovers to take with her.  The smile, like the supply of treats, wouldn’t last forever.  It would surely fade in time when she got home.  Still, it was one more smile than she would have had if she had stayed at home.

Meanwhile, Applejack relaxed in her seat, glad that she had been able to help her friend, if only for a little bit.  She stared down into her now empty cider mug and thought about the news.  It looked like Twilight had finally made it.  Good for her.  And good for Rainbow Dash too for that matter.  It was good that at least one of them had been able to find somepony else eventually.  If it made another one of their friends happy too, all the better.

Applejack refilled her mug before reaching out with a hoof and popping another turnover into her mouth.


***


The last rays of Celestia’s setting sun stretched out across the sky, bathing the horizon in a splash of color.  The tight center of blazing orange and yellow shifted outward into countless shades of red, and finally into gentle hues of blue and violet where night began to encroach.  It was a sight Twilight had seen many times before, but never from this far above.

Twilight Sparkle lay stretched across a large cloud, staring out at this daily occurrence with newfound wonder.  She might normally give a shiver from the frigid air, but the feathered wing wrapped gently around her and softly pressing her against the warm body of the pony beside her kept the elements at bay.  Together they watched the end of a perfect day.

It had been glorious.  Dash had actually taken her flying, and it had been everything she had ever hoped and more.  Though she had quickly gotten over the terror of the initial surprise, her heartbeat hadn’t slowed for the entire experience.  The rush of wind on her face, the disorientation as the horizon spun and land flipped over sky, the fluttery feeling of her blood being pushed around by rapidly shifting g-forces, and the knowledge that, despite all of it, she was perfectly safe in Rainbow Dash’s hooves.

Twilight had often spent a great deal of time fantasizing about what a perfect day with Dash would entail.  A small part of her had worried that the elaborate pictures she had painted in her imagination would dwarf anything that could actually be lived up to in reality, that she was simply setting herself up for disappointment.  Now the real thing exceeded anything in even her most wild imaginings.

As Twilight continued to watch the sunset, nestled comfortably against Dash’s side,  a growing warmth spread within her.  A bright flame of joy, almost painful in its intensity, that threatened to burn her from the inside out, as if the setting sun was falling straight into her heart as it dropped below the horizon.  The pressure grew so strong that the start of tears were beginning to form in her eyes, and she briefly wondered if it was possible to actually die from happiness.

Unsure how to relieve this pent up energy, Twilight turned and squeezed Rainbow Dash as hard as she could, pressing her face deep into her marefriend’s coat.  She inhaled deeply, and the sweet scent of fresh rain on a sunny day filled her nose, only serving to bring the tension within her to even higher levels.

Rainbow Dash, momentarily surprised by the sudden motion, turned her head and began to nuzzle Twilight gently behind her ear.  Twilight instantly felt her muscles begin to relax.  The inferno within her heart ebbed away, transmuted into a sweet and blissful calm.  As she stared once more at the final shimmering hues of dusk, she thought once more of the wild splash of colors beside her.  They were all there, except of course for green.

Three...Two...One.

And there it was, the brief flash of green that accompanied the very end of a sunset as the sun passed just the right point to preferentially focus the right wavelengths with minimal scattering.  For one glorious second, all the colors of her namesake were together.  Then it was gone, and the soft blanket of night stretched across the land, bringing with it the soft glow of the moon and stars.


***


Twilight waved goodbye from her doorstep the next morning.  Unfortunately, Dash had weather duty today, though she had accompanied Twilight on the walk home and left with promises of returning as soon as she could.  Knowing how fast a motivated Rainbow Dash could move, Twilight wasn’t terribly worried.

She had her own things to do anyway.  Somepony had to watch over the library during open hours, even if visitors were rare.  Furthermore, they both left the place a bit of a mess, and she wanted to get it cleaned up before Spike came back from Canterlot later in the evening.

Turning around to head inside, Twilight stopped as something caught her eye.  Half concealed in a nearby shrubbery was a small brown package.  With rising curiosity, she picked it up in her magic and carried it inside, placing it on the kitchen table.

Did I get something in the mail?  There doesn’t seem to be any address label on it.  It doesn’t look like a standard shipping box either.  Just a hastily hoofwrapped package.

Whatever its source, the only answers to this mystery would be found inside.  Twilight carefully opened the package and looked inside.  What she saw cut straight through her cheerful mood like a knife.  The blissful haze that had filled her mind for the past two days evaporated like a morning fog in the burning rays of the sun as she looked down on something that shouldn’t have been there.

Between her hooves lay a familiar pair of goggles, burnt and broken, with a few strands of her lavender mane stuck in the strap.
> Chapter 2
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	Don’t Panic! Don’t Panic! Don’t Panic! Don’t Panic!

        Twilight could feel herself starting to hyperventilate.  The sound of her rapid breathing was drowned out only by the pounding of her heart in her ears.

        Don’t Panic! Don’t Panic!

        The world became unfocused as her sight began to blur, the incriminating pair of goggles swimming in front of her eyes in triplicate.

        Don’t Panic!

        The world gave a sudden lurch as she stumbled to keep on her hooves, fighting the dizziness and the blackness spreading from the corners of her vision.

        BREATHE!

        Twilight squeezed her eyes shut, sucked in a single breath, and held it.  She ignored the jackhammer rhythm of her heart as she counted.

        One sparkle, two sparkle, three sparkle, four sparkle, five sparkle.

        Slowly and steadily, she exhaled as she counted five more sparkles before inhaling again over five more.  She repeated again and again until she could feel her heartbeat fall back down to normal.

Now came the hard part.

        Maybe it wouldn’t be so bad.  Maybe it wasn’t what it looked like. It could be that she hadn’t looked closely enough and had preemptively  jumped to conclusions.  It wouldn’t be the first time she had flown into a panic over something inconsequential.  Steeling herself, Twilight slowly opened her eyes to see the package sitting on her kitchen table.  In the package sat a cracked and charred pair of mirror scope goggles of her own design, covered with dirt and flecked with small dots of dried blood.  Caught in the cinch of the headstrap were several strands of her tri-purple mane. She quickly closed her eyes again.

        Nope.  That’s definitely what I thought it was.  This is bad.  Very bad.  Freaking out is more than justified.  Options?

Run around in circles screaming until we pass out?

Will those goggles still be there when we wake up?

Probably?

Anything else?

Investigate, determine how screwed we are, and determine proper damage control from there?

Let’s go with that.

        Twilight Sparkle opened her eyes once again and examined the ominous package.  Critical lavender eyes soaked up every detail, searching for anything that could provide answers to the many questions racing through her mind.

        The first question, ‘how did they get here’, was rather simple to answer.  Obviously somepony had found them, packaged them, and delivered them to her doorstep. The second, more pressing, and significantly more difficult question was who?

        An examination of the exterior revealed no shipping labels or address information, meaning whoever had wrapped it had probably delivered it themselves.  Small teeth marks in the plain white string wrapped around the box, together with the rough hoof-wrapping, suggested that the culprit was not a unicorn.  It was a shame she couldn’t just run a DNA test on any remnant saliva, but even if she had or could acquire samples from everypony in ponyville to test against, the damp paper indicated that the package had been sitting in her bush for several days at least. Any fragment of a sample she could obtain would be worthless.

                With a small sigh of disappointment, she approached the problem from a different angle.  Who would have even been able to find these goggles?  Who had access?  Twilight ran through a mental checklist of everypony who had or was likely to have gone into the forest in the week since she had dropped them during one of that day’s many brushes with death. As most sane ponies avoided the Everfree Forest, the list was short.

        At the top of the list was the forest’s only known resident, Zecora.  Twilight had intentionally chosen a route to give as wide a berth as possible to Zecora’s hut, but she didn’t know every path the zebra took when making her rounds.  Was it possible she stumbled across the goggles while searching far afield for some rare ingredient?

        Or maybe she was investigating that fire we caused.  Nothing says covert operation like lighting up a bonfire so big it draws the entire Emergency Response-

        Twilight’s hoof collided with her face.  The Emergency Response Pegasi!  They would have all been called to the scene to extinguish the fire and launch an investigation. Aside from Rainbow Dash herself, the culprit could be any one of them...or it could still be Zecora.

        The last and most maddening question was why?  What did it mean?  Was it supposed to be some kind of message?  A threat?  There was no note of any kind or anything that might reveal the sender’s intention or how much they knew.  Icy fear seized Twilight’s heart at the prospect that they might know everything. Twilight quickly shook her head.

        Get a grip.  Not even Pinkie Pie would make the logical leap from ‘at the scene of a fire’ to ‘developing and using custom made and completely original love spell’.  The last thing I need is to go around ironically incriminating myself by wagging my tongue like a villain in some half-baked mystery novel.

        Still, the fact that anypony could place her there at all was a problem she wasn’t entirely sure she could lie her way out of.  She could claim to have lost the goggles weeks ago on some mundane trip and completely forgotten about them, but it would be hard to explain the specks of dried blood. And she still had no clue what this pony (or zebra) even wanted!  All she knew was that she had to find them and...and what?

        Remove them as a threat.

        Remove them as in ‘remove’ remove?

       Hopefully not. It depends what they know and what they want. Maybe I can spin a convincing enough story to settle the whole thing.

       And if you can’t? Or if they know too much?  Even if you pay them off, could you really let a loose end like that walk away?

        I can try a targeted memory spell.

        And if that doesn’t work?  If you can’t isolate the memories or it doesn’t stick?

        ...I’ll think of something.

        You’re already thinking of-

        It won’t come to that.

        If it does?

        IT WON’T!

        A faint noise reached Twilight’s ears. It took a moment for her to realize it was the sound of her teeth grinding together.  The tension in her jaw slowly faded as she forced herself to relax once again.  

        There wasn’t much she could do while she still didn’t know the identity of the sender.  The best she could do was to solve one mystery at a time and hope things would get clearer from there. Zecora didn’t exactly blend into crowds, so there was a good chance somepony would have spotted her if she had made a trip into town recently.  As for the Emergency Response Pegasi, a complete roster would be in the records at town hall.  It was at least a start.

        Twilight gave a quick glance around the room. Before she could run off to play detective, she still had to clean up the mess she and Dash had made of the library.  Spike would be returning from Canterlot later that evening, and though she wasn’t planning to keep her new relationship a secret forever, explaining what exactly she had been up to to create such a mess wasn’t how she wanted to introduce the subject.

        As she settled into her task, the calm monotony of cleaning washed over her.  As she straightened, aligned, and organized, her frayed nerves began to settle, her mind untangle, and her thoughts fall into place.  Though her conscious thoughts remained focused on cleaning the library, wheels turned in the back of her mind as plans and contingencies began to form.


***


        Another fluffy mass of white burst into oblivion as a cyan hoof cleaved through it.  In a turn that made a mockery of momentum, Rainbow Dash changed direction to close in on her next target.  With a stroke of her wings, she flipped end over end, bringing her hind legs in front of her for a high speed kick that reduced the cloud to a collection of widely scattered water droplets, each shimmering as they briefly refracted sunlight in a multi-colored halo.  She turned in search of her next target, only to find that the area was completely clear.

        “Wow. Looks like I’m particularly awesome today.”

        It had been a while since she’d felt this exhilarated while at work.  All morning, she had gone about her weather duties with a gusto normally reserved for practicing intense aerial stunts.  The veritable glow surrounding her hadn’t gone unnoticed by the other pegasi as she glided gently into the weather dispatch station. Cloud Kicker came cantering up to greet her, waving a friendly hoof.

        “My my, somepony certainly looks chipper this morning.  Good weekend?”

        “You have no idea.” Dash responded.

“Oh ho? And what does that mean?  Get a little ‘recreation’ in?” Cloud Kicker asked with a wink.  She paused briefly as her expression shifted from a knowing smirk into a gaze of deeper curiosity.  “No, wait a minute. Could it be…?”

        “Could it be what?”

        “Could some lucky pony have finally claimed the heart of Ponyville’s most eligible bachelorette?!  Oh Rainbow how could you?” The grey pegasus exclaimed, throwing a foreleg across her forehead and dramatically flinging her blonde mane through the air. “And just when I’d finally found the perfect date for you!”

        Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes and sighed.  “You mean like the last three friends of yours you tried to set me up with? Because I seem to remember you using the word ‘perfect’, when I think you meant ‘disastrous’.

“Hey, nopony could have predicted that thing with the teacups. Besides, I’ve vetted this one personally, if you know what I mean.”

        “Oh, well that certainly narrows it down.” Rainbow Dash replied with no effort made to restrain her sarcasm.

        “Hush you.  And don’t think you can distract me from the main issue.  Who is this mysterious pony who will be the cause of all this wailing and gnashing of teeth in the dating scene, and the end of my lucrative finder’s fees?”

“Lucrative finder’s…? Wait, have you been CHARGING ponies to set them up with me?!”

        “What? No! No. Maybe?  Hey look at that! Lots of work to be done down on the south side.  Very urgent! Better get on that, bye!”

Rainbow Dash stood there among the swirling cloud vapor left by the pony’s rapid departure.  With a well practiced sigh and shake of her head, she walked over to the weather request board to find her next job.  There was a recent request for a light drizzle at Sweet Apple Acres.  Eager for the chance to visit one of her friends (and to do everything in her power to ensure a bountiful cider season) she quickly signed her name next to the request and took off.

        Though the flight was short, it was ample time for her racing mind to conjure up memories from what seemed like a lifetime ago. Memories of when she and Applejack had been a couple.

They had been great times, filled with truly cherished memories.  She had often been  asked why they had separated when they had been so perfect together.  She could never seem to give an answer that fully satisfied the pony asking.  As unsatisfying as it was, sometimes things just didn’t work out.  Two ponies could be the best of friends, even be attracted to each other, but sometimes a dozen miniscule idiosyncrasies meant they just didn’t work in a serious relationship.  And sometimes both ponies were stubborn enough that they would take months getting around to admitting it.

Ending that relationship had been painful, but they both knew it had to be done.  At least their friendship had endured, and now that she was with Twilight… well, current circumstances made prior heartache more bearable.  

Twilight. Rainbow Dash swore that mare was a balm for the soul.  The world simply shined when she was around.  Seeing the rows of apple trees laid out before her, Rainbow Dash turned into a gentle descent.


***


Fluttershy unpacked her picnic basket with care, gently laying the neatly cut daisy sandwiches onto the plain kitchen table.  There they joined an array of mouthwatering baked goods. 

        “Thanks again, Applejack.  You didn’t have to take time out of your day just to have lunch with me.”

        “For the last time Fluttershy, it’s no problem at all.  It’s been a while since I’ve been able to enjoy a good lunch with friends, and the farm isn’t going to fall apart over the course of one meal.”

Just as the two hungry ponies slid into their seats in eager anticipation of their meal, a blue and rainbow blur streaked through the window before coming to a sudden stop and landing on the table.

“Hey AJ. Hey Fluttershy.  I’m here to…” Rainbow Dash drifted off as she stared, transfixed, at a plate piled high with small puffy bits of cooked batter covered with powdered sugar.  “Are those…?”

Applejack gave a familiar roll of her eyes.  “Yes.  And yes, you can have some.”

A high pitched squee of joy passed briefly through the room before Rainbow Dash lunged forward and began popping the bite sized morsels into her mouth.  Fluttershy sat silently, blinking in mild confusion.  

“A recipe one of my cousins brought back from a trip to the Neightherlands” Applejack explained.

“They’re great!” Rainbow Dash managed to mumble through a full mouth, hoof already reaching for another.  “Applejack used to make these for me all the time, and she always uses plenty of the secret ingredient.”

“Love?” Fluttershy guessed.

“Butter,” Applejack corrected. “Lots of it.”

“Yeah, it’s not for the faint of heart...literally...I’m pretty sure it’s a heart attack waiting to happen.” replied Rainbow Dash, showing no sign of slowing down.  Applejack said nothing, but raised an eyebrow at the voracious pegasus.  “What…?  I’m super athletic and stuff. My heart’s in great condition.”

“So, are you here for any particular reason, or did Pinkie just somehow teach you to get tail twitches when I start baking?”

Rainbow Dash paused to wipe powdered sugar from her muzzle.  “Right!  I saw your rain request back at the dispatch center.”

“And you came all the way out here for a basic drizzle job?”

“Of course!  I couldn’t leave a friend hanging.  Not with Sweet Apple Acres in such perilous condition, bereft of all moisture, calling out for a hero to swoop in and save the day.  A hero with the guts, determination, and meteorological skill to avert total disaster!”

“So basically you got bored and thought you could goof off here a bit and maybe catch a bite and a nap on a tree branch?”

“Eh, pretty much,” Rainbow responded with a shrug before pulling up a seat.

Fluttershy gave a quiet giggle before asking a question that popped suddenly into her mind.  “Why do you like to sleep in trees?  Aren’t clouds much more comfortable?”

“Yeah, clouds are pretty cozy and all, but they don’t usually come with free snacks growing on them that you can roll over and grab.”

        Applejack gave an affirmative nod.  “I could tell which were her favorite spots by the apple cores laying around.  Used to think I had some kinda pest infestation.”  She stole a sidelong glance at Rainbow Dash, who had resumed helping herself to lunch.  “Still do at times.”

        “Anyway,” Rainbow Dash continued, ignoring Applejack’s last comment, “I don’t think I could make use of your comfy branches even if I wanted to.  I’ve got way too much energy today.”

“You do seem a might twitchier than normal.  You been dippin’ into some of Pinkie’s cupcakes?”

       Rainbow Dash shook her head.  “No, nothing like that.  It’s….well…” she glanced around in uncertainty.  “Well, I don’t think it’s supposed to be a huge secret, but we haven’t really talked about it yet, so keep it on the down low for now.  I just feel like I’m gonna explode if I don’t tell somepony. The truth is...TWILIGHT’S MY MAREFRIEND NOW!”  No longer able to contain her excitement, Rainbow Dash lept up and began to fly tight circles above the table.

       Applejack nodded.  “I see.  And when did this start?”

      “Just a few days ago, on Friday.  And it’s been GREAT so far.”

       “Well then, congratulations sugarcube.” She stole a quick glance towards Fluttershy.

        “Yes. Umm...congratulations.” Fluttershy responded, her naturally low volume masking the slight tension in her voice.

       Dash continued to gush. “Oh man, it’s fantastic, SHE’s fantastic.  It’s like doing a sonic rainboom every second we’re together.  Colors, sounds, smells, it’s all better somehow.”

        “That sounds...wonderful.” Fluttershy replied as she began to grind a back hoof into the ground underneath the table before taking a drink from her water glass.

        “Yeah, it is.  She showed me all the stuff in her lab, and I took her flying. Oh man did she love that.”

       A bead of sweat rolled down Applejack’s neck as she cast a worried glance at the glass between Fluttershy’s hooves.  A small stress fracture was slowly creeping its way up the side. “That’s...nice.” Fluttershy responded, shaking slightly.

        Still oblivious, Rainbow Dash continued, hardly aware of her surroundings anymore.  “It’s awesome!  And I tell ya, she may look all straight laced and nerdy on the outside, but she’s positively wild when-”  she was cut short by a sharp tug on her tail as Applejack yanked her out of the air.

“So Dash!  Much as I’m interested in this story, there is work to be done.  How about we continue the rest outside while I point out the dry patches in need of rain?”

        “Uh, sure thing AJ.”

        “Great, you go on ahead and get your clouds ready, I’ll just tidy up in here and be out in a minute.”  With a nod and a salute, Rainbow Dash was out the door.  Breathing a sigh of relief, Applejack turned back around to face the table. “You okay there, sugarcube?”

       Fluttershy gave a silent nod and licked the small speck of blood on the inside of her lower lip where she had been biting down.  She stood up from the table.  “Thank you for the lunch Applejack.  Sorry I couldn’t eat more of it, but I’m not feeling very hungry right now.  I think I’d better go.”

        “Not a problem, Fluttershy.  Take care of yourself, and drop by whenever you like. My door is always open.”

        Fluttershy gave a brief smile before walking toward the door.  Halfway through she turned over her shoulder.  “Oh, and umm...thank you.  For…you know.”

        “Don’t mention it, sugarcube.”  With that, Fluttershy left and Applejack turned to clear the food away, grabbing a few bites from the meal that had been cut short.  She reached out to clear away the glasses, and at the touch of her hoof, Fluttershy’s glass collapsed into a pile of jagged shards.  Applejack cursed under her breath and stared at the small bead of blood trickling down from the cut on her hoof.


***  


Her task finally complete, Twilight looked upon her work.  The library was restored.  Books sat in their proper spaces among the shelves, personal effects had been returned to their drawers, garbage and debris had been properly disposed of, and the furniture neatly aligned. In the kitchen, dishes were cleaned and put away, and the counter freshly scrubbed.  Her bedspread lay impeccably made.  A palpable sense of order permeated the air of the tree house. Twilight closed her eyes, basking in it, letting it flow into her and fill her with the resolve and determination she needed.

The world outside was turbulent and chaotic, but here she was in control.  Here things were as they should be, a sanctuary from the turmoil.  She would carry a part of this peaceful realm inside her as a candle in the dark, and through it, find the strength to beat a path through the outside world.  To confront her challenges and impose order upon the universe through intellect and force of will.  Now, brimming with determination, Twilight turned and pushed open her front door, closing it quickly behind her as she stepped outside.

Afternoon sunlight beat down, momentarily blinding her as her eyes readjusted from the dim library interior.  She turned and started on a path to the town hall.  With any luck she could get a look at the records and have a full list of all ponies on the emergency response team compiled in a few hours.  With the occasional historical research project, and the number of times the mayor had asked her for assistance organizing for the next winter wrap up or getting the filing system under control, the sight of Twilight Sparkle coming and going from the town hall was hardly unusual.

Okay. Step 1, obtain list.  Step 2,  narrow down possible suspects.

Twilight wrinkled her nose in thought as she walked.

How?  What criteria am I even sorting with?  I don’t have any enemies….do I?  I’m pretty well liked aren’t I?  I can’t think of anypony who would harbor a personal vendetta against me.  Maybe it’s not personal then.  No, that’s still assuming it’s some kind of blackmail or threat, I still don’t have any idea what the motive is supposed to be.  But what else could it be?  Arrgh, I just have to hope something jumps out once I have that  list, and I still need to look into Zecora!

Twilight’s thoughts came to a screeching halt as she walked straight into a pair of lips that pressed themselves eagerly against her own.  Her eyes snapped forward to focus on a bright cerulean face cropped by a rainbow mane.

“Well, glad to see I finally got your attention.”

“Dash? Wh-huh?”

Rainbow Dash unsuccessfully suppressed a giggle.  “I’ve been flying here waving my arms and calling your name for half a minute.

“Oh.” Twilight kicked at the ground in embarrassment.  “Sorry.  I got kinda lost in thought.”

“Apparently.  But anyway, as I was saying, I finished all my work and I’m free for the rest of the day.  So what do you want to do?”

Twilight was torn.  Reluctant as she was to blow off an afternoon with Dash, the city hall records archive wasn’t the best date location, and she really didn’t want to deal with the likely questions that would arise about it.  If only there was some other way to spend time with Dash and continue her investigation at the same time.

An idea suddenly struck her mind, and she had to restrain her hoof from joining it through her face.  It was so obvious.  “Dash?  You’re head of the Emergency Response Pegasi right?”

“Yeah. Why?”

“Do you know what happened with that forest fire a few days ago?”

“Yeah, it looks like a dragon got into a fight with a manticore and some timber wolves and lit the place up.”  Rainbow Dash explained with a nonchalant wave of her hoof.  “I had to write a big boring report about the whole thing for like a half-dozen different agencies.  Come to think of it I still need to mail off the final draft.”

“Need an editor?”  Twilight forced restraint to keep the eagerness out of her voice.

“Hmm?”

“You know, another set of eyes to proofread.  I’d be happy to help.”

Rainbow Dash shrugged. “It’s pretty dull paperwork, but if you really want to, knock yourself out.”

“Great.  If we swing by your place, I can grab a copy to take home and have something for you by tomorrow.”

“Sure thing.”  Rainbow Dash turned and started idly flapping towards her cloud house.  She threw a brief glance over her shoulder.  “Oh, and thanks.  You really didn’t have to do that, but I appreciate it.”

Twilight smiled in return.  “No problem.  What are eggheaded marefriends for?” 

Before long they had reached their destination, and with a well practiced combination of cloud walking spell and teleportation, Twilight joined Dash in her cushy abode.  Dash lead her over to a mass of cloud shaped into the form of a desk, and opened a fluffy drawer.  She pulled out a stack of papers wrapped in a protective envelope to guard against condensation, which Twilight guessed would be a rather significant drawback to a workstation made entirely out of water vapor.

Twilight took the papers hoofed to her and gave a series of nods and affirmative mumbles as she skimmed through the pages.  She cracked a small smile as she found what she was looking for.  At the very end, amongst the boilerplate text of the acknowledgements section, was a complete list of all ponies participating in the investigation.

Step 1: Check.

Something else near the bottom caught her eye.

“Native Species Consultant?” She asked.

“ Right.  We brought in Fluttershy as an expert on local animals to look at footprints and stuff.  She’s the one who ID’d the timber wolves and manticore.”

“If you were investigating the Everfree Forest, why not use Zecora?”

“We tried, but she wasn’t home.  We found a note on her door saying she was off on a week long trip.  Wouldn’t be back until today, so we went and got Fluttershy instead.”

Twilight gave only a brief “Ah.” of acknowledgement, but inside she was jumping with joy.  Not only had she gotten her list, but Zecora was removed from the equation with a solid alibi.  Now she could focus on her list once she made herself a copy and churned out a quick edit of Dash’s report.

Her thoughts were abruptly interrupted by a set of teeth nibbling on her ear and sending shivers down her spine.

“Twii~l~iight.”  A beautiful voice quietly cooed into her ear before the nibbling returned and started moving slowly down the back of her neck.

That work could wait a little.  They said it was best to break large projects up into smaller objectives with little self-rewards for completion.  She had a particular reward in mind.


	***


        Three weeks later and still no solid progress had been made on the identity of whoever had sent those goggles.  To her great relief, the official report contained no mention of them or any evidence that she or anypony had been present at the time of the fire. The concealment of this evidence from the authorities seemed to indicate an attempt at blackmail, but without any kind of demands.

Furthermore, why send her the actual goggles when a picture would suffice?  Why give away the singular piece evidence?  Was there something else they had in reserve?  Some other critical piece of evidence that she was still overlooking? Twilight wracked her brain, but couldn’t come up with anything.

Maybe the pony in question was unbelievably stupid? Maybe the goggles really were the only piece of evidence and she was home free, having reduced them to cinders weeks ago as soon as she was sure she had gleaned every last detail from them.

But I still don’t KNOW if that’s all!  I don’t know HOW MUCH they know!  And I don’t know what they WANT!

Twilight grit her teeth in frustration as she walked along the road.  The whole gang was getting together for a spa day, and Twilight certainly had plenty of tension in need of release.  Hours upon hours of staring at names on her list, replaying every detail of her time in the forest, and constantly running through the multitude of worst case scenarios had added more than one knot in her shoulders.

No demands, no note, nothing!  What’s the point?  Are they just toying with me?  Just trying to drive me crazy with paranoia?  Well I won’t give them the satisfaction.  It’ll take more than that to unsettle me. Twilight thought to herself as another part of her mind ran through the checklist of emergency supplies stashed in several hidden locations, and a third part reviewed the chapters she’d read on defensive wards in Basics of Magical Self Defense.

Finally reaching her destination, Twilight found that the others had wasted no time getting on with the relaxation without her.  The five other ponies sat in the large hot tub that occupied the center of the room. Rarity and Fluttershy sat on the right, melting in front of the jets with cucumber slices over their eyelids.  Spike stood by attentively with a large palm frond, eager to burst into action should Rarity call on him.  Applejack and Rainbow Dash sat on the left, conversing and treating the bowl of additional cucumber slices as a source of snacks.  Pinkie was occupied in the center, swimming in circles with flippers, a snorkle, and a novelty shark fin strapped to her back.

Rainbow Dash turned her head at the sound of the door opening, and Twilight saw her eyes light up when they settled on her.  It still gave her a chill down her spine to see it.  Rainbow quickly followed up with an eager wave and a shout.

“About time you got here slowpoke! Hurry up and get in here before we get all pruney without you!”

The rest expressed similar sentiments as Twilight walked over and dipped a hoof into the water before sliding in next to Rainbow Dash, already feeling the heat begin to loosen up her muscles.  A small movement through the water and her back was leaning against Dash’s chest, blue forelegs wrapped around her, and surprised at how quickly total relaxation spread through her entire body.

After Rarity expressed how glad she was that everypony could make it and how dreadfully long it had been since they had had a nice spa day, the group sat in silence for while, enjoying the jets and the hot water.  After a few minutes, Twilight flicked an eye open and idly watched Pinkie’s shark fin, sans snorkle, making circles in  the water.

“Pinkie, do you ever come up for air?”  There was no response.  “Pinkie?”

“Yeah Twilight?” Pinkie responded from where she was standing beside the tub, glass of ice water in hoof.  Twilight whipped her head back and forth between Pinkie and the still circling fin.

“But...what..then who?” Twilight sputtered.

Pinkie reached in to retrieve her prop from the water, revealing Gummy.  “I had him take over for me while I took a break. It’s thirsty work I tell ya.”

“Pinkie! That’s terrible for him! Alligators are cold blooded! He’ll overheat!”

       “Silly Twilight, if his blood is cold, won’t that just help keep him cool?”

        “Um, actually,” Fluttershy interjected, “it means that he can’t regulate his body temperature.  His internal temperature will change to whatever is around him, so there’s the risk of getting  too hot or cold. For any reptile, swimming in a hot tub for too long could be, uh, unhealthy.”

       Pinkie Pie paused for a moment, blinking as she processed what she heard.  Suddenly the color drained from her face and she leaped into the air. “OH NO! Don’t worry Gummy, I’ll save you!” She shouted as she deposited her pet on a nearby pillow and donned a nurse’s cap produced from places unseen.  “I know! You can have my ice water!”

       “Whoa! Hold on!” Rainbow Dash interrupted, “You don’t want to send him into thermal shock. Put him in a bag or bucket or something with warmer water and put that in colder water so he can adjust slowly.”

        The questioning eyes of five ponies and one dragon turned and settled on her for a moment.

        “Well don’t worry” said Fluttershy as she scooped Gummy up onto her back. “I’ll get this little guy a nice sink of tepid water to sit in and he’ll be just fine.”

       As Fluttershy left in search of an unoccupied sink, Rarity decided to join the conversation, turning a now uncovered eye towards Rainbow Dash.

“So…”

“What? I had a fish once.”

“More like five in a week before she finally learned that trick from the store owner, along with the importance of actually adding a heater to the fish tank.” Applejack added before artfully dodging a splash of water from one of Dash’s wings.

“Ah, of course.” Rarity replied.  “For a moment there I thought it was just more of you and Twilight rubbing off on each other.”

“WHAT?! That was only one-!” Rainbow Dash was suddenly cut off by a cloud of purple magic shoving her head beneath the water.

       “HAHA! YES!” Responded a very red faced Twilight, maintaining her magic over the angry surge of bubbles. “Yes I guess two ponies are bound to pick up a few mannerisms when they spend a lot of time together!  Don’t worry though, you’ll still be able to tell us apart unless I suddenly sprout pegasus wings and start flying around.  But really, what are the chances of tha-AAAHH!” Twilight suddenly found her back legs pulled out from under her as Rainbow Dash breached the surface and followed through, pouncing on Twilight in a large splash.

“SPLASH FIGHT!” Shouted Pinkie as she leaped to join the fray.

“Ladies, please,” admonished Rarity. “This is a place for relaxation, not ruckus.”

“Fracas!” Called Pinkie from the depth of the three way aquatic battle.

“Pinkie’s actually correct in this case. A ruckus is a noisy disturbance while a fracas has an element of physical altercation” Twilight managed to call out before being viciously tackled by both of her opponents.

“Yes, well, be that as it may, it is still quite inappro-” Rarity was interrupted by a splash of water that drenched her, until then, perfectly preserved mane.  She turned, glaring daggers at a smirking Applejack.  “Of course you realize, this means-” A second wave interrupted her once again.  “THAT’S IT!” she cried out, burying Applejack beneath a magically propelled wave.  “To me Spikey Wikey! Defend my honor from these ruffians!”.

 As what little order was left in the room fell to pieces, Fluttershy walked in, wondering what she had missed in the approximate minute she had been gone.  “Well Gummy is doing just fine so…oh, um I see you’re busy right now.  That’s okay, I’ll just sit here and wait until you’re done if that’s okay with-eep!” A pair of pink hooves snaked out of the water and pulled her into the chaos.

After a few minutes, the hextuple sided free-for-all finally settled down.  Ponies and dragon sat gasping for breath at the edges of the water, exhausted and smiling.  There was a loud burp and a flash of green fire as a scroll appeared in the air.  Twilight caught it with her magic before it could hit the water, and pulled it closer to read.  As she scanned through the contents, her smile grew wider.

“Cadence is coming to visit!”

“Oh my. How exciting.  Is there any special reason?” Fluttershy asked.

“Nope, she just managed to clear some time to make a social call.  She’ll be here in two weeks.”

“Simply wonderful darling!” Rarity added.  “It will be so nice to meet with Cadence without the stress of wooing inspectors, banishing dark lords, or repelling invading armies.”

“Come to think of it, isn’t this the first time she’s ever been here to ponyville?” Applejack asked.

Pinkie let out a gasp. “Oh my gosh! That means I get to throw a princess tier ‘Welcome to Ponyville’ party!  I need to visit my industrial scale streamer supplier!”

Twilight smiled and practically bounced with joy.  She could hardly remember what had had her so stressed earlier that day.  Something about those goggles?  If nothing had come of it yet, probably nothing would.  For all she knew the owner might never have noticed her hair in the strap and simply dropped the package by accident while carrying it home.  It was ashes now anyway, time to get back to living the good life.

And life was certainly good.  She had great friends, the mare of her dreams was deeply in love with her, and the former world’s best foalsitter, now world’s best sister-in-law was coming to visit.  The only thing to worry about now was how to show off her new marefriend to Cadence.


	***


Princess Mi Amore Cadenza paced across her suite in the cozy hotel she had chosen to stay in, despite the generous offers Twilight and her friends had made of their own homes.  She knew she needed to get some rest before catching the early train back to the Crystal Empire in the morning, but sleep was far from her mind.

She had been overjoyed when Twilight had introduced Rainbow Dash as her marefriend.  It warmed her heart to see how happy the couple was together.  But as that first day wore on into the evening she had started to sense something.  Something just ever so slightly...off.  And it was coming from Rainbow Dash.

It felt like an infinitesimally small pulse of magic, probably undetectable to anyone less than a full alicorn.  Just the tiniest of ticks, easy to miss if distracted in conversation, and so infrequent that she was just about convinced it was all in her imagination before it would happen again.  She had nearly dismissed it when it had stopped after returning to her room that night.

It was the second day, when the ticks returned, that she made the connection to Rainbow Dash.  Every time the tick appeared, Rainbow’s smile would grow a little larger for a moment.  As surreptitiously as possible, Cadence had tried a crude physiological scan, as good a one as she could manage without direct physical contact anyway.  Those ticks were accompanied by a small spike in heart rate and, she couldn’t make out what, but SOMETHING was happening in the amygdala.

Cadance had never been an expert on neurology, but she knew a decent amount about emotional states, and she finally realized why those initial ticks had felt so unsettling.  They had a faint air of familiarity, likely the only reason she could notice them in the first place.  Like a story handed down by word of mouth for many generations, changing with each telling, but holding that same kernel of the original.  Or an old and wizened stallion, ravaged by time, but with a shadow of the young colt he used to be.  There was the faint shadow of magic she had felt a long time ago.

As she continued to pace away her third and final night in Ponyville, memories of Canterlot streets and a small purple filly came to mind unbidden.  Images of ponies with hearts in their eyes swarming in an uncontrollable mass of chaos.  Tears, shouting, apologies, and a conversation with Celestia about a promising new prospective student worth keeping an eye on.  Memories years later of receiving notification of an ‘incident’ in ponyville along with strict instructions on what to do should any further ‘incidents’ arise.

Cadence sighed.  She wished more than anything that she was wrong.  That it was all a mistake, but she had been growing increasingly sure by the hour.  With a heavy heart, she levitated a scroll, quill, and inkpot, and began to write.

Dear Auntie Celestia:

I regret to inform you that…


***


 Celestia sat in her chambers, a picture of grace and calm, but inside she was tensed with excitement.  Floating in her grip was Star Swirl The Bearded’s journal, which she was preparing to mail to Twilight as soon as her attached scroll was finished.  One final test for her protege.  Her excited writing was interrupted by an urgent knock on her door.

        “Yes? What is it?”

        “High priority letter from Princess Cadenza your highness."

        Celestia opened the door, retrieved the message, and sent the guard on his way with her thanks.  Opening the letter she began to read.  Had her face not naturally been a pristine white, it would have drained of all color.  Celestia hung her head and let out a sigh laden with regret and disappointment.

So close….it was so close this time.

Slowly she walked back to her writing desk, pushed aside the previous scroll and journal, and retrieved a fresh scroll.  She held the quill motionless in the air, waiting a long time before touching it to the paper.  This had to be handled with the utmost delicacy.

> Chapter 3
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	The gentle morning rays of a pleasant, but perfectly ordinary day fell upon the bedroom of a young lavender unicorn.  The shapeless form beneath the covers turned, reluctant to leave the comfort and security of the bed, but tempted by the smells of breakfast wafting in from the kitchen below.

Finally surrendering to the delicious aroma and the grumbling of her stomach, Twilight Sparkle opened her eyes, climbed out of bed, and made a quick attempt at passing a brush through her mane a few times.  As she stumbled down the stairs in a groggy haze, she was momentarily blinded by a flash of green.

“Oh, hey Twilight.” Spike said.  “There you are.  Breakfast is almost ready.  Also, this just came for you.” He held up a scroll, and Twilight’s eyes widened when she saw Celestia’s seal, the remaining grogginess rapidly leaving her body.  She quickly tore it open and began to read aloud.

Dear Twilight.

Your presence at the castle is requested at once.  There is an issue of grave importance that I must discuss with you.  I have already dispatched a chariot for your transportation and it should be arriving within ten minutes.  You do not need to bring anything with you, but please come alone. 
- Princess Celestia 

“Ten minutes?!” Spike exclaimed, setting down a plate of pancakes and toast in front of Twilight. “What’s with the short notice? Is there some kind of emergency?”

“I don’t know, Spike.  It sounds pretty dire, but she’s not calling for the Elements to be brought together.”

“Yeah, what’s with that come alone business? Makes it sound like some kind of test or something.”

“Test?” Twilight’s ears perked up.  Of course! It had to be some kind of surprise test!  “Ah! W-what should I do? I’m not ready!” Twilight hopped up and began to anxiously trot in place.

“Eat breakfast.”

“What?”

“Twilight, if it is some kind of test, which it still may not be, then seeing as how the princess gave a whole ten minutes of notice, it’s not supposed to be the kind you study for.  So the best thing you can do is just eat.”

Twilight reluctantly sat down and began to nibble at her toast. After a few minutes she looked up and asked a question.

“You don’t think I’ll have to liberate another principality do you?”

Spike gave only a noncommittal shrug.

“I don’t think I could handle something like the Crystal Empire again.  We only scraped by thanks to you and Cadence after I pretty much botched it at the finish line.”

“Hey now, you didn’t botch it.  You just delegated to your extremely well trained assistant.”

“Well I won’t have you around this time to ‘delegate’ to.”

“Look, Twilight, you’re the smartest, most capable pony I know.  Whatever Celestia wants from you, I know you can handle it.  And I’m sure she wouldn’t even be asking if she thought otherwise.  You’ll sail through it and be a big hero, everyone will cheer, I’ll say I told you you’d be fine and you’ll be all ‘Thanks Spike, I should have listened to you all along’.  Then there will probably be a big group hug.”

“Thanks Spike.”  Twilight gave a warm smile and pulled her number one assistant in for hug. “You always know just what to say to make me feel better.”

The tender moment was interrupted by a harsh knock on the door.

“That’ll be them,” Twilight said, pausing to take a deep breath before turning and greeting the two royal guards at the door.  As she accompanied them outside and boarded the chariot, she waved a quick goodbye to her dependable assistant.  “Take care of the library and all my friends while I’m gone, okay Spike?”

Spike waved a clawed hand in the air and shouted back as the chariot took off into the sky.  “Don’t worry Twilight, you’ll do great! They’ll be adding a new stained glass window by the end of the week!”

As the ground faded down below, and they passed up through the clouds, Twilight leaned back in her seat and tried not to worry.  It was a losing battle.  She couldn’t help but speculate wildly as to what Celestia wanted from her.   

Was there an increase in changeling activity?  Had Discord slipped back to his more malevolent chaotic ways?  Had some other ancient threat surfaced after a thousand and some odd years? And why weren’t her friends called at the same time? Was Celestia secretly ill and needing her to embark on some quest to the edge of Equestria to retrieve a curative flower while keeping the whole thing under wraps to avoid a panic?  Was she just planning a highly secretive birthday party for Luna?

No answers were forthcoming as the chariot approached the landing strip at Canterlot Castle.  As she exited the chariot, a new pair of guards appeared and formed an escort at her sides.  A quick glance around revealed a significant, but restrained increase in guard presence, as if somepony wanted to tighten security while maintaining the illusion that all was still well.  

That illusion was greatly weakened when Twilight crossed the threshold into the castle and felt the tingling magical static of an interdiction field.  Teleportation would be strictly impossible within the castle grounds.

Okay, definitely some kind of threat.  Definitely something with high magical capability if they felt the need to ward the entire castle against magical entry.

Or exit.  A small voice in the back of her mind added.

Twilight dismissed it as baseless paranoia.  A relic from a few weeks ago when she couldn’t walk into a room without mapping out escape routes.  She didn’t have time to be distracted by such silliness.  Celestia needed her.  Still, old habits died hard, and with mounting curiosity as to what exactly was going on in the palace, she turned a hyper-critical eye and ear to her surroundings.  

The first thing she noticed was that all the side doors and passages were barred shut.  This had the effect of turning the hallway into a straight line, segmented by several pairs of open doors,  from the now tightly shut front gate to the doors of the throne room.

Second was that the sound of hoofsteps seemed too loud.  While turning her head as if to admire the row of stained glass windows on her left, she was able to catch a brief glimpse over her shoulder to confirm that her escort was growing.  Guards were quietly peeling away from their positions at the barred side passages to follow a distance behind the two at her side. 

It’s nothing.  You’re being silly.  You’ve been called by Celestia to address whatever is going on.  You’re an important pony.  Of course they’re going to guard you.  But the voice in the back of her mind was quickly growing stronger.

If they’re guarding against some external threat, they should be sticking to those doors and watching the perimeter.

Twilight approached one of the pairs of open doors that formed an intermediate checkpoint in the very long hallway.  She took careful notice as the guards moved aside to let them pass and quickly shut the doors behind them, resuming their posts on the interior side.

There! If they are keeping something out, they should be on the other side.

Maybe Celestia is keeping something dangerous locked up in the center of the castle and they’re here to keep it in?

Then why were they facing outward when we arrived?

Twilight didn’t like where this train of thought was going.  The expansive hallway was beginning to feel more cramped by the second, and the magical field weighed on her coat like an itchy and restrictive blanket as the large double doors to the throne room grew closer.

Stop it.  You’re being paranoid.  Not everything is about you.  You need to get yourself together and-ACHOO!

Her thoughts were interrupted by a sneeze that echoed for several seconds in the suddenly silent hallway.  Twilight looked back to see that every single guard had frozen dead in their tracks, knees bent in anticipation, and with all eyes focused intently on her. What had started as an annoying buzzing in the back of her mind had jumped up to a loudly ringing alarm.

I didn’t imagine that!  What was that all about?!  Trying her best to pretend she hadn’t noticed a dozen royal guards looking at her like she was an angry hydra, Twilight gave a nervous laugh.

“Hehe, sorry about that.  Does anypony have a tissue or something I could use?”

The two nearest guards exchanged a quick look before one reluctantly fished a bright red hoofkerchief out of a pocket.  Twilight thanked him and took it in her magic.

While blowing her nose and using her levitation as a cover for the glow around her horn, Twilight began to multicast.  Using a passive scan in the infrared and magical frequencies, she took a look behind the rapidly approaching doors to the throne room.  Two bright beacons, Celestia and Luna, sat in the center of the room where the thrones would be.  A dozen smaller figures filled the room, mostly pegasi, with several unicorns mixed in.  Twilight was glad she was only using passive detection, as she knew the unicorn guards would be able to detect an active ping almost immediately.

The alarm in her head continued to ring louder as she took note of the lightly glowing forms, strategically positioned on either side of the doors, which when opened inward, would conceal them in a pocket by the walls.  All the better to burst out and surround an unsuspecting target.

It reached a fever pitch when she noticed a small anomaly.  It was just a tiny, ring shaped distortion floating near one of the unicorns, no bigger than two centimeters across.  A small ripple and lensing effect in the background magical energy.  She might not have noticed it at all under normal circumstances,  and it was only the now screaming siren in her skull that prompted her to look for just such a thing, and allowed her to infer what it was.

A magical inhibitor.  A ring slipped over a unicorn’s horn to disrupt the flow of magic and prevent spell casting.  Twilight’s heart skipped a beat, her blood froze in her veins, and her mind was momentarily quiet, save for three words.

IT’S A TRAP!

Twilight clamped down on her physiological responses, forcing her lungs to continue breathing at a regular rate, despite the demands of her soaring heartbeat.  She forced her legs to continue walking at a normal pace without shaking, and she hoped sheer willpower would be enough to avoid anything else that might tip off the guards around her.

On the outside, she was Celestia’s faithful student, eager to meet with her mentor, and without the slightest suspicion that anything was amiss. On the inside, she was screaming in blind panic as her world fell apart.

THEY KNOW! HOW DO THEY KNOW?!  SHITSHITSHITSHITSHITSHITSHITSHIT!!!  DO SOMETHING TWILIGHT!  THINK OF SOMETHING!

But there was nothing to be done.  A sealed castle gate sat on the other side of several barred doors and a dozen guards who were rapidly herding her towards the throne room, now less than 20 paces away, where a dozen more guards and two princesses sat in ambush for her.  There was no avoiding it.

She’d be taken away in chains and put on trial in a national spectacle where her friends and family would disown her, and ponies would line up to denounce her and gossip about the sheer scandal of it all for weeks.  When that humiliation was finally over, she’d be locked away somewhere where she’d never see the sun again, much less Ponyville.  She’d certainly never see Rainbow Dash ever again.


NO!


Less than 10 steps away from the throne room doors, Twilight stopped and flung the hoofkerchief she was still holding into the air, momentarily drawing the eyes of all the guards, before flaring a blinding flash of light.  By the time they had reflexively raised a hoof to their faces, she had already spun left and started galloping as fast as she could.

Twilight’s hooves moved rapidly across the hallway floor, bathed in the multicolored light of a large stained glass window.  It was a dramatic depiction of Twilight and her friends as saviors of Equestria, wielding the Elements of Harmony against Nightmare Moon and Discord.  Twilight stood in the foreground, surrounded by her happy friends as ponies cheered and a reunited Celestia and Luna smiled down from above.

Twilight summoned a small barrier to protect her face and forelegs, and with a quick blast of telekinetic force, her smiling counterpart exploded outward into a cloud of razor sharp, multicolored shards. Twilight didn’t hesitate as she leaped through the raining shards, and into the open air.

Then began a very long fall.


***


Rainbow Dash was awoken by a loud banging on her door.  She rolled over and pulled a tuft of cloud over her head in the hope that if she ignored them, whoever it was might go away and let her get back to sleep before trying again in the far superior PM hours.  Unfortunately, they were quite insistent on forcing her to part from her bed and spend part of her day off confronting one of her worst foes.  Mornings.

Crawling out of bed and grumbling obscenities under her breath, Rainbow Dash stumbled across her house.  She paused to throw some lettuce into Tank’s terrarium and continued on to the front door, flinging it open with a very annoyed “What?”  Her vision finally focused on two royal guards.

“Ms. Rainbow Dash?” the one on the left asked.

She gave a quick glance up at her distinctive rainbow mane, and another at the rainbow bolt cutie mark on her flank.  “Last I checked, yeah.  What is it?”

“Your presence is requested at Canterlot Castle.  We have orders to escort you there immediately.”

“Huh?  Why?”

“No reason was specified, just that you are to be retrieved as soon as possible.”

Rainbow Dash blinked a few times before giving a yawn and a shrug. “Yeah, okay.  Just let me grab some breakfast.”

The guards shook their heads.  “I’m sorry, but our orders specify to escort you there immediately.”

Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes. “Fine.  Just hang on a sec.” She reached into her nearby ‘on the go’ food bowl and grabbed a carrot for the flight.  “Alright, let’s get this over with.”

The movement of air past her face, along with the increased blood circulation from her pumping wings helped her to shake off the remaining sleepiness as she followed idly behind the two guards.

Wonder what this is all about?  Do the princesses need some baddie put down?  Sonic Rainboom to wow some snooty ambassadors?  Usually these kinda assignments get relayed second hoof via mail to Twilight.  Must be pretty important if the scowl patrol has to get me out of bed personally.

Annoyed at the pace she was being forced to follow at, Rainbow Dash pushed forward.  She knew the way to Canterlot perfectly fine, and was sure her escort could keep up.  She wasn’t trying to leave them in the dust or anything, and if they couldn’t keep up with her “leisurely” pace, they had no business being in the royal guard.  Besides, they were the ones who had stressed the apparent urgency of the situation.

If it’s that important, Twilight will probably be there too.  She never gets left out of the really cool stuff. 

Idle fantasies filled Rainbow Dash’s head.  Visions of her and Twilight fighting back to back against waves of changelings, manticores, and assorted monsters.  Twilight letting loose with sweet laser blasts while Dash unleashed a dizzying flurry of hoof strikes.

They were almost at Canterlot Castle, and she was just getting to thinking up snappy one liners for after she had flown them both out of the collapsing temple with the staff of phlebotinum, when something in the distance caught her eye.  There was some motion near one of the windows facing the sheer cliff face, and it looked like something was falling.  Whatever it was seemed to have moving bits, almost like flailing legs. In fact, it was shaped like a unicorn.  A purple-

TWILIGHT!

There was a deafening crack caused by air crashing into the vacuum where Rainbow Dash had been as she instantly bolted past the sound barrier.  Eyes fixed on her target, the only thought she could focus on was the overpowering need to move faster, and the fear that it still wouldn’t be enough.  Fortunately, it was such a long drop to the ground that she had enough time to fly up under Twilight, spread her wings, and brake as hard as she could to slow them enough to pull up with a good 10 meters to spare.

“AAAHHUHWHA!!?  DASH?!  What are you doing here?!”

“ME?! WHY ARE YOU JUMPING  OUT OF WINDOWS?!”  Rainbow Dash shouted as she began to angle down for a landing.  Twilight glanced up to see guards beginning to pour out of the now broken window, and gave a panicked tug on Dash’s mane, pulling them back up again.

“NO! We have to go! We have to get out of here right now!

“What? Twilight, what are you-”

“FLY!”

Resolving to get her questions answered at a later time, Rainbow Dash turned around and rocketed away from the castle.  Those questions began to multiply as she glanced back to see that they were now being chased by guards. Worse, some of them were actually gaining.

Normally, Rainbow Dash would have no problem leaving any other pegasus short of a wonderbolt in the dust, but an extra passenger meant more than just added weight.  Carrying another pony on one’s back seriously impacted both aerodynamics and the balance of any kind of turn or evasive maneuver.  Rainbow Dash adjusted the best she could.  She was still an aerial force to be reckoned with, but it was enough of a difference that several of the fastest guards were slowly closing the gap.

Figuring they’d never shake their pursuers out in the open, and with no cloud layer overhead to lose them in, Rainbow Dash angled left towards a winding valley that ran into a small forest offshoot of White Tail Woods.  Plenty of twists and turns to get lost in.  She laid on an extra burst of speed .

Unfortunately, she had forgotten to account for the two guards who had arrived at her house that morning.  Now in front of her, they were quickly moving to intercept, and forced her to adjust course away from her intended target.

Even worse, the evasive turns she was being forced to make were allowing her pursuers to rapidly close the distance she had opened up before.  As the first of those at the front caught up to her, more and more of her attention was taken up with dodging attacks.

She jerked to the right, barely avoiding a flying tackle, and not even seeing a second that would have hit her if not for a bright purple flash of Twilight throwing up a quick barrier, causing the guard to bounce off and spin out briefly before righting and flying back for more.  Moments later, they narrowly avoided a net, which Twilight caught and threw back, entangling the two guards who had thrown it.

Even with Twilight’s defensive assistance, Rainbow Dash knew there was no way they were getting away like this.  With the rate they were being swarmed, she could hardly fly straight for more than a few seconds, and there was no way she was going to be able to get enough distance to break line of sight while carrying Twilight.  Maybe if they landed (not that she had much of a choice considering how they were successfully forcing her lower and lower) she could hold them off long enough for Twilight to escape on hoof.  Then, unburdened, she could use her full abilities to make a proper escape.  As her hooves hit the ground at a gallop, she slid and spun 180 degrees to face her pursuers, feeling Twilight hop off her back as she came to a stop.

“Twilight, you ru-”

“Get out of here Dash!  I’ll hold them off.”

“What?!” 

“I said I’ll hold them off while you escape.  We’ll meet up again where we had our date for our 1 month anniversary. GO!

Rainbow Dash shot an incredulous look at Twilight while the guards began to land around them. “I heard you, but there’s no way I’m leaving you behind. YOU run while I hold them off.” 

“I don’t really have time to argue about this Rainbow! I’ll be fine. You need to-”  Taking advantage of her momentary distraction, a nearby guard took the opportunity to lunge at Twilight. 

Rainbow Dash watched the scene progress in slow motion.  She didn’t know why they were fleeing the guards, if they were imposters, mind controlled, or just part of a huge misunderstanding.  The last few minutes had been nothing but a confused mess, but this second was simple.  As she saw the guard lunge forward, something pulsed in the back of her mind, clearing all thoughts except one.  Somepony was trying to hurt Twilight, and the one unshakeable truth of the world was that anything threatening Twilight had to be eliminated.  

The world turned red, and before she even realized it, she was blazing through the air and delivering a kick that knocked the guard out cold, sending him flying ten feet through the air.  The other guards quickly closed ranks and prepared for a fight.  Rainbow Dash shifted to an upright hovering stance common in most forms of pegasus martial arts, ready to prove that her black belt at home wasn’t just for show.

“Dash, please! You have to get out of here!” Twilight hissed.

One of the guards who looked like he might have slightly more rank than those around him stepped forward.

“This is your last chance to surrender peacefully.  Do so and you will not be harmed.  Resist, and I cannot guarantee your safety.”

“Not a chance!” Rainbow Dash shouted back.  “At least not until somepony tells me what in Equestria is going on here!”

The guard simply nodded.  “The unicorn known as Twilight Sparkle is under arrest for-”

And then the world went black.


***


“Sorry…” Twilight whispered as she saw Rainbow Dash crumple into a snoring heap after being struck in the back by a sleeping spell.  She certainly wasn’t proud, but she simply couldn’t let Dash hear the end of that sentence.  Twilight knew it was a small delay at best.  Dash would still have questions when she woke up, but that could be addressed after she had tackled the issue at hoof and gotten them both to safety.

Well...time for things to get ugly.

Twilight stood over Rainbow Dash in a defensive crouch, horn glowing faintly, and fixing a cold glare at the guards around her.  She didn’t exactly know what she was going to do next, but she had a strong suspicion it would be something she didn’t want Dash to see.

Restraint, Twilight!  They’re just ponies doing their job.  We don’t need to hurt them.


I count six professional soldiers against an untrained librarian being wildly optimistic about her chances of victory.

Which means we have to make our opening strike count.  Have to hit hard and fast, and end this quickly.  If we waste too much more time, the rest of the guards will catch up and that number is going to climb dramatically. 

Twilight worked on recalling everything she could from her copy of ‘The Equestrian Guard Operations and Doctrine Guidebook’, a parting gift from her brother before he had left for the Crystal Empire, particularly the parts regarding tactics and rules of engagement for subduing hostile unicorns.

Surround target and maintain constant motion to disorient.

Already, the guards had taken to the air and surrounded her, flying four feet off the ground as they circled rapidly around her.  Twilight tried not to focus her eyes on any one target, concentrating instead on spotting any change in movement from her peripherals.

Harass with paired strikes at 180 degrees to each other.  Strike the horn to stun if possible.

Twilight kept her head low and braced herself.  Spotting something at her 2 o’clock, she quickly raised simultaneous shields at 2 and 8, deflecting the two pegasi back into the spinning circle that quickly reabsorbed them.  She avoided several more attacks, either raising small temporary barriers, or quickly hurling herself perpendicular to the line between the two attackers.

Continue to harass target until they either withdraw to a more defensive state or are goaded into attacking.

Twilight didn’t have time to sit around in a shield bubble.  It would just turn into a siege. They’d simply pin her in and wait for further backup, which was likely coming in seconds rather than minutes.  Even if her shields were as strong as Shining Armor’s, she wouldn’t be going anywhere.  They’d have all the time in the world to crack it, or just build a prison cell around her.

No, if she wanted to get out of here, she’d need to take some offensive action, which meant intentionally springing the trap.  A reckless plan quickly coming together in her head, Twilight put a shield around Rainbow Dash, still asleep at her hooves, then fired a shot from her horn at the nearest guard.  He artfully dodged, and the circle immediately collapsed inward, rushing to counterattack and overwhelm in the split second window of vulnerability.  They converged on the center, but Twilight wasn’t there anymore.

As Twilight had noted during her reading of the guard manual, there were pages upon pages discussing the finer points of aerial dog fighting between pegasi and the importance of full, three dimensional awareness in flight.  This was understandably ignored in the sections on engaging unicorns and earth ponies, where air superiority was taken as a basic assumption, and focus was put on how best to use an aerial advantage against ground bound enemies.  When would one ever need to look up to defend against a non-flying opponent?

Twilight Sparkle grinned as she reappeared 60 feet in the air.  As she began to fall, she took aim at the now conveniently tightly clustered guards and let loose with a wide beamed stun spell.  Not wasting a fraction of the few seconds she had, she teleported back down to the ground, popping out in a small arc as she oriented her exit trajectory at an upward angle to burn off the momentum from free fall.  As soon as she had hit the ground and stopped sliding, she instantly teleported into the middle of the briefly stunned guards and started moving rapidly from one pony to another, touching her horn to the first unarmored spot she could reach.

Sleep! Sleep! Sleep! Sleep! Sleep!

One by one, they each fell to the ground.

Whew! I did it! I-WAIT! FIVE?

Twilight threw herself to the ground, narrowly avoiding a tackle as the last guard sailed over her.  Unfortunately, he was able to turn around much faster than she had anticipated, and his second attempt caught her in the chest, knocking her to the ground.  As soon as she was down, he was already on top of her, and she barely had time to spot the hoof hurtling towards her head.

The hoof struck solid ground as Twilight disappeared from under him and reappeared on his back, quickly jabbing her horn at the exposed back of his neck.

SLEEP!

Twilight spent a few precious seconds to catch her breath.  After casting a quick healing spell on the poor pony whose jaw Rainbow Dash had shattered, she hurried over to collect her marefriend and get out of there.  The second wave of guards was distressingly close now.  A few seconds more and she’d be able to start identifying eye colors.

Orienting herself in relation to the navigational beacon she kept on the library, Twilight found the coordinates she was looking for.  A purple glow surrounded her and the still sleeping Rainbow Dash. Just as she opened the connection, her concentration was suddenly disrupted by a spear landing at her hooves.

There was a bright flash, and then Twilight was inside the Everfree forest.  She quickly looked around.  In front of her stood a hollowed out tree, containing a cache of emergency supplies, just as she had left them,  but Rainbow Dash was nowhere to be found.

“DASH?! DASH! WHERE ARE YOU?!” Twilight shouted, but her cries remained unanswered.

Twilight held her head in her hooves and leaned against the tree.  She was on the run, crimes completely exposed, and about to be the subject of a nationwide marehunt, and Rainbow Dash was missing.  

Great. Looks like scenario 7C.

Twilight gave a long, pained sigh as she stood up and began retrieving supplies.
> Chapter 4
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	What did I tell you? I told you we should have put some kind of subdermal tracking device on her for just this sort of situation, but nooo! That's apparently 'over-possessive and creepy'.

It was and is.  Dash isn't property, she's an autonomous individual with the freedom to do as she pleases without me constantly spying on her.  I really have no right to-

HA! That's rich.  Yes, let's pontificate on the ethics of autonomy and rights to privacy while on the run for brainwashing, cause hey, at least we didn't SPY on anypony!

It's not 'brainwashing'!  That's a ridiculously crude oversimplification!

Sorry, I'm sure the newspaper headlines will convey all the subtle nuances involved in a spell only you know the details of.

Twilight grumbled to herself as she trudged through the forest, on her way to the rendezvous point.  With no idea where to even start looking for Rainbow Dash, the best course of action seemed to be to head to where she had told Dash to meet her, set up camp, and go about thinking up a better plan.  If she was lucky (a prospect for which she didn't hold much hope given the events of the day so far), Rainbow Dash would wake up somewhere familiar enough to get her bearings, and be able to make it there herself.

That would just leave the other issue weighing on her mind.  The reason why she was still unconsciously taking her time walking to her destination despite having passed within teleportation range five minutes ago. The nigh impossible task of how to explain this whole situation to Rainbow Dash.  What exactly was she supposed to tell her?  There was no deflecting or avoiding the issue by this point.  Even if she came up with some ridiculous fiction to explain why they were now being hunted by all of Equestria, and somehow kept Dash isolated from anypony who knew the truth, what then?  Live out the rest of their days in hiding, staying far away from civilization?  How far beyond the borders of Equestria would they have to run before they could escape the reach of the truth?

Dash would never go for that plan anyway.  Whatever half-baked story she concocted to explain their fugitive status, Dash would insist on somehow fighting back against these sinister forces and clearing their names. There was no way she could maintain such a story, and that was even assuming she could deliver it in the first place.  For as much as Twilight could keep secret the details of the past, she wasn't at all sure she could lie if Dash asked her directly.  There was no way she could look into those magenta eyes and lie, not to the pony she loved.  Something deep inside of her just rebelled at the notion.

But what did that leave?  The truth?  That was even more unthinkable.  Regardless, this impossible situation would have to be confronted eventually.

Unless some monster comes along and eats her before she wakes up, or she was dropped off a cliff, or into a lake, because you teleported a completely defenseless pony to who knows where!

Twilight shook her head, as if to clear the grim thought from her mind.

No.  The topography in this region of Equestria is very flat.  Likewise, there are few bodies of water deep enough to drown in.  Not within teleportation range of where we were at least.  The safety measure was still on, so she'd be kicked a few feet to the nearest empty space instead of overlapping with any solid objects. 

And the fact that there's a good chance she's asleep somewhere in the Everfree?

Most of the really nasty predators don't come out until night? She'll definitely wake up by then.

You know it's plenty dangerous enough during the day.

She's probably got a good...70% chance of waking up before anything eats her?

So according to your numbers, made up almost entirely out of random guessing and wishful thinking instead of any kind of data, there's only a 30% chance we just killed her.

Unless we find her first.

Twilight's pace quickened, soon turning into a gallop, followed by a bright flash of purple light.


***


Celestia rubbed a hoof between her eyes, nursing a headache that had been steadily growing for the past two hours.  Ever since she and Luna had been jolted from their seats by the sound of shattering glass, she had been hard at work trying to keep order in the castle.

She flipped through the initial report.  Twilight had absconded with Rainbow Dash, who was currently considered a second hostile target rather than a hostage, leaving behind seven unconscious guards.  Luckily, there were no major injuries, aside from one guard with a broken and mostly re-healed jaw. The physicians had been able to patch him up in twenty minutes. As of yet, there were no leads on either pony's current whereabouts, but the Golden Oaks Library was already under 24 hour surveillance.  Thankfully, the window Twilight had escaped through faced away from town, and it appeared nopony outside of the guards was aware of what had happened.  For now, the PR situation was contained.

That's going to change rather quickly when the guards start putting up wanted posters in every city.

Celestia sighed and rubbed at her face again.  Her vain hope of handling Twilight's arrest quickly, quietly, and out of the public eye, had been smashed to pieces by Twilight's rather spectacular self-defenestration. She looked up to see Luna attempting to catch her attention from a side chamber.  Dismissing her gathered guard commanders with a nod, she rose and walked over to join her sister, closing the door behind them.  Luna fixed her with a disapproving look.

"Forgive us dear sister, but what is it that you think you are doing?"

"What do you mean Luna?"

"What I mean is why are you keeping the guards on hold instead of mobilizing immediately?  Why isn't the sky filled with ponies combing over every inch of the land?"

Celestia shook her head.  "There's no need to cause a panic when there are more discreet methods available.  Now please, it's late in the morning.  You should get some rest.  I've got everything under control here."

Luna didn't budge.  "Ignoring your condescending attempt to brush me aside like a small filly, what are these 'discreet methods' you speak of?"

Celestia shifted uncomfortably on her hooves.  "Well, I have maintained a short list of certain trustworthy individuals.  Individuals whose services I have had to employ from time to time while you were away.  For a modest fee, they will...locate and deliver a specified target, and do so with discretion."

Luna's eyes narrowed as her look of disapproval deepened. "Bounty hunters?  We don't need their scum!"

"Luna, please.  I know it seems a bit unsavory, but they're very professional, and can handle this quietly, without causing any further disturbance."

"Of course.  We wouldn't want to disturb any of the nobles with the messy business of enforcing the laws. Somepony might spill their tea." Luna scoffed as she turned and began to walk towards her chambers.  "Be careful Celestia.  I know you care deeply for Twilight Sparkle, but do not let your sentimentality weaken your resolve.  Remember what happened the last time one of your faithful students went rogue."

"You mean Sunset Shimmer?"

Luna stopped, surprised.  "So there was another? Interesting, but no. I don't believe you've told me about her yet.  I was referring to that promising student of yours who went and conquered an entire city state before we both stepped in to stop him.  Even then, we just got it back after he flung it over a thousand years into the future."

The ever present serenity in Celestia's expression faded, replace by a cold glare.  "Twilight is NOT Sombra."

"Indeed.  I look forward to seeing what unique destruction she'll have to wreak before you come to your senses and do what needs to be done."

Before Celestia could reply, Luna disappeared in a flash, returning to her chambers to rest for the day. Celestia returned to the throne room, fetching a quill, some ink, and some parchment.  After ten minutes of work, she had finished the letters to her 'trusted individuals' describing a substantial reward for the capture, alive and unharmed, of one or both of the ponies in the enclosed picture. Giving them one last read, she decided to underline 'No Disintegrations!', and called for several of her messengers.

After adding her seal, she handed each letter to a different messenger, along with specific direction to a dead drop point.  When the last messenger had taken off, she breathed a sigh of relief and turned back to her reports.


***


The air was filled with the sound of water crashing onto rocks as a small, but crystal clear waterfall poured forth into a pool filled with water lilies.  Concealed behind the curtain of water, sat a cozy cave, just large enough to house two ponies in moderate comfort as long as they didn't mind sharing the single improvised bed.

Another sound echoed through the cave, intermingling with the ambient noise of the waterfall.  Annoyed grunts and intermittent cursing reverberated off the walls as Twilight continued to scratch calculations into the dirt with a stick, a task she had been absorbed in for the better part of an hour. 

There's got to be some way to narrow it down further!  Come on!

But predicting the end point of a botched teleportation spell was far from easy.  She could at least be fairly confident that the vector fell somewhere within a 180 degree arc of her intended location.  Having a good grasp on her own maximum teleport range, she at least had a rough upper limit on distance.  That still left a huge swath of territory to cover, and Twilight had been working furiously on a way to narrow it down.  

The best she could come up with so far was to carve the area up into wedges and sub-sections based on the total variation in angle and power from that of her intended jump vector.  Assuming she could model her own distraction as the perturbation of a stable system, like bumping a compass needle, those sections closer to the original target received a higher weighted value than those on the far fringes.  Based on what she could remember feeling at the time, she was able to do some educated guessing (heavy on the guessing) about minimum error values, and ended up with a series of numbered, lopsided crescents, radiating out symmetrically from her target location.

Still, it was sloppy.  There was already far more guesswork than she was comfortable with, and the search area was still huge.  To shrink it down any further would require some truly unsubstantiated assumptions. 

I don't have time for this!  Every second I spend trying to refine this is another second Dash could be in danger, and the perfect is the enemy of the good, or in this case, the 'as good as I'm going to get within the next few hours'.

Throwing down her stick, Twilight turned and grabbed her saddle bags, which she promptly filled with some bare essentials, including  food, water, and a first aid kit.  Grabbing a notepad, she scribbled down a quick map of her search area, including her final search pattern based on her rough calculations of priority for each zone.  As she was about to charge out the door, she thought better of it and paused to write a brief note.

Dash:

If you're reading this, I'm out searching for you.  Please stay here and wait for me.  I should be back by dark.  There's food in the ice chest in the back, and some books and playing cards in one of the boxes.

Love,
Twilight 

Placing the note where it would be easily seen, Twilight ran out of the cave and teleported away to begin searching the first zone.


***
Several hours later.
***


"DASH?!" Twilight called out, sweeping her eyes from side to side in search of her lost marefriend. "DASH, ARE YOU OUT HERE?"

With a disappointed sigh, she crossed another section off of her list, and jumped to the next.  Her frequent teleports had allowed her to cover quite a bit of ground already, but it was finally beginning to wear on her.  She could feel the tingling of fatigue starting to kick in at the base of her horn, but ignored it.  It would still be quite a while until she was truly exhausted anyway.

As she sucked in a breath to resume her calling, Twilight caught sight of something blue in the corner of her eye.  Whipping her head to the side, and running over to get a closer look, she found a single blue feather sitting on the ground.  Twilight's breath caught in her throat.  It was definitely Dash's.

Tucking the feather into her mane, Twilight conducted a quick examination of the area.  Judging by the still mostly undisturbed depression in the dirt, Dash had been resting there until recently.  Twilight finally breathed a sigh of relief when she finished her inspection and  didn't see any blood or signs of struggle, just a single set of hoof prints as Dash stood up and then took to the air.

Dash had woken up on her own.  She was safe.  She had probably flown up high enough to figure out where she was, and then made a straight line to the meeting point.  She was probably waiting for her there right now.

Something nagged at the back of Twilight's mind.  What had her directions been?

I told her to meet where we had our one month anniversary date. She knows where that is. 

But technically, didn't we actually go to a few other locations first before we ended up in that cave?

Well, yeah.  But I'm sure she knows what I meant.  We're on the run, and it's the most secluded location.  Those other spots are back in Ponyville, and that place is probably swarming with guards by n-

The trees around her shook as a booming noise filled the air.  Twilight looked up to see a large rainbow disc expanding in the sky.  It was coming from the direction of Ponyville.

Damn It!
> Chapter 5
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

		A slight itching.  Rainbow Dash could feel a slight itching sensation along the underside of her coat.  That was strange.  Clouds weren't supposed to itch.  She gave a quick sniff.  Instead of crisp air and water vapor, or the scent of apple trees, her nostrils filled with the smell of grass and wildflowers. She stretched out a wing and felt around.  Yep.  She was definitely on the ground.  She flexed and stretched her limbs, searching for any injuries as she slowly began to open her eyes.

She didn't nap on the ground.  If she was waking up there, she had probably had a rather nasty crash while practicing a particularly reckless stunt and knocked herself out.  She didn't feel any pain though, and once her eyes had finally regained focus, a quick visual inspection confirmed that she had no injuries.  She turned her attention to her surroundings.

She appeared to be in the Everfree Forest.

...what?

After a moment of stunned confusion, Rainbow Dash immediately got to work recalling what she had done that morning.  She had woken up to somepony pounding on her door.  There were guards, a trip to the castle.  Then Twilight falling.  Shouting, flying, adrenaline.  She had kicked a guard in the face!  She had been about to fight half a dozen guards and buy Twilight time to escape when she had...fallen asleep?  She wondered if another guard had somehow snuck up behind her and knocked her out, but she didn't feel any evidence of a knock on the head, or a choke hold or anything.  It was as if she had just magically-

Twilight!

For some unknown reason, her marefriend had hit her in the back with a sleeping spell.

Why the heck would she do that?  Even if she were crazy enough to want to stay and fight, why knock me out and turn a 6 against 2 fight into 6 against 1?  Did she think I was a liability?  Some defenseless filly who can't hold her own in a fight?  What gives?

Confusion, embarrassment, and indignant anger bubbled up inside of her as she prepared some harsh words and questions for her marefriend, but quickly cooled to concern as she looked around to find that Twilight was nowhere in sight.  There was nopony around at all.  She was completely alone...in the middle of the Everfree forest.  She didn't know who had won the fight while she was asleep, but clearly the situation had gone sideways.

One thing was certain though.  She wasn't going to get any answers lying down in the grass. Springing to her hooves, she did a quick check on her primaries and wasted no time shooting up through the forest canopy.  Once back in the open sky, she breathed a sigh of relief and began looking around for any clue as to where she was.  To the northwest, she could just make out the outline of Ponyville on the horizon.

Okay, so I have some idea where I am now, but where's Twilight?

Twilight had said something about meeting up where they had their one month anniversary date.  Rainbow Dash didn't know if the original plan was still on, whether Twilight had been captured or worse, but unless she wanted to try wandering aimlessly in the forest, she didn't see any better options.  Unfortunately, she wasn't exactly sure which spot Twilight had been referring to.  Their date had taken them all over town and beyond.  She would just have to check them all.  But where to start? The spa, the park, Sugarcube Corner?

Dash's stomach gave an irritated rumble, bringing her attention back to the fact that she had not had anything to eat all day aside from a carrot early that morning.  Sugarcube Corner was quickly rising up the ranks as the ideal starting point.  Even if it wasn't the right location, she could at least start gathering their friends.  Whatever craziness was going on in Canterlot, they were probably going to need the Elements by the end of it.  In all likelihood, Twilight had probably already gathered them together, but if not, they could help her search.

Making a straight line for Ponyville, trees zipping by beneath her, Rainbow Dash did her best to keep her thoughts composed.  Though normally cool and aloof in most situations, the combination of low blood sugar, worry over Twilight's safety, and being completely and utterly out of the loop as to what in Tartarus was going on, had left her more than a bit off balance.  At least she was well rested from her involuntary nap.

Soon the unmistakable outline of the bakery came into view, the frosted gingerbread house decor already making her mouth water.  Quickly dropping down at the entrance, she pushed open the door and stepped inside.  Her nose was immediately assaulted by the scent of baked goods.  Pinkie Pie stood behind the counter, decorating a freshly baked cake.

"Hi Dashie!" Pinkie bounced excitedly, waving one hoof while the other continued to lay down an intricate pattern of icing.

"Hey Pinkie.  I need your help.  First, get me something to eat.  I'm starving."

"Okie dokie!" Pinkie replied, as she produced a large banana cream pie from behind the counter.

"Thanks.  Second, have you seen Twilight?"

"Nope.  Haven't seen her all day.  She must be really popular today though, your friends there came around asking about her earlier."

"Friends?" Rainbow Dash followed Pinkie's gaze, glancing over her shoulder to see two royal guards who had just entered the building behind her.  Something told her they weren't there for a cupcake. She quickly turned back to Pinkie. With the back door and upper exits almost certainly covered, the only way she was getting out was through those two.  She looked up at Pinkie and pointed at the pie in front of her.  "Better make that two actually".  Pinkie shrugged and pulled out a second, identical pie, placing it next to the first.

"Thanks.  And sorry about the mess."

Before Pinkie could ask what she meant by that, Rainbow Dash spun in a blur of motion, scooping up a pie in each hoof, and hurling them directly into the faces of the two guards.  Wasting no time, she launched off her back hooves, taking flight and bowling over the two stallions while they were temporarily off balance. As soon as she was through the doors, she made a hard right turn to narrowly avoid the two that were waiting just outside.  From the corner of her eye, she could see guards peeling off the sides of the bakery to give chase.

Soon she was leading an entire squadron in a high speed chase through the streets of Ponyville.  Though she had speed, agility, and intimate knowledge of the terrain on her side, every time she ducked around a corner to disappear, there were always more guards coming in from that direction.  It was as if they all shared a telepathic link, every guard knowing where she was and moving to cut her off.

This is getting ridiculous!  Did they send a whole freaking platoon to Ponyville?

Of equal annoyance, was the fact that the streets seemed to be filled with an implausible number of elderly ponies and foal carriages. Such obstacles had cut her off of her preferred path more than once (often only managing to change direction in time thanks to a clothes line with surprisingly high elasticity), and forced her on a brief detour through Chez Clee's Wooden Crate and Plate Glass Emporium.  She briefly considered that the worst might be over, until she looked ahead to see that she was heading straight for the Ponyville Farmers Market.


***


"Thank you ma'am." Applejack nodded as she accepted the hooful of bits and pushed a bushel of apples forward to the tan mare.  As soon as her customer had left, she turned and smiled at her brother.  "Twenty customers in the last fifteen minutes. Can you believe that Big Macintosh?"

"Nope."

"If business keeps up like this, we'll be able to get Granny a new hip and Applebloom parasailing lessons, with enough left over to build a second barn, burn it down, and build it again!"

"Eyup."

The market was suddenly filled with a cacophony of crashes and the cries of ponies startled by several stalls seemingly exploding without warning, launching plumes of projectile produce high into the air.  Applejack's ears had barely registered the forlorn cry of "My cabbages!" from within the chaos, when her own cart was smashed to pieces by the sudden impact of Rainbow Dash.

"Wha- RAINBOW?! What the heck are you do-"  Rainbow Dash shook her head clear and jumped to her hooves, cutting Applejack off.

"SorryAJnotimegottagobye!" Dash blurted out before launching back up into the air.

"Oh no you don't!" Applejack shouted back as a lasso snaked out and caught the pegasus by a hind leg. Applejack planted her hooves firmly on the ground, bracing against the cobblestone as she pulled with all her strength.

Unfortunately, Dash had already acquired quite a bit of speed and was just starting into a turn when the rope went taught, and the laws of rotational mechanics asserted themselves.  Rainbow Dash found herself pulled into a tight arc, swinging back around like a living flail towards the first guard to recover from the chaos below and resume the chase.  She braced herself and struck out with a foreleg, delivering a punch that sent the guard rocketing back into the cabbage cart from which he had emerged, thoroughly obliterating what remained.

Dash continued to swing around in circles, the plane of the orbit wobbling with increasing amplitude as Applejack struggled to keep control of the rope.  On a particularly low pass near the ground, she managed to snag a knife off of a nearby cutlery cart.  

"Sorry Applejack! It's been a bit of a crazy day! No time to explain! Tell Fluttershy to feed Tank for me!"  Waiting until she was entering the rising arc of the orbit, Dash quickly cut the rope, slingshotting herself up into the sky.

The rope falling limp beside her, Applejack stood dumbfounded, staring up as several guards launched up into the air after her.

"Well.....that happened."

"Eyup."


***


Okay, so that could have gone better.  Rainbow Dash reflected on her less than successful visit to Ponyville.  A visit, she reminded herself, that she shouldn't quite be thinking of in the past tense yet.  The four guards quickly rising up from below indicated that the chase was still ongoing.  Though now that she was in the open sky, no longer boxed in or cut off any time she tried to climb out of the streets, it may as well have been over. Things were about to get very one sided.

Alright, time to get out of Ponyville for a while.  I guess I'll go check out that waterfall cave in the forest.  Even if Twilight isn't there, I can lay low for a while until this heat dies off before trying to sneak back into town again.

Finally slowing as she reached the height of her ascent, she pulled in her wings and leaned forward, angling down.  She began to fall, rapidly picking up speed as she pointed herself directly at the cluster of oncoming guards.  They were quickly growing from the small specks they had started out as a few seconds ago.  Rainbow Dash pushed forward, adding her own acceleration to work in harmony with gravity, instead of mocking it as usual.  The guards did not stray from their course, having no intention of losing this foolhardy game of chicken their target had decided to engage in.  They closed ranks and braced for impact, preparing to subdue their opponent after the initial confusion of the oncoming collision.

Rainbow Dash simply grinned as she felt the air pressure begin to build.  She could see the envelope forming around her forelegs, forming a cone around her body that grew steadily narrower and narrower. A brief expression of panic crossed the face of one of the guards as he remembered something from one of the dossier files, but it was far too late.

Mere feet before impact, Rainbow Dash ripped through the cone of air while simultaneously throwing herself sideways at a nearly perfect right angle, technically losing the game of chicken.  Unfortunately for the winners, their prize consisted of a rapidly expanding rainbow shock wave.  The guards were scattered like dandelion seeds from a little filly's breath.  By the time they had regained control and recovered from the temporary blindness induced by the flash, all that could be made out was a rainbow blur quickly fading out of sight.

After she was finally confident that she had put enough distance between herself and Ponyville, Rainbow Dash dropped below the treeline and settled down for a landing.  Though it was hardly the most strenuous workout she had ever engaged in, she needed a break to recover from all the adrenaline that had flooded her system since Sugarcube Corner.  A timely rumbling of her stomach reminded her that she still hadn't had a decent meal yet. In the middle of letting out a sigh that was half relief and half irritation, she felt a quick sting just above the cutie mark on her right flank.  She whipped her head around to investigate, but didn't have time to see what it was before she suddenly found herself on the ground, entangled in a net that had hit her from the left at high speed.

She could see grey paws in the dirt, and could just make out a voice say "Pony match picture.  We get pony, then we get gems!".  Then the world faded to black.


***


Celestia rubbed a hoof to her head as she exited her chariot.  The incessant headache that had plagued her that morning had only grown stronger as the day progressed and the reports from Ponyville had come in.  Reports describing a high speed chase between sixteen guards and the Element of Loyalty through crowded streets, the destruction of several produce carts, resulting in panic and general chaos throughout the market square, and the detonation of a sonic rainboom in the airspace above Ponyville. Upon first reading those reports, she had shed a silent tear in remembrance of her naive hopes of this crisis being resolved in any manner that could be described as quiet or subtle.  

Now she was here to put out the figurative (though knowing Ponyville, it might be too much to hope that they stayed that way) fires. Celestia gave a sigh and mentally prepared herself for the unpleasant task ahead of her.  A task she knew she would have to face eventually, but had hoped could wait until after Twilight and Rainbow Dash were in custody.  Explaining the situation to Twilight's friends.

She didn't have to look long before the ponies in question spotted her and galloped over to bombard her with questions.

"PRINCESS CELESTIA! WHAT THE HAY IS GOIN' ON HERE?!"

"WHY ARE GUARDS BURSTING INTO MY BOUTIQUE AND ASKING ABOUT TWILIGHT AND RAINBOW DASH?!

"I'm also quite confused and would like to know what's going on."

"I'M ALSO YELLING!"

"-APPLES EVERYWHERE! THEN SHE TAKES OFF LIKE A JACKRABBIT IN A FRYING PAN!"

"-MUD EVERYWHERE! COMPLETELY UNCIVILIZED!"

"I mean, if you don't mind that is."

"STILL YELLING!"

"-CAN'T GET A STRAIGHT ANSWER OUT OF ANYPONY!"

"-THEY'RE NOT HURT ARE THEY?"

"If that's okay with you I mean."

"RABBLERABBLERABBLERABBLE!"

Celestia raised a hoof for silence.  The incoherent shouting died down, with a last contextless comment about oatmeal fading from the air.

"I know you all have many questions, and are eager for answers.  Please follow me to the library.  I'll try to explain there."

The four ponies followed in silence as she led the way to the library.  She hoped that at some point during the walk, she would be struck with inspiration that would make the conversation that awaited her easier and less painful, but no such revelation occurred.  Soon the Golden Oaks library came into view, two guards stationed at the door nodding at her as she approached.  As she passed through the door, she saw a highly agitated Spike turn his attention toward her.

"FINALLY! Princess Celestia! I've been sending letters all day! What is going on here?!"

"Yes Spike.  I got your letters, and I'm sorry for the wait.  I promise everything will be made clear now." She decided against sharing the fact that after the fifth letter, she had started automatically redirecting them to the trash can.  It was a little callous, but she had had her hooves quite full all day.

The rest of the ponies filed in and took a seat.  Eager eyes turned toward her, hungry for some kind of explanation.

"So...I imagine you all must be fairly confused about some recent developments, not least of which is the increased guard presence in Ponyville."  Spike gave a quick huff.

"A bit of an understatement.  They've been tearing the library apart for hours asking about Twilight.  I told them she left for Canterlot and hasn't come back yet, but they just keep asking about who she talked to recently, and if she has any secret hideouts."

"And why is Rainbow Dash of all ponies being chased by royal guards?" Applejack interjected.  "Nopony will tell me anything.  It's all 'confidential orders' this and 'security clearance' that.  We got a right to know what's going on here.  Is Rainbow Dash in some kinda trouble?"

"We are trying to apprehend Rainbow Dash for her own safety" Celestia reassured.  "We have reason to believe that she may unknowingly be under the influence of malicious magic.  We want to help her."

"And that's why you're also trying to find Twilight?" Rarity asked. "To seek her help in undoing this enchantment?"

Celestia's face fell.  "Not quite."

"What do you mean?" Pinkie asked. "Twilight's the best at magic.  No silly curse or hex will last long against Twilight and her stacks of books."

"Unfortunately..." Celestia closed her eyes and took a deep breath "...it seems that Twilight is the one responsible for the enchantment."  A silent pause hung over the room.

"Y-You mean like some kinda accident right?" Applejack choked out.

Celestia shook her head.

"W-What kind of enchantment are we talking about?" Rarity asked.

"You are all aware of Twilight and Rainbow Dash's recent relationship, correct?"  All assembled ponies and dragons nodded, unsure where this was going.  "Well it seems that said relationship may not have arisen entirely by natural means.  We believe that Twilight has cast some kind of love spell on Rainbow Dash."

One could hear a pin drop in the heavy silence that fell across room.  Five sets of eyes stared back blankly as their owners tried to make sense of what they heard.  It was Spike who spoke up first.

"That's ridiculous! Twilight wouldn't...what?!"

"I'm afraid I must agree with Spike here" Rarity added. "It just seems so...implausible.  They've been together for months now, and I've never once thought anything was amiss.  Are you saying that all this time..."

"Yes" Celestia responded. "We believe Twilight has been magically manipulating Rainbow Dash the entire time."

Spike and Rarity wore expressions of shock.  Fluttershy's face a was a mixture of surprise, fear, and worry, while Pinkie stood with a look of confusion, as if still struggling to understand what everypony was talking about. Applejack however, was stone faced and serious.

"And yer sure about this Princess? Dash was magicked into this relationship against her will?"

Celestia nodded.  "Yes. We're fairly certain.  Princess Cadence herself is the one who detected the enchantment."

"Maybe it's just a misunderstanding? We should talk to Twilight.  Maybe she has a good explanation?" Fluttershy nervously squeaked.

Celestia Shook her head. "Unfortunately, we were unable to question Twilight on the matter.  She fled the castle, incapacitating several guards, and is currently on the run, along with Rainbow Dash, whom we assume is still under her influence."

Once again, silence settled over the room, and once again, Spike was the first to break it.

"Wait...so...she just took off and left?  She left me behind?..." Tears began to form in the corner of his eyes.

"Oh dear, I'm so sorry." Rarity placed a hoof on the distraught dragon's shoulder.  "You are of course welcome to stay with me for the duration of this unpleasant situation.

"I-thanks Rarity.  That really means a lot." He replied, wiping his eyes and trying to put on a brave face for the moment.

She turned her gaze back towards Celestia. "So is there anything we should do?  Anything we can do to help?"

"The best course of action is to just stay here and go about your lives as usual.  Please don't try to get involved.  Just let Luna and I handle it.  I promise we'll find them both, and Rainbow Dash will get the help she needs."

"And Twilight?" Fluttershy asked.

Celestia frowned.  "This is a very serious crime she is accused of. The laws are...strict.  I want to do what I can for her, but so much depends on her at this point, and she seems in no hurry to turn herself in."

A third time, uncomfortable silence settled over the room.

"Well, that's all.  Again, please just carry on with your lives and leave the search to us.  I just thought you all deserved to know the truth."  With that, Celestia turned and exited the library.

There. That's done with.

She was glad she had managed to leave before anypony thought to ask about how this impacted the use of the Elements of Harmony.  That was one of the issues she hadn't even begun to unravel.  Plans for Twilight's inevitable trial and sentencing, handling of political fallout, and the deprogramming of Rainbow Dash all needed serious work, but first she had to actually catch them.  Preferably without half of Equestria being leveled in the process.


***


"DASH?!  DASH WHERE ARE YOU?!" Twilight called into the woods around her.  It was the dawn of a new day.  Despite her greatest efforts trying to follow the path of the sonic rainboom the previous evening, she had finally been forced to admit defeat when it had gotten too dark to see more than a foot in front of her, even with an illumination spell.  She had reluctantly returned to camp and finally given in to her exhaustion, falling into a fitful sleep plagued with nightmares.

Between disjointed images of her friends and family reacting to her with disgust and anger, something had been hunting her in the darkness.  She didn't know what it was, only that she had to run, had to hide, because if it found her, something terrible would happen.

She wouldn't claim to be well rested, but the fatigue had left her horn, and now that the sun was up, she could continue her search.  Now back to her closest extrapolation of Dash's path, she kept her eyes peeled while continuing to call out.  "DASH?!"

A small patch of blue caught her attention from the corner of her eye.  A small blue feather sat on the ground.  Excitement at finally finding a clue quickly turned to worry as she saw several tracks nearby.  They looked like paw prints.  About three different sets.

Diamond Dogs?

She glimpsed  a bit of red a few feet away, which turned out to be the feathered end of a discarded dart with a long hollow needle.  Beneath it were drag marks, showing that something large, roughly pony sized, had been moved.  The relative shortness of the marks, along with the increase in definition of the paw tracks indicated that whatever it was had been picked up and carried off. A quick reconstruction of events played itself through Twilight's head.

Oh no!

She took off at a gallop, following the trail of paw prints as best she could.  She stopped when she heard rustling from a nearby bush, taking a defensive stance and readying her horn.  A wave of surprise and relief washed over her as she saw her marefriend emerge from the bushes with a grin.

"Wha-? Dash?!  You're okay!"

"Yep. Good to see you too."

"But...But I thought you were captured by diamond dogs?"

Rainbow Dash gave a casual shrug.  "I escaped. A couple mangy mutts aren't gonna keep me away from my mare."  She gave a small lick of her lips before approaching with a hungry look in her eyes.  "I missed you."

"How did you escape though?"

Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes.  "They're pretty dumb, so it was fairly easy to turn them against each other.  'He said you're ugly.'  'They said you're the stupid one.'  'Why should you share your gems with that guy when you clearly did all the work?'  That kinda stuff.  When the inevitable fighting broke out, I worked on the ropes with a sharp rock and made my escape."  The hungry look returned to her eyes as she moved in closer.  "Now how about a kiss from the beautiful mare as the hero's reward."

"Just like in the third Daring Do book?" Twilight asked with a laugh.

"Yeah. Just like that."

Without warning, Twilight fired a concussive blast that knocked the blue pegasus backwards.

"That's in the fifth book, and the real Rainbow Dash would know that!"  she said to the changeling, now returned to its natural form after being rendered unconscious by either the blast or the impact with the nearby tree.  She continued to shout at the surrounding vegetation.  "Come on out Chrysalis!  I know a drone isn't going to be wandering this far from the hive without supervision, and I know you'd want to personally oversee any operation involving me!"

The bark of another nearby tree rippled and turned to a shiny perforated black, as the changeling queen dropped her camouflage and stepped forward.

"Twilight Sparkle.  So lovely to see you again."

"What do you want?" Twilight asked icily, keeping her horn trained on her target.

"What do I want?  Oh Twilight, what I WANT is to sink my fangs into your neck, wrap you up in a cocoon, and gorge myself on that love you're flaunting all over the place.  It's so rich and potent I can smell it from a mile away.  Mmmm, and laced with just the right seasoning of desperation.  You really are quite the tease."

Twilight's horn glowed brighter and her legs tensed.  "I've cleaned your clock once.  I'll do it again."  She wasn't sure how the relative power balance would work out without the presence of a magic amplifying comet this time, but she was prepared to put up a fight.

Chrysalis continued on, ignoring her remark.  "Alas, that's not the reason I'm here.  Business before pleasure I'm afraid."

"What kind of business?" Twilight asked, still prepared to open fire at a second's notice.

"It has come to my attention that you have developed a rather interesting spell, and that this has made you, shall we say...unpopular with the Equestrian authorities?"

"And just how exactly did you know that?"

"Please Twilight, give me some credit.  My spy network is second to none.  I know how many cubes of sugar Celestia takes with her tea, that Luna keeps stuffed animals in her bed, the thread counts of each outfit in their respective wardrobes, and whose flanks they ogle when they think nopony is looking.  Of course I heard about your little incident at the castle."

"And?"

"I've come with an offer.  It must be quite difficult living on the run.  I offer sanctuary within the changeling hive, where you and Rainbow Dash can be together in safety.  In return, you use that ingenious little spell of yours on a few choice targets to generate plenty of food for the swarm."

"So you want me to betray Equestria and enchant innocent ponies so you can feed on them, build up an army, and attempt another invasion?"

"A slight regime change may be involved in the long term plan, yes.  With changelings in charge of course, any charges against you would be dropped, and you'd be free to live in Ponyville, Canterlot, or wherever you wish again.  What do you say?"

In response, Twilight fired a crackling ball of electricity.  Chrysalis managed to swat it to the ground with her own magic, mere inches before it struck her in the face.

"Would you like me to repeat that louder for you?"  Twilight growled.

"Alright, I can clearly see you need a little time.  My offer remains open.  Think it over until the next time we meet.  And I guarantee we will be meeting again.  Sooner than you think."

Before Twilight could respond, tall dark green flames rose to obscure the changeling queen.  When they subsided, she was gone.  Twilight finally relaxed, letting the magic fade from her horn as she gave a sigh of relief.

If Chrysalis and her changeling swarm insisted on getting involved, things were going to get a lot more complicated. However, there were more urgent matters to deal with at the moment. Rainbow Dash still needed saving.  She glanced back down at the tracks below her, picking up the trail again.

It's time to see some dogs about a pony.
> Chapter 6
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	The steady drip of water and the sounds of claws scraping at dirt carried through the musky air of the dimly lit tunnels.  The rough and uneven walls of the earthen corridors were punctuated by occasional wooden bracings, fashioned from the salvaged debris of any carts or caravans unfortunate enough to fall across a raiding party.  Shoddy mining carts littered the maze-like tunnels that ran deep into the earth, illuminated by a series of torches and mirrors.  Individual rooms and chambers of importance were marked by the occasional crudely assembled door, cobbled together from scraps of wood, metal, and fraying rope.

One such mass of debris served as the main entrance separating the tunnels from the surface world above, hidden from view by a pile of fern leaves.  Two diamond dogs stood on either side, lazily leaning against the dirt walls of the tunnel as they dozed at their post, the familiar noises of digging and dripping lulling them into a sleepy haze of boredom.

The haze was broken rather abruptly by the door's sudden transformation into a cloud of splinters as it exploded inward, carrying the two guards with it.  The dust slowly began to clear, revealing a seething lavender unicorn standing in the entrance.  

"WHERE IS SHE!?"

Already, a pack of large, muscular dogs was charging up from below to investigate the disturbance, barking, snarling, and ready to tear the intruder to pieces.  One suddenly dropped to the ground, struck by a bright beam of purple light, followed by another, and another.  Two more found themselves lifted into the air and batted about like rag dolls as they slammed into the walls, the ceiling, each other, and their fellow pack mates before being unceremoniously tossed aside.  A second group, charging up from an adjacent tunnel, managed to get within several feet of their target before their direction was reversed by an expanding wave of force, sending them flying through the air to land on their comrades behind them.

"WHERE IS SHE!?"  Twilight Sparkle repeated as she continued to cut a path of destruction, swatting away attackers like flies.  She advanced deeper and deeper into the system of tunnels, leaving a trail of bruised, battered, and slightly singed diamond dogs in her wake.  As dimwitted as they might be, they were still capable of learning, and it wasn't long until most of the inhabitants were charging away from her instead.

As the central tunnel she had been navigating began to level out, Twilight came upon a wooden door of marginally better quality than the others.  After blowing it apart, she found herself in a large chamber that she guessed to be some kind of office or planning room, judging by the presence of a large table surrounded by several chairs.  Sitting in one of the chairs was a diamond dog wearing a tattered vest and hat, with an old pair of goggles hanging around his neck.  Twilight assumed him to be the leader of this pack, given that he wore the most accessories.  He also seemed to have some basic amount of literacy as it appeared he had been looking over the various maps and papers covering the table.

Now he was looking at the angry purple unicorn standing where his door had been a second before.  He stared at her.  She stared at him.  He stared back and blinked for a second before leaping out of his chair and running straight toward what looked to be a small cell at the far right of the room.  Upon reaching it, he slammed the metal door shut behind him.  Twilight looked up to see a barely legible sign above the door.  'Panik Rooom'.  As Twilight approached, he slid open a small barred window at eye level to sneer at her.

"Nyahaha! Me safe in here! Stupid pony cannot get me now!  What you do now pony? Hahaha!"

Twilight looked at the door.  Being made of solid metal, it was plenty strong, and certainly a step up from what she had encountered so far, but the rusted hinges were simply sunk into the compacted dirt of the adjacent wall and what passed for a frame was partially rotted wood.  It would be foal's play to simply rip the door out and throw it across the room, yet to hear the crowing insults of the diamond dog behind it, he may as well have been in the Canterlot vaults.  Twilight supposed he could be forgiven for not knowing her or the extent of her abilities, but she still couldn't help but feel a little insulted at the disturbing lack of faith.

"Nyahahaha-URGGH!" The diamond dog's mocking laughter was cut short by the appearance of a purple glow around his neck. He pawed at his throat in vain as he slowly began to rise off the ground. 

"Now, I've got some questions that need answering." Twilight spoke in a calm, measured voice.  "First and foremost being, Where. Is. Rainbow Dash!"  

The helpless dog sputtered and kicked a bit before choking out an answer.

"Who?"

Twilight pulled him forward with a quick jerk, pressing his face against the bars as she gave him a glare that made it clear that patience was something she did not have in abundance.

"Blue pegasus.  Rainbow colored mane and tail.  Cutie mark shaped like a lightning bolt.  I know you brought her here, and for your sake, she had better be completely unharmed or things are going to go very VERY badly for you." Twilight gave a small extra squeeze for emphasis.  "Now, Where Is She!?"

"Don't know!  Gone!  Blue pony not here anymore!  Taken away!"

"Go on."

"Armor ponies come and bring lots of gems.  Take blue pony away in big cage.  Blue pony asleep whole time.  Not hurt!  Just like letter say!"

"Letter?"  Twilight glanced back at the table, spotting a scroll with what looked like a royal seal. Levitating it over to herself, she quickly scanned through the contents.

"When did this happen!? Where did they take her!?"  Twilight's magical grip began to tighten slightly as the unwelcome news set her nerves even more on edge.

"Gahk! Early this morning! Sunrise!  Ponies leave to north, but not say where going.  We not ask.  We just take gems!"

Twilight turned and began to pace as she tried to keep a hold on her thoughts. This was bad.  They were hours gone by now and she had no idea where they were even taking Dash.  If they continued north, Canterlot was a decent guess, but if they took to the air (and there was no reason to think they hadn't) they could be anywhere by now and tracking them would be next to impossible.  For all she knew, Dash could be in the heart of Canterlot Castle by now, or deep in a secret bunker somewhere where she would never find her. She would probably never see her again.

Twilight's heart froze.  There was a loud *thump* as her magic released and the suspended diamond dog fell to the ground gasping for air.  She fell to her knees as a cold, sick feeling rose in her stomach.

Rainbow Dash was gone.  GONE!

Twilight had known this was a possible outcome from the start.  It was a risk she had knowingly taken on when she had committed to this path that fateful night about a month and a half ago.  It was a possibility that had grown in likelihood to a near eventuality ever since yesterday morning.  That there would come a day when she and Rainbow Dash were separated for good.  All of her foreknowledge did absolutely nothing to prepare her now that that day was finally upon her.

Twilight gripped her head between her hooves and trembled as the world spun and swam around her.  What was she supposed to do now?  Keep running?  Turn herself in?  What did any of it matter if she could never see Rainbow Dash again?  Never again share a laugh over breakfast or read together in front of the fire!  Never again stare into those magenta eyes or bury her face in that wild rainbow mane!  Never again feel those lips against her own!  Never again!  Never again!

"NO!"  Twilight shouted as she jumped to her hooves, letting out a brief pulse of magic that buckled the metal door and upended the table and chairs, sending papers fluttering through the room.

It couldn't end like this.  It was unacceptable.  She refused to allow it.  Dash had been taken from her, but as long as she continued to draw breath, she would continue to fight until she had her back.  She would fight all of Equestria if she had to.

But how? Purged of crippling panic and self-doubt, and filled with renewed resolve, the gears of Twilight's mind began to spin.  The beginnings of multiple half-formed plans rose and fell, being disassembled and reshaped constantly as she took stock of her resources.

No, I don't have an airship....No, that would take months to build alone....Time travel doesn't work that way....That could work.  I have most of the parts.  I'd need a good collection of quality gems to properly calibrate though.

Twilight spotted an enormous pile of exquisitely cut gems of every variety sitting in the far corner of the room.  No doubt this was part of the extremely generous bounty awarded for Rainbow Dash's capture.

"I'm taking some of that." Twilight said with a pointed hoof.  It was in no way a question.  The diamond dog raised no objections, too busy rubbing his throat and cowering behind the bent and twisted remains of the metal door.

Twilight pulled in a cart from the hallway and began to fill it with gems, along with some of the bits from the adjacent pile.  It couldn't hurt to have some extra funds for this adventure, even if she couldn't exactly stroll into a market to spend it.  When she was finished, she silently started her way back up the tunnels to the surface.  None of the dogs tried to stop her.  Most were either still unconscious, or quick to throw themselves out of her way.

Twilight Sparkle stepped out into the sunlight, ready for whatever the world could throw at her next.

Hang on Dash.  I'm coming.
> Chapter 7
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	Aaaand Done!

Twilight stood proudly over the fruit of her labor, a hoof full of small, but precisely honed crystals.  Since the moment she had returned to camp, Twilight had thrown herself into the project full force, barely remembering to dig out some food from the supplies to eat while she worked.  She had continued to work through the rest of the day and late into the night.  Though she had tried to get some sleep, she had only managed two hours at most before the nightmares returned and made further rest impossible.  Unable to sleep, she had returned to work.  Coffee was better than sleep anyway, and she had packed plenty.

Twilight looked down at the pile of unassuming crystals on the table in front of her.  To any other pony, they might be worth whatever respectable, but modest sum they might fetch at the market.  To Twilight however, they were invaluable.


*** Roughly 1.5 years ago ***


"Twilight? Twilight where are you?" Fluttershy asked as she wandered the empty library.  There was a new restaurant in town, and she was hoping she could interest Twilight in a dinner date some time in the next few days.

"I'm down here Fluttershy!" Twilight called back from the basement.  Fluttershy cautiously stepped down the stairs and peeked around the corner.

"What are you doing down here Twilight?"

"Just a project I've been working on with one of the general research grants from Celestia.  Come take a look at this." Twilight excitedly waved her marefriend over.

Fluttershy obediently made her way to the center of the room, where Twilight directed her attention to two large crystals, roughly the size of a grown stallion's head, placed in opposite corners of the room.  Each was covered in several electrodes, connected by wires that ran into two separate, but identical machines.  Each machine beeped steadily in unison and had a long mechanical arm that held a pen motionless over the long roll of paper that moved at a constant rate underneath it.

"These are the thaumameters." Twilight motioned at the two machines.  "Roughly put, they measure changes in magical energy.  As you may or may not know, some types of crystalline structures display a piezoarcanic effect, in which magical energy is stored in the natural framework of the crystal lattice and can be released or otherwise manipulated in response to mechanical stress."

"Umm...okay?  Oh!  Is that why powerful amulets and magical artifacts always seem to have big jewels in them?"

"Precisely.  Now, for the fun part.  Stand over by that crystal and watch the thaumameter."  Fluttershy obeyed as Twilight made her way across the room to the other crystal.  "Here goes!"  Twilight shouted as she lowered her horn and sent a small, controlled burst of magic into the crystal in front of her.

The machine in front of Fluttershy sprung into action, the pen gripped in the mechanical arm jerking wildly across the page as it registered a sudden pulse of magic.  Twilight tore a length of paper off from her machine and held it up for Fluttershy to see.  After lining up the time stamps, there was no question.  They were exactly the same.

Fluttershy glanced between the two crystals.  "But...how?  How is that possible?  They're not connected in any way."

"I know!" Twilight bounced excitedly.  "I was studying the possible relationship between the natural resonant frequency of a material and its effectiveness as a piezoarcanic medium, when I started thinking about tuning forks.  How if you strike one and hold it near another identical fork, the vibrations travel through the air from the first fork and resonate with the second."

Twilight dug out two tuning forks as a visual/auditory aid.  Striking one against a nearby counter, a single pure pitch rang through the lab.  She held it an inch away from the other for several seconds before gently pressing it against the counter to silence it.  The pitch continued unabated from the second fork.

"Okay.  So far so good." Fluttershy responded.

"Well then I started thinking, if physical vibrations can be transmitted from one object to another as pressure waves through air, what about magical vibrations through the background aether?  If an object could be stimulated at the right frequency, another identical object should be able to pick up the aetheric ripples.  And aether waves don't attenuate nearly as fast as sound waves, so they could travel much farther before damping out.  Do you know what that means?!"

"Umm...."

"Instantaneous long distance communication!  Well, not quite instantaneous.  It's limited to the propagation speed of aetheric waves, but as that's usually comparable to the speed of light, the difference should be negligible in most situations.  The point is, real time distance communication without telegraph cables!

"But don't you and Princess Celestia already do that with Spike?"

"Yes, but there's not exactly a lot of him to go around, and dragon mail is limited to written letters only, and only point to point.  Since these kinds of piezoarcanic crystals are already used in speakers to turn magic impulses into sound, it would be relatively easy to make a system that facilitated voiced conversations! You could even have multiple ponies talking to each other as long as they shared the same frequency!"

Fluttershy stared forward, mouth slightly agape.  "Wow Twilight, that certainly sounds impressive.  From what I could understand at least, that sounds like it could be pretty important."

"It could be HUGE!  I mean, it's still in the very early stages of testing, and then it has to go through a bunch of review, and of course my grant rules state the crown gets first dibs on the trial run of any new technology.  It could be a while before it reaches use by the general public, but STILL!  It's so exciting!" 


*** Present Day ***


Face covered in camouflage make up, and decidedly unstealthy purple coat and mane concealed beneath a similarly patterned set of clothes and hat, Twilight hid in her tree and waited.  She waited, as she had continued to do for the past three hours, desperately trying not to nod off.  She had certainly pulled worse all nighters before, and for projects she wasn't even a tenth as motivated for, but it helped if she was actually keeping busy and working on something.  Staying awake while staring off at nothing was proving to be quite a bit more difficult.

Through a gap in the surrounding foliage, she could just make out the small set of hills that brushed against the treeline of the Whitetail Woods.  On the highest of those hills was a drab and uninteresting building, its architecture so thoroughly boring and uninspired as to make any casual observer completely forget they had seen it at all. If one were to take a leisurely stroll up said hills, they would be met with an equally uninteresting, though well maintained, barbed wire fence.  However, if one were to enter the airspace within 200 yards of the exceedingly plain structure, one would be quickly met by several stern faced guards who would strongly encourage a different flight path so as not to disrupt the 'routine training exercises' below. 

If one were particularly observant, and Equestria slightly less peaceful and more demanding of guard action beyond the occasional encroachment of wild beasts, one might notice a sharp rise in response time and coordination within the rank and file over the past ten months.  One might be told stories of wildly successful new training methods introduced by talented instructors with bold ideas about how to improve discipline and unit cohesion.  The truth of course, lay within that unassuming building, and several others like it across Equestria.

Twilight was one of the few ponies with the security clearance to know what was actually inside that building.  Even then, she wasn't sure if it was because of her status as Celestia's pupil, the bearer of the Element of Magic, or simply because there was no practical way to keep her out of the loop during her required consultation for its construction.

Inside the deceptively shabby exterior was a small fortress that housed the crystal network substation for the greater Ponyville area.  At its heart was an enormous crystal, five ponies tall, that fulfilled two important duties.  The first was to power and maintain the local network that allowed any guards within range to communicate with each other instantly via the small crystals embedded in each of their helmets.  The second was facilitating communication with Canterlot Command and the other secure substations scattered across Equestria.

Much as Twilight would have liked it, simply strolling in and rifling through high security communications for any mention of Dash was out of the question; hence, her grueling arboreal stakeout.  She had waited patiently for her prey as the hours ticked by, hoping that her luck would start to see a small reversal.  Just as she was half considering a frontal assault if something didn't happen within the next twenty minutes, she finally saw a target approaching.  

All day long, a pair of guards had been making their rounds of the perimeter.  Twice they had passed close enough for Twilight to make a move, but always they had stuck to protocol and stayed together.  A protocol her brother had introduced and tirelessly busted his flank over until it was ground into the head of every new recruit.  That guards on patrol were to maintain a strict buddy system, especially when investigating any strange noises from nearby bushes, in which case one was to take point while the other maintained a tight grip on a flare to signal for backup.  Also, to double check the identification of any 'new transfers' in armor that wasn't quite the right size.

Fortunately for Twilight, the shift was long, their water pouches were spacious, and some temporary exceptions were commonly made regarding inevitable biological consequences.  Twilight held her breath as she watched one of the guards break away and trot briskly past the treeline.  She took note of the length of his stride, checking the small stopwatch on her left foreleg as he passed between two trees she had picked as reference points.  She kept a tight grip on the small pouch she carried with her.  This would have to be perfect. 

She waited patiently as he picked a tree and took care of his business.  Once finished, he turned around and started back toward the tree line.  She took aim, readying the signal jamming spell for automatic release in case she missed.

NOW!

Twilight's sleeping spell struck true.  Before her target had even finished falling forward, she was down on the ground, working to pull his helmet off.  Once worked free of his head, she moved with speed and precision to remove the small crystal from inside the miniature array in the helmet interior that conducted the sound vibrations directly into the small bones of the jaw.  From her small pouch, she pulled a tiny red gem, fusing it to the larger crystal before replacing it back into the helmet and pulling it back over his head.  She checked her watch.

Six seconds.  All good so far.

Remembering her rough calculations of his walking pace, she grabbed him and teleported forward several meters. Placing him back into an upright position, she hit him with a small memory spell.  It was just a small jolt, as weak as she could manage, to wipe the last half-second before falling asleep.  She set the black out to continue for one more second as she hit him full force with an innervation spell and teleported back to cover.

Twilight held her breath.  Hopefully the blackout spell ensured he wouldn't remember suddenly feeling tired, or the moment it took to wake up.  It would be a clean jump in consciousness from taking one step to taking another, several seconds later along the same path, with only an odd feeling of a few seconds of lost time.  Something easily dismissed as the occasional mental lapse or forgetful daydream.  Much like deja' vu, slightly unsettling, but hardly uncommon.

She watched as he blinked twice and looked around in confusion, glancing behind him before giving a shrug and continuing on his way.  It wasn't until several seconds after he had passed out of sight that Twilight let out a sigh of relief.  Reaching into her bag once again, she pulled out a small headset, which she quickly fitted over an ear.

"-eaking hilarious you know that?" The slightly tinny voice of the guard rang in her ear.  "How much longer do we have on this shift anyway?"

The other guard's reply was muffled and inaudible.  Twilight's planted crystal was only meant to tap the transmissions sent through the helmet crystal, and it was only incidental that it also picked up vibrations from the wearer's voice.    She continued listening to half of the conversation.

"That long? Uggh. I swear these perimeter shifts just keep dragging on. Nothing ever happens out here anyway." Right on cue, a second voice appeared, this one much clearer.

"Attention units 21 and 24, we have some activity at the fence on the north side.  It's likely just those squirrels again, but check it out, over."

"Roger that. Heading there now. Over." The guard's voice replied with increased clarity, before returning to the quieter tinny sound as he stopped transmitting his response.  "Of course it's the squirrels, it's always the damn squirrels.  They're the only thing out here!"  The rest was half formed mumblings.

Now returned to her perch, Twilight could see the two guards making their way around the side of the hill.  She carefully removed the headset from her ear and returned it to her bag.  

Step one complete.

Though useful in its own right, bugging one guard's headset was not the ultimate objective of her risky stakeout.  Riding in that tiny red gem was some rather complicated spell work.  At some point, that guard's shift would end, and he would head back inside the building.  Once he passed within range, that spell would activate and leap to the massive central relay crystal that acted as the nerve center for the entire regional network.  

Any message, whether it was a transmission from Canterlot or two guards talking on opposite sides of a room, ultimately relayed through that crystal on its way to its destination.  Now with the addition of her spell, anything that passed through would be simultaneously rebroadcast on a special frequency.  Even if somepony were scanning in the right range to find it, all they would find was a faint echo effect, likely some feedback distortion from a slightly misaligned instrument, or a warp in the geometry of the local aether.  The technology was still fresh after all, and there were plenty of kinks left to discover.  It would be the kind of mild curiosity that would normally be noted in a memo and forwarded to her for further study.

Twilight pulled another small gem out of her bag, along with a chisel, and began to carve a small hole into the side of the tree.  Once it was deep enough, she placed the gem inside and covered the hole back up with spare bits of bark.  The spell on this gem was much simpler.  A simple signal booster to receive, amplify, and rebroadcast the transmissions from the relay station deeper into the rest of the woods.  The small attached power source would keep it running for several weeks before needing to be refreshed, and with a dozen more identical boosters scattered over a wide expanse of territory, she would be able to listen in no matter where she decided to move.

Gathering her things, she prepared to make her way back.  A few jumps later and she was back at her temporary base of operations, making the final adjustment to her equipment.  Glad for the highly imaginative paranoia that had pushed her to include such variety in her stock of emergency supplies, Twilight attached a final reel of audiotape.  Two crude, but functioning recording devices sat connected to a large gem with a tall antenna sticking off the top.

Each message relayed along her system was marked with a small binary pulse to denote the source as either chatter on the local network, or communication with other stations.  The gem here read those markers and sorted each to its appropriate recording device.  The guard chatter would be worth keeping an ear on in case they got too close and she needed to pack up and move, or if she absolutely had to risk going into town for some reason, but it was transmissions between facilities she was most interested in.  If there was news of Dash to be had, that was where she would find it.

Twilight started some coffee, fetched a notepad and quill, and flicked on the machines as she sat down for a long stretch of listening.

I'll find you Dash, just you wait.


***


Rainbow Dash groaned and mumbled as she slowly emerged from the fog of sleep.  She turned and felt...a pillow?  Yes, that was definitely a pillow.  And she could feel a mattress below her.  It was more of a basic cot, certainly nothing luxurious, but a far cry from the grass of the Everfree Forest.  A brief thought floated through her groggy mind that her suddenly losing consciousness and waking up somewhere completely different was starting to form a most unwelcome pattern.

She cracked open her eyes and looked around the room.  The best word to describe it would be 'sterile'.  It looked much like a doctor's office, though without any of the usual posters that littered the walls for bored patients to read while waiting, usually about the importance of proper hoof washing.  One of the bare walls was almost completely taken up by a large mirror.  There was no trace of natural sunlight, with everything illuminated by overhead fluorescent lights.  Furthermore, the air currents across her feathers felt artificial.  She was far from the open air, probably underground.

A steady beeping came from a small machine in the corner of the room.  She noticed a small pair of wires leading from it up to an electrode taped to her right foreleg. Looking around the rest of the room, she saw a scale, what looked like an x-ray machine, and several cabinets filled with other doctor-y junk.  She also saw a desk, at which stood a chestnut brown unicorn stallion in a lab coat.

"Ah! You're awake. That's good."  He said as he approached with stethoscope raised.  Rainbow Dash had no time to respond with even the simplest 'huh?' before he was upon her, checking pulse, blood pressure, temperature, reflexes, and every part of her head he could shine a light into.

"Wheh aaeh I?" She attempted to question around a tongue depressor.

"Somewhere safe.  Don't worry.  Now extend your left wing and move it in small circles forward and back."

"But how did I get here?  Last thing I remember I was in the forest and-"

"Good.  Right wing now."

"Why am I here? Who are you? And where's Twilight?"

The doctor continued to ignore her questions as he picked up a small light, shining it into her eyes.  "Okay, now keep your head still and follow my hoof with your eyes."  

With an irritated swipe of her hoof, she knocked the floating pen light away, sending it rolling across the floor.  "Listen, unless you want that light illuminating places I'm sure it wasn't designed for, somepony had better start answering my questions!  Now, where's Twilight?"

If the doctor was the least bit intimidated, it didn't show.  He calmly picked up the pen light in his magic and set it gently on the nearby tray, pulling a notepad out of his pocket and scribbling something secretive.

"Well?!" Rainbow Dash asked again.

"I'm afraid I don't know.  Ms. Sparkle's current whereabouts remain unknown.  We were actually hoping you might know something about that."

"Oh.  Well, obviously I don't know where she is either, so if you'll excuse me, I'll just be going now." Rainbow Dash hopped off the bed and turned to the door, only to have the stallion block her path.

"Sorry, but I'm afraid you can't leave just yet."

"Why?" The hair on the back of her neck stood up.  For the first time, she got a good look at the door.  There was no handle on the inside.  Instead of hinges, it appeared to slide sideways into the wall.  It looked thick and sturdy, and she could imagine the hiss of pneumatic locks as it slid open and shut.  "Am I some kinda prisoner or something?"

The doctor gave a vigorous shake of his head.  "No no. Not a prisoner, a patient.  You're still quite ill and need treatment."

Rainbow Dash raised a questioning eyebrow.  "Really?  I'm not hurt, and I haven't had so much as a sniffle lately.  I feel just fine. Well, aside from the fact that it feels like I haven't eaten in days, but that may be because I probably haven't."

"Oh yes, that reminds me.  I'm supposed to give you this now that you are awake."  He slid a tall stack of papers out of the way to reveal a tray, piled high with apples, peaches, carrots, celery, bread, butter, and a tall pitcher of water.

"We'll pick this back up in ten minutes" she said before diving towards the food, shoving an entire slice of bread in her mouth.  She ignored the small paper cup sitting next to the tray in favor of taking a long, drawn out pull from the pitcher.  She hadn't realized just how dehydrated recent events had left her.

After ten minutes, she was feeling much better.  With blood sugar levels returning to normal, and the dehydration headache easing away, she slowly felt less and less like strangling the pony next to her with his own stethoscope.

"So, what was this about me being sick?  Cause I just went in for a physical like a month ago, and they were practically ready to stick my picture in the dictionary next to the word 'healthy'."

"Yes, we pulled your medical files from the Wonderbolt Academy" he replied as he continued to scribble notes to himself.  "There's nothing physically wrong with you.  In fact, you're in peak physical condition."

"What? But you said-"

"Physically you're fine.  It's your mental health that needs addressing."

Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes.  "Seriously?  If somepony says borderline narcissistic personality disorder one more time-"  Again, the doctor shook his head.

"No, this is much more unique and recently acquired, and most significantly, magical in origin."

"What?"

"We believe you are currently under the influence of a mind altering spell."

Rainbow Dash simply stood, blinking in confusion as she tried to make sense of the stallion's words.  Mind altering spell?  Somepony had been magicking around in her head?  That was ridiculous.  She didn't feel any different from normal.

"What?...B-But I...how...?" She struggled to get her thoughts organized enough to ask a coherent question.  "What is this supposed spell supposedly doing to me then?"

"You now seem to display an intense infatuation centered around a single pony.  In this case, Twilight Sparkle.

Rainbow Dash gave a loud laugh.  "Well I should hope so, what with her being my marefriend and everything." Her shoulders started to sag in relief.  "You really had me worried there for a second.  You see, just like a mare and a stallion, sometimes a mare and another mare can-"

"Yes, I'm quite aware of the facts of life thank you.  The important point here is that in this case, those feelings aren't real.  They're artificial, fake.

Rainbow Dash bristled.  Fake?!  He was saying her feelings for Twilight were fake?!  It was only through some miracle of self-control that she hadn't already taken a swing at him. She spoke through gritted teeth.

"I suggest you pick your words VERY carefully Doc, cause at the moment, it SOUNDS like you're telling me that I don't love Twilight."

The stallion gave a shrug.  "It's a very convincing simulation, but it's all a result of magic.  None of it is real.  All these feelings you think you have-"

"I THINK I KNOW WHAT MY OWN DAMN FEELINGS ARE!" Rainbow Dash shouted as a flame of rage burned brightly in the center of her mind.  "Now, I think I've been more than patient listening to you spout your crackpot theories and insult me and Twilight.  If you're quite done calling my love for my marefriend a mental illness, and I assure you, you are, I'm going to be leaving now."

The doctor continued to block her path "I'm afraid you still can't leave.  Not until treatment is complete."  He continued to stand his ground, though a faint hint of anxiety was now visible in the corner of his eyes.

Rainbow Dash seethed, but her anger suddenly stalled as a question seized her mind.  "Wait, treatment?"

He nodded. "It is our responsibility to undo the effects of the enchantment and return you to your old self."

"My 'old self' meaning 'not in love with Twilight'." She twirled a hoof around the wires leading to the small beeping machine, still connected to the electrode on her foreleg.

"That would be the desired outcome, yes."

"I see.  Then if I may offer this counterpoint?"

With a twist and a pull at the wires wrapped around her hoof, she yanked the small beeping machine free from its spot in the corner, swinging it around in an arc that caught the surprised stallion in the side of the head and sent him sprawling.  She continued the swing, completing a full rotation before flinging the machine like a shot put at the large mirror.  She followed close behind the solid metal box as it tore through the glass surface of the one way mirror, and into the attached observation room, sending the four ponies present ducking for cover.

Dash smirked as she saw what she had been hoping to find. Instead of the impenetrable looking door of the previous room, the exit at the back of the observation room was a simple office door. Not bothering to slow down to see if it was even locked, she kicked it open, splintering part of the frame as she raced into the hallway, accompanied by the sound of alarms.

With next to no maneuverability in the narrow hallways, and no idea where she was going, it wasn't long until she was surrounded by security.  She had no intention of making their job easy, kicking, spitting, and biting at anything she could reach as she was swamped by bodies.  She had just finished giving a rather vicious headbutt when she felt a pinch in her side. Her limbs began to lose strength as the corners of her vision started to darken.  Just before she lost consciousness, a single thought passed through her mind.

Here we go again.  Wonder where I'll wake up this time?
	
> Chapter 8
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

		Days passed, in which Twilight Sparkle became intimately familiar with the primary feature of all surveillance work.  Boredom.  The vast majority of the time, there was simply nothing happening.  Even when there was, it was usually just irrelevant chatter, guards checking in for their shifts, updates to duty rosters, etc.

Every once in a while, an inter-station communication would pop up, usually a request for additional supplies and/or maintenance, sometimes a notice of an upcoming inspection or personnel transfer, occasionally a reminder to be on the lookout for her and report any new information immediately.  Only about half of the messages were coded, and even then it was a joke.  The cryptographers were slacking.  They were clearly unconcerned about any potential eavesdropping, and likely thought their job a pointless formality, given that the rest of the world was unaware such communication methods even existed.

Twilight filled the long stretches of empty silence (and the irrelevant daily check ins ) with exercise and practice.  When she did finally locate Dash, it likely wouldn't be easy to retrieve her without some fighting involved.  When that time came, she'd want her barriers strong, her reflexes sharp, and her endurance, both magical and physical, as high as possible.


She made use of the pond outside, standing on the water's surface as she remembered the meditation techniques Zecora had taught her in preparation for her duel with Trixie.  She practiced flinging heavy rocks into the air, then trying to support them with her shield barriers as long as she could.  She bucked at trees, dodging and shooting at the leaves as they fell.  Then there was the less glamorous, but ever important running.  Lots of running.  Whether she was fleeing or fighting, all her skill wouldn't matter if she was winded after two minutes.  Cardio was rule number one.

It was strenuous to say the least, especially given how little sleep she got each night.  Bad dreams continued to plague her.  Sometimes she got a few hours, sometimes none at all, forcing her to make do with occasional ten minute cat naps throughout the day.  She flipped through a book on lucid dreaming, but failed to make any significant progress with it.

She hoped the nightmares would stop once she had Dash back, but nothing ever turned up on the network.  Not a single clue to Dash's location.  If this kept up much longer, she might have to start taking riskier action.


***


Fluttershy stared up at her bedroom ceiling, blowing an errant strand of pink mane out of her eyes with a sigh.   Her limbs sprawled wide across the mattress, the sheets tangled and twisted from countless futile attempts to get comfortable enough to fall asleep.  The constant thrum of crickets wafted gently with the cool breeze through her partially open window, but even her favorite source of white noise did little to settle her mind.

Actually, that's a misnomer.  'White noise' has a specific definition in signal processing, and refers to a random signal with a constant power spectral density.  You're thinking of 'ambient noise'  she could hear Twilight's voice correcting her in her mind.  Fluttershy sighed again.

It had been the same every night for the past two weeks, ever since Princess Celestia had broken the news to them in the library.  The news that had flipped the world on its head.  Twilight's entire relationship with Rainbow Dash had been a result of forbidden mind affecting magic.  Twilight was now a wanted fugitive, and nopony knew where she or Rainbow Dash were.

Even after several days, Fluttershy still hadn't been able to sort through how exactly she felt about it all.  Beyond the initial surprise of the revelation, there had been a small surge of...perverse relief?  As irrational as she knew it was, she had been carrying around a tiny seed of jealous resentment towards Rainbow Dash for 'stealing' Twilight from her.  The knowledge that Rainbow Dash had been under the effect of an enchantment  had briefly shaken that seed loose.  Rainbow Dash was just an innocent victim in all this.

Of course, that strange sense of relief had only lasted a fraction of a second until the context of just who had placed that enchantment came in.  That was where things got muddled.  Fluttershy knew that casting a spell like that was wrong.  It wasn't a small wrong either, like telling a lie or ruining a friend's favorite dress.  This wasn't the sort of thing that would be made better by an apology and a hug.  Even if she ignored the fact (which she couldn't) that the victim in this case was her oldest and dearest friend, it was clear that anypony who would use such a spell was a bad pony who needed to be stopped.  That they had used it on the second most important mare in her life meant that she should hate them, or at least really really really dislike them.

Unfortunately, that pony was Twilight, and Twilight couldn't be a bad pony.  It was a contradiction in terms, like 'dry water' or 'carnivorous herbivore'.  Twilight wasn't perfect.  She could become stressed and obsessive over small things, and was capable of making mistakes just like anypony else, but she was definitely a good pony.  But this wasn't a simple mistake, and it certainly wasn't something most would consider compatible with calling somepony 'good'.

The next logical conclusion was that it couldn't be true.  That there had to be some kind of misunderstanding that explained away the apparent paradox.  Twilight was innocent.  She had to be if the thought that she would commit such a crime was simply unthinkable.  Unfortunately, it really wasn't.  To her disappointment, Fluttershy found she could think it quite easily.

It was apparent that Twilight had been holding onto unrequited feelings for Rainbow Dash for quite some time.  She recalled when she and Twilight had first started dating, how Twilight had told her plainly that there was another pony she had feelings for but couldn't be with for unspecified reasons.  How those feelings were still there when their relationship had ended (and apparently long after).

It was no large stretch of the imagination to place herself in Twilight's hooves, suffering the agony of unrequited love day after day.  That constant dull ache that followed her everywhere, punctuated by occasional sharp searing stabs whenever she had to see or hear that particular pony.  Being kept up at night by the crushing, suffocating pressure that would build when left alone too long with her thoughts.  The  exhausting battle every morning to pull herself out of bed and face another day of the same.  Fluttershy was intimately familiar with all of it.  What she wasn't, was a talented unicorn mage with an alternative.

If I was...if I could..?

Fluttershy turned and pressed a pillow over her head, suppressing a shudder.  That was the most terrifying part.  She really didn't know.  She wanted to say no.  That of course she would never do such a thing. Never!  But that was an easy stance to take when she couldn't.  When it was simply impossible.  But if she could?  If it was suddenly a real option?  She still desperately wanted to say that she wouldn't, that she would be strong enough to resist and do the right thing, but she was far from certain.  She didn't like what this self-reflectance was revealing.

Does that make me a bad pony?  A good pony wouldn't have to think about it right? I mean, I know it's wrong,  but I can understand why she did it.   And what about Rainbow Dash?  Does that make me a bad friend if I empathize with Twilight?  She's my friend too.

It was always a difficult friendship problem when two friends were in conflict, but this wasn't a disagreement over where to go for lunch.  There was very clearly a right and wrong side to this.  Then why were most of her thoughts caught up in concern over Twlight's safety first, and Rainbow Dash's second?  Part of her secretly wanted Twilight to escape and remain free so they could run off together, Twilight having somehow moved on from Rainbow Dash (cured and also somehow undamaged by the experience) to rediscover a love for her.  And while she was working on that level of plausibility, she might as well throw in the part where everypony just forgot about the whole thing and she and Twilight became alicorn princesses and lived in a giant crystal castle.

What do I even want?

...

I want to see Twilight.  Talk to her.

And say what? Do what? Help her? Arrest her? Yell at her and leave?

I don't know.  I just...I've got to find her.  I'll think of something then.  I just can't sit here and wait.

Now certain she wouldn't be able to get to sleep anytime soon, Fluttershy rolled out of bed and walked over to her writing desk.  She grabbed a quill between her teeth, dipped it in the inkwell, and started writing a list of supplies.


***


*Thwack!*

A great tremor rippled up the trunk of the tree, dislodging the bright red fruit to fall into the waiting baskets below.

*Thwack!*

Another tree yielded after a single savage strike, surrendering its bounty of fruit like its defeated brothers before it.  

*Thwack!*
*Thwack!*
*Thwack!*

Powerful orange legs struck without mercy.  New trees were  struck before the fruit from the last had even finished falling, filling the air with a constant hail of apples.  Only when the surrounding area was cleared, and all the baskets filled, did Applejack stop to wipe the sweat from her forehead.  She tried not to grumble in annoyance as she moved to gather and empty the baskets, a necessary step before she could get back to filling more.

Sweet Apple Acres had seen a surge in productivity.  So much so, that they were actually ahead of schedule for once.  Part of it was just the benefit of a good year.  There hadn't been any major infestations or disasters to cause setbacks.  No world threatening crisis forcing her to take time out to go fight monsters or wield ancient magical artifacts.  But another, not insubstantial part, was the fervor with which Applejack had attacked the trees in recent days.  The numerous extra shifts she had taken had been enough to swell their stores to the point that it was all Applebloom and Granny could do to keep up with the sorting.

Heh.  Well we'll certainly have plenty of cider this year.  That should at least make Rainbow Dash hap-

*Thwack!*

There was a splintering sound.  Applejack turned and frowned as she saw the cracked hoof print imbedded in the tree, bits of sap rising up from the center of the fresh wound.  She winced apologetically.  The tree didn't deserve that.  She turned and resumed her task of dragging the baskets to the cart.

As it had many times before, the scene at the library replayed itself in her mind, Celestia's shocking announcement ringing in her ears.  Each of the others had been some combination of shocked, scandalized, confused, or in denial, but Applejack's mind had been preoccupied with one burning question.  Painful memories of her and Rainbow Dash breaking things off came flooding back.

Was that Twilight's fault too?!  Is she the reason things didn't work out?!

The simple answer was no.  It was a two way street.  She had been just as responsible for that outcome as Dash had been, and she doubted they had both been enchanted.  Besides, the timing was all wrong. Unless lying low and keeping the spell dormant for over a year was all part of Twilight's master plan, she could be fairly certain there was nothing magically induced about their break up.  Probably.

Even with that fear addressed and dismissed, it did little to dampen the rising tide of anger that had stuck with her over the past two weeks, maintaining a constant simmer.  Anger was a perfectly valid response to news of a crime.  It was natural to feel angry on behalf of the victim.  But she wasn't just angry for Rainbow Dash.  Something about it felt personal, and Applejack had been devoting a great deal of thought to trying to figure out why.

Jealousy?  Do I still have feelings for Dash?  Do I think Twilight stole my chance to get back together?

She'd be lying if she said she felt absolutely nothing for Rainbow Dash, or that she had never briefly entertained the thought of getting back together again, especially when the wounds were still fresh.  There had been a few days where she would have seriously considered it if Dash had shown similar interest, but she knew that it would only be a matter of time before they started fighting again and ended up right back where they started.  It was only the occasional  moment of weakness that made it seem like it might be worth the eventual pain.  No.  She missed it, but they had broken things off for good reason.  She knew it had been the right choice.

Hearing the news of Twilight and Rainbow Dash getting together had briefly dug up some bittersweet memories,  but she had been genuinely happy for the new couple.  Glad to see concrete proof that Rainbow Dash was moving on, and at the same time, bringing joy to another one of her friends.  She had gone to Pinkie's party.  Danced and sang, and made toasts to the glowing couple.  Showered them with cheers and well wishes.  And she had meant every word of it.

And it had all been a lie.

And that was what really rubbed at her like a burr in a boot.  The whole thing had been an elaborate farce, and Twilight had dragged them all into it.  Made them all complicit in her enormous lie.  Every congratulation, every idle comment made about the happy couple, it was all built on a foundation of falseness and deceit.  All a charade to conceal a despicable crime.  A charade she, however unwittingly, had been made a part of.  Twilight had made a liar out of her.

Hind legs kicked out once again, but sailed through empty air, providing no satisfying impact.  They did, however, elicit a startled "eep!" from the space behind her.  Applejack turned to see Fluttershy huddled on the ground, having ducked and narrowly avoided a sudden facial restructuring.

"AH! Sorry Fluttershy!  I didn't mean to-I just-sorry.  Guess I got a bit lost in my thoughts there."

"N-No problem.  I'm fine." Fluttershy replied as she shakily got to her hooves. There was no need to ask what she had been so busy thinking about.

"So!" Applejack pushed on, eager to leave this moment of embarrassment behind them.  "What can I do for you?"

"Um, well, I was hoping to get a couple jars of jam."

"Sure thing!  We've got the best apple jam in Equestria.  Travels well, keeps good for ages, and tastes great with just about anything.  Anything else?'

"Well..." Fluttershy hid behind her mane as she chewed on her lower lip.  "Do you still have that tent around?  The one from your camping trip to Rainbow Falls?"

One of Applejack's eyebrows floated up in curiosity.  "Planning some camping of your own?"

"S-Something like that, yes.  I'm, uh, birdwatching?  Yes.  I'm looking to find a very rare and exotic bird. And-uh-um-it could take days, maybe weeks!"

Contrary to the uninformed assumptions of some ponies, Applejack's element didn't give her magical lie detecting abilities.  She had simply developed, with a great deal of experience, a knack for reading ponies. It was a talent that had served her well in more than one business dealing,  but it hardly took her level of skill to see that something was off in this situation.  Not only did Fluttershy have a poker face like a polished mirror, but if other ponies sent subtle signals with their body language, Fluttershy kicked in your door with a singing telegram.

"I see.  And this bird...would it happen to be bright purple, flightless, featherless,  and magical?  With a horn sticking out of its forehead and a star pattern on its backside?"

Fluttershy's eyes went wide with fear before she threw her gaze down to her hooves. "Please don't tell anypony! I know Princess Celestia said to wait here and let her and Princess Luna handle it, but I can't!  I can't just sit around and do nothing!"

She cringed, expecting some kind of harsh reprimand for even considering disobeying the Princesses. Applejack simply stared in bemusement.  "So, what?  You were planning to venture alone into the Everfree Forest to track down Twilight yourself?"

Fluttershy's knees shook at the thought.  "P-Pretty much, yeah.  I mean, it's really scary.  Really, really scary!  But I can't stand just waiting around, and I know a lot about the flora and fauna, so I think I could avoid some of the nastier predators if I'm careful.  I learned a lot from Zecora too."

"Mm-hm.  Have you ever set up a tent before?"

"What?"

" Have you ever set up or taken down a tent?  Or a firepit?"

"Well...no.  But I'm pretty sure I saw Rainbow Dash once-"

"What with Everfree weather being unpredictable, you don't want your tent flooding after the first light rain.  Ever dig a drainage trench?"

"No."  Fluttershy stared down at her hooves.

"Ever pack and carry a tent plus several days worth of supplies?  it ain't light."

"Well I was thinking I could get a cart and-"

"Ever pull one through rough terrain? Tree roots, mud, that kinda stuff?"

"No."  Fluttershy gave a deflated sigh of defeat.  "I know.  It was stupid.  I just...I wanted to do something.  Anything.  But you're right.  I can't help anypony."  She turned her back as a tear fell and splattered against the ground.  "I'm just...useless."

"I didn't say that."

"But I am! I can't do any of those things you said!"

"Lucky for you, you don't have to. "

"What?" Fluttershy turned back around in confusion.

"I've hauled pie carts through a fire swamp while fighting of chimeras...on multiple occasions.  An unkempt forest trail won't be much of a problem.  I can get a campfire going like nopony's business, and could setup and break down that two pony tent in my sleep.  And I reckon I can help...dissuade most anything you can't politely ask to move along."

There was a moment of silence as Fluttershy tried to make sense of what Applejack was saying.

"You-you want to come with me?  But what about the farm?"

"We're way ahead of schedule as it is.  They'll be fine without me for a while.  Shoot.  By this time of the year, I expect to be running off on some damn fool adventure or top secret mission or something anyway.  Worked it into the calendar and everything.  I can even have Big Macintosh check in on your critters while we're gone.  He knows the drill.  Knows how to be discreet too."

"Oh thank you thank you thank you!" Fluttershy wrapped her hooves around Applejack's neck and pulled her in for a pillowy soft wing hug.

"No problem." Applejack replied as she carefully extricated herself from the mass of limbs.  "You head on home and get your affairs in order.  Don't worry.  I'll take care of packing up the food and supplies.  We can be ready to go as soon as tomorrow morning.  I'll meet you at your place."

As Fluttershy flew off, filled with renewed energy, Applejack turned back to the apple cart, preparing to drop off her last load of apples before starting packing.  She hadn't mentioned it, but the waiting had been driving her mad as well.  She had been on the verge of setting off on her own.  Of course, she didn't have the slightest clue where to start looking, but if Fluttershy was serious about this, maybe she actually had a lead?

A lead she either just discovered/remembered, or one that she kept hidden from the Princesses.

It was hard to guess what Fluttershy's  plan was in the event their little search succeeded.  She doubted Fluttershy had much idea herself.  Her own plans might be a bit fuzzy on specific details, but her goals were clear.

1.) If they found Rainbow Dash, do whatever it took to bring her home and help her recover.  

2.) If they found Twilight, get some answers, and depending on her response (at this point it had better be the mother of all good explanations to justify all this), see justice done if she had to hogtie her and drag her back to Canterlot herself.

Applejack emptied the cart inside the storage barn, undid the harness, and started on a path to one of the utility sheds.  She was going to need more rope.


***


The chains weighed heavily around Twilight's limbs as she sat beneath the withering glares of the courtroom.  She could see her former friends in the audience.  Fluttershy sat sobbing between Rarity and Applejack, who were both giving her looks of lethal disgust and barely restrained anger.  A flat maned Pinkie sat beside them, pointedly refusing to even look at her.  There was still no sign of her parents.  Rumor had it that they had been too ashamed of her to even show their faces in public for the last several days.

Twilight looked out into the sea of angry ponies.  Friends, family, neighbors, colleagues, old professors and classmates, all staring at her.  Some sat in silence, some hissed and booed, while others whispered to each other about how they always knew there was something wrong with her.  That she had always been dangerously unstable, a disaster waiting to happen.  As terrible as it was, it was still infinitely less painful than looking at the pony on the witness stand.

"And then she made me kiss her!" Rainbow Dash shouted as she slammed a hoof on the railing and gave a spit of disgust.  "It was horrible!  I wanted to kick her in the face, or throw up, or both.  I wanted to yell and scream, but all I could do was smile and say I loved her!"  She gave a derisive snort, making it perfectly clear how ridiculous she found the notion.  "As if I'd ever love a pony like her!"

The murmurs of the crowd momentarily rose to a roar as Twilight winced and tried to hold in a sob, far past the point of trying to stop her eyes from leaking.  Dash's furious tirade had been going on for a good five minutes now.

"And that's just the start!  She made me do all kinds of...things.  She's into some pretty sick stuff."

Twilight  tried to sink into her seat as she listened to a graphic retelling of some of her most treasured intimate moments with Dash, now spun as shocking and lurid tales of rape and abuse.  The perverse crimes of a power mad, egomaniacal monster.

"That's enough Rainbow Dash", Celestia mercifully cut in at last.  "Thank you for your testimony.  You may now return to your seat"

Rainbow Dash shot one last look of pure hatred at the defendant's chair as she walked back to her spot next to Applejack, who wrapped a comforting foreleg of support around her shoulders.  In a twist that surprised almost nopony, the perfect couple was back together again.  Dash had flown straight into her arms almost as soon as the spell had been lifted.  Apparently, they had been on the verge of patching things up, and would have done so months earlier if not for Twilight's interference.  Now Applejack was invaluable in helping Dash deal with the lingering trauma, offering a patient ear and a shoulder to cry on whenever Dash woke up screaming in the middle of the night.

"TWILIGHT SPARKLE."  Twilight followed the booming Canterlot voice and looked up at the podium that seemed to tower hundreds of feet above her, where Princess Celestia looked down in judgement.  "IN THE FACE OF THESE MOST HEINOUS ALLEGATIONS, AND THE SHOCKING AMOUNT OF EVIDENCE PRESENTED HERE TODAY, DO YOU HAVE ANYTHING AT ALL TO SAY IN YOUR OWN DEFENSE?"

Twilight tried to speak.  Tried to desperately explain that she had meant well and had never intended to hurt anypony.  That she wasn't the heartless monster they thought she was.  She had only wanted love!  She tried to explain, but the words caught in her throat.

"VERY WELL THEN.  TWILIGHT SPARKLE.  IN LIGHT OF THE SEVERITY OF YOUR CRIMES AGAINST PONYKIND, I AM LEFT WITH NO CHOICE BUT TO APPLY THE HARSHEST OF SENTENCES.  FORTHWITH AND INDEFINITELY, YOU ARE BANISHED TO THE DEEPEST DEPTHS OF TARTARUS!

The sound of a slammed gavel echoed throughout the courtroom as a pitch black hole opened in the floor beneath Twilight.  She screamed as she desperately grabbed for the edge, her chair falling away beneath her into the dark abyss, and the heavy chains still draped around her threatening to pull her in after it.  Her front hooves gripped tenuously at the hardwood floor as she tried to pull herself up, while her back legs kicked wildly in the endless void below.  The ponies in the stands cheered.  Some threw popcorn.  Amidst all this, a single pony approached.

Twilight looked up to see Rainbow Dash staring blankly down at her.  No tears, no shouting, no eyes filled with compassion, rage, or pity.  Just a completely neutral expression.

"Dash!...I...I'm sorry!...I...I just...!

Rainbow Dash said nothing as she slowly raised a hoof, placed it on Twilight's forehead, and pushed.

Twilight screamed as she tumbled through the endless darkness.  Falling.  She was falling forever.  Time became disjointed.  Sometimes she was falling, sometimes running (though directions and surfaces were meaningless), but always it was confusion and terror in the suffocating darkness.

Twilight felt it again.  The prickly feeling in her spine that meant she had to run.  Had to run or it would find her.  She didn't know what it was, had never seen it, but she knew she couldn't let it catch her.  From the intensity of the feeling, she knew it was close, mere feet behind her.

Don't look! Don't look! Don't look! Don't look! Don't look! 

Finally, out of a combination of insatiable curiosity and panicked terror, Twilight spun around to face her pursuer.

A gigantic teal green eye, wreathed in dark smoke, stared back at her. The tall, reptilian, slit pupil constricted as it focused on her, and an unnaturally deep voice rang out in her head.

I SEE YOU

Twilight screamed as she bolted upright in her bed, pouring sweat.  The eye was gone, the other details of the horrible nightmare already beginning to fade, but one thing remained.  Something that pushed her to throw off her sheets and grab for her bags.  A singular thought that gripped the whole of her mind.

RUN!


***


Luna opened her eyes, a tight grin spreading across her face.

At last.  We have found thee.

The princess of the night stepped out onto her moon bathed private balcony, taking a moment to enjoy the cool night air as she shook off the lingering haze of her dream walking trance.  She looked up at the stars.

Ponies had forgotten much about the old ways.  A thousand years ago, her duties had consisted of more than simply raising and lowering the moon.  It fell upon her to safeguard the night and protect the slumbering population from nocturnal threat.  Often this meant leading hunting parties on regular excursions to drive back the manticores, owlbears, and countless bloodthirsty beasts that stalked the borders of pony civilization.

Likewise, internal threats were neutralized with equal prejudice.  Any criminal that dared to threaten the harmony of Equestrian society would learn to fear the night.  They would be hunted relentlessly, given no quarter, even in sleep, until they were finally brought to justice.  Even today, the phrase 'no rest for the wicked' remained in common parlance, though precious few remembered its origin.

With Celestia having grown soft over the centuries, now unwilling or unable to do what had to be done in order to apprehend her precious student, the responsibility would have to fall to her if justice were to be served.  It was time for a hunt.

"There, out in the darkness.  A fugitive running.  Fallen from grace.  Stars be my witness, I never shall yield till we come face to face."

The ancient words of the ritual oath, not spoken in over a millennium, came naturally to her lips.

"Stars in your multitudes, scarce to be counted, filing the darkness with order and light.  I am your sentinel, silent and sure, keeping watch in the night.  This I swear by the stars."

Her oath complete, she fired a green flare of magic up into the air, a signal for her guards to assemble.  Already seeing several dark, bat winged forms rising from the streets below, she spread her wings and leaped from the edge of the balcony, soaring up into the night sky.

Prepare thyself Twilight Sparkle.  Justice comes for thee on swift wing.  This sordid affair ends tonight.


***


Faster! Faster! We've got to go!

Twilight scrambled about the cave in a mad flurry of packing, thankful that she kept most everything prepacked and ready for a hasty exit.  Though her first instinct was to bolt out the door and run, she forced herself to linger long enough to do things right.  

With practiced speed and precision, she disassembled her base.  Food, first aid kit, tent, rope, shovel, hatchet, maps, and other 'Class A' necessities all levitated themselves into a pair of saddle bags she had enchanted to hold many times their outer volume, with an additional gravity spell to negate most of the weight.  Valuable, but less essential items, such as miscellaneous books and furniture were grouped together and teleported down several meters to a sealed off hollow cavity in the underlying rock.  With any luck, she might be able to retrieve them some time in the future.

She didn't know what was coming for her, or when it would arrive.  Whatever it was, she didn't want to leave anything for it to find.  Nothing that would give a clue about her plans or available resources.  At the very top of that list was anything relating to her tapping of the crystal communication network.  Twilight rapidly disassembled the recording system, packing away the crystal and antenna while she burned several reels of audiotape, before crushing the charred metal frames into unrecognizable scrap.

A small part of her protested that she was foolishly overreacting to a half-remembered dream.  There was no reason other than her own paranoia to believe that anything at all was coming.  Another part of her quickly pointed out that paranoid instinct had served her phenomenally well so far.

Finally, the ashes of her small fire pit dispersed into the pond outside, the cave was as bare as she had found it.  Strapping her bags on tight, Twilight stepped out of the cave, and was immediately greeted by the soft thuds of several objects dropping out of the sky to land in the wet grass.  She strained to make out the shadowy outlines that blended in with the darkness.

For a moment she thought she could make out a leathery wing.  Her observation was confirmed a moment later in the bright flash of light that followed one of the figures pulling out a small crystal and hurling it at the ground.

Twilight felt the aether shift and warp around her as a temporary interdiction field went up, blocking the teleport she had been about to cast.  The effect of a pre-charged, disposable spell crystal was generally fairly weak.  The field would likely only last for a few minutes, but a few minutes would be all they needed.

That’s certainly not standard issue!   Looks like somepony in command is getting serious if they're outfitting special strike teams now. 

Twilight took a defensive crouch.  The interdiction field would only have a range of 50 to 60 meters. If she could get that far, she would be free.  However, that wasn't going to be an easy task, given the five night guards now slowly advancing on her in a semicircle.  Fortunately, she still had another trick up her metaphorical sleeve.  

Twilight took a cautious step backward, and carefully watched as the guards advanced, moving in closer to the mouth of the cave.

Little more.  Little more. Not too much. We don't want anypony seriously injured.  Almost there!

Twilight stopped and planted her hooves firmly in the ground. She conjured a shield behind her as the guards moved in until they were almost within striking distance.

There!

With a quick pulse of magic, Twilight activated the charges she had embedded into the walls.  The idea had been that she could incinerate any evidence in the event that she had to leave immediately, without time to pack or clean up.  In retrospect, this HAD in fact been one of those situations, but there was no use dwelling on that now.

The interior of the cave turned to fire.  Twilight braced herself as the explosion sent a wave of heat and force out the mouth of the cave, crashing into the back of her shield, and knocking the guards off their hooves

She sprung into a gallop, racing past the stunned, but not seriously injured guards.  Flinging hastily aimed sleep spells as she ran, she managed to hit two of them as she made a straight line for the outer boundaries of the inhibiting field.  One lucky guard, having been hit with the least amount of force at the back of the formation, had managed to right himself in midair and was already shaking off the dizziness and ringing in his ears to pursue.

Twilight ducked, narrowly dodging an alarmingly quick dive, and reflexively brought up a forward shield just in time to stop a back hoof inches from her head.  Having missed his target, the guard had expertly flipped and redirected the rest of his momentum into a spinning back kick.  The shield shuddered under the force of the blow, but held.  Springing off the barrier with a single wing flap, he flipped and twisted again to rain down more blows against her defenses.

Twilight fired a quick stun spell, missing her agile target, but succeeding in buying a little bit of breathing room as he jumped back into the air.  It was a short lived reprieve, as the guard immediately made for another dive run, but Twilight was ready.  As the guard dove, she leaped out of the way.

Normally, it would be trivially easy for the guard to correct his course to intercept an evasive target, but as she jumped aside, she cast a spell.  Though visibly unchanged, a tall, thick, cylindrical volume of space around her previous position now had its gravitational constant raised by a factor of five. Unable to pull up or adjust to the split second change, he slammed into the ground.  

The ground flexed slightly where Twilight had altered the elasticity.  It was still plenty firm enough to leave him bruised and sore for a week, maybe with a cracked rib at worst, but nothing seriously threatening. She didn't know if he was still conscious, but as he sprung back up in a small bounce, she turned the gravitational field sideways, sending him rocketing backward and into the other two guards who were starting to pick themselves back up from the blast.

With the remaining guards clustered together and briefly stunned, Twilight quickly raised a wave of wet mud from the bank of the pond.  She swept it over them, forming it into a thick dome, and started hitting it with as much ice magic as she could.  After several seconds, the wet mud had been turned into a cocoon of frozen earth, more than capable of trapping its occupants for several minutes.

Twilight spun on her hooves and resumed galloping.  She could feel the field weakening as she approached the border.  Escape was a just a few dozen meters away.

Almost there! Come on hooves!

Her progress was suddenly blocked by a much larger dark figure dropping out of the sky to land in front of her.  Twilight skidded to a halt and looked up to see Princess Luna, Goddess of the Night and Diarch of Equestria.

Shiiit!

Luna stood with wings spread, radiating unquestionable authority as she glared down at Twilight.  "The game is over Twilight Sparkle.  You will return with me to Canterlot immediately."

Twilight desperately looked around for any avenue of escape.  If she could just make it a little farther to the edge of the field!  It was so close!  But being on the other side of an alicorn, it may as well have been on the other side of Equestria.

Luna frowned with impatience.  "That was not a request."

Realizing that the only way out was forward, Twilight nervously swallowed and began charging her horn.  Luna's eyes narrowed.

"Resistance shall yield you nothing.  You WILL be coming with me, and I suggest you think carefully before you lower your horn against your princess."

Twilight stood in silence, shaking slightly in anticipation of the monumental act of sheer idiocy she was about to attempt.

 3...

Twilight cracked her neck twice and flexed her knees.

2...

She inhaled deeply as her horn continued to glow brighter.

1...

She steadily exhaled and tensed her back legs.

GO!

She launched forward into a gallop, charging straight towards Luna, just as she had done years ago against Nightmare Moon.  Just as she saw Luna preparing to move in response, Twilight released her built up magic in a blinding flare of light and jumped.  With assistance from a brief pulse of an angled gravity spell, she vaulted herself up into the air, narrowly missing a wide spread attack from a temporarily blinded Luna.

What she had originally envisioned as a graceful, magically assisted power jump, was closer in reality to being launched by a catapult.  Twilight's heart pounded in her ears as she was thrown over Luna, spinning and tumbling like a kicked hoofball.  A moment later she felt herself pass beyond the border of the interdiction field.  Rolling to her hooves as she hit the ground, Twilight paused just long enough to determine which way was up before disappearing in a flash of purple light.

"No." Luna flatly stated to the empty night air.

There was another bright flash.  Twilight reappeared with an expression of shock and was thrown to the ground.  She gasped for air, winded from being suddenly gripped around the midsection by a tendril of magic and ripped back through subspace.  She felt her coat prickle as another larger and more enduring interdiction field went up.  

She was still trying to catch her breath when a light blue aura enveloped her and lifted her off the ground.  She pushed and struggled, but to no effect.  She tried to cast magic, but couldn't get it out of her horn.  However hard she pushed, the aura pushed back and kept it trapped.

"A fine attempt, but ultimately fruitless.  As I said, you WILL be coming with me."  Luna's eyes drifted to Twilight's horn, still glowing and pulsing against her magical grip.  "Cease your efforts Twilight Sparkle. You know that as long as I retain my hold on you, there is nothing you can do.  You have lost."

Twilight stopped squirming, but the magical buildup in her horn continued to throb. She quietly mumbled something.

"Sorry about this."

"What was that?" Luna levitated her closer.

"I said, I'm sorry about this."

"About wha-?"

Without warning, Twilight lashed out with a hind leg, delivering a swift kick to the princess's horn.  The magical grip temporarily broken by the disruption, Twilight released the massive buildup of energy into a powerful beam, directed point blank into Luna's face.

The princess was blasted backward in a blazing path of destruction that left a trail of smashed and incinerated trees before hitting a rocky outcrop and exploding, resulting in a small avalanche of pulverized rock.  Twilight landed on her hooves, shaking off the slight dizziness that accompanied such a rapid release of power.  She only had a brief moment to begin considering what she had just done before a second explosion rang out.

Small pieces of gravel flew through the air.  At their point of origin stood Luna, eyes glowing white with fury, a large burn on the side of her face shrinking rapidly as numerous cuts and abrasion knit themselves shut. There was a slight popping noise at what appeared to be a dislocated wing joint moving back into place.

"SO BE IT!  WE HAD INTENDED TO BE GENTLE FOR THE SAKE OF OUR SISTER, BUT WE SHALL DELIVER YOU MOSTLY UNHARMED IF WE HAVE TO!"

Oh Crap! Oh Crap! Oh Crap!

Now terrified out of her wits, Twilight threw the closest thing she could find, which happened to be a tree.  The arboreal projectile halted midair as Luna caught it, tore it in half, and threw the two pieces aside before slamming her front hooves on the ground.

A dark circle appeared on the ground, followed by a rapid upthrusting of jagged rock from its center, the circle having already faded and rapidly reappeared in another location.  Twilight jumped away as it reappeared underneath her, narrowly dodging another rocky spike.  By the time her hooves hit the ground, the circle had already reappeared for another strike.  Twilight continued her frantic dodging, blasting away spikes as they came ever closer to hitting her.  Finally, in the middle of another evasive jump, she managed to lance the ground around her landing spot with a beam of magic, distorting the patterns on the edges of the circle as it formed, and disrupting the spell.

Twilight had no time to pat herself on the back as she looked up to see Luna flying high above her, surrounded by what appeared to be a dozen shadowy daggers that pulsated with a dark purple glow.  Without warning, they came raining down at her.  She quickly scooped up one of the recently created piles of rubble in her magic and flung it into the air, hoping to knock as many as she could off course while simultaneously raising a shield and trying to evade the rest.  She was caught by surprise when most exploded on impact.

One dagger made it through the cloud of debris to strike against her shield, but instead of exploding, it stuck like a dart.  Dark veins immediately began to branch out from the point of impact like a spider web, infecting and spreading through her barrier like water through a dry tissue. Starting to feel her teeth go numb, and not eager to find out what the veins would do if they reached her, she dropped the barrier before the infection could spread any further and knocked the dagger away with a small wave of telekinetic force.

Twilight looked back up to see Luna diving directly toward her.  Panicking, she lashed out with another gravity spell.  In her haste, she failed to specify a uniform direction, instead slapping wildly at the tensor field, randomizing the orientation and strength of gravity in each cubic centimeter of space.  Though disorienting, this may not have provided a significant impediment if not for the fact that that space was still filled with air.

The air swirled and churned chaotically as each molecule of gas was pulled in a random direction, unpredictable high and low pressure pockets forming and collapsing in an instant. Luna struck the massive ball of turbulence, which tossed her about like a paper bag,  bashing her into some of the trees and adding leaves, twigs, and branches to the maelstrom.  She dispelled the gravity field with a flash of her horn.  The turbulence continued as the air attempted to settle itself, but Luna was finally thrown free, albeit without much dignity, into a row of nearby bushes.

Twilight leaped at the opportunity and began pummeling the area with everything she could.  Energy blasts, fireballs, lightning, large rocks, and even more trees.  The time for restraint had passed.  One didn't pull punches when fighting gods.

As Twilight was considering making a break for it, a large wave of force rippled out and knocked her back.

"ENOUGH!"

All around her, the shadows began to coalesce into dark chains. Chains that quickly struck out at her like snakes.  Twilight tried to avoid them and run, but more continued to appear out of the darkness.  One wrapped around her back leg, causing her to trip.  In an instant, the rest had pounced, wrapping her up to her neck in thick black chains marked with glowing arcane sigils.  She could feel her energy being sapped by the second as Luna approached.

"Impressive Twilight Sparke, but it is over now.  As soon as my guards are retrieved, I shall personally deliver you to your private cell in the Canterlot dungeons." 

As Luna turned away and began tending to the numerous minor injuries spread across her body, Twilight struggled against the rising wave of fatigue.

So tired....but I can't...let it end here...Still have to find Dash!  Can't let it end like this!

Luna felt something behind her as she finished closing up her last cut.  She turned to see Twilight's eyes glowing bright white as the air began to crackle and spark around her, rippling her mane in the miniature storm.  To her surprise, one of the top layers of mystic chains began to dissolve, melting back into shadow.  	

"Hmm...most impressive" Luna commented before firing a blast of magic into Twilight's face, knocking her out cold.

Luna breathed a sigh of relief and picked up her now unconscious prisoner.  She turned and began the walk back to free her guards from their entombment, working to hide the slight trace of a limp.


***


"-sorry your highness, but it is a matter of utmost urgency."

"And as we have already made clear, we are currently occupied overseeing the transport of an extremely high priority and dangerous prisoner.  What is it that Celestia considers so important?"

The words of a clearly irritated Luna floated into Twilight's ears as she slowly began to come around. As feeling began to return to her body, the first sensation she was greeted with was a headache.  She fuzzily recalled a dark blue beam of magic heading towards her face.  She felt fairly confident in hypothesizing a causal connection between the two.  

The warm tingling of sunlight on her coat suggested it was morning.  The strong, slightly chilly breeze and the gentle rocking beneath her suggested that she was in the air instead of on solid ground.  The combination of the feeling of something clamped tightly around her horn, initial reports from memory on most recent activities, and her language center finally getting around to recognizing Luna's voice and the word 'prisoner' suggested.....that her plan to rescue Rainbow Dash was not going particularly well at the moment.

She kept her eyes shut as she listened in on the conversation in progress.

"I'm sorry, but she didn't specify" a shaky voice replied.  "Princess Celestia only gave me the coordinates and told me to find you at once.  She said there was no time to explain further, only that the fate of Equestria was at stake. "

There was a brief pause, in which Twilight could imagine Luna hovering with an expression torn between annoyance and concern.

"Very well then.  Nightwing!"

"Yes ma'am!" Another voice responded.

"You are in command while we settle this matter. "

"Yes ma'am!" 

"You," Twilight assumed she had turned once more to address the messenger.  "You will fill our position in the escort and ensure that this prisoner is transferred to a maximum security holding cell." There was a slight jingle of keys being transferred.

"And you!" Twilight was unsure who she was addressing now.  "You, Twilight Sparkle, can stop pretending to be asleep.  Do not think we did not notice your change in breathing, nor your ears straining at the mention of our sister."

Twilight gave a disappointed sigh, releasing a breath she had been holding ever since 'fate of Equestria', and opened her eyes.  As she had guessed, it was about mid-morning and she was far above the ground.  She was being carried in what was essentially a large cage stuck on top of a chariot, being towed by two guards.  Glancing up, she could see the base of the magical inhibitor clamped around her horn.

She looked over to Luna and the solar guard now placing a large key ring around his neck.  

"Be careful lieutenant, and keep a close eye on her.  She's dangerous, and not to be underestimated."

Twilight could see him giving her a questioning glance.  "Who me? No, I'm just Ponyville's librarian.  I mean, my friends and I did take down Nightmare Moon and Discord, blow up King Sombra, and help thwart a changeling invasion (though most of that last one was my brother and Cadence).  And I did once beat the chitin out of Queen Chrysalis in a fight.  And then there's the Ursa incident.  Oh, and one time I beat up a dragon, a hydra, a manticore, and a half dozen timber wolves in one day.  But other than that, no, totally harmless."

She could be a sardonic jerk if she wanted.  It wasn't like she had anything to lose.  She wasn't going to get more captured.  Luna ignored her, giving a curt nod to the guard and taking off without a word. Twilight waved as she departed.

"Bye! If you end up needing anything rainbow beamed in the face with friendship, you know where to find me!"

As the new guard took his position at the forward left corner, they resumed moving, and Twilight sat down to examine her options.

Okay.  So.  Captured.  What do we do about it?

Collapse into a crying heap of despair and self-pity?

Tempting.  Tempting.  What else?

Skip over that completely and get to the part where we formulate an escape plan?

Let's go with that one.

Twilight took stock of her situation  True, she was in a cage, hundreds of feet above the ground, surrounded by guards, with a magic inhibitor around her horn, but there was at least one thing going for her.  For the first time in what felt like forever, she had finally gotten some uninterrupted sleep.  Now the world had to contend with a moderately well rested Twilight Sparkle.

That raised a question of its own.  Why weren't they in Canterlot already? It wasn't that long of a trip by air.  Clearly there had been some kind of delay.  Maybe an issue securing the transport to carry her in?  

Twilight examined the cage that surrounded her.  Sturdy, but nothing particularly fancy.  Other than some minor magical reinforcement for strength and durability, there didn't appear to be any sophisticated wards.  Probably the best they could get on short notice that would still fly, and nothing she couldn't get through if she could use her magic.

It looked like they were relying on the inhibitor and the presence of Princess Luna to keep her in check.  With Luna temporarily gone, that just left the device clamped around horn as the major obstacle.  Then she could decide whether it was better to attempt an escape from hundreds of feet in the air, or wait until they had landed in Canterlot.  Either way, her chances of escape would dwindle once she was transferred to a proper cell, so the time to act was now.

Looking up once again, Twilight could barely make out some thin protrusions tapering off to narrow points from the tip of her horn.  She sent a small experimental pulse of magic to her horn and felt it instantly drain away, confirming her suspicion.  It was a TL05 'Lightning Rod' model.

Most inhibitors blocked the conduction of magic with strong insulation.   Most of them could be brute forced through with enough raw power, just like any insulator could be broken down with enough voltage.  The 'Lighting Rod' took a different approach.  Much like how its namesake was used in weather training centers to prevent accidental  lighting strikes by allowing charges to move and dissipate before they reached critical voltages, this device drained magic from the wearer's horn before any spell could be formed, and dissipated it into the air through the cluster of fine silver points on the end.  It was theoretically possible to supply power faster than it could drain away and be able to cast something, but realistically, she'd be completely exhausted after several seconds.

Hmm...I might be able to short circuit this thing.  But I'd need some kind of conducting material to work with.

Twilight looked around the barren cage.  There was nothing.  She ran a hoof through her mane as she tried to think of something else, and stopped when she felt something.  Back when she had been searching the forest for Dash, she had found two of her feathers.  She had kept them and tied them together into a kind of makeshift mane clip, wearing it as a reminder of what she was fighting for.

Feathers.  Feathers are made of keratin.  Like hooves and horns.  Used to channel innate pegasus magic for flight and weather manipulation.  Flexible too.  That should work!

There was only one problem.  She knew how to get the inhibitor off, but doing it without being seen by the guards was another matter entirely.  Under Luna's orders, they were keeping a close eye on her, and would surely do something if they saw her trying to tamper with it.  She'd have to wait for an opening.  Some kind of distraction, or even just a lapse in attention.  Unfortunately, her window was limited.  Each minute brought them closer to Canterlot.

"Captain, looks like we got company at two." 

Twilight looked up to see some winged shapes on the horizon, growing quickly as they approached.  After a few seconds they began to resemble a group of gryphons.

"I see them.  Adjust course three degrees to the left and hold.  Maybe they're just passing through." 

It quickly became apparent that they weren't when they changed course themselves to intercept.

"Either they really want to ask us for directions, or they're looking for trouble.  Get ready."

The carriage slowed to a stop as the pack of gryphons moved into their path to block them, while the guards put on their best 'move along if you know what's good for you' face.  The strangers remained unfazed as the apparent leader, a particularly large gryphon with a large scar on the side of his face, floated to the front.

"Well well, look what we have here.  Seems your information was good after all Squall."

A shorter, dark feathered gryphon replied.  "Yeah boss.  Just like I said, it's that purple pony.  The one with the bounty big enough to set us up for life!"

"Aye, it certainly is.  And all nice and prepackaged too.  Today is definitely a good day." 

There was the sound of a throat being cleared from the captain known as Nightwing.  "I'm sorry to rain on your parade gentlemen, but this fugitive has already been apprehended, and is currently being taken to Canterlot under the authority of Princess Luna herself.  Now please move along."

There was a brief pause, broken by the gryphon leader giving a single loud laugh.  "Hah!  Hear that boys?  You all are 'gentlemen' now.  Better polish up those table manners."  There was a raucous round of laughter from the other gryphons behind him.  "How's this instead?  You please 'move along' and leave that purple pile of cash with us, and we don't rip off your wings and use them to upholster a sofa." He sneered as he drew the sword strapped to his back.  The rest of his gang behind him quickly followed suit.

The guards quickly drew their own weapons.  "Well men, it looks like we found a bunch of bird brains actually stupid enough to attack her majesty's finest.  Let's educate them shall we?"

With a unified shout, both sides charged and fell together with a clashing of swords.  Twilight was jolted off her hooves as the chariot suddenly dove, the two guards pulling it seeking to set her on the ground where she could be better defended, and so they could undo their harnesses to join the fight unimpeded.  She reached for the feathers in her mane as she tried to regain her balance.  This was just the kind of distraction she needed.

The carriage settled on the ground and the two guards leaped up into the fray that was itself working its way downward as the gryphons pushed after their prize.  Twilight grasped the two feathers in her hooves.  She bent one around the top of the inhibitor, making sure it was in contact with all of the tapered points.  She bent the lower one up, sliding the end into the narrow contact between the device and the base of her horn, and began to push out magic as hard as she could.

The magic drained from her horn, up through the inhibitor, down through the feathers, and fed back into her horn again.  She began to feel the circuit heating up.  If she could keep this up a while longer, the inhibitor would crack.  As long as this fight kept going for another minute, she would be free!  Twilight looked up to check on the brawl and was greeted with something peculiar.

Two figures were moving further and further away from the rest of the fighting, and closer to her.  It was the dark feathered gryphon that the large one had called Squall, and the solar guard that had delivered the urgent message to Luna.  They appeared to be fighting, but as they drew closer, she  could see that they weren't trying particularly hard to actually hit one another.  They stopped pretending completely when they landed next to the cage and the guard pulled out his set of keys.  Twilight turned her head in an attempt to hide what she was doing.

What's going on?  Just a few more seconds! Come on!

Twilight barely had time to hear the door swing open before she felt a pair of fangs sink into her neck, along with a quick pump of venom.  She fell to the ground as her vision quickly began to fade.  She felt herself being pulled up onto a back and was barely able to make out one of them speaking.

"Hurry and get her back to the hive."

Then everything went dark.
> Chapter 9
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	
***2 weeks earlier***

Rainbow Dash awoke with what felt like a hangover.  She kept her eyes shut, not wanting to have to deal with light until she had gotten a firm grip on the dull headache and slight nausea.  She felt sore spots all over her body.

Uggh.  Was I in a mosh pit or something?  Damn.  Must have been one heck of a night.

As she moved to give a large stretch, she was surprised to find her motion suddenly arrested.  A few experimental pushes confirmed the presence of several restraints keeping her in place.  She paused for a moment.

Okay.  Either I had a REALLY good night, or...

"Twilight?"  she cautiously asked, eyes still shut.

"Unfortunately not" a strange voice replied.

Her eyes snapped open instantly.  An unfamiliar unicorn stallion sat on a stool at the foot of her bed.  A bed she was currently secured to by strong metal bands (thoughtfully lined with soft linen to prevent chafing) over each of her legs.  The bed was not flat, but rather, had a slight incline to the back, likely controlled by the cluster of levers she could spot to her right.  The walls were the standard cheery yet soothing hues of a hospital patient room, failing to distract from the myriad unidentifiable instruments and large overhead light attached by articulated arms to the ceiling, which betrayed the fact that she was actually bound to an examination table somepony had fused with a mattress. Her eyes continued to dart around the room, soaking in as much as they could.

"What?!  Who?!  Where?!  Huh?!"

"Shh.  Relax.  Confusion and disorientation are some common after effects of the sedative.  Just give it a moment." The unknown stallion gently reassured.

"Wha-? Twilight! Where's Twi-"

An image of Twilight falling out of a window came to her mind as memories began reforming themselves piece by piece.  Fleeing from guards.  Fighting.  Losing consciousness and waking up in the forest.  More fleeing.  A sonic rainboom.  Losing consciousness again and waking up...somewhere.  A stallion in a lab coat saying something.  Broken glass.  Alarms.  A prick in the side and losing consciousness once again.

She recalled something that doctor had said making her angry.  Accusations about Twilight and mind magic.  About her love for Twilight not being real.  Treatment!

There was a brief second of silence in the room as the expression of confusion on her face melted away, replaced by a frown.  The second passed and she threw herself forward with such force that, for a moment, it seemed as if she might tear herself free in a wrenching screech of twisted metal.  The restraints held however, and the heavy bolts securing the bed to the ground kept the entire structure from jumping forward.  

It was still enough to make the stallion visibly flinch.  After composing himself, he patiently waited while Rainbow Dash continued to thrash about, alternating between incoherent screaming and threats of physical violence varying wildly in degree of anatomical impossibility.  After two minutes of fruitless struggling, she finally decided to switch tactics and focus on trying to set him on fire by glaring, lack of horn be damned.  Taking advantage of the lull, he rose from his seat and walked around to her side.  She could just make out a cutie mark that resembled a pony's head with a strange red and blue wave pattern around it.

"Hello Ms. Dash, I'm Dr. Resonance Image.  I'll be the lead physician attending to your case during your stay here."

Rainbow Dash gave a snort, not relaxing her death glare for a second.  "You look kinda like some other pony I saw around here."

"You may be thinking of my brother, Dr. Neural Synapse.  He's currently being treated for a concussion caused by-" he pulled a clipboard up from somewhere unseen "-martial use of an electrocardiogram."

"If you're looking for an apology, you're not gonna get one.  I'd be more than happy to give you more of the same."

"Noted.  Regardless, he should make a full recovery and be able to rejoin the team within a few days."

"Team?"

"Yes.  Ten specialists from various fields of psychology, neurology, and arcane theory.  Plus four nurses and a technician for all the equipment."  Rainbow Dash's glare momentarily faltered with surprise.  Whoever was pulling the strings behind this, they certainly had deep pockets.  "Any other questions?"

"Yeah." Her sneer returned.  "How exactly do you plan to get away with all this?"

The doctor blinked in confusion.  "What do you mean?"

"I mean the whole ponynapping thing.  Particularly, ponynapping ME.  I've got friends.  You know, Elements of Harmony, national heroes, saved the world a few times, owed a few favors by the Princesses.  Heck, Twilight's part of the royal family now since her brother became prince of the Crystal Empire!  My point is, when my friends and whatever army comes with them find me, you better hope you end up in official custody quickly, cause if I get my hooves on you first, there won't be much left to send to the moon."

There were a few seconds of silence as the doctor stood there, eyebrows knotting in confusion before clearing with a dawning comprehension.

"Ah.  I think I see the problem here.  There seems to be somewhat of a misunderstanding.  You see-" He was interrupted by a strange buzzing noise.  "Ah, excuse me a moment."  Glancing down to a coat pocket, he levitated out two small flashing crystals held together by some kind of chain.  He pressed one to his ear and held the other in front of his mouth.  With a quick pulse of magic, the flashing stopped and he began talking.

"Hello?  Yes.  Yes she's awake now.  Okay.  Alright, send them in."  Returning the pair of crystals to his pocket, he turned back to face Rainbow Dash.  "Hopefully, this should clear a few things up."

Rainbow Dash was about to ask him what he was talking about when the heavy steel door on the far side of the room slid open.  The pony who walked through shattered any semblance of sense that happened to remain in Rainbow Dash's world.

"Princess Celestia?!"

She was on the short list of ponies Dash expected to show up at some point, though she had imagined a somewhat more forceful entrance, with a lot more smiting ponies with beams of righteous solar flame and fury.  From the way she smiled and nodded at the doctor as she strolled into the room, Rainbow Dash got the distinct impression  that smiting was not on the agenda.

"Hello Rainbow Dash.  It's good to see you."  Celestia greeted her cordially.

"Yes.  We are all thankful to see you safe and unharmed."  Luna appeared in the doorway behind her sister, following her into the room and taking a place by her side.  "It has been a trying few days, but we can all rest a bit easier now that you are here."

"Indeed.  How are you?"

Rainbow Dash's mind was a turbulent mess of conflicting emotions and questions forming a pileup as they tripped over each other to spill out her mouth.  She searched for the right words to properly articulate her state of mind and answer Celestia's question.

"...What?"

It seemed to be enough for Celestia, who nodded knowingly in return.

"Yes, it must be very confusing.  I'm sure you have many questions, and I promise they will be answered, but there is something very important I need to ask you first.  Do you know where Twilight is?"

"N-No, sorry.  We got separated.  I haven't seen her since...since we were being swarmed by royal guards!  Now will somepony please explain what THAT was all about?!"

Celestia quickly quashed a frown of disappointment.  "Right.  Where to begin?  What has Twilight told you about the situation?"

"Nothing! Absolutely nothing! Though we didn't exactly have time for a conversation what with all the flying and fighting.  Then suddenly I'm waking up alone in the Everfree Forest!

"Yes.  The reports mentioned that she hit you in the back with a sleeping spell.  I'm not sure how you ended up in the forest though."

"Why would she do that?  Wait, reports?  So those guards actually DO work for you?"  Things were only making less and less sense by the second.

Celestia nodded. "Yes they do.  As for why Twilight would do such a thing, my guess is that you were in danger of learning something she was trying to keep secret."

"If-if that's true...I'm sure she had good reasons..."  Rainbow Dash replied, not sounding entirely convinced herself.  Marefriends weren't supposed to keep secrets from each other.  She knew Twilight would never knowingly do anything to hurt her, but it stung to think there might possibly be something that Twilight didn't trust her with. 

To the extent that she'd rather knock me out and fight six guards alone than share it with me.  Rainbow Dash tensed as she prepared to ask her next question.

"And this secret, would it happen to be connected to why we were being chased in the first place, and why I'm..." she gestured around the room with her eyes "...here?  Wherever here is."

Celestia gave a grim nod.  "I'm afraid it is."

"Oh, by Orion's Belt!" Luna exclaimed. "Sister! Would thou please cease dancing around the issue like a courtier at a ball?  We shall be here all day at this rate."  She turned to address Rainbow Dash directly.  "Twilight Sparkle is wanted for the high crime of casting forbidden mind affecting magic on a pony."

"What?!  When?!...On who?!"

An uncomfortable silence fell over the room as both princesses stared at her.  The silence was broken only by an equally uncomfortable cough from Celestia.  The gears of Rainbow Dash's mind turned and pieces fell into place as she remembered what the other doctor had been saying before she smashed an expensive piece of medical equipment into his head.

"Wait...no.  No no no no no!  Uh-uh!  No way!  You have got to be kidding me!"

"Rainbow Dash..." Celestia gently pleaded.

"NO!  What is WRONG with everypony?!  What is so fucking insanely unbelievable about me loving Twilight that me being under some kind of mind control is the most plausible explanation!  Where are ponies even getting this idea?!"

"Yes.  I know it seems difficult to believe, I didn't want to believe it myself, but please let us explain." Celestia reassured while shooting a brief glare to the side at her sister, who gave only an unapologetic huff.  "It was Princess Cadence who first sensed the presence of some sort of spell on you.  It was faint and well hidden, but she claims that it felt similar to a unique form of magic she had seen Twilight cast before."

Rainbow Dash glared back, unimpressed.  "I know I'm not a unicorn, so I may not know much about auras and magic, but are you telling me that all of this", she rolled her head at the entire room, "is because Cadence just had a feeling?"

"Not exactly, no.  Though Cadence is somewhat of an expert in the area, and her impression alone does carry quite a bit of weight.  Certainly enough to pursue the issue further, which is what we tried to do.  We summoned both you and Twilight for further questioning on the matter."

"And?  What did she say?"

"Unfortunately, we were unable to get any kind of statement from her.  She jumped out the window before we could ask her any questions and we haven't found a trace of her since.  Finding you is our first substantive lead.  Hopefully, we should at least be able to learn more about what Twilight has done once we run some more in depth tests on you."

"And any information you could supply that would expedite her capture would be greatly appreciated." Luna interjected, looking up to see Celestia giving her one of her desperate 'please stop talking and let me handle this' looks, usually reserved for meetings with foreign dignitaries and their confounding modern rules of etiquette, so easily breached by a simple veiled threat of military action.  "Though of course, the recovery of the victim remains the foremost concern" she quickly corrected.  Celestia winced.

`"Victim?!" Rainbow Dash shouted back.  "I'm FINE!  Look, I don't know what's going on here.  I'll admit Twilight has been acting strange, and I'll be sure to ask her all about it the next time I see her,  but I TRUST her and KNOW she would never do anything to hurt me.  Whatever is going on, you can be certain I'm on HER side of it.  You're crazy if you think I'm going to turn on her, especially for some ridiculous story like that!  Even if this 'love spell' theory of yours was anything other than complete nonsense, you don't HAVE a victim.  I'm certainly not pressing any charges!  The whole thing is moot anyway!"

"Unfortunately...that's not quite the case." Celestia replied in her most soothing voice, in an attempt to calm the pegasus as she uncomfortably prepared to explain the subject.  "Use of such magic is illegal in and of itself.  For fairly obvious reasons, the opinions of the...target of a mind manipulation spell are inconsequential while they remain under its influence.  Once they have been cured, then-"

"Cured?" Rainbow Dash interrupted, attempting to swallow the icy lump that began to form in her throat.

"Yes.  Rest assured that we are completely dedicated to your full recovery, and no expense will be spared in the pursuit of that goal.  You are in very capable hooves."

"Notsigninganything!"  Rainbow Dash suddenly blurted out.

"Pardon?"

"I'm not signing anything!  I know you need patient consent to do anything, and I absolutely do NOT consent to ANY of this!  No!  No way!  Absolutely not!  In fact, I want it noted that I object!  Vehemently!  Or whatever word means that, but more so!  Now let me out of here!

"Ah, yes...you see..."  The discomfort in Celestia's face was now plainly visible to all.  "Your consent, while very much desired, is..."

"Not in any way required." Luna finished.  "Being under the effect of a mind altering spell, you are considered, by definition, to have impaired judgement and be incapable of making medical decisions.  In this situation, discretion regarding treatment of the victim falls to the crown."

Rainbow Dash stared back in disbelief as she attempted to process what Luna had said.  "So let me get this straight.  You're planning to keep me here against my will, poke and prod me with a bunch of fancy equipment and magic, and muck around in my head until I don't love Twilight anymore. Have I got that right?"

Celestia shifted uneasily.  "Well, I certainly wouldn't-"

"Yes."  Luna interrupted.

Celestia raised a hoof to her face as a moment of silence filled the room, broken a second later as Rainbow Dash resumed thrashing and cursing with renewed vigor.  Celestia sighed and turned to the doctor who had been patiently waiting to the side the entire time.

"Keep us apprised of your progress" she said with a nod as she turned back towards the door, Luna following close behind.  As they stepped out into the hall, the thick door slid shut behind them, cutting off an aggressive suggestion that they place their respective heavenly bodies between their cutie marks.  "Well, that went about as terribly as expected."

Luna said nothing in response.

"She'll thank us later"  Celestia assured, the words fading quickly under the sounds of their hoofsteps echoing in the hallway.
> Chapter 10
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


***Present Day***


"Tell me Doctor, how is our patient?" Celestia asked as she took a seat in one of the office's plush chairs.  From the other side of the desk, Dr. Resonance Image looked up from a stack of paperwork with a frown.

"Combative is the first word that comes to mind."

"I see. And how did..." Celestia's gaze lingered on the prominent black eye the doctor was sporting.

"Headbutt."

"Ah."

"Also, we now do all the bathing, sheet changing, and other such routines while she's sedated, after she managed to somehow flip a bedpan at one of the nurses.  On the positive side, her near constant flexing and struggling should delay the onset of muscle atrophy."

"Good news, I suppose.  What do you have to report on her current condition?"

"Physically, she's in perfect health.  Mentally, well, it's difficult to get her to cooperate for most of the tests.  We had to get a bit creative in our methodology, but as far as we can tell, there's no loss of mental acuity.  She's suffered no change in logical or spatial reasoning ability, and the constructed personality profile matches what we have on record.  She absolutely refuses to entertain the idea of any wrong doing by Twilight Sparkle, but given the notes in her file regarding stubbornness and extreme loyalty to her close friends, it's hard to label that an aberration."

"I don't understand.  Are you saying she might not be under an enchantment after all?"  Could Cadence have been mistaken?  The idea brought a mixture of joy at the thought that Twilight was innocent, dread at the monumental apology she would have to give to Twilight, Rainbow Dash, and all their friends over this misunderstanding, and confusion over Twilight's now unexplained flight from the castle.

"No, she certainly is, but it's...complicated."

"How so?" Celestia asked, quashing the conflicting wave of relief and disappointment.

The doctor stood and turned on a nearby projector, pulling down the screen on the back wall and levitating up a small laser pointer. An enlarged image of a pony's brain appeared on the wall.

"It wasn't easy.  It probably would have been impossible if we weren't looking for it specifically, but with the notes from Princess Cadenza, we were able to find traces of magical energy exposure within a band of neural tissue extending from the amygdala."

Celestia watched as the small red dot circled around a bright patch that stood out amongst the dim background.

"Extended monitoring has revealed a periodic magical surge through this area, stimulating growth.  The good news is that it's all very localized.  This gives us a lot of leeway in potential treatment options while minimizing the risk of any accidental damage to the rest of the brain."

"Can you develop a counterspell to negate it?"

"We're already working on it.  It won't be simple, but it's nothing we can't work out with a little time. We can definitely deactivate the spell, but that's where the complicated part comes in.

"Oh?"  Celestia asked apprehensively.

"First of all, I said the surges were coming periodically, but they're actually coming farther and farther apart each time.  The frequency is decaying geometrically.  By our current calculations, it won't be long until they are coming days apart, then weeks, then months, until they effectively stop."

"So the spell is fading on its own?  Our job is done for us?"

"Unfortunately, that may not matter.  All the spell appears to do is stimulate growth in this neural connection, and at this point, it seems viable on its own.   The spell may fade, but the damage is already done.  There's a small chance we missed something, that deactivating the spell might change something, but at the moment, it looks like we can remove the disease but not the symptom.  That is unless..."

"Unless we actively destroyed that connection."  Celestia finished.

An uncomfortable silence filled the room.

The silence was broken by somepony charging through the door.  A light tan mare with a short blonde mane, glasses, and a cutie mark that looked like a pair of telegraph lines, stood panting, having sprinted across the compound and unused to such exertions in her daily desk job.  She quickly remembered herself and gave a quick bow.

"Apologies your highness.  There's an incoming crystal wave for you.  From the Trottingham station."

"Can it wait?  I'm somewhat busy at the moment."  She worked to mask any irritation, maintaining the aura of serene calm she was known for, but the mare flinched anyway.

"I'm sorry, but it's from Princess Luna.  It appears she arrived unexpectedly and commandeered the comm station.  She says it's urgent.  Well, to be honest, we're having trouble translating the more...colorful archaic expressions, but there was definitely something about heads and pikes in relation to anypony who made her wait.  Also something about a 'thrice damned abyssal plane of shadow'?" 

Celestia nodded.  "Urgent then."  She turned back to the stallion in the white coat beside her.  "My apologies Doctor.  I'm afraid I must go tend to this matter.  Have your team keep working on the counterspell in the meantime.  I'll meet with you again soon."

She followed the still rattled mare out the door and down the hall until they arrived at the communications room.  She walked over to one of several small booths, set aside for private conversations, and took a seat, donning the attached headset.  One of the nearby technicians called out.

"Patching you through now." 

There was a brief crackle of static, then Luna's voice in her ears.

"Celestia!?  Are you there? Is this accursed thing working?"

"I'm here Luna.  What is it?"

"Finally.  First question, would I be correct in assuming that you did NOT in fact send me an urgent message telling me to meet you fifteen miles from the northern outskirt of Trottingham, regarding a crisis threatening all of Equestria?"

"I certainly sent no such message.  Why?"

"Well, such a message was received.  Delivered by what appeared to be one of your guards."

That was unsettling.  "And what did you find?"

"At first?  Nothing.  I waited ten minutes for you to arrive, but when I took to the air to search the horizon, I was suddenly set upon by changelings."

What?! 

"What?!  Are you-?"

"Worry not.  I am fine.  This was no assassination attempt.  I'm certain they were merely meant to delay me.  I fear this ruse was but a distraction."

"A distraction from what?"

"That leads me to my second question.  Tell me.  Has Twilight Sparkle yet arrived in Canterlot?"

"What?  Why would Twilight be in Canterlot?"

"Because I apprehended her last night and was escorting her transport along with five of my guards when I was called away by that 'urgent message'."

Celestia's blood froze.

"The one I never sent.  The one that led to a changeling ambush."

"Precisely.  Shall I assume the transport has not reported in?"

The soundproofed walls of the private booth proved the competence of their crafters as they muted something entirely unprincesslike.

"My thoughts exactly."


*** 


"Wakey wakey little egghead" a voice called out in the darkness.

Twilight gave a groan in response as she slowly began to come around.  She could feel dirt and solid rock beneath her, and from the acoustics of her own groan, it sounded like she was in some kind of cave.  Something soft was spread over her back like a blanket.  She slowly opened her unfocused eyes to see a blurry blue shape in front of her.

"Good to see you're still with us after all" the shape replied with a chuckle before moving slightly to the side.

Twilight flinched as she felt the sensation of teeth nibbling on one of her ears.  She blinked as she tried to get her bearings through the haze in her head.  She hadn't completely finished waking up, and though the teeth on her ear and the feathers being dragged across her back were starting to wake parts of her up, they certainly weren't helping her think any clearer.

"Nnhg. Wait...hang on a second..." she mumbled as she attempted to cast an innervation spell to clear her head.

Nothing happened.

Though the spell had failed, Twilight found herself wide awake anyway as she immediately lashed out with a front hoof to deliver an uppercut to the affectionate pegasus beside her.  Unfortunately, her target was quick enough to jump back and only take a glancing blow to the chin, denying her the satisfying impact and possible crack of bone she had been hoping for.

"Oh wow, are we having our first fight? Does that mean we get to do the whole angry sex thing?" The fake  Rainbow Dash taunted as she dodged another hoof strike then ducked as Twilight pivoted to buck out with her back legs.  "Cause that is so totally super hot!"

Twilight kept swinging wildly as she shouted.  "STOP! USING! HER! VOICE! YOU! STUPID! COCKROACH!

"Wonderbolts!  Sonic Rainboom!  Daring Do!  Awesome! Coolness!"

"STOP IT!"

"Oh Twilight!  Just a little to the left! YES!"

"RAAAH!" Twilight shouted as she kicked a small amount of dirt and pebbles into her opponents eyes, distracting her long enough to tackle her and bite down hard on a wing.

"OW! FUCK!"

Twilight was blown across the room by an invisible wave of force as the false Rainbow Dash erupted into green flame, replaced a moment later by Queen Chrysalis rubbing at her wing.

"Dammit! Who does that?! Who bites a w-"  She didn't have time to finish as Twilight had quickly picked herself up and threw herself into a charge, horn lowered with goring intent despite the thick coating of green resin inhibiting her magic.  Chrysalis swung out with a foreleg of her own.

*Shlck*

"Umm..."

Both combatants stared awkwardly at the strange development.  Twilight's horn had become lodged in one of the leg's many holes.  Chrysalis gave an experimental shake of her leg, waggling Twilight's head along with it.  *Snrk* Chrysalis began to snicker as her mind filled with terrible innuendo.

"So I guess-"

Twilight braced against the ground and jerked her head, pulling Chrysalis off of her three leg balance and causing her to stumble around in an arc into the solid rock wall.  Her horn still stuck, Twilight found herself yanked along as Chrysalis reflexively tried to pull in her leg to steady herself.   Twilight found herself on her hind legs, a chitinous underbelly between her back and the cave wall.  She repeatedly slammed herself backwards, knocking the wind out of her opponent.  Finally, the changeling queen managed to get her foreleg free and throw Twilight forward before picking her up with her magic and knocking her out with a sleep spell.

"Shit!  I just wanted a snack before work!  Since when was the bookworm such a brawler?"  She took a few seconds to catch her breath, then walked over to give the unconscious pony a quick pump of venom before lighting her horn.  

"Okay, forgetting.  Forgetting this whole embarrassing fiasco ever happened.  Good."  Her spell complete, she teleported herself outside the cell.  "Alright.  I'm going to go get a drink, relax, and we'll try this again in twenty."


***


Twilight stirred against the cold stone floor.  It felt gritty and uneven, not at all like the smooth and carefully constructed masonry she would expect of the Canterlot dungeon.

Okay, probably not in official custody anymore.  Possible positive note there.  

That just left the question of where she was and the corollary of how she got there.  She recalled Luna being called away and a gang of gryphons attacking the transport, seeking the bounty on her.  She remembered the messenger and one of the gryphons approaching her cage together.  Perhaps the gryphons had a guard on their payroll to tip them off, won the skirmish, and now she was being held in some kind of hideout awaiting ransom.  That, or...

"Hello again Twilight Sparkle."

Twilight jumped to her hooves, taking a defensive stance and quickly scanning her surroundings.  She was in a cell with bare earthen walls and floor.  It looked like it had been roughly carved out of the surrounding bedrock, part of a larger underground tunnel system, given that the only source of illumination was torch light in the hallway.  There wasn't a proper door.   Instead, some kind of hardened green resin formed a series of vertical bars across the space where the alcove of her cell met the rest of the tunnel.  A similar substance coated her horn, blocking her magic.  On the other side of the bars, wearing a mocking smirk, stood Chrysalis.

Or changelings.

"I told you we'd be meeting again sooner than you thought."  She took a final sip from a colorful drink levitating beside her, then tossed it aside for a drone to dispose of.  

Twilight stared back icily.  "Yes, congratulations on snatching me out from under Luna's hooves after she did all the heavy lifting to actually catch me.  Now I suggest you let me go before she comes to retrieve me and blows this entire hive to pieces in the process."

"Thank you for your concern, but how exactly do you expect the dear Princess to find you?"

"The same way she caught me in the first place.  By tracking me in my dreams.  Normally, I'd be happy to leave it as a surprise for you, but I'm actually far more concerned about falling back into her hooves than yours."

"Well I wouldn't concern yourself with that" Chrysalis dismissed with a laugh.  "As long as that is in place-" she pointed a hoof at the solid green substance around Twilight's horn "-you won't have any problems with nocturnal voyeurs.  And I applied that myself, so I assure you, it's not going anywhere.  Now tell me, have you given any further thought to my offer?"

"Which one?  The one where I turn innocent ponies into love generators to power your invasion of Equestria, or the one where I become your 'pupil', despite the fact that it would be ME teaching YOU certain destructive spells, technically making you MY apprentice?  In regards to the former, my answer remains 'go fuck yourself', which, depending on the transformation mass limitations of changeling drones, I'm sure is actually entirely possible for you.  As for the latter, as temporarily amusing for me (and I'm sure kinky for you) as it would be to have you call me master, I'm going to have to refer you to the same answer."

"Oh, how disappointing.  Perhaps you still need more time.  Feel free to make use of these accommodations while you think it over."

"My answer isn't going to change."

"Not even if I sweeten the pot? Say, with a certain pegasus for a roommate?"

"I'm not interested in any of your changeling imitations." Twilight snarled.

"Who said anything about imitation?" Chrysalis answered back with a smug grin.

"What else?  You don't HAVE Rainbow Dash!"

"Not yet,  but we will soon."

"You know where she is?" Twilight asked skeptically.

"As I said before, my spy network is second to none.  She's a little difficult to reach at the moment, but we've got eyes on her and it's only a matter of time before she's sharing that cell with you.  Unless of course, you're still feeling so very uncooperative, in which case I suppose we can always find a nice feeding pod to stick her in."

Twilight bristled at the threat, but restrained herself from giving her the satisfaction of reacting any further.  She satisfied herself with the mental image of smashing the arrogant bug's face into the floor while she reflected on a very important piece of new information.  The changelings might know where Dash was.  Assuming Chrysalis wasn't simply lying, which was no small assumption.

"A nice story, but how do I know you won't just pawn off some changeling fake on me anyway?"

Chrysalis gave a dismissive wave of a hoof.  "You can watch as the drones help themselves to a snack, something they certainly couldn't do with another changeling.  Or you could knock her around a bit until she passes out, or use whatever secret question or pass phrase your obsessively paranoid self probably came up with years ago, I don't care.  It's all the same to me.  But if you want her back, I suggest you carefully reconsider my offer."  She turned to leave, planning to let the unicorn stew a bit, when Twilight interrupted her.

"Actually, I've got a counteroffer."

"Oh?"

"You let me go right now, take this gunk off my horn, and tell me everything you know about where to find Rainbow Dash, and I DON'T reduce this entire place to a smoldering ruin on my way out."

"HA!  HAHAHAHA!" Chrysalis cackled in amusement as Twilight waited patiently for a response, the serious, unmoving expression on her face only sending her into further bouts of laughter. "And how-" she paused to catch her breath.  "And how exactly will you accomplish that without access to any magic?"

"Well I guess that will just have to be a surprise.  But really, this is your last chance to surrender and I suggest you take it.  You're in my way, and that's a very dangerous place to be."

"Alright, I'm bored with this now." She turned to leave again.  "Make yourself comfortable Twilight.  You'll be staying here for a long time."  The sound of a door swinging shut signaled that she had finally left.  Twilight was alone.

Alright.  So.  Escape.  No big deal.  Just gotta come up with an escape plan.  Easy.  Step 1: Get this green gunk off my horn.  Let's start with brute force.

Twilight closed her eyes and focused, pushing magic into her horn as hard as she could.  After a few seconds, she could feel it getting slightly warmer.  She raised a hoof to the exterior.  Still cool to the touch.  She continued to concentrate on pushing more magic.  Perhaps if she could get it hot enough, the material would melt right off.  She kept pushing, ignoring the headache she was starting to develop from the strain.

After two more minutes, the headache was getting harder to ignore and beads of sweat were starting to pour down her face.  Suddenly, she felt something shifting.  Despite the exterior remaining solid as ever, she could feel something against her horn start to melt and flow.  Trying to ignore the splitting headache and the hot burning in her horn, she continued to push out magic with renewed vigor.  The feeling of flow increased, though it didn't seem to be dripping downward like a melting candle would.  Instead, it seemed to be circulating.  She raised a hoof and felt the outer layer warming quickly.  Much more quickly than could be explained by simple conduction in fact.

Damn!

The rise in temperature had triggered the creation of a convection cell, opening a small hollow pathway just under the surface for the liquid to circulate through.  It absorbed heat as it passed along her horn, then carried it straight to the surface where it could more effectively be dispersed, acting as an efficient cooling system for the entire structure.  She cut off the supply of magic with a defeated sigh and waited several seconds as it cooled, the liquid material quickly resolidifying.

Okay.  Brute force is out.  Time for something else.

She spotted two small buckets in the corner of the cell, one empty, and one filled with water.  Standing over the water filled bucket, she tried to get a better view of her horn in the reflection.  She was unable to get much detail from the weak reflection, but she was fairly certain it was made of the same material as the bars.  The key to removing one, would be the key to removing the other.  She walked over to the bars for a closer investigation.  She started with a few hard kicks.

The material was strong, waxy in texture, and as she already knew, magic insulating.  It also seemed to be bio-organic.  Probably one of the numerous enzymatic oral secretions changelings were able to produce.  She pushed away the unpleasant image of Chrysalis' mouth wrapped around her horn and tried to focus on what was currently known about such substances.

After the failed invasion of Canterlot,  the scientists at the academy had recovered samples from feeding pods, fortifications, and various other structures the changelings had been hastily constructing  when Cadence and Shining Armor's spell had ejected them.  They seemed to be a complicated protein mixture designed to expand, contract, or dissolve in response to a specific cocktail of enzymes.  Interestingly, the enzymes involved and the proportions of their mixture were not always the same between similar structures, suggesting a lock and key feature wherein an individual changeling would need to supply the proper formula as a kind of password.  

Which means I can't just knock out a changeling and rub their spit on it.

She recalled something else that had been discovered.  Though incredibly resilient, the structure did weaken substantially when exposed to strong shifts to a low pH environment.

Right.  All I need is some acid then.  Where do I get that?

She looked around at her resources.  In one corner sat a large pile of hay.  She wasn't sure if it was supposed to be her food, her bed, or possibly both.  In another corner sat the two buckets.  One with water, which she assumed was for drinking, and one empty, which she suspected was supposed to serve as the bathroom facilities.  Oh, and dirt.  Plenty of that.

No!  There's more than that.  Think!  There's you.  Tears, mucus, blood.

Not acidic.

Stomach acid, uric acid.

Way too dilute to do any good

If I can concentrate them...

If we had a few weeks and even the simplest lab equipment maybe.

With the right spell-

No magic!

Twilight kicked the back wall in frustration, knocking loose a few fragments of rock and dirt.  She turned to look at the wall.  Tunneling out wasn't an option.  Never mind the fact that it would take decades to make any appreciable progress with her bare hooves, or that, being who knew how far underground, she'd have to dig her way up as well as out;  there was no way she'd be able to hide such an effort from her captors.

She kicked at the  pile of sediment beneath her hooves.  There was a slight twinkling as light caught off the small bits of pyrite mixed in with the grains of silicates and feldspars.  She looked up at the vein of worthless fool's gold running through a section of the wall.

No.  Not worthless.

She quickly set to work.   She slammed her hoof into the wall over and over again, falling into a steady rhythm as she mined her precious new treasure.


***


Applejack finished driving the last stake into the ground and made a final pass around the tent to check the tautness of the ropes.  Satisfied, she returned to the small circle of stones to find Fluttershy dropping off her first load of gathered kindling.  As Fluttershy left to gather more wood, Applejack got to work stacking the sticks into a box pattern, placing bits of bark and dried grass throughout while still allowing room for plenty of air to pass through.  By the time Fluttershy returned with the second load, she had built a roaring fire and was digging out the cookware from the cart.

"Oh, you're cooking?"  Fluttershy asked with a note of surprise.

"Well, yeah.  Why?"

"Oh, nothing.  For some reason I just thought we'd be stuck eating rations of bread and apples, or have to forage for edible moss and mushrooms and stuff."

Applejack gave a laugh.  "Well you can have all the moss you want, but I brought along some peppers I was planning on making into a mean stir-fry and you're welcome to it.  I won't be serving up any high class cuisine from Rarity's favorite restaurants, but I consider myself a pretty good camp cook, and can make do with limited ingredients.  We'll eat just fine, so don't worry about that."

Fluttershy smiled as her stomach growled at the good news.  She took a seat on a nearby log and watched Applejack cook as the sun dipped below the horizon.  The first stars were just becoming visible in the eastern sky when Applejack finished.

"Alright, come and get it."

Fluttershy gratefully accepted a plate.  Her ears perked straight up as she took her first bite of the surprisingly zesty dish.

“Wow.  This is really good.”

“Thanks.”

“I knew you could bake, but I didn’t realize you were such a multi-talented chef.”

“No need for flattery now.  There’s plenty of seconds to go around without needing to sweet talk the cook” Applejack replied with a faint bit of red glowing in her cheeks.

“No really, I mean it.  I wonder why I never knew about this before?”

“Well, I don’t really cook that often for anypony other than Granny, Big Mac, and Applebloom.  The only other pony I ever made meals for semi-regularly was Rainbow Dash.”  There was a brief pause, as if weighing if the topic were okay to discuss, then Applejack continued.  “Heh, and that was more out of necessity.  She couldn’t cook to save her life, so we’d always be going out somewhere or ordering take out unless I made something.”

Fluttershy gave a nod.  “That’s always been true as long as I’ve known her.  I’m nothing special in the kitchen myself, but her cooking has always been…well, awful.  After we became friends, I started making little lunches for her.  After all she did to help me when we were fillies, I was so happy to have found something I could do for her.  Ever since then, I’ve found cooking kind of relaxing, though I’m still just okay at it.”

There was another pause, the silence filled by the crackling of the fire.  They both finished their food and Applejack stood up to start cleaning.  Fluttershy joined her and began to help her wash the dishes. 

“You know,” Appleajack spoke up “if you were interested, I might be able to teach you a bit more.  About cooking I mean.  I’ve also got a few recipes that run a lot smoother with a second pair of hooves.”

“I’d like that” Fluttershy smiled back.

The dishes finished, both ponies returned to the fire.  It was fully night now.  The fire cast a protective shell of light around their small campsite, a barrier to keep out the ocean of blackness that filled the rest of the world.  Hopefully the fire would keep out the creatures that roamed in the darkness as well.  They sat in silence, Applejack tending the fire, adding the occasional log and jabbing and breaking apart sections with a large stick to keep the airways clear.  Fluttershy just stared into the dancing flames, lost in thought.

Applejack looked up at Fluttershy, thinking once again about the question that had been on her mind all day.  She hadn't asked when they first set off that morning, just falling in behind Fluttershy and letting her take the lead.  It didn't seem like they were just wandering aimlessly.  She might not lead with much apparent confidence, but she did make clear decisions when branching paths were encountered.  It definitely seemed as if she were heading somewhere in particular, but she hadn't said where, and Applejack still hadn't asked, mostly because of the natural corollary that came with it.

"Fluttershy?"

"Hmm?  What is it?"

"Where are we going?"

"What? You mean like in a philosophical sense or-"

"No.  I mean where specifically in these woods are you taking us to find Twilight, and why do you think she might be there?"

"Oh." Fluttershy shrunk back a bit.  "Well, I don't know anything for sure.  It's just an idea I had, but back when Twilight and I were...together, we'd both make trips to visit Zecora.  Twilight would need rare plants for experiments, and I'd need medicines for my animals.  Well, one time Zecora wasn't home, but Twilight didn't want to just give up.  She wanted to go out and try to gather what we needed ourselves.  I was a little scared, but I figured I'd be safe as long as I was with Twilight."

Applejack nodded and waited for Fluttershy to continue.

"Well we didn't have any problems with predators, but we did end up kind of lost for a while.  Obviously we found our way eventually, but while we were lost we found a couple places that were memorable.  Some of them had the plants we needed, but what I remember most is that they were all really isolated and really...romantic.  Afterwards, we went back to a few of them once or twice for a date.  A few even had little caves that two ponies could hide away in.  So I just started thinking, well, maybe..."

"Maybe Twilight is using one of those conveniently secluded caves as a hideout.   And if she took Dash to one of the really romantic ones on a date at some point, they'd both know where it is and be able to meet up there if they got separated."

"Right."

"Okay.  I get that.  But..."  Time for that awkward second question.  "You didn't mention this to anypony?  Spike, Pinkie, Rarity, and I all got a barrage of questions about what Twilight had been doing for the last several weeks, and half of them were variations on 'does Twilight have any secret hideouts' so it's hard to believe it's as simple as 'nopony asked'."

"I wasn't lying or trying to hide anything!  Not on purpose!  I really didn't think of it at the time!  Honest!"  Fluttershy wilted, her ears pressing flat against her head and her eyes widening in fear.

"Whoa, hold on there.  Calm down.  I'm not mad or anything.  I'm just curious.  It's fine."

"It's just...everything was so frightenting, and I was still mostly in shock.  I only remembered it later.  Sorry."

"You don't have to apologize for anything.  You're right, it was a stressful experience, and few ponies would be able to remember every important thing on the spot."

Fluttershy smiled in relief and began to relax a bit.  Applejack gave a reassuring smile back until another question floated into her mind.

"Umm...so when exactly did you remember this bit of information?"

Fluttershy  said nothing, but pointedly looked away, ears lowered once again.  Applejack decided to let the matter drop.  The situation was hard enough on Fluttershy without expecting the timid pegasus to do something as direct as actively contact the guards to provide information for a mare-hunt, even without considering the mess of complicated feelings regarding the target.  Not wanting to end the night on such a sour note, Applejack took action to raise morale.

"You know what we need right now?"

"...what?"  Fluttershy asked sullenly, still looking away.

"S'mores."

Fluttershy's ear gave a small twitch.

"And it just so happens that I packed plenty of fixins for 'em.  And looky here, two perfect sized roasting sticks."

The dark mood soon lifted from the camp, replaced by sticky deliciousness and the occasional gasp of surprise and laughter when somepony's marshmallow was accidentally lost to the flame.  It wasn't long before both ponies wore smiles that glowed as soft and warm as the embers of the fire.

When both had finally had enough, Applejack added some more wood to the fire to make sure it would live through the night.  After double checking that the space around the pit was cleared of anything that might cause the fire to spread, they made their way to the tent and climbed into their sleeping bags.

Applejack stared up at the ceiling of the small tent as she listened to the breathing beside her grow deeper and more regular.  The calm, hypnotic pattern was soon disrupted by faint distressed whimpering.  Applejack looked over in concern to see Fluttershy starting to toss and turn.  As she was debating whether or not to wake her, Fluttershy suddenly rolled over and curled up against Applejack's side, hooves grasping lightly through the fabric of two sleeping bags, and head nestling into her shoulder.  She soon calmed down, and the slow steady breathing returned.  Applejack turned back to the ceiling and closed her eyes to sleep.


***


Twilight watched from her hay bed as the changeling guard finished swapping out the buckets for her drinking water and toilet, quickly closing up the gap in the bars behind it once it had left her cell.  She still wasn't sure how to distinguish genders in changeling drones, or if it was even a meaningful concept for a race of shape shifters.  She watched as it methodically moved its mouth up and down, steadily secreting the rapidly hardening mucus to replace the section it had dissolved earlier to enter.  Its partner kept a trained eye and a lowered horn on her the entire time, just in case she got any ideas about trying to physically charge her way out while the first guard was working.  Their work complete, the two guards turned and left.  Twilight waited until the sound of their hoofsteps faded.

She counted twenty more seconds for good measure, then leaped from her bed to resume her work.  She pushed aside a mass of hay to reveal the pile of hoof crushed pyrite she had steadily been adding to over the past few days.  Her hooves were in an atrocious state that would no doubt cause Rarity to throw a fit and confine her to the spa for a week, but the lack of any kind of proper mining or grinding equipment left precious few options.   She looked over her small hoard.  It was still lumpy and irregular, far from the uniform fine powder she would have preferred, but it would have to do.

Hopefully it's enough.

She went to check on the newly replenished drinking water.

Hmm...a bit too much.  But that's not a problem, I can always pour some out.  Yes.  It's time.

Twilight grabbed the bucket handle in her teeth and carried it closer to the pile.  Not wanting to be wasteful, she took several long drinks before carefully pouring out the excess until only a couple inches remained.  Next she began to transfer her pile of crushed pyrite, scooping up large hoof-fulls and dropping them into the water.  She swirled the mixture a few times before reaching for the object that had consumed the rest of the time she hadn't spent sleeping or mining and crushing pyrite.

Twilight had found several long and somewhat more rigid pieces of hay and, through painstaking effort, managed to weave them together to form a crude straw.  Being limited to hooves and mouth only, it had been a slow and frustrating process, but she had finally made it rigid enough to stir with.  It had taken even more work and the use of mucus as a makeshift sealant, but she was finally able to blow some amount of air through it.

She sat in front of the bucket and did her best to make herself comfortable.  This was going to take a while.  She placed her hooves on either side of the bucket, gently swirling the mixture as she lowered her straw into it and began to blow bubbles.

Oxygen.  Oxygen.  Get in there Oxygen.  Go play in the water.  Look, I brought you some nice FeS2 to play with.  What's that?  Why yes, you and sulfur do look good together.  No, I don't think iron will mind, and it didn't need those electrons anyway.  They look much better on you.  What's that?  You want your friends from H2O to split up and come join you in a kinky five-way with sulfur?  Oh, and they just left all those poor hydrogens behind.  And with not a single electron to their names!  Don't worry litte H+.  I like you just fine the way you are.  Some say your breakup has left you bitter, acerbic even, but I for one find your caustic attitude endearing.

Twilight grinned around the straw in her teeth as she continued to stir and blow.


***


Chrysalis hummed to herself in satisfaction as she walked the tunnels of the hive.  It was about time to check in on her new favorite prisoner.  Perhaps she would be a bit more malleable now that she had been left to stew in isolation for a few days.  She wasn't going to hold her breath though.  From what she had dug up, Twilight was no stranger to isolation before her move to Ponyville.  Then again, that was because she had books.  

Hmm...maybe I can find a book to dangle in front of her.  Offer a little something to fight the boredom before she goes stir crazy.

Finally reaching the entrance to the block of holding cells, Chrysalis entered to find Twilight muttering to herself in the corner, intensely focused on blowing bubbles in her bucket of water.

Or I may have been a bit too late.

"Uh...Twilight?"

"Shh! Can't talk! Escaping!" Twilight hissed back, not bothering to turn her head.

"Escaping...with bubbles?"

"Yes.  Last chance to surrender by the way."	

"I'm good.  Well, I'm going to go get a drink, maybe take a nap.  You keep doing...that."


***


Twilight didn't know how long she had spent churning and aerating her concoction.  It was probably hours rather than the days it had felt like, but beyond that she couldn't be certain.  One major drawback of this plan was that she didn't know exactly how long this step was supposed to take or how to tell when she was done.  However, the steam rising from the surface of the water was a good sign she was getting close.

Wishing she had some kind of thermometer, she did some rough calorimetry, making her best guesses for water volume and temperature.  She certainly wasn't going to stick a hoof in it.  Ignoring secondary factors for the moment, such as surface area exposure and rate of heat exchange with the air, she mentally pulled up the relevant reaction enthalpy values and worked backward from total energy released to find an estimate of how much new H+ she had successfully introduced into the system.  She repeated the process, setting a range of values to accommodate her uncertainty regarding temperature.  Finally, she translated her guesswork for H+ concentration into the pH scale.

And...YES!  That should do it!  Even minimal estimates are within acceptable range, and any unaccounted for heat loss only moves it in the right direction!  

Twilight spat out her straw and stood up to give a long overdue stretch.  Glancing briefly outside her cell to make sure no guards were about to walk by, she stood in front of the bucket and carefully lowered her horn into the water.  She once again began to pump magic to her horn, doing her best to heat the hardened goo from the inside while the warm and now quite acidic bath did its work from the outside.  She began to feel that same sensation of flow as previously rigid sections began to uncongeal in the harsh new environment.  Her eyes staring up at the water below her, she saw a small glob of green float past her vision.  With a smile, she pulled her head up and raised her front hooves to begin scraping the soft jelly like substance from her horn.

As soon as she had cleared away enough to expose the end of her horn to the open air once again, she sprang into action.  The water  rose out of the bucket and swirled in a rapid high pressure vortex around the rest of her horn, stopping only once it had been completely scrubbed free.  With a thought, she imposed a dialectric field on the floating sphere of water, now stretched into an obloid, pushing most of the H+ and OH- to opposite ends.  She gave her hooves and horn a quick rinse with OH- side to neutralize any remaining acid.  She was in no danger of having a hole burned through her like in one of Spike's comic books, but she could do without the irritated red welts she'd surely get otherwise.

Alright. To business.

Twilight turned to the thick green pillars that served as the bars to her cell.  She could dissolve them with the water now returned to its bucket, slash through with a sharp blast of magic, melt them in a wave of fire, knock out the rock where they connected to the floor and ceiling and kick them over, or dozens of other options.  Instead, she simply teleported to the other side.

Step 1: Regain magic and escape cell.  Check. Twilight placed a large green check mark on her mental checklist.  Step 2:  Recover inventory.

She hoped the changelings had been lazy enough to simply dump her belongings nearby instead of stashing them in a vault somewhere on the other side of hive.  She looked around to see nothing immediately outside the cell except a door at the end of the hallway.  Keeping  a hyper-alert eye and ear to her surroundings, Twilight crept down the hall as silently as possible.  Pressing close to the walls and any shadows she could find, she hoped the accumulated dirt in her coat (that reminded her, she needed a bath after this) did something to dampen the color so ill-suited to stealth.

Slowly and carefully, and with a muffling spell on the hinges, she cracked open the door to peer into the next room.  It was a small office that served as a checkpoint between the holding cells and the rest of the hive, visible through the large glass window in the wall opposite her position.  A single changeling guard sat at a desk, its back to her as it tried to fold together a paper airplane.  

Too easy.

Twilight pushed the door open wider and fired a stun spell to drop the oblivious guard before she could take the thought to heart.  The door continued to swing open, revealing a second guard who had been outside her original line of sight.  Even as the first guard was still falling, the second had sprung to its hooves and was currently swinging a hoof towards a large red button on the wall.

NO!

A violet bubble shield appeared around the button just in time to deflect a chitinous black hoof, which Twilight grabbed in her magic and pulled towards her.  The hoof and the changeling attached to it lurched backwards through the doorway to the holding cells, landing in a heap against the wall.  Quickly scrambling to its hooves, the changeling let out a low hiss and transformed into a lavender unicorn  with a starburst cutie mark, horn glowing and ready for combat.

Twilight raised an eyebrow at her doppelganger, who responded by firing a bright purple beam of magic.  Unfortunately for the imposter, taking Twilight's appearance did not confer any of her abilities or magical prowess along with it.  She easily split the incoming beam into six pieces that all bent and arced back in the reverse direction,  crashing through the fake Twilight's weak shield.  A second unconscious changeling fell to the ground, and Twilight took a moment to scold herself for her carelessness.

Stupid, stupid Twilight!  Did you really think they just left one inattentive guard?  That there wouldn't be some kind of redundancy in case one were incapacitated?

Returning to the small office, Twilight began searching through various drawers and cabinets, eventually working her way to a small blue locker in the corner.  Ripping the locked door off, she was relieved to find that her saddle bags had in fact been recovered along with her from Luna's transport.  After strapping them securely around her barrel, she gathered the two unconscious changelings and deposited them back in her former cell, replacing the green resin bars with pillars of stone thrust up from the ground and into the ceiling.

Step 2: Check.

Returning once again to the checkpoint room, Twilight peered out the window into the rest of the hive, keeping her head low and ready to duck down if any of the residents looked in her direction.  The short stretch of tunnel on the other side of the door opened up into a large central cavern with a large spiral path running along the perimeter from top to bottom.  Dozens of entrances to side tunnels lay scattered along the path.  Fixing her gaze on a particularly shady corner by some rock cover, Twilight focused her magic and disappeared with a flash.

She quickly dove into concealing cover as soon as she reappeared and scanned the area from her new position.  She could spot maybe a dozen changelings at a time wandering in and out of the various tunnels.  Not great, but still better than her more pessimistic estimations.  There seemed to be enough shadowy corners around that she might have a chance of sneaking her way to the exit instead of fighting her way out.  Assuming she could find it of course.

Well, up is a good direction to start.

Twilight began her ascent.  Crisscrossing the great cavern as she jumped from shadow to shadow, she slowly made her way up the spiral ring.  The changeling presence began to thin as she took rising opportunities to strike from the shadows and knock the occasional straggler unconscious before teleporting them back to her former cell.  She figured they might as well be grouped in one place, as the alarm would be sounded as soon as it was discovered she was no longer in the cell anyway.

Appearing behind another changeling which she quickly incapacitated, Twilight discovered that she could smell slightly fresher air coming from a nearby tunnel.  She followed the tunnel further up its steep incline and suppressed a squee of joy as she spotted sky.  She carefully crept forward, wary of any exterior guards that might be posted.  Finding none, she leaped forward and sucked in a deep breath of freedom.

Step 3: Check.  Primary objectives complete.

Twilight cast a small anchor point nearby, allowing her to jump back to the spot in a hurry if she needed to.  Once that was finished, she turned and started back down the entrance.  Now it was time for the secondary objectives.  Time to see whether Chrysalis had been bluffing or if she actually had a lead on where Dash was being held.

Beginning her descent back down the spiral, Twilight knew that she needed to hurry.  It was only a matter of time before the effects of her personnel reduction became noticed.  Unfortunately, she didn't know what she should be looking for or where.  She decided to start at the bottom with the assumption that valuable information might be stored deeper inside the hive where it would be considered more secure.

Jumping straight to the bottom, she noticed an increase in humidity.  The area had a wet smell, and she thought she could hear the gentle sounds of rippling water nearby.  Exploring a nearby tunnel, Twilight soon found herself standing in front of an underground lake.  It was likely the main source of water for the entire hive complex.  Looking up, she could see buckets attached to a series of ropes and pulleys that led up through multiple holes in the roof to quickly distribute water to other parts of the hive.  She also spotted numerous buttresses, indicating that the room carried a significant amount of structural support.  Twilight took a moment to refill the canteens from her saddlebags before leaving to resume her search.  

After a few minutes of fruitless searching, she spotted a tunnel two turns up that appeared to be actively guarded.  Deciding that something important enough to be guarded might be worth looking into, perhaps even a records room, Twilight made quick work of the guards and followed the tunnel to a rather intricately engraved door.  Taking a deep breath, she opened the door and jumped in, horn glowing and ready for a fight.  She quickly raised a hoof to muffle a gasp.

There, resting atop the satin sheets of a large four poster bed, was the sleeping form of Queen Chrysalis.  Twilight had snuck her way into the royal bedroom.  With the utmost caution, Twilight gingerly stepped towards a cluttered desk by the back wall.  She kept an eye and an ear on the snoring changeling queen, alert for any change in breathing that might indicate she was waking up.  

Finally reaching the desk, she stared down at a mess of letters strewn haphazardly across the surface.  After scanning through the contents of one, a grin spread across her face.

Field intelligence reports!

Twilight quickly began searching through the rest of the stack.  Several covered general guard movements.  There was the notification of Luna's sudden deployment from Canterlot and capture of Twilight, followed by an after action report of the heist that had brought her here.  Another discussed the evacuation and reassignment of several operatives to avoid the massive counter-intelligence crackdown effort Celestia and Luna had been pushing ever since that previous operation had exposed the presence of changeling infiltration.  There was a note scribbled into the bottom margin referencing a list that had been subsequently updated, along with a date.

Twilight looked up to where several more pieces of parchment were pinned to the wall above the desk.  On the right was a long list with the same date scrawled across the top.  She quickly pulled her self-updating calendar out of her saddlebags to confirm that the date in question was only yesterday.  She looked back to the contents of the list.  There were three columns.  One of what looked like serial numbers, one with names of towns and cities, and one with what appeared to be names of ponies accompanied by notes listing race and cutie mark.  Twilight's eyes widened as she realized just what she was looking at.  After doing a quick scan for magical alarms, and being almost disappointed at finding nothing (she guessed Chrysalis really didn't expect somepony to get deep enough in the hive to ever enter her room), she removed the small tack, rolled up the list and placed it gently in her saddlebags.  Thinking better of it, she pulled it back out, searched around for a blank piece of parchment, and used a spell to quickly duplicate the list, putting the original back on the wall.  If its absence was noticed after she escaped, they would likely just change the list immediately.

Twilight added a small bonus objective to her mental checklist and gave it a large green check mark.  That still didn't help her find Rainbow Dash though.  She resumed searching through the pile of letters until she finally found a lead.  A report mentioned Celestia and Luna making regular trips to the Hoofington region.  Further observations recorded the transport of several medical expert VIPs to the same area, and their lack of return along with their security detail.  The location had eventually been narrowed down to a hidden bunker at a specific set of coordinates, but they were still working on getting an operative inside, as security was properly paranoid at the moment.  Twilight's excitement was dampened by frustration as she struggled to make sense of the given coordinates.

R8  13  37 ?

The coordinates were useless if she couldn't understand the coordinate system.  The R8 looked like a reference to a grid of some kind, but unless she had an associated map to reference, it wouldn't do any good.  At best, she knew she was looking 'somewhere around Hoofington'.  Twilight scanned the room for a map, eyes eventually settling on a large nearby table with many small figures on it.

Upon closer inspection, she found that they were tiny dolls.  Tiny dolls of the princesses, her brother, and her friends.  Her friends, minus Rainbow Dash, were all clustered together in one spot.  Shining Armor and Cadence were paired off in a distant corner, and Celestia and Luna were paired together with a bright piece of string running from their location to Rainbow Dash.  Twilight spotted the grid pattern on the map beneath them, and quickly pulled out a pen to circle what must be Ponyville, Canterlot and The Crystal Empire, as points of reference.  

Now she just needed to know  where the hive was.  She eventually found a symbol that looked like a bright green H in a circle.  She could also see a slight imprint in the thin layer of dust, as if another figure had recently lain there.  Come to think of it, where was the piece that represented her?

A soft murmuring from the bed drew her attention.  Nestled between two black hooves was a small purple unicorn, horn slightly worn from where it was currently being gnawed on by a sleeping changeling queen.

"Mmm.  Tasty tasty Twilight....best since Shining....mmm....Sparkle family buffet."  

Okay, that's....disturbing.

Growing increasingly uncomfortable by the second, Twilight levitated the small figures off the table to roll up the map and stow it in her saddlebags, making sure to place a bold X on Dash's location.  She didn't have a blank map to copy to, so she'd just have to take this one with her.  Having gotten what she came for, Twilight quickly made her way back out of the room, breathing a sigh of relief once she finally made it back to the central cavern.

Okay, I think that's just about it, unless...  she paused as a devious idea came to mind. Okay, just one more thing.

Teleporting back down to the underground lake, Twilight pulled out a pair of rods and stuck one in the shallow water in front of her, embedding it upright in the ground.  She teleported to the other side and placed the other rod in the same way.  A long thread of wire  stretched above the lake and tied itself on both ends to the two rods. Then she pointed her horn at the wire and started pushing out magic.  An electric current ran along the wire, down one of the rods, through the water, and back up the other rod to the wire again.  Water molecules unfortunate enough to be caught in the path of the more energetic electrons found themselves split apart.  

Bubbles began to rise from the surface.  Twilight continued her work, careful to take slow and steady breaths to avoid hyperventilating as she felt the local oxygen concentration rising.  She pushed harder, creating more and larger bubbles.  A bead of sweat dripped down her face as she glanced at the entrance, worried that one of the hive's residents would stumble upon her any second now.  Finally, she spoke.

"Testing" she heard in a jarringly high pitched squeak from her own throat.  It was the sign she needed that the room was heavily saturated with hydrogen, despite whatever had already leaked out through the entrance and the few holes in the ceiling that led up to other chambers.  After delicately retrieving her two rods, she put down another anchor point and teleported back to the hive entrance.  Making sure she was more than a healthy distance away, Twilight dug out a pack of matches from her saddlebags and struck one.

...3...2...WAIT! Almost forgot!  Keeping the still burning match levitating in front of her, she opened her saddlebags once again.  A pair of sunglasses floated out and gently lowered themselves over her eyes.  3...2...1...

There was a brief flash of light as the burning match disappeared, followed an instant later by the deafening sound of an explosion and several tons of rock collapsing into a smoldering ruin behind her.  Twilight didn't look back, but allowed herself a small smile as she walked away.


***


Dear Princess Celestia:

First of all, sorry for the somewhat unorthodox delivery method of this letter, but I don't have Spike around to send it in the usual way.  I figured if a message from me was found taped to the face of an unconscious guard, it would make its way to you fairly quickly.  Speaking of which, please send along my apologies to the corporal.  It was nothing personal, I just needed somepony to carry the letter.

I wanted to let you know that I'm doing fine.  I've been doing a lot of camping lately, getting lots of that fresh air and exercise you always said I needed more of.  I know things have been tense lately what with my, let's say, 'extralegal'  status.  I'm afraid Luna and I didn't exactly part on the best of terms after our last meeting.  Things were said, objects were thrown, and there may have been some reciprocal face shooting.  Still, I wanted to let you both know that there's no hard feelings.  I know you're just doing what you have to do.  And to underscore that sentiment, I got you both gifts!

Attached to this letter is a list that, considering recent events, I think you'll find quite useful.  Luna's present can be found at the coordinates listed on the back, and it's where I found the first gift as well.  It's a little banged up (couldn't help myself, sorry) but I think she'll enjoy it anyway.  It's also the kind of gift that's best enjoyed with a lot of other ponies, like maybe a regiment?

Anyway, I'm sure you're very busy (or will be soon if you weren't before).  I've got stuff to get back to as well.  Though I can't sincerely wish you success in ALL your efforts, I wish you the best of luck for most.

Your still faithful student
Twilight Sparkle

PS: Sorry about your window.

PPS: Tell Spike I never meant  I wanted  if I could I would have  I'm sorry.
> Chapter 11
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	Fluttershy pushed her way through the dense overgrowth that attempted to choke off what passed for a path in this section of the Everfree.  The sound of crunching vegetation mixed with the continuous creak and rattle of wheels as Applejack followed closely behind her, pulling their cart over the rough terrain.  She shook her head and spat out a mouthful of twigs and leaves after a particularly quarrelsome branch whipped back to slap her in the face.

They had been at it for three days now, and still no sign of Twilight.  By now their manes and tails were about equal parts hair and vegetation.  Fluttershy managed to sneak in a brief moment to fantasize about her next spa day with Rarity before returning to her constant anxiety that only grew stronger as their list of places to check for Twilight grew smaller.

Twice they had passed through the region of the forest that had been damaged by the wildfire.  Fluttershy's anxiety had heightened at the stressful memories that had brought up.  She recalled the burnt and blood spattered pair of goggles with strands of Twilight's mane stuck in the strap.  She still didn't know what that was all about.  She didn't know what Twilight's involvement in the fire had been, or if it was even related to anything that was going on now, but remembering those goggles also brought up the memory of what she had seen through that window and the tearing feeling in her heart that had accompanied it.  She had found herself walking extra briskly through the area.

Pushing through a final layer of bushes, they emerged into a clearing.  On the opposite side of the clearing sat a solid wall of granite, a small path leading up the side to a cozy little cave.  A river bent in front of the rock wall like a moat, deep enough to wade in chest high, but slow enough as to not pose any danger of being swept away in the current.  Fluttershy stretched her wing and gently flapped her way to the cave entrance to peek inside while Applejack waited at the edge of the treeline.  After several moments, Fluttershy flew back giving a disappointed shake of her head.

"No signs that anypony has been here recently.  There's just a family of bats, and I think they've been there for a while."

Applejack gave her own disappointed sigh, followed by a quick look around.  "Well, I guess this is as good a spot as any to break for lunch.  And on the bright side, it looks like we might finally be able to get a bath.  I ain't fussy about a little dirt in the coat, but it sure would be nice to get some of these knots out."

Fluttershy nodded in agreement and moved to help unpack what they needed from the cart.  Leaving Applejack to finish setting up, she went to gather some of the colorful wildflowers growing by the bank of the river, hoping to add something special to the meal.  Applejack had been teaching her a lot about cooking in the past few days, and she had begun to show a real talent with flower petals and the delicate touch required to grill them properly without burning them.

After a satisfying and flavorful lunch, they both found themselves wading into the cool river.  Fluttershy gave a quick gasp and bit her lip at the initial shock of cold water lapping at her stomach, but quickly relaxed as her body began to adjust.  Pulling in a deeper breath, she closed her eyes and plunged herself under the surface, enjoying the feeling of days of accumulated sweat and grime being pulled out of her coat.  Returning to the surface, she stretched out her wings, fluffed out the feathers, and began flicking them in and out of the water.  She gave a sigh of relief as she felt the oily residue and bits of forest debris carried away by the water.

She looked over to see how Applejack was enjoying herself, and was caught by surprise when she found herself staring.  The farmpony's bright blonde mane, now free of both hat and its characteristic braid, was almost unrecognizable.  Now thoroughly soaked, it flowed down her neck into pools of liquid sunshine that spread across the surface of the water.  Well, sunshine littered with the odd tangle and a sizable number of leaves and twigs, one of which Applejack was working to dislodge with no small amount of cursing under her breath.  Finally pulling it free, she glanced up to see Fluttershy staring.

"What?"

Fluttershy's cheeks quickly reddened "Oh! Um, nothing.  It's just...your mane."

"My mane? What about it?"

"It's...big?  I mean bigger than I thought.  I mean, it looks that way in the water.  I mean-"

"Yeah, yeah. I get what you're sayin'.  But really, you're one to talk."

Fluttershy looked down to where her own mane was spreading over the water like a rosy pink blanket.  She glanced back to see a similar river of pink fanning out behind her from her tail.  She gave a soft giggle.  

"Yeah, I guess you're right."

Fixated by the way the strands of hair shifted in the gentle current, Fluttershy began to swish her tail back and forth.  Soon she was 
dragging it quickly across the surface to watch the ripples pass through it.  No longer paying attention to her surroundings, she whipped it hard in a quarter turn, throwing up a thin sheet of water to splash into Applejack's surprised face.

"Oh my goodness! I'm sorry Applejack.  I didn't mean to-"  she was cut off by the sudden wave of cold water that engulfed her.

"No problem at all," Applejack responded with a smirk.

Fluttershy said nothing.  She stared straight ahead, unmoving except for a slight trembling of her lower lip.

"Fluttershy?"  Applejack moved closer, concern etched on her face.  "Are you alright?  Ah, shoot.  I'm sorry if that was too much.  I didn't mean to-"

Before Applejack could even register what was happening, two wings flared out, dipped into the water, and sent twin waves crashing into her sides simultaneously.  She never even saw a flicker in Fluttershy's pout before she was buried underneath the onslaught.  Once she had recovered and wiped the water from her eyes, Applejack could see that the previously trembling lip was now covered by a hoof in an effort to suppress a fit of giggling.  Now it was war.

After an exhausting splash fight, both ponies pulled themselves to shore and collapsed in panting heaps.  They rolled onto their backs, soaking in the warmth of the sun as they waited for it to dry them.  Fluttershy turned her head to the left and saw Applejack looking back at her.  Their eyes met, sharing the same unspoken thought.

So what next?


***


"Are you sure about this?"

"Trust me.  I know what I'm doing.  You'll be fine."

"But it's huge!  The one I keep at home in my drawer isn't nearly as big."

"It'll be fine.  I'm going to put it in now, okay?  Just try to relax."

"Okay.   I-ow! OW! It hurts!"

"I know it hurts at first, but it'll start to feel a lot better soon."

"OW! No! You're tearing it! You're tearing it!"

"I am not.  Don't be such a baby Applejack."

"Well sorry I don't practice this every other day with Rarity like you do.  OW!"

"You mean you and Rainbow Dash never did anything like this?"

"Not like this no.  This wasn't really our style.  OW!  OKAY.  STOP! STOP!  Let's just do you first and then we can come back to me."

With a roll of her eyes, Fluttershy disentangled the hair brush from Applejack's mane.  These tangles were proving a bit more difficult to remove than first thought.  She took a seat and ran the brush through her own mane several times before removing her hoof from the strap and passing it over to Applejack.  She helped guide the overly cautious orange hooves for a minute, showing them the best way to navigate through the larger tangles before releasing them to handle the more difficult to reach areas by themselves.  Feeling the brush strokes grow more confident as Applejack realized she wasn't going to break anything, Fluttershy turned her attention back to preening her wings.

After several minutes, the brush strokes stopped.  Applejack turned the brush to her own mane, getting used to the pull required before passing the brush back to Fluttershy.  The task was over after several more minutes, this time with only a minimal amount of grumbling as Applejack attempted to mimic Fluttershy's surprisingly effortless stoicism.  A second round of brushing to clear out their tails later, and Applejack was retying her ribbons and placing her well worn hat back on her head.

"Okay, time to roll out."  Applejack gave a stretch and began to gather up what remained of their cooking gear to pack back into the cart.  "What's the next place on the list?"

"We should reach it if we keep following this river downstream.  It'll probably take about two hours." Fluttershy gave an anxious flutter of her wings as she looked down at her hooves.  "It-It's the last place on the list.  If we don't find anything there then...then I don't know."

Looking back up, Fluttershy caught the last flicker of a contemplative frown flashing across Applejack's face.  She could also almost swear she saw the glint of something small and metallic disappearing underneath her hat as she slipped the familiar harness back over her shoulders.

"We'll just have to figure it out when we get there then.  Come on, let's go."


***


"Okay, so it should be just around this bend and-...what?"

For a moment, Fluttershy was sure that they had become lost.  Looking out at the destruction in front of them, she was sure they had somehow wandered back into the the section of the forest burnt by the fire.  It took several seconds for her to confirm that they were in fact in the correct location, and that despite several charred trees, the scene as a whole wasn't consistent with a large scale fire.

"What? What is-WHOA NELLY! What happened here?" 

"I don't know."  

Both ponies gawked at the carnage of smashed trees and rubble littering the area.  Whatever had come through here had torn up trees by their roots, snapped them in half, shattered them, burnt them, and done Celestia knew what else.  There was a cluster of strange jagged fingers of rock pushed up through the ground, though most of them had been smashed into piles of rubble.  The side of a nearby rock face looked as if it had suffered a major landslide recently, and the entire area was peppered with scorch marks.  A few spots even seemed to have a glassy sheen to them.

Fluttershy gave an audible gulp before turning to Applejack.  "I-I'll search this area for tracks.  Y-You investigate that rock slide area.  If you find anything that looks like tracks or markings, let me know and try not to disturb them."

Applejack gave a nod of acknowledgement and carefully began to step her way to the large pile of rubble.  Fluttershy spread her wings and shifted to a low hover, careful not to contaminate the area with any of her own hoof steps.    She carefully scanned over the wreckage, searching for any clue as to what could have possibly caused all this.  She called back her findings to Applejack as she searched.

"It looks like most of these trees were ripped straight out, but I don't see prints from anything large like a dragon or a hydra." 

"Not much to make out over here either except...yep, looks like a little bit of blood on some of these rocks.  Anything you can tell from that?"

Fluttershy quickly flew over to examine the find, but gave a shake of her head after a single look.  "Not really.  It's at least several days old and most of it seems scorched pretty badly."  

"Well, what about this?" Applejack asked as she turned over another rock to reveal a broken, but still quite large dark blue feather.

Fluttershy squinted as she appraised the mysterious find.  It seemed almost familiar.  "Hmm...well it looks almost like a pegasus feather, except too big.  Still much too small to belong to a roc, even a baby one.  I can't think of any species of great bird that could do anything like this though."  Still confused, she flew back to her own area and resumed her search.  "There's some more specks of blood around here, and-wait! Hoofprints!"

"What?! Where?!" Applejack came charging over, hopping across fallen tree trunks in an attempt to avoid contaminating the ground.

"There.  At least two distinct sets.  They're both highly erratic, like they were jumping around at random.  The extra indentation and wind sweep around some of them look like launch marks from a pegasus."

"Is it them?!  Rainbow Dash and Twilight? Were they here fighting with whatever did all this?"  A noticeable note of panic was creeping into Applejack's voice as her thoughts drifted back to the scattered bits of dried blood.

"I don't know about Twilight, but the pegasus marks look too big to be Rainbow Dash."  Something tickled at the back of Fluttershy's mind.  Something she was overlooking.  "Applejack.  That feather.  Does something about it seem familiar to you?"

"Well now that I think about it, yeah.  Like I've seen it before somewhere.  I just can't seem to put my hoof on it though."

"Right.  Something about the color?"

"Exactly.  That really dark, kinda blackish blue.  What did Rarity call it again?"

"Midnight B-OH MY GOODNESS!"

The pair took another look at the devastation around them.  The heavy silence was eventually broken by a low whistle from Applejack.

"Well...damn."  Applejack opened her mouth to continue, but found she had nothing to follow up with.

Fluttershy didn't respond.  She stood in motionless silence as her face grew increasingly pale.  Without warning, she bolted forward into a gallop.

"Whoa! Hold up!" Applejack shouted as she ran after her.

It was only a few moments of frenzied galloping until Fluttershy found what she was looking for.  She stared ahead at what had once been a cozy, romantic getaway for two, filled with fond memories of watching water lilies drift in crystal clear pools while listening to the gentle crash of a waterfall.  Now those pools were cloudy and choked with rubble and debris.  The cozy cave for two had been completely blown apart and collapsed, a large black semicircle burnt into the ground around the former entrance.  A cold wave of panic began to rise from her stomach.  She threw herself at the collapsed entrance, struggling to shift the large rocks out of the way.

"Whoa! Fluttershy! Calm down a second!"

"No!  Twilight!  What if she's in there?!  She could be hurt!  Or...!"  She couldn't stand to finish the thought, returning to frantically pulling at the rocks.

"Twilight's not in there!"

"What? How do you-?"

"I may not be able to identify as many exotic animal tracks as you, but I can at least follow a set of hoof prints left at a full sprint, especially since you already pointed them out to me.   If you weren't so focused on charging over here, you probably would have noticed that those prints were pointed away from here, meaning Twilight must have gotten away from here in one piece in order to run into Luna back there."

Fluttershy paused.  "That...that makes sense I supose."  She gradually allowed herself to relax and took a deep breath.

"Right.  That's assuming they are Twilight's prints of course, though I don't know any other pony that would be squatting in the forest and getting into a scrap with Luna.  Anyway, she's not here now.  Anything helpful you can spot here?"

Fluttershy gave a quick look around and shook her head. "No.  There was definitely fighting here.  Some faint pegasi landing marks, some drag marks where ponies were knocked over, but it's all old.  This all happened days ago, and it all leads to what we already saw anyway."

"So, what do we know then?  Twilight was here.  Luna was here.  There was fighting and..."

"And that's pretty much it."

"Well I guess that leaves the question of who won.  The way I see it, either Luna captured Twilight and either the princesses are keeping it under wraps for now or we just missed the news running around in the woods, or Twilight managed to escape and we're back to square one."

Fluttershy nodded. "That seems about right.  Unfortunately, there really doesn't seem to be any way to tell which it is."

"And we still don't know anything about Rainbow Dash."  Applejack gave a disappointed frown.  "So what now?"

Fluttershy started to pace as she tried to come up with an answer.  This was it.  This had been her only lead and it had ended without her any closer to finding Twilight.  Why did she think she could do this in the first place?  What made her think she could so easily succeed where the the guards and the princesses themselves had been struggling?  She needed help.

Well, time to go get help then.

"Fluttershy?"

"We go to plan B."

Fluttershy had made it through more than her fair share of difficult situations, from the mundane to the world threatening.  She wasn't the strongest of ponies, nor the smartest, bravest, fastest, or anything like that, but it didn't matter because she had friends she could depend on.  Talented friends whose strengths she could borrow and make her own to get through even the most impossible of situations.  This time was no different.  Fluttershy turned and began to walk back to where they left the cart, Applejack falling in behind her with a confused expression.

"Fluttershy?  What's plan B?  Where are we going?"

"To get help."

"From who?"

"I know a guy."

	 

	
> Chapter 12
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	Twilight pressed herself up against the side of the hill, dry blades of grass prickling against her coat.  With the utmost caution, she inched her way up to peer over the top.  Hoofington stretched out below her, firefly lamps just beginning to flicker to life as the sun dipped below the horizon.

Finally.

Tree cover had run out a while back, and hopping between what small cover she could find in the open plains had proved a painfully slow process.  Teleportation had helped immensely, but as she grew closer to the outskirts of the city, she had also grown more and more concerned about the possibility of somepony spotting a telltale purple flash.

She stifled a yawn as she checked her map once again.  Without Chrysalis' inhibitor around her horn to shield her from Luna, a proper night's sleep was a danger she couldn't risk.  She had considered just moving at night and sleeping during the day when Luna would be most likely to be asleep herself, but with how determined the princess seemed to track her down, who knew what kind of hours she was keeping?  Twilight had instead limited herself to a series of small catnaps, spread throughout the day at random intervals and no longer than fifteen minutes each.  Hopefully that wouldn't be enough time for Luna to detect her.  In addition to cradling an alarm clock while she dozed, she had attacked her text on lucid dreaming with renewed vigor.  Though now capable of casting a couple spells in her dreams, the bulk of her focus had been on snapping herself awake should Luna find her and start making a trace.

Glancing up from her map, she spotted one of the landmarks she had been looking for.  Two towering peaks were visible across the other side of the city.

Which would put me right about...here.  Meaning it should be somewhere over...

Twilight turned her gaze to a rough and broken escarpment that ran up against a bulging mound of earth.  A thicket of dense, thorny, and all around uninviting vegetation grew atop the small plateau and appeared to run down the backside of the slope.  There was nothing inherently suspicious about the plants, except maybe for the fact that they seemed to be thriving just a bit too much compared to the surrounding area, as if somepony had ordered the weather pegasi to give that section a bit more water.  Anything within, say, a secret entrance to an underground bunker, would be conveniently obscured from aerial view by anypony who wasn't directly on top of it, while casual hikers would steer clear unless they wanted a coat full of briars.

Twilight carefully approached and began to push her way through the hostile flora.  No doubt there was an easier path available if she were willing to circle around and search for it, there had to be a way to move supplies and personnel in and out after all, but that was almost a guaranteed way to run across the guards.  With no better options, she simply had to grit her teeth and press on, doing her best not to make too much noise.

Ow. Ow. Ow. Ow.

Soon the brush began to thin noticeably.  She spotted a narrow corridor that could actually be called a path winding off towards the outside.  Turning the other direction, she followed the last remaining distance to a small cleared area around the base of the slope, still mostly hidden from above by the vegetation growing higher up.  Recessed into the bottom of the slope was an extremely sturdy looking (and no doubt highly enchanted) door.  It was the kind of door one might expect to find on the vault of the Equestrian National Bank, except it held a treasure more precious than all the bits in Equestria.

Hold on, Dash.

Making a mental note of the location, Twilight teleported back outside the thicket.  As much as every fiber of her being screamed for her to run in and rescue Rainbow Dash this instant, the small voice of reason reminded her that there were still a few pressing logistical issues to resolve first.  The big one was sleep.  Not only was it advisable to be properly rested before attempting this insane rescue, but even if she succeeded (no, she couldn't think like that, she WOULD succeed)  but even then, how was she going to keep dodging Luna forever?  Dash too.  Luna could just as easily track them down through Rainbow Dash's dreams.  Unless she could find a way to permanently shield them both, their freedom would last only as long as they could forgo sleep.

Think Twilight!  Come on.  There's gotta be a spell or something for this.  You're so close!

I just don't know enough about dream walking magic.  I need to learn more.  I need a book.

But books on dream walking are incredibly rare.  Only a few ponies ever managed to master it, and even fewer wrote anything down.  What few there are would probably be in the restricted section of the Canterlot archives.

Well I can't just stroll into the castle archives and ask to check out a book.  Going anywhere near the castle is absolutely insane!

Ah, but they'd never expect that.

With good reason.  Because it's crazy.

Crazy enough to work?

No. Just the regular kind.

Falling onto her back with an exasperated sigh, Twilight glanced once again at the town of Hoofington.  The sun had nearly finished its descent, casting long shadows across the buildings.  Twilight's eye caught on a tattered wagon on the near edge of the town.  It certainly looked like it had seen better days.  Something about the aesthetic seemed oddly familiar however.




Twilight slowly crept down the darkened hillside as the nagging sense of familiarity grew stronger.  At the base of the slope, a powder blue unicorn was struggling to remove a broken wheel from the front axle.




"Ingrates.  Such uncultured rubes do not deserve to bask in the untempered glory of Trixie's performances if they can't even look past a little peeled paint or torn canvas.  Such superficialities wouldn't even be an issue if the bank ponies weren't the blindest of all.  They wouldn't know a good investment if it bit them on the flank. Once Trixie has recovered from this temporary setback, they will beg Trixie to perform for them, and Trixie will relish their tears of remorse."  




Trixie?  Huh.  Small world I guess.




Twilight turned to sneak away before she got herself spotted, but she stopped as a stray thought crossed her mind.  The thought quickly formed into an idea.  An idea she might once have dismissed as crazy if recent events hadn't forced her to drastically raise her threshold on such matters.  She stayed concealed as she sculpted the idea into something that more closely resembled a plan.




Making little headway on her repairs, Trixie briefly ceased her struggle with the stubborn wheel to give a heavy sigh, shoulders slumping slightly before perking back up with a determined gleam in her eye.  "Trottingham!  The ponies there are sure to appreciate genius when they see it.  Trixie will make it big, pull in huge crowds, become financially solvent, and never dine on pine cones again!"  She turned and gave a sharp kick against the side of the wagon.  "Just as soon as this infernal wheel surrenders to Trixie's might!"




"It might help if you removed the locking pin first."

"AHHH!" Despite the biological implausibility of jumping out of one's own skin, Trixie appeared to give a sincere effort as she whirled to face the mysterious new voice.  Her eyes continued to grow wider as startlement gave way to shock at identifying the intruder.




"S-SPARKLE?!"




"Hi Trixie."  Twilight smiled back as if they had been neighbors all their life and were simply passing in the street.




"W-What?  How?  What are you doing here!?  You can't be here!  Why are you here?!  What do you want?!"




"While I'd love to say I just dropped by to catch up, I actually kinda need a favor."




Shock took a temporary backseat to smug amusement.  "Ha!  And why exactly would The Great and Powerful Trixie help the most wanted fugitive in Equestria?  Trixie shouldn't even be speaking with you!"




"A good question.  Two reasons.  Reason number one..."  Twilight reached into her saddlebag and pulled out a heavy, jingling pouch, throwing it to the ground at Trixie's hooves.  The loose drawstring revealed a very respectable amount of bits and gems, a hefty chunk of what Twilight had recovered from the Diamond Dogs.




Trixie tried not to drool openly as she imagined what she could do with all those bits before forcing herself to look away.  "S-So what?  The bounty on you makes that look like spare change from the couch cushions.  What's to stop me from turning you in instead?"




"Well, ME for starters."  Twilight set her horn to a faint glow.  "If you think you can take me, you're free to try, but...let's just say that's highly inadvisable."




"N-Noted," Trixie replied, turning a shade paler. "And the second reason?"




"You still owe me for letting you walk out of Ponyville after your little evil overlord incident instead of turning you over to Canterlot for what was technically an act of war against the crown.  Especially since the last time a unicorn tried to use dark magic to conquer and enslave a local population, my friends and I blew him up.  So yeah, you do kinda owe me one."




Trixie winced at the uncomfortable reminder of events she much preferred stayed buried.  "T-The Great and Compassionate Trixie takes pity on your lowly situation, and will offer her assistance."  The pouch full of bits levitated off the ground in a light blue aura.  "For a minor consultation fee of course."




"Of course." Twilight nodded with a smile.




"So...er-what exactly is Trixie assisting with?"




"I need a book."




"Trixie does not carry an extensive collection, but would be happy to loan-"  Twilight waved a hoof.




"No.  I need a specific book.  From Canterlot."




"Canterlot?" Trixie cast a quick glance at her broken wagon.  "Such a trip might take longer than Trixie is currently provisioned for."




"Doesn't matter, you can leave all that here.  I'll take care of getting us there and back.  Play your part well, and you'll be back here counting bits by tomorrow evening.  I need to make some preparations tonight, so we'll leave in the morning.  I'll fill you in on what you need to know when it's all set up."




The front end of the wagon rose off the ground, surrounded in a magenta glow as fragments of the broken wheel began to fuse back together.  The dwelling now level once again, Twilight made straight for the entrance.




"So...what should Trixie do for now?"




Twilight looked over her shoulder with a note of hopeful optimism.  "Do you have any coffee?"


***


"Okay.  Testing.  Can you hear me Trixie?"  Twilight adjusted the small crystal in her ear.




"Yes.  And Trixie would like it noted that she is not being paid nearly enough for this."




"First of all, yes you are.  Second, relax Trixie, you'll be fine.  I know the castle like the back of my hoof and I'm here to talk you through every step."




Twilight took another sip of her coffee and turned another page of the newspaper she was using to hide her face while sitting on the park bench pretending to read.  Trixie's temporary stage dye had stained her mane and tail a dark solid black, while her coat had been coerced into a deep navy blue.  She wore one of Trixie's spare capes (turned inside out to hide the counterproductive eye-catching star pattern) which hid her cutie mark from sight as long as she maintained this sitting position.  Trixie had offered a cloak, but nothing said 'suspicious' and 'conspicuously trying to be inconspicuous' like walking around in a full body cloak.




"Okay, now there should be a garbage can coming up on your left.  Put one in there."




Trixie dutifully strode up to the bin.  Channeling all her skill in stagecraft to appear nothing more than a common visitor making perfectly routine use of a waste receptacle, she retrieved a small crystal from her pouch and tossed it in.  A small chorus of cheers and applause rose in her mind.




"It is done" she whispered to the voice underneath her hat.




"Great. Now take the next right and you should find a bathroom after two more doors.  Find somewhere in one of the stalls to place another one.  Then take the stairs up to the next floor."




Trixie continued her tour of the castle under Twilight's directions, visiting every area open to the general public.  The collection of small crystals found their way into potted plants, behind the drapes on window sills, kicked under the door of supply closets, and even stuck under the occasional bench or table with gum.  Finally, her circuitous path took her to the public section of the massive Canterlot library.




"Okay. Nothing to worry about.  If anypony asks, you're working on a term paper for history of magical theory.  That should be pretty common this time of year."  Indeed, there were at least a dozen stressed out unicorns flipping through pages and frantically scrawling notes onto parchment, or quietly debating which of the university professors was the biggest hardflank.  They reeked of coffee and desperation.  "Alright.  Now history should be the third stack on your right.  Pick something from the middle, browse through it for a few minutes, take a few notes, then slip a gem in the spine and put it back on the shelf."




"What kind of notes?" Trixie whispered once she determined nopony was within earshot.




"It doesn't matter.  Just look like you're actually doing research.  And make sure to put the book back exactly where you found it."




"Wh-why? What happens if I don't?"




"Because it's common courtesy, and if you don't, then you're a despicable pony and will earn the wrath of all librarians until the end of time."




Trixie continued to follow her directions, finding a book in each wing of the library and slipping a gem into the spine.  Nopony took any notice of her, but that didn't do anything to loosen the tension in her stomach.  




"Almost done.  You should have one crystal left.  The slightly larger one with the unaligned purple X on it."






Trixie felt around in the bag.  "Right."




"Okay, now pick up a book, pretend to be reading it, and make your way towards the door to the restricted section.  It should be all the way in the back."




"Wait. You said Trixie only had to go to areas open to the public.  No risk of being caught anywhere off limits."




"Don't worry, you don't actually have to go inside.  Just get close to the door."




"How close?"




"As close as you can.  At least three meters.  Once you're close enough, twist it so the X is aligned, place it, then get out of there.  You'll have six minutes to make a calm and orderly exit from the castle."




"...It...It's not a bomb, is it?"




"What?! NO!" Twlight clamped a hoof over her mouth, remembering that she was still in public before she continued in a sharp whisper. "No it's not a bomb!  Do you think I would bomb a library?!"




"Trixie would not know, since you refused to tell Trixie any details of this plan."




"Well no, it's not a bomb.  Nopony is going to get hurt.  If you want to stand right next to it, you can.  But unless you want to spend the next week being interrogated by guards, I suggest you make use of the time delay I programmed in specifically for your benefit.  Now get going before somepony spots either of us mumbling to ourselves."




After taking a deep breath, Trixie grabbed a bestiary of magical creatures and began her idle walk to the imposing gates at the back of the library.  She took a seat at the nearest bench she could find, about 6 meters from the gate, continuing to act as though she were lost deep in reading.  Reaching into her bag to pull out a quill with which to jot down an interesting fact, she snatched up the last crystal, gave it a sharp twist, and dropped it to the floor beneath her seat with a magician's practiced sleight of hoof.  A quick kick sent the unremarkable piece of debris sliding the rest of the distance across the floor to rest against the back wall, of little concern to anypony except perhaps the janitorial staff.




"It's in place."




"Good job.  Now just leave."




Trying desperately not to measure the seconds in her head by the rapid beating of her heart, Trixie rose from her seat, returned her book, gave a polite nod of thanks to the librarian behind the desk, and walked calmly but briskly out of the library.  She continued her pace out into the hallways, keeping her eyes locked on the exit, and tamping down on the voice that insisted something was going to go horribly wrong, that she was walking too slow or too fast.  Finally, she passed through the outer gate and out into the city.  She nearly jumped when a voice spoke in her ear.




"Alright, I see you.  Go get a drink and relax.  I'll meet you on the second hill outside the south gate to the city in two hours and we'll head home.  See you then."




Trixie breathed a sigh of relief and kept walking into the city.  She wondered briefly how much time she had had left, how narrow her escape had been.  She got her answer about two minutes later when a pair of guards flew past her at top speed.  Turning to look behind her, she saw a multitude of armored ponies converging on the castle.







***





"And that, your majesty, is the reason why this new tariff on hoof polish is absolutely vital to the continued survival of-"




Sooo bored.




Celestia gave a quick check on the sun's position.




Seriously?  Has he really been droning on for twenty minutes?  I don't think I saw him take a breath.  How is that possible?




She gave a suitably sympathetic nod as the pony in question seemed to be in the middle of some kind of impassioned flourish.




What if ponies had gills?  Then they'd walk around with little aquarium collars around their necks and could talk and breathe at the same time.  They could even eat and breathe at the same time without choking.




"Which brings me to point two of five."




WHAT?!  Arrrgh!  Faust's feathers!  I'm not going to make it.  I'm going to die of boredom.  Twenty minutes ago I wasn't even sure if I COULD be killed, but this pony is going to find a way.  Where's a monster attack when you need it?  A swarm of cockatrices or-




Celestia bolted upright as she sensed something trip one of the silent alarms.  Somepony was attempting to access the restricted section of the library using Twilight's old passcode.




"I'm sorry, but something urgent has come up.  We'll have to finish this another time.  Guards!  With me!"  The pair of guards that normally occupied the throne room snapped to her sides in an instant.




With a flash of golden magic, Celestia and her guards disappeared from the throne room and reappeared in the main stacks of the library.  She was impressed by the speed with which more guards were already pouring through the entrance.  The entire force had been briefed on what a trip to that alarm meant, and the alert had been spread instantly by crystal wave to every guard in the city.  She hardly had time to blink before Luna appeared beside her with her own pair of personal guards.  Both sisters blanketed the area with their own redundant interdiction fields, ensuring that they would be the only beings capable of teleportation.  That finished, they began their search of the room, which lasted the entirety of two seconds.




Twilight Sparkle stood with her back to the wall in a defensive crouch, horn glowing, and wearing the unmistakable panicked expression of a plan fallen utterly to pieces.  Her chest rapidly rose and fell with her shallow breathing, bordering on hyperventilation, while dilated eyes rapidly scanned the room for any source of escape.




"And so we meet once again Twilight Sparkle." Luna flared her wings and fixed her target with an imperious glare.  "There is no escape for you here.  I suggest you follow the prudent course of action and surrender."    




"Twilight, please.  I want to help.  Let me help you!"  Celestia wasn't sure exactly what kind of help she could actually offer at this point, but that did nothing to diminish the sincerity of the sentiment.




Their words fell on deaf ears as Twilight ignored them in favor of continuing to desperately search the room with her eyes.  Before either of them could take any further action, there was a blinding purple flash and Twilight was gone.




WHAT?! BUT THAT'S-!




"IMPOSSIBLE!"  Luna bellowed, snatching the word from Celestia's lips.




There was no way Twilight was able to push through both of their barriers.  She hadn't even felt any pressure.  No indication that anything was even trying to breach the field.  It was as if Twilight had simply gone around and completely ignored it.




"Your highness!"  She turned her attention to one of the guards at her side.  "I'm getting reports of Twilight Sparkle sighted in the second floor cafeteria!"




A brief flash from the two sisters and the bookshelves of the library were replaced by the long tables of the cafeteria.  Twilight stood atop a table in the center of the room, eyes still darting back and forth in panicked desperation.  




"Twilight, stop this at once.  You may have found a way to teleport within these walls, but there is no way for you to leave."  Celestia had no idea if that was actually true.  She wasn't sure what principle was allowing Twilight to move around so freely, but she assumed it didn't let her pass through the castle exterior based on the simple fact that she hadn't done so already and escaped.  "Now just come with me and-"  There was another bright flash of purple and Twilight vanished once again.




*sigh* So it's going to be like that, is it? Lovely.




The captain continued to call out the reports streaming in through his earpiece. "Fourth floor observatory!"




Another flash and a change of scenery, and their target was in sight once more.




"I can do this all day Twilight.  Now-"




*Flash*




"I've got a sighting in the third floor hallway.  No wait, the art gallery.  Fifth floor lounge.  The library again?"




What are you up to Twilight?




Celestia reached out, searching for the familiar feel of Twilight's magical signature.  She could sense the brief flashes as Twilight quickly jumped across the castle at random.  Too quickly in fact.  Some of the flashes were so close together as to be almost simultaneous.




To their collective surprise, Twilight reappeared in the same spot she had previously occupied.  Luna quickly fired a beam of magic...which passed harmlessly through Twilight to leave an ugly scorch on the wall.  Twilight appeared not to have noticed, wearing the same panicked expression, horn still glowing and lowered in a defensive posture.




More than a little puzzled by this, Celestia ran a quick scan and found...almost nothing.  No vital signs, no heat, no mass.  Twilight's magic was present, but the signal wasn't coming from her horn.  It was coming from behind her, underneath a nearby display case.  Celestia fired a quick jolt at the location. There was the sound of something breaking  before Twilight suddenly fizzled and disappeared.




A quick scoop of the area with telekinesis revealed several fragments of a programmable spell crystal.  There was a brief beat of silence accompanied by widening eyes as comprehension washed over the group.   The calm was quickly replaced by a flurry of new orders to search every room in the castle.





***


"Alright, I see you.  Go get a drink and relax.  I'll meet you on the second hill outside the south gate to the city in two hours and we'll head home.  See you then."

Twilight quickly finished the rest of her coffee and rose from the park bench.  Dropping her cup neatly into the nearby trash bin, she took her newspaper with her as she trotted past a row of buildings, finally settling around the corner of an alley with a view of one very specific tower.  She looked around, ready to clear the area if need be.  Nothing drastic.  Nothing harmful.  Just a hypersonic noise barely above the range of normal pony hearing, a faint but unpleasant odor, and the air suddenly becoming just a few degrees too warm, to encourage ponies to wander somewhere else for a bit.  Such efforts proved unnecessary as she discovered nopony else nearby on street level.  That just left the guards perched on the tower balcony.  Twilight gave a few anticipatory stretches as she kept her eyes locked on the balcony.

 Any moment now.

A sudden shout rang out from within the room at the top of the tower.  The distance rendered it unintelligible from Twilight's position, but the urgency was apparent.  The two balcony guards spun on their hooves and raced inside, a dark blue flash from within following a moment later and signaling Twilight to move.  Checking once again that the coast was clear, Twilight dropped her newspaper and charged toward the castle wall, horn charged with a spell.

The walls of the castle, while not completely impervious to magical assault, were about as resistant as one could practically get without building them out of ten layers of dragon hide.  Trying to teleport past the wards would be exceedingly difficult and even success would likely result in revealing her position to the princesses like a flare at night.  There was, however, nothing preventing her from manipulating whatever she wanted on this side of the walls.

As Twilight reached the castle's edge, her front hooves rose up to brace against the wall, her horn flashed, and her back hooves fell to the wall behind her as gravity snapped sideways.  Her field didn't actually touch the castle, but was certainly close enough for all practical purposes.  Twilight continued her sprint up the side of the castle, hoping her luck wasn't going to be terrible enough today to have somepony glance up at just this inopportune moment.  Glad for all the cardio training she had put herself through in recent weeks, she closed the distance in short order and hopped up onto the balcony.

She smiled at seeing the door left open.  Not wanting to be as careless in her own haste, no matter how limited her window of time, Twilight took a moment to run a quick probe on the doorway.  The search turned up one extremely old fashioned security spell that might have once been impressive before it was made obsolete two centuries ago by Silent Entry's recursive stacking algorithm.  Its central virtue now was probably the fact that most ponies would be unlikely to recognize something so obscure.  Unless of course they were the kind of pony who actually read the optional 'for further reading' sections of their arcanocryptography textbooks.

With the door open and the one underwhelming ward now disabled, Twilight strode forward into Luna's bedroom, squashing the irrational fear that such an act could possibly get her in any more trouble than she already was.  After all, sneaking into a Princess' room and rummaging through her stuff was bad, but she was pretty sure kicking one in the horn and burning half her face off (whether it regenerated or not) was a fair bit worse.

And unless you'd rather try your luck with both princesses, I suggest we get moving.

Twilight looked over the room.  A large canopy bed in the shape of a crescent moon occupied the left wall.  The sheets lay in tangled disarray from the occupant's hasty exit only a minute prior.  The shape of a stuffed opossum could still be seen within the tangles.  Searching the rest of the room revealed a spacious attached bathroom, a large armoire, a cozy looking fireplace, a towering bookcase, an impressive pony sized astrolabe, and a beautifully crafted, if somewhat cluttered, mahogany work desk.  Twilight quickly made her way to the bookcase, careful to touch as little as possible.

She rapidly searched the shelves, blowing layers of dust off the spines of some of the more neglected tomes.  Unfortunately, many didn't have titles printed on the spines, requiring her to pull them out by hoof to check.  It would be far simpler to levitate them all out at once and quickly check them, but if the princesses started feeling for her magical signature to chase down the illusionary duplicates she had set up, a detection in one of the royal bedrooms would probably take priority.  That meant magic use kept to an absolute minimum while within the castle.  It also meant dragging over a chair to reach the top shelves.

Finally, she came across an ancient but otherwise nondescript book with a plain brown binding.  The pages were yellowed with age and the cover was too worn and faded to make out the title.  Twilight gingerly opened the book to the first page and smiled.


The Somnibus


A first edition copy.  Almost certainly the first edition copy of the authoritative text on dreamwalking, co-authored by Star Swirl and Princess Luna herself.  Twilight carefully tucked the book away into the small pouch strapped to her side that she had borrowed from Trixie.  Aside from the fact that she didn't know if her magical signature could be read off the enchantment on her own saddlebags, the fact that they were still embroidered with her cutie mark meant they were best left back at the wagon.  With her prize secure, she pulled out her own lucid dreaming text from the pouch and placed it into the slot on the shelf.  Her theft would likely still be noticed before long, but at least this way there wasn't a big ugly gap in the shelf.

Pushing the chair back where she found it, she shot one last look of envy at the astrolabe before she returned to the balcony exit.  A quick glance outside to check that the coast was still clear, followed by a quick run down the side of the tower, and she was vanishing into the busy streets of Canterlot once more.  After stopping in a couple stores to replenish her supplies of coffee, toothpaste, and a few other basic amenities she had run low on or lost after having to abandon her old camp, she made her way to the southern exit.  Once out of the city, she settled down at the meeting spot to wait for Trixie, pulled out her new book, and began studying.


***


“…198...199…200.”

Rainbow Dash finished her set of wing reps, the first stage of her early morning exercises.  Some reasoned argument, a large amount of complaining, and a promise to actually keep her head still for some of the scans, had prompted a modification to her bed.  After all, she would theoretically be leaving here eventually, and when that day came it would be nice if at least some part of her hadn’t withered away from muscle atrophy.  It seemed the staff agreed, and after a security check to make sure she wouldn’t be able to grievously injure anypony, two slits had been added where her wings could slip through for increased range of motion.  With the bed still in the way, she couldn’t quite touch her wings in front of her, but it was a vast improvement over having them bound.

She moved on to systematically clenching and relaxing the rest of the muscles in her body.  Unfortunately, free range of motion for her other limbs was off the table as she had proven time and again that she would seize any opportunity to introduce a hoof to somepony’s face.  Rainbow Dash guessed she had about fifteen minutes left in her morning exercises.  Though there was no clock in the room, her days had fallen into a regular routine.

First she woke up early in the morning and immediately started her exercises, continuing until a nurse came in to feed her breakfast and brush her teeth.  After the first few days, she had decided to let that nurse do her job with a minimal amount of hassle, as going all morning with that grimy teeth feeling wasn’t very enjoyable.

After a quick check of temperature, pulse, and blood pressure, then the battery of morning tests with the neurologists would begin.  Several doctors would hover about, shining lights in her eyes, occasionally poking her with something, and positioning a vast array of whirring and clicking machinery around her head.  Often they’d slip a pair of headphones over her ears and play various sounds, or flash colors and pictures in front of her eyes, or even wave a variety of smells under her nose.  Then they’d look intently at the screens and start scribbling down notes.  This usually took the rest of the morning.

Next came lunch.  This was her favorite part of the day, and not just because the nurse always brought the latest Daring Do book to read aloud while feeding her.  Lunch was almost always something hot and steaming, like a soup or stew.  While the nurse levitated the spoon between the food and her patient’s mouth with automatic motions, she kept her eyes on the book.  This provided Rainbow Dash with a unique opportunity.  She could reach her wingtips just far enough to nudge the air currents and manipulate the rising steam with latent pegasus magic.  With practice, she had learned to pull the water vapor towards her and catch it in her wings.

Some tugging at a loose stitch along the edge of where the wing slits had been cut into her bed provided a small hidden pocket to store the small cloud she had been building.  She wasn’t exactly sure what she was going to do with it yet.  With just a little more vapor, she might be able to squeeze a single small lightning bolt out of it, but it wasn’t clear how that would help her escape.  Still, at least she’d have it on hoof if she needed it, and it was some small way to fight back.

After lunch was probably her least favorite part of the day.  That was when the psychiatrists got their turn.  There were two of them, a mare and a stallion.  Though early sessions had involved meeting with both at the same time, it seemed they didn’t get on well with each other, being on opposite sides of some academic rift in their discipline.  This led to an arrangement of alternating days, which left nopony happy as each insisted the other was wasting time at best, if not negatively impacting their progress.  For all their disagreement with each other, Rainbow Dash hardly noticed a difference.

Either way, it was endless questions.  Questions about her childhood, questions about her job, questions about her dream of being a wonderbolt, and of course, questions about Twilight.  She was thoroughly uncooperative for any other exercises they attempted, but the urge to talk about herself and her awesome marefriend was hard to resist for long.  At least until they started twisting things and trying to put the idea in her head that she didn’t actually love Twilight.  Then conversation turned to either a lot of shouting on her part, or cold silence.

After a break to cool off a bit, the late afternoon and evening were filled with a variety of games.  Though there was the occasional match of checkers or battle skies mixed in, it was usually a chaotic mixture of small tasks.  There were puzzles and memory games, word guessing games, bluffing games, and lots of sorting things into categories.  One time, they had even brought in some kind of electronic reflex game telling her to bite down on the mouth controller as quick as she could every time she saw a squiggly line appear.  She was certain that most, if not all of these games were actually some kind of test from the psychologists on the team.   Still, there was no way she could turn down a chance to win at something.  Even if, strictly speaking, most of the tasks didn’t involve winning or losing, they almost all involved doing as much as she could within a time limit.  That meant a high score to set.

Dinner was delivered by the same nurse who did lunch, which meant some more Daring Do, and about a fifty percent chance of being able to collect more steam.  The nurse would stick around after dinner for some more reading and a few rounds of more traditional games.  She was definitely her favorite of the staff.  She’d still kick her teeth in without hesitation to escape, but it wouldn’t be personal.

After that, the day would end with a last round of checks to her vitals, after which somepony would inject something into the IV line running into her left foreleg and she would be out like a light.  In the morning, she’d wake up with her coat and the sheets feeling a bit cleaner and start all over again.

The sound of the door sliding open marked the arrival of breakfast, standard fruit, muffin, and cereal fare.  Rainbow Dash looked up to see a pair of nurses instead of the usual one.  While one fed her, the other busied herself checking vitals.  Clearly there was some kind of hurry this morning.  The two had barely started to wrap up when Dr. Resonance Image came through the door and started rushing them out.

As he started assembling and activating the standard pieces of machinery, wheeling in the carts that lay against the walls when not in use, Rainbow Dash could see that he looked even more haggard than usual.  Something had clearly been bothering him for the last several days.  Every time she saw him, his frown grew deeper, and it was clear from the bags under his eyes that he hadn’t been sleeping well.  Under different circumstances, she might have felt bad for him, but given the current situation, she relished the chance to kick him while he was down.

“Hey doc, you look like shit.  What’s wrong?  Did your wife leave you because you’ve been spending all your time with another mare you have strapped to a bed?”

“I’ve never been married actually,” he responded dryly as he continued to adjust the monitors.  “I have also noticed that your verbal jabs seem to be getting increasingly lewd in nature.  Why is that?”

Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes.  “Well let’s see.  I’ve been separated from my super-hot marefriend for…I dunno…weeks?  During which, my hooves have been unavailable for duty, so excuse me if I’m a bit tense.  My coat and feathers aren’t the only things that are blue right now.”

“Apologies for your unfortunate bout of celibacy.  We’ve all had to make sacrifices.”

“I’d say eat me, but that might start to sound like a genuine request, and you’d probably be shit at it anyway.”

He pressed a final button, and the last piece of machinery whirred to life with a steady hum.  “Aside from sexual frustration, how are you feeling?  Any different?”

“You mean have your half-baked attempts to brainwash me into not loving Twilight worked yet?”

“As we’ve been over before, there’s no ‘brainwashing’ involved w-“

“Oh sure, but when I say that, it’s all needles and being strapped to a bed.”

“I take it you DON’T feel any different then?”

“Oh gee, lemme think.  No, I definitely-oh wait a minute...wait…I think I…yep, there it is!  I don’t love Twilight anymore.  Good job doc, you can let me out now.  I’ve got a nice big hug for you.”  It was clear from the unnerving grin on Rainbow Dash’s face that said hug would be primarily directed at his neck.

The doctor gave an exasperated sigh and turned back to his work, frown deepening further as he checked each of the monitors.  After several minutes, another equally agitated looking doctor came in saying something about an upcoming meeting.  The two held a hushed but somewhat heated looking discussion in the doorway where Rainbow Dash couldn’t overhear them.

Bored, Dash cast her eyes over the familiar equipment around her until she stumbled upon something out of place.  The doctor had been in such a hurry to rush out the morning nurses that the breakfast cart had been left behind, absently pushed aside during the setup of the rest of the equipment.  On its surface, just a few feet away, was a spoon.  A metal spoon.  An idea quickly took shape.

Rainbow Dash glanced back to the pair of doctors, still distracted by their conversation on the other side of the room where they were both frowning over a set of notes.  She turned her gaze back to the spoon and stretched out a wing.  Just out of reach.

Damn!

Turning an eye back to the doctors to make sure she wasn’t spotted, she carefully reached a wing into her secret hiding place and pulled out her tuft of cloud.  She channeled the latent magic that let pegasi alter cloud density to form suitable building materials, shaping the small mass into a thin string with a loop on the end.  Holding her breath, she used her wing to flick her cloud string at the spoon, attempting to snare the end in the loop.  Applejack had once tried to teach her a few tricks with a lasso, but rope and clouds were very different material.  Finally, on the fifth attempt, the vaporous loop floated gently over the spoon handle.

Yes!

Letting out her breath and holding a new one, she sent a pulse through her feathers to make the string extra solid and gave a quick tug.  The spoon jerked up into the air, tumbling freely as it slipped out of the string and arced toward the floor.  With lighting fast reflexes, Rainbow Dash’s wing lashed out and caught her prize just before it could hit the ground with a loud clatter.

Looking once again to the two doctors to confirm that she still hadn’t been caught, she quickly stuffed the spoon away in her hiding place.  The doctors soon finished their business and came over to scribble down a few final notes from the monitors before packing everything up and leaving.  Once they were gone, a nurse came back in to retrieve the forgotten tray.  The spoon’s absence was either not noticed, or it was assumed to have been taken away by another nurse.

Once she was alone again, Rainbow Dash ran a wing along the underside of the bed, directly underneath where her forelegs were secured.  After a few seconds, she found the familiar texture she was searching for.  A large flat-head screw.  It was just wide and deep enough to fit something like a butter knife (or in a pinch, a spoon handle).  It was too dangerous to try anything during the day, and her nights were severely limited by chemical induced sleep, but her early morning routine was about to see a major change.


***


Dr. Resonance Image scowled once again at his notes as he made his way through the hallways.

Still no change.  Nothing!

By all accounts, their first goal of stopping the malicious magic had been a resounding success.  The counter spell had been finished and deployed, and a pulse of the original magic hadn’t been detected for ten days now.  Even with the geometric decay they had calculated earlier, one was far overdue if the spell was still active.  Aside from the tracer spell they had put in place as a calibration for the monitoring equipment, there wasn’t a single nanothaum of residual spell energy coming off the tissue.

And just as he had feared, eliminating the spell had changed absolutely nothing.  Monitoring had continued in the hope of spotting some delayed effect, but the inevitable conclusion was getting harder and harder to hide from.  Now he had to deliver the news nopony wanted to hear.

He paused outside the door to the conference room and took a deep breath.  Tempers had been running high recently and the team was nearly at each other's throats.  He wasn’t the only one who had seen where the evidence was leading.  There had been murmurs,  questions about what to do next and what exactly the extent of their mandate was.  Speculation around the water cooler had lead to heated arguments on professional ethics, no small amount of personal insults, and at least one count of a bloodied nose.

Now there was no hiding from it any longer.  He had to bring the whole sordid issue out in the open and actually address it.  By the end of it, he fully expected a third to half the staff would be tendering their resignations.

He pushed open the door and stepped into the room.  Nine other faces stared back at him, each looking as uncomfortable as he felt.  They all knew what was coming.

"Let’s not waste any time then shall we?”  He threw the binder full of notes down on the conference table.  “Patient condition remains unchanged, despite no sign of foreign magic after extensive observation.”

A heavy silence filled the room as each pony looked around, wondering who would be the first to speak.  Finally, a light yellow mare with thin rimmed glasses stood up.  “Alright, I guess I’ll be the one to say it.  We’re done.  The spell is gone.  Our work is over.  That’s all there is to it.”  Murmurs of agreement rose from her side of the table.

“Like tartarus that’s all!” a dark blue stallion shouted from the other side of the table.  “We still haven’t fixed any of the damage!  She’s the same as when she came in!”  Angry shouts of agreement rose from his side of the table as well.

“Our job was to undo the spell, not to go rewriting a pony’s brain!”

“No, our job was to undo the effects of the spell by any means necessary.  That means undoing the actual damage and restoring her to how she was.  Look, we all know exactly where the problem lies.  That bridge of tissue.  I think we need to explore surgical options.”

“SURGICAL OPTIONS?!  YOU’RE A DAMN BUTCHER!”  The room exploded into a chorus of angry shouting.

“At least some of us are trying to actually TREAT the patient!”

“Are you even listening to yourself?!  How is what you’re proposing any better than what was originally done to her?!”

“It’s better because it’s UNDOING what should never have been done in the first place!  It’s just restoring her to how she was before!  How can YOU seriously be arguing to leave her like this?!”

The shouting and accusations continued unabated for several minutes until somepony called out a sensible question.

“What does Princess Celestia have to say about this?”  The room fell silent as all eyes turned to Resonance Image for an answer.

“I tried to contact her earlier today, but have so far been unable to reach her.  It seems there is some kind of incident occurring at the castle at the moment.  I expect a call back by the end of the day, where I expect she will defer to our expert judgement as she always has.”  He paused to close his eyes and take a deep breath.  “That said…it has been quite clear since day one that she started this project with the expectation of Rainbow Dash being fully restored to her prior condition.  In light of this, I have to agree that we should start immediately pursuing more aggressive options.”

The shouting matches resumed for a good half-hour, but eventually it came to a vote.  The matter was decided.  Rainbow Dash would be prepped for surgery within the next day.


***


"And you're sure this is a good idea?"

"Honestly Applejack, he's not that bad if you just give him a chance.  Also, this is our only idea at the moment.  Just let me do most of the talking."

"Fine by me."

As they rounded another bend, deep in the heart of the forest, Fluttershy finally found what she had been looking for.  Before them stood a massive tree, almost the size of Twilight's library.  The canopy was a bright blue from the poison joke flowers blooming from every bud tip.  Several more flowers had simply pushed their way straight through the bark of the trunk.  Large, pink, elastic bubbles inflated and popped at random from tiny unseen holes in the bark.

"We're almost there," Fluttershy said as she approached the tree, careful to avoid the dangerous flowers.  She tried to remember the proper pronunciation for the password.  "Klaatu...barada...nekhugghhagh!"  The rough hacking noises were a bit of a strain on her throat, but it seemed to be sufficient as a section of trunk began to slide down to reveal a hidden entrance.

"O-kay..."  Applejack stared into the single empty chamber.  It was a little more spacious than a closet, but not by much.  "Looks like we're leaving the cart here for now.

Fluttershy nodded and waited for Applejack to get ready.  "Now this part can be a bit tricky, so just try and follow my lead."

"Okay, ready."

"Alright.  First, you stick your front right leg in.  Good.  Now take it out.  Now put it back in and shake it around, followed by a full spin."

Applejack didn't speak, but there was no way her look could have said 'seriously?' any louder.

"Yes, yes.  I know.  This is how it works.  Now repeat for front left...now back right...now back left.  Okay.  Now we step inside."

"Umm...nothing's happening."  Applejack had expected some kind of secret elevator or trapdoor or something to activate.  Instead, they were just standing inside a tree.

"Oh, it's not over yet.  There's still a bit more left.  Okay.  Now we spin clockwise 3.14 times and counterclockwise 2.718 times."  Applejack did her best to emulate Fluttershy's spinning.  "Almost there.  Now it's just a jump to the left, a little step to the right, put a hoof on your hip, tuck in your knees and.....we're here!"

"What? Where?"

"Right out there."  Fluttershy pointed a hoof back towards the entrance they had just come through, then lowered it and made her way out.  Applejack followed her as she began to protest.

"But that's just back the way we came!  There's not gonna be anything there except-"  Applejack stepped out into completely unfamiliar scenery.

One of the more difficult issues was determining whether or not she was still outdoors.  The branches of the tree behind her reached high into the air and curved overhead, weaving tighter together until they formed a sort of thatched roof that eventually graded into plaster ceiling somehow.  However, this "ceiling" stretched so high into the air in some sections, that blue sky and the occasional cloud were visible beneath it.  There wasn't any sun visible, yet that didn't seem to have any effect on the illumination.  The ground appeared to be a haphazard mash up of forest floor, sand, hardwood, marble, linoleum, and the odd fish tank.

Looking to her sides, the walls seemed to be...inconsistent.  They changed each time she looked away and back again.  They could be wood panel, brick and mortar, stucco, concrete, or paper.  They could be a few yards away or miles away.  Sometimes they weren't there at all, and one time she thought she could see herself from behind off in the distance.  A quick glance behind her revealed that the tree they had entered (exited?) from had now vanished.

Her disoriented study of their surroundings was cut short as she bumped into Fluttershy, who had abruptly stopped.  She turned her gaze forward again.  There, on a throne carved out of chocolate that was engraved with infinitely recursive images of itself, sat Discord.

"Ladies!  Do come in!  Do come in!  Take a seat."

Two plush velvet chairs materialized underneath them, followed by the sudden appearance of a table, complete with a tea set and an excessive number of doilies.  Several letters of the alphabet flitted back and forth overhead on tiny white wings.  Discord reached up and snatched a capital T, then proceeded to wring it like a sponge, filling both their cups with a steaming dark liquid.  The dazed letter was then released to flutter back up to its colleagues.

"So wonderful of you to drop by.  It's so very rare that anypony ever bothers to come round and see me." Discord took a sip from the cup grasped in his taloned hand, which was currently sprouting five extra little fingers, all fully extended.

"Well living out in the middle of nowhere and having to jump through all them hoops to find the door might have something to do with that.  That is, if you ever even told anypony other than Fluttershy where it is you live in the first place."

"Hmm, yes I suppose that's true.  But on the bright side, it does wonders to keep away pesky door to door salesponies.  Not to mention the cheap real estate.  Oh, and that reminds me," Discord pulled a tape recorder from thin air, "note to self, add literal hoops."  Returning the recorder back to non-existence with a snap of his fingers, he turned back to his guests.  "Now, to what do I owe the pleasure of this unexpected visit?"

Fluttershy fidgeted with her tea cup.  "Well, I...I need a bit of a favor.  You see, it's about-"

"Oh, hold that thought.  It seems we're about to have some uninvited company."

Discord gave a quick snap of his fingers, and Fluttershy found that she couldn't move or speak.  She could still see and hear everything around her, though she wasn't entirely certain how, considering the lack of eyes or ears.  Her fur was gone too, now replaced by a thick layer of bark.  At least her roots found ample moisture, and her leaves were soaking in plenty of the sourceless sunlight.  A variety of different fruits hung from her branches, including apples, oranges, bananas, coconuts, durians, and even some grapes and strawberries.  They all seemed happy, except for Applejack, who seemed to resent being a pear.  Fluttershy decided to send her some more glucose through their joined vascular system.

A bright ball of white light appeared and flared out in a blinding flash. When it had faded, Princess Celestia stood in its place.

"Discord!  We need to talk!"

"Why hello Celestia.  Oh no, don't bother with the door or anything on my account.  Just let yourself in,"  Discord muttered in annoyance from his throne.  "Honestly, does anypony just teleport into your home unannounced to start inane conversation?"

"You.  Frequently."  Celestia's face was as unmoving as marble.

"Yes, but I'm not a pony am I?  Checkmate."  A large chess piece with Celestia's face on the top appeared and promptly exploded.  "Now, what is this all about?  I was kind of in the middle of something here."

"It's about Twilight.  She needs to be stopped."

"Ah yes, I heard about that.  You must be quite upset.  I do know how much you hate it when your little pawns start deviating from all those carefully laid plans you love so much, and it seems your precious pupil and devoted disciple to all things orderly is now stirring up quite a bit of chaos for Equestria.  What's wrong Celestia?  Are you finding that you can't solve all your problems by putting them in or adjacent to rocks?  Then again, I suppose that would be a bit difficult considering the lynchpin of your geologic justice system is currently AWOL."

Celestia's eyes narrowed.  "Discord! If this turns out to be your doing...!"

"Moi?  Hardly.  I'm afraid I can't claim credit for this.  It's just one of those naturally emergent bits of chaos that happen from time to time."

With another casual snap, he summoned a glass of bubbly green liquid, complete with a straw that twisted and looped in at least five dimensions.  The unknown liquid began to turn clear as the color disappeared up the straw.

"And the fact that the elements are removed from the picture is just a happy coincidence?"

"Happy?  Whatever do you mean?  I'm 'reformed' remember?  Quite frankly, I'm hurt, wounded even, and gravely insulted at the insinuation."  Discord pulled out his beating heart, which split in half before he sewed it back together and stuck it back in his chest.  "The thought that I would go behind everypony's back to set a convoluted series of events in motion just to take the elements out of commission and secure my freedom forever, why that's just ridiculous!  Utterly ridiculous!"  Another quick snap summoned a bag of plunder seeds, which he happily began to snack on.  "Honestly, I don't even know where you would get such an idea."

Discord dropped his glass and let it fall up into the sky, while the straw disintegrated in a crackle of fireworks.  Celestia continued to glare in silence.

"Oh, there's that face again.  You know Twilight gives me that exact same look?  Right down to the little vein above the left eye that you think I can't see beneath that cosmetic glamor spell.  That suspicion that I haven't really changed at all.  That I must be biding my time for the right moment to strike.  Or maybe I just decided to go along with being 'good' for a laugh?  You know, just to shake things up a bit?  But maybe I'll change my mind again in the morning.  Who can say?  It's all so very unpredictable, isn't it?

"I have long since given up on trying to imagine what goes on in that head of yours.  Regardless, I have a task for you.  You will find Twilight at once and deliver her to Canterlot Castle."

"Hmmm.  No."

"What?"

"Getting a bit hard of hearing in your old age?  I said no.  It's not often I get this kind of entertainment without having to create it myself.  As a general rule, I like to see how these things play out on their own."

Celestia stamped a hoof, although the loud squeak released by the spongy ground undercut the intended effect.  "I'm not playing around Discord!  That's a-"

"Wait! Wait! Hold on a moment!  Were you really about to say 'that's an order'?"  Discord fell out of his chair as he burst into a fit of uncontrollable laughter.  "AHAHAHAHAHA! OH! OH CELLY!  And here I thought you didn't have a sense of humor!  Giving ORDERS!  To ME! AHAHAHA!"

Celestia's cold glare was quickly growing more heated.  "Discord!  I'm serious!"

This only caused the laughter to intensify.  "AHAHAHAHAHA!  NO!  STOP!  YOU'RE KILLING ME!  I-I CAN'T BREATHE!"

Celestia waited impatiently for the fits of laughter to die down.  Eventually, Discord crawled back up into his throne, breaking off a chunk of the armrest for a snack as he fought through the last aftershocks of giggling.

"As I was saying, once you have found Twilight-"

"Wow, you really are dense aren't you? Here I'll say it slowly so your little pony brain can understand.  I.  Don't.  Take.  Orders.  From.  You.  I'm not one of your subjects and I don't work for you.  End of story."

"And what of your claim of being reformed?"

"What of it?  I'm friends with Fluttershy, and have decided to rein in some of my habits in the interest of preserving that friendship.  None of that means I have to report to you.  As it stands, I give the square root of negative one shits what you think."

A large cardboard box with the words 'Discord's Fucks' emblazoned on it materialized in the air.  A moth flew out of the notably barren interior.

"Did you think that me becoming friends with one of your subjects somehow made US friends?  Oh that's rich, considering you do an even poorer job of masking your open contempt than Twilight.  If Fluttershy wanted something from me, I'd consider it, maybe, if I felt like it.  Even then there's no guarantee because friends aren't servants, and they make requests, not demands.  But for you?  No, not even if there HAD been a please anywhere in there.  So to summarize," a ghostly image of a teal deer flashed overhead, "I'm not subject to your authority, I'm certainly not intimidated by you, and I really don't care about your feelings.  Is that clear?"

Celestia looked as if she had been slapped.  Her mouth hung open as she searched for some kind of response.  "I-"

"Glad we could have this talk."

With a snap of his fingers, Celestia vanished.  Another snap and Fluttershy and Applejack were stumbling around as they attempted to readjust to having legs (as well as lungs and a nervous system) once again.  Once she had recovered her bearings, Fluttershy fixed Discord with a slightly scolding look.

"Yes, yes, I know.  I shouldn't transform ponies without asking first.  Blah blah blah."

"Also, you shouldn't be so rude to Celestia.  That was pretty mean."

"Oh please.  She's a big pony.  She can handle a few harsh words.  Besides, she could use a good telling off once in a while, and there's not many besides Luna and myself to do the job.  She's gotten far too used to getting everything she wants without question over the past thousand years."

"Still, I think it would be really nice if you COULD be friends one day."

"Ha! Now that would be an interesting sight.  You'd certainly have your work cut out for you convincing her of that idea.  But  that's not what you came to me to talk about, was it?"

"Um..n-no. It wasn't..."  Fluttershy's ears folded back as she studied her hoof while it pawed at the dirt.  "It's...It's actually about...Twilight." She gave a small cringe of anticipation.

"Hmm, yes.  That mare does seem to be a rather popular subject lately doesn't she?"  Discord summoned another cup of tea which quickly began to freeze as he drank the heat from it.  "I must say I do enjoy her work.  I know she has no appreciation for the art of chaos, but still, credit where credit is due.  The unintentional sort is just all the more lovely."  The now frozen cup of tea sprouted spider legs and quickly scurried away.  "So, I suppose you want some assistance in tracking her down?  Have old Discord give a quick snap and poof! Twilight Sparkle all wrapped up in a nice little bow?"

"Um...s-something like that, yes.  If you don't mind that is."

"Hmm...sorry, but I'll have to pass.  Nothing personal, but I prefer a policy of non-interference when it comes to pony problems."

"BULLSHIT!"  Both heads turned to face Applejack's accusatory glare.  "Non-interference?  You love causing trouble for ponies!"

"Quite right.  I'll gladly cause trouble, but I'm quite averse to fixing it, particularly if it arose naturally without my involvement.  At least in any kind of boring, straightforward way most ponies would appreciate.  Whenever I do offer help with an issue, the ponies involved usually find they much preferred the original problem to my...creative solution."

"So you could help, but you won't because you're a huge prick who'll only get off his butt to make a big mess bigger."

"Yes, I suppose.  In much the same way you could burn down a field of apple trees while frolicking about in a lacy, frilly, frou-frou dress, but would generally avoid doing so as it is completely antithetical to your nature."

"I-"

"Oh, and keep in mind in this metaphor that ponies get really pissy at you whenever you plant some new apple trees.  Now if you were about to say something along the lines of 'I'd do it to help a friend in need', then congratulations.  You're a better friend than Discord.  You really cleared that high bar."

A trophy materialized out of the air, hovering in front of Applejack's face.  Engraved across it, in a font that somehow dripped sarcasm, was written 'Congratulations!'

"I-I understand," Fluttershy responded with a sigh.  "It's a bit disappointing, but I knew it was a long shot to begin with and I understand you have your own principles to stick by.  Thank you for the tea, but if you really can't help us, I'm afraid we must be going."  Fluttershy rose from her seat and had nearly completed her turn towards the door when a sound caught her ear.

"Weeeelll..."

Her ear gave a small twitch. "Yes?"

"It's true I have somewhat of a rule for not interfering, but you know my thoughts on rules.  What good are they if you don't go breaking them once in a while, and what kind of chaos deity would I be if I didn't at least bend one into a pretzel from time to time?"

"So you'll help us?" A note of hope rose back into Fluttershy's voice.

"In a sense.  I won't drop the curtain on this wonderful little show before it has played out, but that doesn't mean I can't give things a bit of a nudge in an interesting direction.  Stir the pot a bit.  Throw a marble or two of my own into the mix.  Blow on the-"

There was an interruption in the form of a scream of agony coming from the metaphor chained to a nearby medieval rack.  A quick snap and a puff of smoke granted it the sweet release of oblivion.

"Anyway, I won't do anything so anti-climactic as capturing and delivering Twilight to you or the princesses.  I could however see my way to the much more fun alternative of sending you to her.  How does that sound?"

"Sound's like the best deal we're gonna get so...thanks I guess."

"Yes, thank you very much Discord.  That's very helpful."  Discord soon found his midsection wrapped in a tight embrace of yellow hooves.

"Yes, well...that is-...quite..." he mumbled before extricating himself from the hug.  "Now then, something you should know.  Chaos magic can get a bit wibbly wobbly.  This will certainly get you within close proximity to Twilight whenever you arrive, but at the cost of a bit of accuracy regarding time.  So it might be give or a take a day or two either way from the present.  If you're dying for a more detailed scientific explanation, I'm sure Twilight would love to provide a long and tedious lecture, but for now, wibbly wobbly.  Au revoir!"

There was a snap and a bright flash of light.


***


Okay, that should do it.

Twilight closed the book and rubbed at her aching eyes.  She had years of experience pushing off sleep for frankly unhealthy amounts of binge studying.  Practice had allowed her to keep her mind absorbent to new facts, even through the haze of fatigue, and to force the words back onto the page when they insisted on wandering off, but though this may not have been the most taxing session she had ever attempted, it was certainly in the top five.  She had delved deep into the secrets of the Somnibus, and it was time to put what she had read into practice.

Twilight put the book away and settled into the small observation post she had hollowed out of the thicket.  It was far from the most comfortable of locations, but it did leave enough room to lie down and kept her concealed while providing a direct line of sight to the bunker.  Finally ceasing her resistance, her eyes fell shut and she was out in an instant.

Twilight opened her eyes to a wide, but featureless field of grass.  Through the haze in her mind, a nagging thought prompted her to look at her hoof.  She stared intently at the familiar appendage, the same as it ever was.  She focused harder,  trying to examine the details of individual hairs and the skin beneath them.  It was a strain.  The hairs wanted to blur back into a collective fur, and the whole assemblage wanted to remain in the simple abstraction of 'hoof', but that wasn't right.  Things were made of many smaller things.  Cells, proteins, molecules, intricate nested systems all the way down to the sub-atomic level.  Most of it was too small for the naked eye, but there was still plenty of complexity in the optical domain if one took a moment to look.

Twilight pushed harder against this arbitrary boundary that shouldn't exist,  forcing the individual hairs to resolve themselves, and felt something break as she pushed past the resolution limit of what her subconscious could generate on its own.  A wave of clarity washed over her as part of her conscious mind switched back on to pick up the slack and generate what she expected to be there.  Her hoof gained and lost detail, and even cycled through several colors in response to her thoughts.

Dreaming...Right!

Now firmly in control, Twilight got to work on the scenery.  She focused on recalling her memories of another one of the Everfree caves she had once visited with Fluttershy.  Her surroundings blurred and swam out of focus, and when they  returned, she was standing in the woods, in front of a cave with the steady sound of a stream behind her.  It was peaceful, secluded, and most importantly, very far away from her real position in the waking world.  She found a nice spot to settle down and take a nap, quickly finding herself within a second dream.

She couldn't say how effective this would actually be in counteracting an attempt by Luna to trace her real world position, but a delay of even just a few seconds might be crucial.  Regardless, according to her reading, the dream within a dream format didn't actually make leaving her own dream to go visit others any more difficult.  Exiting was just as easy ten dreams down as one, though lucidity was a bit harder to maintain within one's own dream the farther down one went.  Still somewhat of a novice, she decided against pushing her luck, and stayed at two.

Twilight took a moment to practice, both casting conventional spells within her dream, and manipulating reality with her lucidity.  Satisfied, she began looking for an exit.  She let her eyes become unfocused, searching with the corners of her eyes for the seams in the world.  She quieted her mind and opened herself, feeling for the faint pulse of magic that wasn't coming from her.  Finally she found it.  A thin patch in the fabric of the dream reality.  She focused on it, and it formed into a door.  Twilight waved a hoof and it disappeared, then waved a hoof again to bring it back.  She turned around, sprinted several hundred meters, and waved a hoof to summon it again.  Physical locations being meaningless in dreams, accessing the door was entirely a matter of frame of mind.

Twilight approached the door and gingerly pushed it open a crack.  She peered out to see more doors.  An endless hallway of doors stretching either direction and floating amidst an infinite expanse of stars.  She pulled the door closed again.  Now came the difficult part.  If she was going to get herself and Rainbow Dash 'off the grid' so to speak, she was going to have to go out there.  However, while out there, she'd be extremely easy to detect by any other dreamwalkers, namely Luna.  While it was only a matter of time until Luna found her here as well, at least here she had the greatest amount of control and the best chance to wake herself up if things got too bad.  Out there, she'd be close to defenseless.  She had to stick to the plan.  The crazy, absolutely absurd (even by recent plan standards) plan.

Waving the door away, Twilight sat down, took a deep breath, and waited for the Princess of the Night to come for her.  Hooves fidgeted in anticipation.  A nervous bead of sweat slid down her forehead.  Soon.  Any minute now.  Luna would-

There was a dark blue blur of motion in Twilight's peripheral vision.  She snapped sideways just in time to catch Luna leaping at her from out of nowhere.

"SURPRISE MOTHERF-!"  She was quickly cut off due to exploding in response to a thought from Twilight.  Bits of confetti fluttered through the air.

Okay, right.  Mentally responsive environment.  Gotta stop thinking so hard about that.  Think about something else.

Twilight took another deep breath, and a picnic blanket unfurled itself on the grass.  The surface was quickly populated by a variety of snacks, as well as a beautiful rainbow maned pegasus.

"Hey there hot stuff.  How you been?"

Twilight gave a smile as she took a seat.  "Missing you mostly."

"Yeah, I'd say I missed you too, but being a mental construct that doesn't exist when you're not actively thinking about me, I'm not actually around to do any missing."

"..."

"But you know, still good to see you and all."

"Right."

"So. How's the fugitive life been treating you?  Daring heists and what not, sounds pretty exciting."

"A bit too exciting really.  And don't you already know all this?"

"Well yeah, but I figure it's polite to ask anyway, otherwise the small talk is gonna be kinda difficult."  Dream Dash slid closer and wrapped a wing around Twilight's shoulders.  "Unless you were thinking of some other way to pass the time."

"What?  No actually, I wasn't-"

"Really? Because I'm pretty sure the fact that I'm doing this is evidence to the contrary."  Dream Dash's teeth began to nibble gently on the end of Twilight's ear.

"Ahh, okay.  Point taken.  But seriously, now's not a good time.  I don't want Luna bursting in in the middle of that."

"Bah, she's probably used to it.  Probably got a huge voyeur thing going on too.  Not even time for a quickie?"

"Wow, you're really worked up aren't you?"

She gave a shrug. "Hey, I'm your subconscious.  You've been running around the wilderness for weeks.  Clearly you're a little pent up."

"Clearly."

"Well whatever," Dream Dash said as she casually opened a nearby basket.  "I brought chocolate chip pancakes."

The two sat in silence a while as they ate.  The food provided no sense of fullness, nor was the taste anything more than a memory of past flavors, but it was a pleasant diversion nonetheless.

"This...this is nice."  Twilight allowed herself a brief sigh of contentment.  "I promise we'll do this again for real.  Just as soon as I've got you back.  I'm close.  So close."

"Hah!  Fat chance!"

"What?"

"You know, because she probably hates you by now and wants nothing more to do with you.  Oh, sorry.  Did I say something you found upsetting?  Better dream me up a quick mental restructuring until I'm 'fixed'.  Just like in the real world when somepony says something you don't like.  Like 'no' for instance."

"Wha-? No, I..."

"Oh, here's an idea.  How about we get the rest of the girls involved for the next round of bedroom shenanigans?  First rule of science is repeatability isn't it?  And between you and me, I think Fluttershy might be down for it even without the whole mind rapey rigamarole.  Some might be reluctant to share, but I'm sure you can whip up a spell for that too."

"No!  I-I'm not-"

"A rapist?  A liar?  A monster?  Rapist.  Liar.  Monster."  Dream Dash's expression grew darker as questions morphed into statements and then into snarled accusations.  "Rapist! Liar!  Monster!"

The shouting suddenly stopped as Dream Dash pointed with an accusatory hoof and opened her mouth wide.  A high pitched and otherworldly shrieking sound blasted forth, which sent a shiver through Twilight's bones.  She stared back into rage filled eyes and flinched when they began to melt, leaving two black voids behind.  The rest of Dash's face melted and dripped away in a nauseating sight until only a shrieking skull was left.  Twilight blinked and the horror was carried away by the sudden impact of a high speed train.

"Glad to see you could finally make it Luna!"

A cloud of blue smoke floated nearby and coalesced into a tall midnight blue alicorn.

"I see you have been practicing lucid dreaming, though not what you hope to gain by it.  Simple lucidity will do little to help you in my domain.  If you think to fight me here, then you-"  The rest of her warning was cut off by a large safe dropping on her from the sky.  A moment later, the door swung open to reveal the princess entirely unscathed.  "-are sorely mistaken."

White filaments of magic floated out from Luna's horn, disappearing at some length into thin air as they wormed through unseen barriers in the fabric of the dream.  Twilight felt a familiar shiver pass over her.  That sense of being watched, hunted.  The drive to flee, lest something unknown and terrible happen.  But now she knew what it was.  Luna was starting her trace.

Dozens of pairs of scissors popped into existence and neatly snipped each thread.  The icy feeling immediately subsided.  Luna frowned in annoyance, and the flock of scissors turned as one to dart toward Twilight, shears thirsty for blood.  Their attack was interrupted by their transformation into a gentle rain of flower petals, fluttering in the wake of the giant boulder thrown at Luna to disrupt her latest attempt to restart a trace.

"I admit I am surprised." Luna perched on the edge of a recently spawned pillar of rock.  "The sensible, if ultimately futile course of action would be to flee or attempt to wake thyself.  However, if you insist on challenging me, then I shall be glad to demonstrate the folly of thy actions in detail."

Luna's front hooves slammed down on the pillar, sending shock waves rippling through the ground.  A rotting hoof burst through the topsoil, followed by another, and another.  Hundreds of zombie ponies pulled themselves from the earth, forming an army of putrefying flesh.  They turned to Twilight and charged.  With a swish of her tail, Twilight summoned an army of rugged, chainsaw wielding stallions to charge into the undead ranks on her behalf.

Taking the offensive, Twilight concentrated and began to grow until she was as tall as her old tower back in Canterlot.  She raised a massive hoof and slammed it down on her opponent.  Blue smoke slipped out from beneath her hoof, shooting up towards her face and reforming into a regularly sized Luna who nonetheless managed to seize Twilight by the ear and hurl her through the air with ease, sending her on a collision course with a large mountain.  Twilight blinked and the mountain turned to green gelatin, allowing her to pass through mostly unharmed after she decided the rules of surface tension could take a break.  Once out the other side, she returned it to its rocky state and gave a quick kick to send the whole mountain flying back at Luna, followed by a meteor for good measure.

Similar exchanges continued for an impossible to determine amount of subjective time.  Tsunamis crashed against volcanoes and anatomically improbable horrors bristling with teeth and claws clashed against duplicate horrors wearing uniforms emblazoned with a starburst cutie mark.  Copies of Celestia had been invoked by each side in an attempted psychological jab at the other, and now fought with each other amidst the increasingly chaotic fray.  As well as she had managed to hold out so far however, Twilight knew she was slowly losing ground.  Luna had centuries more experience than her.  If she was going to make her move, it had to be soon.

Twilight focused on clearing her mind, sweeping away the armies of constructs and the scenery along with it, leaving her and Luna standing in a featureless plain.  While she visibly sagged, Luna didn't seem to be showing the slightest bit of fatigue.

"I will admit you have fought commendably for one so inexperienced.  I see why my sister took you as her student.  In another time I too might have taken you under my wing.  But as admirable as tenacity is, there comes a time when one must acknowledge their defeat.  Are you ready to surrender yet Twilight Sparkle?"

Twilight rose to her hooves and smirked, a faint glow starting around her horn.  "Not yet.  Though if you're feeling too tired to continue, I guess I could accept yours."

"Very well then.  Have at thee!" With a powerful thrust of legs and flap of wings, Luna launched forward for a direct assault.

Now!

The glow around Twilight's horn turned a sickly dark purple as her eyes flashed green.

> Chapter 13
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Where are you Twilight Sparkle?"  Luna asked aloud as she searched the black void she suddenly found herself in.  It appeared Twilight's capabilities were more advanced than she thought if she was able to conceal herself so.

"Who's there?"  A strange but oddly familiar voice called out, tinged with fright.

Luna turned to the voice's source, a shadowy figure a few paces away. She approached to find a small indigo alicorn with light blue mane and tail and a crescent moon cutie mark.  It was the spitting image of her weakened state after being cleansed by the Elements of Harmony, and it was staring up at her in fear.

"S-Stay away!  Leave me alone you monster!  You won't take me again!  Not again!  I'm not you!"  the construct choked out in a pathetic teary mess.  Annoyed and somewhat insulted by whatever this was supposed to be, Luna fired a quick beam of magic and her counterpart shattered with a scream into dozens of shards that reformed themselves into a mirror.  Reflected in its surface was the visage of Nightmare Moon.

"Really?"  Luna paused, surprised at the sudden shift in her voice to a much deeper timbre .  She looked down to see her new taller and leaner figure, her fur now a deep midnight black.

Well now, this IS interesting.  Changing another dreamwalker's appearance against their will.

Her surprise only grew as attempts to revert her appearance failed.

We're going to have a lengthy discussion about this in the Canterlot dungeons.

"What is this?  Are you seriously attempting to ensnare ME in a nightmare?"

The void faded, replaced by the streets of Ponyville.  Ponies ran in terror, cries of 'Nightmare Moon!' filling the air.  Rank amateur work from top to bottom.  Nothing compared to what she inflicted on herself each day.

"HAHAHAHA! Do you think this is clever?  Do you expect me to cower and weep from this?  Pathetic!"

Ponyville faded, replaced once again by the dark void.

"Let me guess, I suppose next I shall have to confront my sister?"

Right on cue, Celestia stepped out from the shadows.  "Luna?  Is that you?  What happened?"

"Oh how insufferably predictable."  She fired another beam of magic, intended to disperse the dream figment, but to her surprise it was only knocked off its hooves.

"OW!  Luna!  What are you doing?!"

"You're full of surprises today Twilight Sparkle.  Your facsimiles are remarkably durable."  She fired a second beam, only to have it deflected by a shield.

"Damnit Luna!  Stop!  It's me!"

"Much better than the last one at any rate."

"On your 238th birthday I dared you to eat a rock and you did!  You were sick for a week!"

"...Celestia?  But how?  You are not able to enter dreams."

Celestia pulled herself back to her hooves and settled her feathers.  "I picked up a couple things while you were gone.  I'm not an expert, but I can handle the basics."

"Why are you here?"

"I came by your room to check on you.  You've been in here a while, and I figured you could use some help."

Luna turned away, annoyance seeping into her voice.  "I do not require checking up on like a fragile foal, and I do not require your assistance.  I have the situation well under control."

"Luna, I just want to help you.  Please."

"Fine.  You may assist.  But stay back and don't get in the way."

Celestia nodded.  "Right.  I'll follow your lead.  And uh...one more thing.  What's with all of....this?"  She waved a hoof in Luna's direction.  "Is that normal?"

"Fear not, I do not make a habit of traversing the dreamscape in the guise of Nightmare Moon.  Twilight Sparkle has, through some unknown means, managed to force this appearance upon me, I assume in an attempt to unnerve me somehow.  Now come on."

"Where are we going?"

"First we are getting out of this poor excuse of a nightmare."

Smoky tendrils rose from her ethereal mane to probe at the void around them, pushing at the seams and attempting to tear through.  A firm yet ever weakening force pushed back against them.  Twilight was finally growing tired.  Her resolve losing strength.  Now was the time to push on all fronts.

"I can feel you weakening, Twilight Sparkle.  You can't hold me here much longer.  Your nightmare was lacking.  It seems you don't have a proper appreciation for what true terror is, but I'll be happy to show you once I find you.  Mhahaha!" As much as she disliked this appearance being thrust upon her, she had to admit that Nightmare Moon's voice lent extra strength to ominous threats and sinister laughter.  It had proved quite the effective persona for its purpose back when she had created it.  Unfortunately, it worked a little too effectively judging by the sidelong looks Celestia was giving her.

At last the dam broke and the black void was blown away, replaced by the familiar grassy plain.  Twilight was frantically trying to climb back onto her hooves, defenses shattered after being knocked prone by the blast.  Luna seized the initiative.  Her fangs stretched a few extra centimeters and her eyes widened while the pupils and irises constricted into points of bright green fire.  The ambient light dimmed as she rushed forward, fangs bared, and thrust her face right up against Twilight's.

"RUN!"

Luna could feel the last of Twilight's lucidity crumble as fear and panic overwhelmed her.  With her control gone, and awareness of her own dreaming rapidly fading, Twilight stumbled and fled in a blind rout.  Her reign over the dream uncontested, Luna twisted the plain into darkened swamp.  Thick, knee high muck sapped at Twilight's speed, while hidden roots caused her to trip and fall as she scrambled through claw like branches that scraped at her coat.  Luna flew after her quarry, magically projecting her voice into a whisper in Twilight's ear.

"You can't escape.  I've almost got you."

She sent a warm, damp breeze as a simulated breath to brush against the back of her target's neck.  This spurred an extra burst of speed, followed by a series of blind teleports which ceased only when Twilight looked up to find that her horn was gone.  As she felt frantically around her now empty forehead, a pair of rotting hooves burst up from the slime to grab at her back legs.  She kicked free, but more rose up to grab at her legs and tail, pulling her further down into the dark muck.  Up to her neck and spitting out mouthfuls of foul black liquid, Twilight managed to grab hold of a vine and pulled with all the strength she could manage.  Slowly, she began to rise back out of the swamp. Just as she had pulled herself halfway out, the vine lashed itself around her midsection and yanked her up.  Two more vines wrapped themselves around her back legs and flipped her over to dangle upside down above the reaching grasp of the rotting hooves below. Another vine wrapped around her neck and squeezed.  Twilight choked and gasped, her front hooves slapping fruitlessly against the vine, unable to find any purchase to pry it off.

Spots danced in front of her eyes from the lack of oxygen and the hooves below brushed at her mane as the vines lowered her ever closer.  Looking up, she could see the dark silhouette of Nightmare Moon approaching, fangs bared and gleaming.  The pawing of her front hooves at her neck grew more feeble as strength drained from her limbs and darkness spread from the corners of her vision.  Nightmare Moon was now face to face with her, jaw unhinging  as the razor filled mouth spread to encircle her head.

"Luna!  That's enough!"  Celestia shouted.

The scenery flickered as Twilight's nearly closed eyes began to twitch open.  Luna quickly tightened the vines and hit Twilight with a jolt of magic, sealing her in a crystal bubble of stasis.  The swamp vanished, returned once again to the featureless plain.  She turned to glare at Celestia, but was interrupted before she could speak.

"What was all that Luna?!"

"That, dear sister, was me working and you nearly rousing my target back to lucidity at the crucial moment!"  Luna expected a sheepish apology in response, but got only accusations.

"But you were enjoying that!  The laughing, the taunting..."

Luna bristled in response. "Theatrics are important to the task.  I do not need to be lectured on how to fulfill my own duties by y-"

"No!" Celestia cut her off.  "Are you seriously going to say that all of that was necessary?  That that was the minimum amount of torture you had to put her through to trap her in that?" Celestia pointed to the crystal cocoon Twilight floated in.  "There's no justifying that level of cruelty!  You were out of control!"

That was the last straw.

"AND WHAT WOULD THOU KNOWEST OF OUR WORK!?"  Dark thunder clouds formed in the sky and her mane and tail thrashed violently in the winds of a raging storm.  Her eyes glowed a solid bright white.  "THOU HAST NEVER IN MILLENNIA TAKEN INTEREST IN THE THANKLESS TASKS WE PERFORM TO KEEP EQUESTRIA SAFE!  TOO BUSY SIPPING TEA WITH SYCOPHANTS AND BASKING IN ADORATION TO DIRTY YOUR HOOVES YOURSELF!"

Celestia attempted to affect a stern mask of calm, but Luna could see hints of fear betrayed in the corners of her eyes.  No.  Not fear.  Concern.  Squashing down her anger, Luna's eyes returned to normal and the clouds dispersed as the savage winds came to rest.  She took a deep breath before speaking again.

"If your stomach remains too weak for such business, I advise you leave and collect your student." A scroll bearing coordinates materialized between them and floated toward Celestia.  "I shall remain here and ensure that she does not wake until she is properly secured."

No further words were spoken as Celestia read over the coordinates, blinked, and disappeared from the dream.  Luna turned back to her sleeping prisoner with a scowl.  In truth, perhaps she had been a tad overzealous near the end.  Perhaps not every element of that chase had been strictly necessary, and after Twilight had managed to slip through her hooves for so long, her temper had briefly gotten the better of her.  She would be damned if she was going to admit that to Celestia now though.  Not when she was being so unreasonable.  Acting like she knew the first thing about dream magic and was in any position to chastise her like a disobedient foal.

At least Celestia was actually yelling for a change.  It was better than her usual gentle condescension that set Luna's teeth on edge.  It was bad enough before her banishment when she had occasionally been treated as a child for simply being the younger sister, but since her return there was that extra bit of caution.  That sense that she was somehow too fragile to be spoken to plainly.  That too harsh a word might send her into some kind of relapse.  Next to that, shouting had been a welcome relief, until she saw that glint of pitying concern in Celestia's eyes.

Giving another growl of anger to herself, she summoned a pool of cool water to splash on her face.  Looking down into the water, she saw a fanged reflection snarling back at her.  Despite regaining full control of the dream, she had forgotten to change back amid all the excitement.


***


Two weeks had passed, and still they had hardly spoken more than a hoof-ful of words to each other.  It was nothing to be overly concerned about.  They had once had a spat in their younger days that resulted in not talking to one another for nearly five years.  Special positions in the guard had been created to relay passive aggressive requests to pass various condiments during meals.  As much as she still resented her sister's behavior however, her anger had cooled slightly and mixed with a modicum of sympathy after catching a glimpse of the mountain of paperwork Celestia was buried in.

Twilight was restrained in the most securely warded cell that could be found, watched at all times by no fewer than ten elite unicorn guards, but the proper arrangements for her trial were barely half complete.  It seemed that the criminal justice system had grown significantly more complex in the past thousand years.  This had been a tolerable development only because (to Celestia's credit) the crime rate had been so staggeringly low.  An offense of this magnitude had not been committed for at least six centuries, and the specific law books regarding mind control magic required some translation from old Equestrian after they were found.  Then there was the team of legal scholars debating whether Rainbow Dash's status as the Element of Loyalty qualified additional charges for both assault on a national treasure and tampering with national security, which would qualify as espionage.

Then there was the pressing concern of how to operate the Elements of Harmony sans Twilight.  Celestia had been using every waking moment she could find, and quite a few that should have been non-waking, to research possible workarounds, either by forcing Magic to re-synch to another pony, or by somehow distributing its role amongst the other bearers.  Sadly, the one pony most capable of handling such a task was Twilight Sparkle herself, and she was no longer speaking.  She was barely eating, any fire of life long since gone from her dull gaze.  Even without the focal element bearer gone, it would take a small miracle to get that group properly harmonized.  Recent events had left morale at an all time low, even ignoring the state Rainbow Dash was in.

Rainbow Dash's recovery was an ongoing issue.  The spell's effects had been successfully reversed, but there was quite a lot of trauma left to work through.  She spent most of her days in some form of counseling.  Somehow,  between the trial preparation, her research, and her regular duties, Celestia found time to visit her each day.

And on top of all that, there were staggering numbers of changeling prisoners to process.  Nopony could even agree whether they should be classified as criminals, prisoners of war, or 'enemy combatants', much less what should be done with them all.  Creating facilities to physically hold them for now was challenge enough, but as most ponies involved were squeamish about watching prisoners starve to death, and generally didn't favor the alternative of mass executions that did far more than border on genocide, the question of how to ethically feed all these prisoners had become something of a hot button issue.

With that monumental workload on her shoulders, Luna found it increasingly difficult to stay angry with Celestia.  Well no, that wasn't quite right.  She could easily stay angry.  Celestia's condescension and the way she walked on eggshells around her was still infuriating, still caused an occasional flare of temper, but she felt increasingly petty for brooding over it.

While making her customary dusk rounds of the castle, Luna paused in front of one of the many stained glass windows.  It had been put in shortly after her return from the moon, commemorating the reunion of the two sisters.  Azure tears of joy adorned the glass Celestia's face.  Luna remembered their wetness in her mane as she had been pulled into that embrace.  She gave a weary sigh.

She means well.  My sister's stresses are many, and I should not add to them.

Still, she had offered her assistance and been rebuffed for her efforts.  True she was not well versed enough in legal matters to help with the trial, nor, she had been told, was her bedside manner conducive to helping Rainbow Dash, but she was more than capable of easing the burden of Celestia's day to day duties.  Yet still, her sister stubbornly refused to trust her with increased responsibilities, just as she had for the past several years ever since her return.  The theoretical 'equal diarchy' that ruled Equestria was the subject of numerous jokes, albeit ones nopony would dare utter outside of whispers behind closed doors.  Luna took a deep breath and held it.  Counting to ten as she attempted to quell the latest flare of anger.

Tell her.  Tell her everything.  An honest discussion.  Get it all out in the open and make her understand exactly how what she is doing is hurting you.  She DOES care.  She will understand if you can just find a way to explain it without shouting.

Exhaling slowly, Luna set off in search of Celestia.  First an apology, and then a long overdue conversation.  Unfortunately, she was proving surprisingly hard to find.  She wasn't in her chambers, the libraries, or the kitchens.  Finally she managed to stop a passing guard.

"You there.  Where is our sister?  We would speak with her."

The guard gave a quick bow.  "The last I saw Princess Celestia, she was assembling the Element Bearers in conference room A."

A spark of hope.  Perhaps Celestia had finally solved the issue of the Elements.  If so, that was cause for great relief.  After thanking the guard and sending him on his way, she made her way to the conference room.  She prepared to enter, but paused upon hearing her name.

"-and you really think Luna....you think she might...?" she heard in Applejack's distinctive drawl.

The reply came in Celestia's voice.  "I honestly don't know, but she has become....unstable.  Prone to frequent outbursts.  I fear it has only grown worse in recent days.  That's why, now that I've been able to successfully reattune with the Element of Magic, I ask that you all stay here at the castle for the time being.  Just to be safe."

Luna's vision blurred with tears.  This couldn't be happening.  She couldn't believe what she was hearing.  That Celestia would go behind her back like this.  But no, that was so very Celestia.  Ever plotting, scheming, manipulating, and nigh incapable of handling anything in a straightforward and honest manner.

"I advise you all to be cautious.  In her current state, I'm afraid Luna could be-"

"DANGEROUS?!"  Luna shouted as she kicked open the door.  Six pairs of eyes snapped to her.  Celestia looked as if she had been caught with a hoof in the cookie jar.  "That's what you were going to say wasn't it?!  That I'm dangerous?!  A wild beast that needs to be observed, placated, and possibly put down for everypony's safety?!

"L-LUNA!  I swear I can explain!"

"I'm sure you can!  You were always quite the diplomat!  I'm sure you can find some way to twist this act of betrayal so that you are entirely blameless and I'M the one being unreasonable!"

"Please! Don't take this pers-"

"DON'T TAKE THIS PERSONALLY?!  HOW IS ONE MEANT TO TAKE IT WHEN ONE'S KIN CONSPIRES AGAINST THEM IN THEIR OWN HOME?!"

"Luna please.  Calm down," Celestia calmly pleaded as she placed a hoof on Luna's shoulder.

No.  She had a right to be angry over this.  Celestia was wrong.  She had no right to ask for calm and act like she was the mature and sensible one here.  No right to pull that same tired, condescending, holier than thou crap.  Not now.

"DON'T TOUCH ME!"

Luna lashed out with a front hoof.  Though she only meant to knock her sister's hoof away from her shoulder, she misjudged the distance and connected with Celestia's face.  Celestia stumbled under the force of the blow and a small amount of blood trickled from the corner of her mouth.  With alicorn regeneration it was hardly a scratch, but in their millennia of life, for all their sisterly quarrels, the two of them had only ever drawn blood on one occasion.  Luna was too livid to care about that at the moment.

A collective gasp went up from the other five occupants of the room.  Applejack, Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie, and Rarity all placed themselves between her and Celestia and assumed combat stances.

"What?  No!  You-you can't possibly take her side on this!  Can't you see she's in the wrong here?!  WHY WON'T ANYPONY LISTEN TO ME?!!"

Luna stomped in frustration, splintering the hardwood flooring.  A nearby lamp exploded from magical pressure.  The five ponies jumped backward.  She could see the pendants around their necks start to glow.

"NO! STOP!"

The glow intensified as a rainbow threaded its way between them, lifting them off the ground.  Behind them a tearful Celestia donned a tiara.

"NO!"

A rainbow wave rose and crashed into her.  She closed her eyes against the searing bright light.

"NOOOOOO!!!"

When the light passed she was alone in deafening silence.  She opened her eyes to a sterile white plain, eerily beautiful in its oppressive emptiness.  One visible feature marked the impossibly barren landscape from where she stood.  A massive series of short lines scratched into the ground.  Tick marks.  Exactly three hundred and sixty five thousand of them.

Luna opened her mouth to scream, but the airless environment produced no sound, leaving only the old familiar silence.  It never stopped her from trying.


***


Twilight let the magic fade from her horn with a sigh of relief.  She looked up at Princess Luna, frozen in place, staring blankly ahead with dark purple flames lapping at the corners of her eyes.  Her irises and sclerae glowed a sickly red and green.  With Luna temporarily incapacitated, she was now free to continue with the rest of the plan.  Hopefully this was the hard part and it would be relatively easy going from here.  Twilight waved a hoof and summoned the door, closing it gently behind her as she stepped out into the dreamscape.
> Chapter 14
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

        Twilight stepped out into the endless field of stars, trying her best not to stare too hard into the naked face of infinity.  Looking down was another action she tried to avoid.  Despite the lack of anything resembling a surface to support her hooves, she was able to walk normally through the void as if she were simply strolling down a hallway.  Concerned that the efficacy of this phenomenon was somehow inversely tied to how much she thought about it, she decided to leave well enough alone.

Instead, she turned her gaze forward, where she was immediately greeted by a rather plain looking door.  Looking back over her shoulder, she saw the different, but equally nondescript door she had just exited, though this one thrummed with the faint familiar feel of her own magic.  To her right and left stretched an endless corridor of similar doors.  She peeked around the edge of the one in front of her to see similar stretches of doors in the distance,  forming an enormous grid that stretched out of sight in all directions.

Cautiously probing the door in front of her with her magic, Twilight gave a tentative sideways push.  Multi-hued rectangles rapidly scrolled past her face like the books of her old tower library if somepony had given the wheeled ladder a firm kick with her still on it.  Eventually the sliding stopped, revealing a set of entirely new doors surrounding her.  She turned back behind her once again, and with a thought, the entrance back into her own dreams reappeared.

Good, at least I know I can get back easily enough.  Now for the tricky part.

Finding the way back to her own dreams was a simple matter, but finding the dreams of a particular pony out of the entire sleeping population of Equestria?  The proverbial needle and haystack seemed insufficient.  It was like searching for an individual grain of sand on the beach.  Fortunately, it helped immensely if she already had a general idea of where the pony in question was in the physical world.

Twilight focused on visualizing her observation post in the thicket where she had settled down to sleep.  She imagined a spherical volume around herself with a quarter mile radius, too small to reach into Hoofington, but large enough to encompass any and all ponies in the underground bunker.  Her horn tingled as she felt something push out from the tip.

If she had been able to see herself in the physical world, she would have marveled at the ethereal white threads that arced up before diving straight into the ground, passing through earth and solid walls to reach the slumbering ponies below, before fading from sight.  Instead, she looked up to see a similar cluster of threads rapidly branching out into the endless dreamscape and attaching themselves to seemingly random doors.  When the last of the threads had finally found its destination, Twilight gave a sharp tug with her head.

The multitude of threads grew taut and began reeling back in.  Countless unmarked doors shuffled away into the distance to make room for a new set of doors, glowing a faint white and pulled by the rapidly shortening threads.  Though a part of her was concerned about how awfully fast the rather solid looking cargo seemed to be approaching, they all came to a sudden stop a few paces in front of her when the threads detached and wound back into her horn.  In all, 36 doors stood before her in a neat six by six grid, entrances to the dreams of  some mixture of guards, maintenance and service staff, and the “medical expert VIPs” the changeling intelligence reports had mentioned

And somewhere in there is Dash.

Twilight approached the leftmost door in the front row.  Now it was just a matter of systematically searching until she found the right one.  Taking a deep breath to steady herself, Twilight carefully opened the door and stepped inside.

There was a blinding flash of light and a feeling of vertigo.  When her vision returned, she found herself standing inside what appeared to be a school classroom.  She quickly took a seat at a nearby desk, seeking to blend into the background of the dream as much as possible.  It was imperative that she cause as little disturbance as possible if she wanted to minimize the chance of being detected.  Non-lucid dreamers tended to be rather inattentive to anything they weren’t directly focusing on, and there was no guarantee what they would actually remember when they woke up, but it was better safe than sorry.

Twilight’s eyes were drawn to a ludicrously oversized pendulum clock that took up the entire forward wall and filled the room with a loud ominous ticking.  She  looked around at the other ponies in the room.  Their features were blurred and indistinct,  a literally faceless crowd, with the exception of one pony.  A bright pink earth pony mare with short blonde bangs sat hunched over her desk, scribbling furiously with the pencil between her teeth.  Letters and numbers were constantly trying to float off the page, forcing her to exert a great deal of effort snatching them out of the air with her hooves and forcing them back down.  Her desperate scribbling was further impeded by the occasional tooth falling out of her mouth, causing her to temporarily lose her grip on the pencil until she could pick up the wayward tooth and push it back into place.  Another blurred figure, likely an instructor of some kind, approached and began spouting nonsense in a clearly annoyed tone.

 “The petunias are orange on a monday!”

“I’m sorry!” The pink mare responded, ears lowering in shame.

“Lizards dance polka in the steam!”  the teacher continued, apparently unsatisfied.  The pink mare simply scribbled faster.

Whatever was going on here, this clearly wasn’t Rainbow Dash’s dream.  Twilight searched for a seam to make her exit.   A door to a utility closet in the back of the classroom pulsed faintly with a golden glow.  Confirming that the eyeless gazes of everypony else in the room were focused elsewhere, Twilight stood up and made her way to the back of the room.  She paused as she reached out to open the door, casting a sympathetic look back to the dreamer.

No!  Absolutely not!  Don’t even think about it.

But we can’t just leave her like that!

We absolutely can and will.  We don’t have the time to stop and play sandmare to everypony we come across.  That’s Luna’s responsibility anyway.

Well thanks to us, she’s a bit preoccupied at the moment.  We should help.

Why?  Why should we help the enemy?  She’s works in the bunker where they’re holding Dash.  There’s a good chance we’ll be fighting her a couple hours from now.

That doesn’t mean she deserves to suffer.  I mean, I don’t know, maybe she’s an evil pony who kicks puppies for fun, but she could just be the technician or the lunch lady who happened to be assigned here and is just trying to do her job.  I don’t have any personal grudge against her specifically, and nopony deserves a test dream.

I think you’re just a bit biased on the subject matter.

Probably, but still, I can’t just turn my back on a pony needlessly suffering right in front of me when there’s something I can do about it.

Arrg! Your bleeding heart is going to get us caught!

Pushing aside her doubts, Twilight aimed her horn at the enormous clock.  The rapid swing of the pendulum began to slow, setting a much less frantic pace.  A lavender tinted transparent bubble of silence formed around the pink mare, blocking out the harsh, unintelligible criticisms of the teacher.  Finally, she projected her voice into the bubble as a light whisper.

“Don’t worry, you’ve got this.  It’s exactly what you studied for.”

The pink pony shifted to a more relaxed posture as the tension began to visibly drain out of her.  The writing grew less frantic, yet more determined, and the letters began to settle themselves back onto the page where they belonged.  Twilight gave a satisfied nod to herself and opened the door, stepping back into the star filled dreamscape.  It had been a while since she had last been able to help somepony with a problem, friendship related or otherwise.  She had missed that feeling.

Well I hope that warm fuzzy feeling is worth risking the success of this entire operation.  You’re here for Dash, not to soothe festering self-doubts as to whether you are still, in some abstract sense, a ‘good pony’. 

Twilight shook her head clear and approached the second door.  Recovering from the bright flash and accompanying dizziness a bit quicker this time, she found herself standing amongst another generic crowd of ponies.  They were in some kind of observation booth, clustered around the glass wall that separated them from the large, circular arena down below.  From what she could make out, it seemed to be an operating room.  She pushed forward to get a better look and gasped.

There was Rainbow Dash, strapped to an operating table and thrashing about violently, her face a mixture of anger and fear.  A brown unicorn stallion in a labcoat approached with an array of sinister looking surgical implements.

Twilight had almost finished her reflexive charging of a spell to blast the thick plate of glass to pieces and run in to rescue Dash, but aborted at the last second as her eye caught an important detail.  There was a faint glowing outline around the unicorn doctor, like a thin film of golden dust, that was markedly absent from everypony else, including Rainbow Dash.  This wasn’t Dash’s dream, it was the dream of the unicorn down below.  Waiting for her fight response to calm down, she sat and watched what happened next, reminding herself that it wasn’t really Dash.

Oddly enough, the array of terrifying surgical instruments remained unused.  The stallion simply walked around the table, placed two hooves on the top of Rainbow Dash’s head, twisted, and neatly popped the top half of her head off in one solid piece like a screw cap.  Rainbow Dash didn’t show any signs of pain, but did begin a long tirade of ear singeing profanity.

The doctor reached into the open cavity with both hooves (rather deeper than strictly should have been possible) and pulled out an implausibly clean and bloodless brain.  The removal didn’t seem to have much impact, as Dash’s string of insults continued even as he placed her brain on a nearby tray.  The stallion quickly set to work with scalpel and forceps, peering through a large floating magnifying glass as he meticulously searched for something.

 Whatever it was he was looking for, he was having very little success in finding it.  The damage from frequent incisions was starting to pile up, the oozing lump not looking nearly as clean anymore.  Murmurs of disapproval spread through the crowd of observers.  A large winged and horned shadow fell over the area, though its source wasn’t visible.  A bead of sweat trailed down his neck, and his grip on the tools began to shake slightly, resulting in sloppier cuts and occasional mistakes that only made the murmurs grow louder.

Twilight turned her attention away from the disturbing scene below and focused on searching for the nearest exit from the dream.  She sent a quick pulse from her horn and looked around for the faint glow that would highlight where the dream was thinnest, frowning when she finally spotted it.  Her exit was apparently in the gaping hollow head of the dream Rainbow Dash.

Gross.

Giving a resigned sigh, she took a brief look at the crowd around her.  Her presence had gone unnoticed so far, but that might change if she entered the spotlight down below.  It was also entirely possible that the rest of these ponies were just a part of the scenery and no more capable of noticing her than a cardboard cutout.  Still, Twilight took a moment to summon a nurse uniform before teleporting to a far corner of the room, behind the preoccupied stallion.

Producing a clipboard to carry in front of her, Twilight began to circle around the room, making her way closer to the dream Rainbow Dash, who had started laughing uncontrollably at the doctor’s increasingly desperate efforts.  By now, a third of the brain had been rendered into an unrecognizable gelatinous mess.  Scalpel and forceps had been discarded in favor of a hammer gripped between his forehooves.  Peeking around her clipboard, Twilight caught a glimpse of something in his eyes that betrayed a sincere desire to stop, yet the wild swings continued.  Glancing up, Twilight could just make out a set of white and gold strings that ran from his hooves and horn, up into the blank darkness above that took the place of a proper ceiling.

Finally reaching her position behind dream Dash, Twilight stared into the vacant cranial cavity.  About a body length into the dark tunnel was a faintly glowing door.  Oddly enough, though not terribly surprising by this point, she found she could stick both her front hooves and her head inside without even touching the sides, despite the entrance appearing no larger than a typical pony’s head.  She gave a quick look back at the doctor still hammering away at the pile of mush in front of him.

Ah, screw it.

Her horn flashed and the group of strings were severed.  She didn’t stay to see the result, but as she crawled the rest of the way into the tunnel and opened the door, she heard a loud crashing noise, as if something heavy had been thrown at a large plate of glass.

Third time’s the charm?

Twilight wasted no time in proceeding to the third door.  After another quick disorienting flash, she found herself sitting at a cafeteria table.  She hardly had a moment to examine her surroundings when the faintly glowing white pegasus to her right turned and spoke.

“I don’t know, should I go talk to her?  What do you think?”

Twilight gave only a noncommittal shrug as she tamped down on the sudden surprise at being spotted, doing her best to remain calm.  The pegasus gave a quick look back to the subject of his inquiry, and Twilight took the opportunity to change her coat to a faded yellow.  He didn’t appear to notice when he turned back.

“Yeah, you’re right.  Who can tell with mares like that?  Well, sorry to bother you...uh, actually I don’t think I’ve seen you around before.  Are  you a new transfer?”

Twilight seized the opportunity “Yep! New transfer, that’s me.  Just arrived actually.”

“One of the new psychologists I’m guessing.”

“How’d you know?”

“You’ve just got that look that screams ‘academia’.  It sticks out like a sore thumb here amongst the grunts.  Most of the rest of the doctors think they’re too good to eat with the riff raff here.  Though if the rumors about their private break room are true, I wouldn’t want to leave there either.”

Twilight gave a small chuckle.  “Well I haven’t seen it yet, but I’ll be sure to let you know if it lives up to the hype.  And yeah, I guess they can be kinda stuck up like that.”  An idea suddenly began to form in her mind.  It carried risk, but the rewards could potentially be enormous.  “Actually...they all seemed really busy, and I think they all thought somepony else would take care of getting the newbie settled, so I kinda didn’t get a proper orientation.  Would you mind giving me the quick tour?  Emergency exits, that sort of thing?”

“I’d be happy to miss…?”

“Dawn Twinkle.”

“Well miss Twinkle, there’s no time like the present.”

Twilight fell in line behind the helpful guard, following as he led her through the winding hallways.  He pointed out the various administrative offices, the communications hub, and the power generator room.  Being a dream, she was sure there were some scale issues.  Some of the hallways seemed to stretch on unreasonably long, while other times the transition between notable rooms was skipped entirely, but some directed questions revealed crucial information such as number of floors and what could be found on each of them, as well as peak traffic areas throughout the day.  Finally, they reached the area of greatest interest to her and her persona.

“And this is the door to the patient room.  I’d be careful if I were you, she’s pretty feisty.  She’s restrained most of the time, but I’ve heard she’s been known to try to bite if you get too close.”

“Thanks again for showing me around.  Oh!  I just remembered, I need to go meet somepony by the front entrance.  What’s the quickest way from here to there again?”

The guard rattled off a quick list of directions and offered to lead her back.  Twilight waved off the offer, thanked him again, and took off.  Once out of sight, she quickly tracked down another glowing door to make her exit. Twilight made her way through five more sets of dreams, one doctor, one nurse, two more guards, and a maintenance technician.  Each time, she repeated her gambit of posing as a new transfer and requesting a tour.  

A workable mental map of the base’s layout started to come together in her mind.  Correlation between the multiple models smoothed out some of the errors and inconsistencies regarding exact distances.  One couldn’t be completely sure, but she was confident her mental map was at least 85% accurate.

Twilight trotted through the ninth door with practiced ease.  When the light had faded, she was greeted with a most unexpected sight.  The ruined remains of some ancient temple surrounded her.  Vines and lichen overran the walls, a few fragments of colorful mosaics that hadn’t yet crumbled into rubble peeking through the gaps.  In the center of the room, suspended over a pit of lava was . . . herself.

Twilight raised an eyebrow as she looked over her duplicate.  Her forehooves were restrained above her head by the thick coils of vines that hung down from the ceiling and wrapped tightly around the rest of her body.  A few beads of perspiration ran down her coat, likely due to the heat and/or mortal peril posed by the lava down below.  Though nothing appeared wrong with her horn, she didn’t seem to consider any course of action other than wriggling and squirming within her bonds, accompanied by what Twilight considered to be a quite unnecessary chorus of gasps, grunts, and various vocalizations.

Okaaaay...that’s um...that’s something.

A warmth had begun to spread through Twilight’s face and ears that had little to do with the nearby pool of lava, when a single word snapped her to attention.

“DASH!” Twilight’s copy shouted, her eyes a mix of joy, relief, and horror.  Twilight’s eyes followed to the doorway on the far side of the room where a rainbow maned pegasus with a faint gold outline hovered, wearing a cocky grin.

“Hey Twi, how’s it hanging?”

“Dash, no!  It’s a trap!”  Even as she shouted her warning, dark smoke began to pour out of cracks in the walls, rising up to form roughly pony shaped shadows with red glowing eyes.

“Well duh!  Of course it’s a trap, that much was obvious.”  Dash grinned as she looked over the roughly two dozen shadow ponies that now surrounded her.  “Alright, who’s first?”

What followed was a flurry of action that Twilight had difficulty tracking amidst shadowy forms bursting like clouds under solid hoof strikes.  As the last puff of smoke from a slain enemy dispersed, the victorious pegasus flew up to her cheering marefriend.  With a single spinning kick, she severed the vine that held her prize, swooping down to catch her before she could fall.

The violet mare didn’t wait until they had landed to shake off the rest of her bonds and launch herself at her heroic rescuer, catching Dash in a deep and passionate kiss that added a bit more of an erratic wobbling to their descent.  The make out session only grew more heated once they reached the ground.

The real Twilight continued to watch from her position behind a pile of rubble.  With how fast everything had happened, it had taken a moment to sink in, but now an excited grin was spreading across her face.  She had finally found what she was looking for.

The question of what to do next loomed in her mind.  She had come here with a specific task in mind, but with Dash right in front of her after all this time apart, there was a growing compulsion to run to her and ask if she was okay, to tell her that she had been looking for her all this time, that she was coming to save her, and that they would be together for real very soon.

She wanted to do quite a few other things as well, but it seemed the other Twilight was currently beating her to it.  The surrounding temple walls had already shimmered and faded, having been replaced by the oak walls of her library bedroom, and the two ponies had made their way to the sizeable bed.  Twilight’s cheeks reddened as she got a rather unprecedented view of herself, trying to decide if she should interrupt, look away, keep watching, or possibly even join in.  Surely she had the time to spare, and there were just so many...possibilities.  Things she hadn’t considered before, but was now having a very difficult time NOT considering in lurid detail.

Unfortunately such investigations would have to wait for another time.  The air began to ripple and the world began to grow paler, as if all colors were being drained from the environment. Chunks of the wooden walls began to dissolve.

Oh no! She’s waking up!  No no no no no!  It’s too early!  Damnit Dash!  Of all the times to start becoming an early riser!”

Twilight did her best to stabilize the dream while she searched for an exit.  She had a job to do, but she could only do it so long as Dash was actually asleep.  If she woke up first, then this whole mission was for nothing, and she doubted Luna would be nice enough to be politely incapacitated again for a second attempt the next night.

Ducking into a nearby closet, Twilight leapt back out into the dreamscape and whirled around.  The door was still solid for the most part, but growing slightly transparent along the edges.  She would have to work fast.

She placed a hoof on the door, focusing on attuning to its specific magical wavelengths as she worked to recall all she had read.  A glow appeared around the knob and began to branch out across the surface, forming into thick chains with a heavy looking lock.  This was of course no more a literal physical lock than the door was a literal physical door, but rather a complex system of spellwork abstracted into a metaphorical symbol easily interpreted by pony brains.  Likewise, the ‘key’ to such a lock was closer to a thought or state of mind than anything physical.  Twilight set the key as the combination of the first 20 digits of pi, the cyan color of Dash’s coat, the smell of pancakes, and the first few bars of an upbeat tune she made up on the spot.

While some might have considered that sufficient protection, for Twilight it was just the beginning.  Luna could still find this door even if it was locked, and she wasn’t nearly arrogant enough to think that it would hold up indefinitely against an alicorn princess with dedication and an unlimited amount of time to work at the problem.  Just because she had no idea how one could possibly break through such heavy protection didn’t mean it was impossible, or that Luna hadn’t learned and kept a few secrets over the millennia.  Maybe it really was impossible to crack within at least 10 of her natural lifetimes, but now wasn’t the time for half-measures.  Now was the time to be properly paranoid.

Twilight focused again on getting her magic in tune with the door.  Then she began to, for lack of a better term, paint.  The wooden browns of the door slowly took on dark blue and black hues, peppered with white pinpoints, until it began to resemble the surroundings of the star filled dreamscape.  As she worked on the texturing of her visual camouflage, she also worked on the non-visible aspects.  The natural low level magic emissions that radiated from the door were masked, scattered, and refracted until it matched a close approximation of the general background, with the excess redirected back behind the door and out of sight.

She would never consider herself an accomplished artist, and the time constraints were less than ideal, but before long, she had a camouflage that she was sure would fool at least a cursory glance.  When she had struck a balance between her satisfaction and concern that her time was about to run out, she moved on to the final step.

Her horn glowed as she took hold of the frame and worked to dislodge it from the invisible ‘ground’ of the hallway.  It was a surprisingly easier process than she had expected.  The doors really weren’t attached to anything and only ordered themselves neatly in the same plane because ponies generally expected them to.  Moving one was as simple as thinking it at a different orientation.

The locked and disguised door (now worryingly close to completely fading out as Dash woke up) rose up high.  It pitched forward ninety degrees and moved over the center of the hallway, hovering in what would be the ceiling if one existed.  Anypony who specifically searched for it from now on would find only a maddeningly empty gap where it had once been, unless they somehow knew to look straight up with an exacting eye to find the patch of sky that looked slightly off.  Then they’d finally have the chance to start working on the quadruple lock.

Alright, I guess that’ll do.

Twilight turned and summoned her own door to repeat the process, taking her time with the painting now that there was no longer any rush.  It was also significantly easier to manipulate what was essentially an extension of her own mind.  Once she was satisfied that she had reached the limit of her artistic abilities, she moved the door to its new position but held off on activating the lock.  There was one last thing she had to take care of first.  Opening the door with her magic, she jumped straight up, back into her own dreams.

She was caught off guard by the wave of noise that assaulted her ears as soon as she entered, forcing her to cover them with her hooves as she winced.  She looked to the source.  Princess Luna was exactly where she had left her, standing motionless and staring blankly ahead as dark flames lapped at the corners of her eyes.  She was also screaming, and at a rather astounding level of volume and duration that would be strictly impossible were rules regarding physical lung capacity in effect.  Given the lack of wear and tear on any physical vocal chords, it didn’t seem as if she would be stopping anytime soon either.

Twilight conjured a pair of earplugs and approached, trying to decide how best to move the screaming alicorn.  Usually, if you were inside somepony else’s dream when it ended, you would just be kicked back out to the dreamscape.  However, she wasn’t sure exactly what would happen if she locked the door with Luna still inside her dream.  There was no mention of such a situation in the Somnibus, and given how few ponies ever learned dreamwalking magic, it was entirely possible that such a scenario had never been tested before.  For all she knew, Luna being inside the dream when it was locked might create some kind of backdoor route when she woke up.  In the face of such uncertainty, it was best that Luna be on the other side of the door when it was locked.

A small cart appeared underneath Luna’s hooves, and Twilight gently pushed her towards the exit.  She stood at the doorway, briefly wondering how the door’s new orientation might affect maneuvering through it.  As it turned out, gravity and the “surface” one walked on really were just a matter of preferred orientation.  Twilight pulled the cart after her as she walked forward, approaching the space between the two vertical pillars of doors on her right and left.  Once she was between them, she took a step up and flipped her perspective so that she was once again standing in the long hallway.

Leaving the still screaming Luna behind, Twilight returned to her door and prepared to set the lock on a short time delay.  Just enough to let her jump through.  She gave one last uncomfortable glance over her shoulder.

She’ll be fine.  She’ll shake out of it or it’ll wear off eventually...right?

Well...I don’t think that spell has a set duration.  I got out of it because Spike was there.

No, she’ll definitely be fine.  Somepony at the castle is bound to come looking for her sooner or later.

Twilight removed an earplug and confirmed that the screaming still hadn’t dropped in intensity.

Still, maybe I should-

No.  A colder, more practical voice spoke up.  The longer she is incapacitated, and possibly causing a distraction in Canterlot, the better odds of getting in and out of that bunker and far far away before an organized response can be made.

But we can’t just-

No.  What we can’t do, if we want this plan to have any hope of succeeding,  is throw away what few tactical benefits we can get.  Dash is all that matters.

Her mind made up, she set a five second timer on the lock and jumped through the door.  A loud click echoed through her dreams, and Twilight gave a sigh of relief.  It had been a busy night, and it was going to be an even busier day.

Twilight focused, and like flipping a light switch, she was suddenly staring into the familiar darkness of the back of her eyelids.  She opened them to see the night sky starting to lighten with the first few rays of the sunrise.  Her eyes settled on the entrance to the underground bunker that she had spent so long trying to find.  It was time to get her marefriend back.


	***


Celestia stood on her private balcony, facing east as she raised the sun for another day.  Once it had been helped over the horizon and set onto its mostly automatic course, she turned around and frowned as she saw the moon still clinging to the western horizon.

She considered simply reaching out and lowering it herself, but Luna was rather possessive of it and tended to get irritated if Celestia started touching her things without permission.  Still, it wasn’t like Luna to be this sloppy or negligent.  She was, if anything, extremely punctual about her duties.

Perhaps I should go check on her.  After yesterday…

They still hadn’t been able to determine the purpose behind Twilight’s little stunt, other than making the rulers of Equestria and the entire Canterlot guard force look like utter fools.  At that it had certainly succeeded.  Celestia still had a headache from dealing with the fallout.

Naturally, ponies had been curious as to why every guard in the city had suddenly bolted for the castle at top speed.  She had hoped to pass it off as a training exercise, but between the castle support staff and visiting members of the public, there were simply too many ponies present inside the castle when the illusions had started appearing.  Within an hour, the city was flooded with at least thirty competing rumors.  She had done her best to quash some of the more outlandish ones.

“No, there was no assassination attempt or any attempt to steal my or my sister’s ‘alicorn-hood’.”  

“No, there is no clone army of Twilight Sparkles being grown in vats deep within Canterlot Mountain and this was not any kind of uprising or mass escape.”

“No this doesn’t involve humans, stop asking that.”  

“Bunshinnowhat?”

Although the exhausting PR burden had fallen mostly on her own shoulders, Luna seemed to be taking the whole situation far worse.  Falling for Twilight’s illusion, however briefly, had been embarrassing enough, but after spending hours sweeping the castle on high alert with nothing to show for it?  Luna had been positively livid, as if Twilight were doing this just to mock her.  Celestia’s recent concerns that she had been taking this entire investigation too personally had once again fallen on deaf ears.  Returning her thoughts to the present, Celestia looked up to see that she had arrived at the door to Luna’s bedroom.

“Luna?”

She gave a tentative knock on the door, the vibrations damping instantly.

Of course.

She had returned to her rooms at around midday at Celestia’s insistence that she get some rest, though Celestia now had no doubt that Luna had been searching tirelessly for Twilight this entire time.  She also had a habit of putting up silencing barriers around her room so as not to be disturbed or distracted when dream scrying, regardless of the inconvenience it caused when somepony actually needed to reach her for something important.  Fortunately, Celestia had ample practice bypassing them.  She punched a small hole in the field and projected her voice through it.

“Luna, it’s me.  The moon is still up, is everything alright in there?”  There was no response.  “Luna?”  Still nothing.  “Luna, I’m coming in, okay?”

Celestia slowly pushed open the door, which made no noise thanks to the silencing field enveloping the hinges.  She passed through the invisible barrier with a single step that instantly shifted to a gallop when the screaming filled her ears.

“LUNA!”

Her sister was curled up on the bed, forehooves gripping her head as she rocked slightly and let loose scream after scream that shook the interior of the room.  Celestia rushed to her side and gripped her sister’s shoulders between her forehooves.

“Luna what is it?!  What’s wrong?!”

She got her answer when she finally caught a look at her sister’s eyes.  A sickly green tint sat beneath the solid bright white of her dream walking trance.  Dark purple flames lapped at the corners where thin streams of tears leaked down her face as she continued her hysterical screaming.

“Luna!  Luna I’m here!  Wake up!”  Celestia shouted as she gave several firm shakes. When Luna remained unresponsive, she attempted to purge the dark magic herself.  There was a bright flash from her horn, but ultimately no effect.

What?!  NO!

It seemed that Luna’s dream trance was blocking her from reaching the dark magic underneath. Worse, rousing her from the trance, no small effort under usual circumstances, was now next to impossible as long as her mind was locked into the underlying spell.  Some unforeseen synergy between the two had ended up fusing them into a tangled magical knot that kept her trapped in whatever nightmare she was currently experiencing.

Celestia stared helplessly as she tried to figure out what to do.  She could call for help, but who could really help her?  Nopony else had anywhere near her magical ability, and she and Luna were the only ponies in Canterlot who had ever encountered this kind of magic before.  Any doctors or mages she summoned would only get in the way.  She was going to have to do this herself.  A quill and parchment flew off a nearby desk and quickly scribbled out a two word message to her scheduling staff.

Cancel Everything.

The scroll vanished in a flash and Celestia got to work.


***



	11 hours later


The sun was hanging low on the horizon, bathing the room in a golden orange glow.  Celestia didn’t notice, keeping her eyes trained on her work.  Sweat had matted the fur on her face and neck.  Luna had at least stopped screaming several hours back, though that was likely just due to her vocal chords finally giving out.  Now she simply gave the occasional whimper or strained gurgle as she stared blankly up at the ceiling.

Celestia continued her work, ignoring the multiple cramps that had started to arise from holding the same position all day without a break.  Suddenly, she felt something give.  The two spells finally began to disentangle and the white film on Luna’s eyes began to fade away.

Celestia jumped at the opening, quickly casting another dispel.  The dark flames and sickly green tint dissolved in the overwhelming white light.  Celestia waited as Luna’s unfocused eyes blinked several times.

“Luna?”

The dazed pair of eyes turned her direction, finally coming into focus as they settled on her.  Recognition sparked in them, followed by a rapid blend of fear, grief, and rage.  A bright blue bolt of magic shot out of Luna’s horn, clipping Celestia cheek and drawing a thin line of blood.  Luna scrambled madly backward, becoming tangled in the sheets and falling out of the bed, her eyes darting around her surroundings in confusion as she tried to take a defensive stance.  She tried to say something, but couldn’t speak through her raw throat.

“Luna stop, it’s me!” Celestia reassured, trying hard not to think about the fact that recognition had pretty clearly preceded that attack.  “You’re in your room, you’re safe now.  Wherever you were a moment ago it wasn’t real.  Do you understand?  It wasn’t real!”

Luna’s breathing gradually began to slow, her eyes ceasing their frantic darting as her wits began to return.  Her eyes settled back on Celestia, causing her to raise a hoof to her mouth in a gasp as she spotted the thin line of red on her sister’s cheek.

Celestia followed her gaze and raised a hoof to her own face.  “What, this? It’s nothing, don’t worry abou-”

She was interrupted by a pair of hooves being wrapped around her, and was knocked into a sitting position by the force of Luna’s face burying into her chest.  The smaller alicorn’s body shook with silent sobs, throat still raw, and body too dehydrated to even form proper tears anymore.  Celestia could feel her mouthing something into her chest over and over.

I’m sorry!  I’m sorry!  I’m sorry!  I’m sorry!  I’m sorry!  I’m sorry!

“Luna.  Luna, it’s alright!” Celestia tried to reassure her, but nothing would make her stop.

Please don’t send me away!

Her words seemingly having no effect, Celestia simply held Luna in silence until she finally grew still and passed out from exhaustion.  One thought burned in her mind for the duration.

Somepony would pay for this.


***



11 hours earlier


Twilight looked up from her collection of notes and diagrams to give the bunker door another hard stare.  Upon waking, she had immediately set to work on writing down every tidbit of information she had gleaned from exploring the dreams of the ponies that worked inside.  Now she would at least have an idea of the general direction to start searching for Dash, just as soon as she worked out the details of how exactly she was going to get inside.  She continued her thorough inspection of the door, approximately ten inches of solid steel, reinforced by top quality magical wards.  Any bank vault would be jealous.

Despite the air of impenetrability, she could still think of at least a half-dozen ways to force her way through.  Unfortunately, there was the problem of the two sentries she knew were stationed on the inside.  While many of her initial ideas had the added benefit of incapacitating them, none did so in a way that was likely to be less than lethal.  If it ever came down to it, she was certain she would cross any line for Rainbow Dash, but she much prefered that hypothetical situation stay strictly hypothetical.  There were better options, she was sure of it.

As Twilight sat and pondered her predicament, she couldn’t help but remember an old fable she had heard as a filly.

There was once a bold adventuring pony who made her way to the top of a mountain, having heard rumors of a great treasure that could grant a single wish.  Riches, power, enlightenment, eternal youth, anything one could imagine.

When she finally reached the summit, she found an ancient temple.  Inside, the temple was little more than a single entrance hall that ended with a massive stone door, impossibly smooth save for three indentations in the base. Sitting in a chair in the corner, was a lone monk who, grateful for the company, invited her back to his shack for tea.  It was his duty to tend the grounds and inform passing adventurers of the temple’s history.

It had been built by an ancient and powerful kingdom, the memory of which had been long lost to time, to house an artifact of immense power on the order of a paranoid and half-mad king who feared the kingdom would fall to ruin should the artifact ever fall into the wrong hooves.  To keep it safe, they had constructed the great wonder known as the Door of Eons.  Huge swaths of the countryside were quarried in search of the vast quantities of rare ores needed.  One thousand of the most skilled masons and one thousand of the most talented mages worked day and night in its construction.  The effort nearly emptied the kingdom’s treasury and drove the king further into madness, but at last it was finished.

The door would only open to one who could prove their worth by retrieving three relics.  One was at the bottom of a lake, said to be so deep that light had never touched the bottom.  Another was at the top of a volcanic peak, in the hoard of a fearsome dragon.  The last was somewhere among the shifting sands of the desert, hidden among the nests of the giant scorpions.  Many brave ponies had attempted to seek the relics, but none had ever returned.

The adventurer had listened in polite silence while she sipped at her tea.  She asked the monk to repeat the part about the door’s construction, which he was happy to do, as he rather liked hearing himself give his speech.  When he had finished, she finally asked her question.

“So what are the walls made of?”

The monk stared back blankly for a few moments.  Nopony had ever asked him about the rest of the temple before.  In all honesty, the entire temple was mostly just a housing for the grand Door of Eons.  The simple stone and mortar was so dull and uninteresting next to the gleaming wonder of masonry and magic.  When he told her such, she nodded politely, thanked him for the tea, and excused herself.  The monk wished her well on her journey, certain that she was off to face the trials of the relics like so many before her.

Later that evening, as the monk was making his usual rounds, he came upon an unusual sight.  A worn pickaxe lay discarded on the ground next to the pile of rubble where a section of the temple’s back wall had crumbled.  Through the gaping hole could be seen an ornate chamber, and at the center of the chamber was a very large and very empty pedestal.

Unfortunately for Twilight, even if the bunker walls were less heavily warded than the door, they were still made out of reinforced concrete and buried under several meters of solid earth.  She was going to need something substantially stronger than a pickaxe.

Hmm...well if I find a low traffic spot...theoretically I could….I’d need something dense though.  Do I have any lead?

She began to rifle through her saddlebags in search of suitable material, briefly regretting having ignored one of her more extreme paranoid preparation ideas to pack a brick of tungsten in with her supplies, having dismissed it as ludicrously impractical and a sign that she was up too late… again.  She stopped when her hoof brushed against the coin pouch which was still jingling with a respectable number of golden bits, even after paying off Trixie for her services.

Gold.

A smile curled up Twilight’s lips.  With a density 1.7 times that of lead, gold was even better.  This could work.

Twilight set to work building a small fire pit and scouring the surrounding area for kindling.  Soon she had a small fire going, which she let burn for several minutes before putting it out.  It wouldn’t burn hot enough for what she needed anyway.  What she was really interested in was the ash.

Using her telekinesis and allotropic change spell, she shaped the hot carbon ash into a crude graphite crucible.  Nestling her device in the center of the pit, she reached back into her bags and pulled out a small amount of baking soda and some borax from her cleaning supplies.  After sprinkling a few pinches of each into the bottom of the crucible, she then filled it with the gold coins from her bag.  Taking a step back, she lowered her horn at the pit and sprayed out the hottest flames she could manage.

Sweat poured down her face, as much from concentration as from the heat of the flames.  Soon the mixture of baking soda and borax began to melt, lowering the melting point of the gold in contact with it and binding to any impurities.  Before long, the rest of the coins had been reduced to a single molten mass of gold, capped with a floating layer of oxidized impurities.  Ceasing her spray of flames, Twilight scraped the layer of slag off the top and began shaping the molten gold with telekinesis.  After changing her mind several times about the exact width of the base, she finished her sculpting and allowed the gold to cool into a large, roughly cylindrical slug.

Well it’s certainly heavy, but gold is still a bit too soft, too easily dented.

The graphite crucible reverted back to carbon ash, then floated up in a glow of purple magic to spread itself in a fine coating over the newly formed slug.  After another flash of purple, the ash changed once again into a thin diamond shell.

That’s a bit better.  Should last a couple microseconds before deformation at least.

Satisfied with her work, Twilight turned back to her map and began searching for an appropriate entry point.  It needed to be somewhere out of the way, somewhere nopony was likely to be at the time, but hopefully not so far away that she had to make her way through the entire base to reach the area most likely to contain Dash.  She crossed off living quarters, offices, and dining halls, and focused her attention on utility closets and spare storage rooms.  Most were too small to hit with any acceptable level of accuracy given the inherent uncertainty in her information regarding exact locations, but her eye was finally drawn to one room in particular.

The generator room.

Of course ‘generator’ was something of a popular misnomer for this type of system.  While it did act as the source of arcane energy to power various systems and equipment, like most magically powered devices in Equestria, it ran on batteries.  The ‘generator’ was hooked up to extremely high density magical fuel cells, charged at an actual Arcane Reactor Center  (ARC for short, though certain ignorant ponies had taken to incorrectly referring to them as ‘ARC Reactors’, which caused Twilight to go into pedantic spasms).  Such fuel cells were a common staple of supply shipments, and any important installation kept at least six months worth in supply at any time.

As fascinating as the technology was, three facts were of key importance at the moment. The first was that the power drawing stations where the fuel cells were used tended to run fairly hot and required significant ventilation and cooling systems to avoid melting important components.  Though she had, until recently, been kicking around some drafts of ideas for miniaturization to run past Celestia, current designs still required enough space to guarantee a certain minimum cross-sectional area to any room that housed such a station.

The second was that the entire system and the fuel cells themselves had been designed with extreme fail-safety in mind.  Destruction would result in tens of thousands of bits worth of property damage and some very angry ponies, but no massive explosions or dangerous radiation.  The station itself would just stop working, as all the energy was stored in the cells, which contained a small programmed spell crystal at their core, held inactive by the closed circuit of the inner casing.  The instant the casing was cracked, the crystal was set to burn up stored energy in a rapid series of harmless, but extremely demanding and inefficient spells.

The third was that such systems needed very little active attention from anypony.  An occasional glance over by a technician to make sure everything was in order was all that was required in most cases.  If this top secret bunker was run anything near to the regulation schedule at military facilities, that meant technical inspections at 0600, 1200, 1800, and 2400.  She had heard her brother grumbling as a cadet about crappy duty listings enough to know that much.  Glancing at the sky revealed that she still had a couple hours until the midday inspection, meaning the area should be completely uninhabited.

That’ll do.

Twilight grabbed her map and diamond coated gold slug in her magic and started walking, glancing frequently between the map and her surroundings.  She had to beat her way through a few thicker patches of thorny vegetation, but she eventually found the spot she was looking for.  She scratched an x into the ground with a nearby stick, clearing some branches from overhead to make sure there was a direct line of sight from the ground to the sky.

She held her gold slug over the x and surrounded it in a purple bubble.  The bubble began to grow and stretch into a thin vertical tube until it was nearly 200 feet tall and just slightly wider around than the slug.  Next she used a standard vacuum pump spell, turning the inside of the tube as close to airless as she could.  Finally, when only a few molecules per cubic centimeter remained, she took a deep breath, magnified local gravity by a factor of five, exhaled, and teleported the slug to the top of the tube.

The heavy mass of gold began to fall rapidly in the nearly airless environment.  Just before it reached the bottom, she teleported it again, and then again.  With velocity and momentum preserved through every teleport, and no counteracting force from wind resistance, the large hunk of metal began to pick up frightening speed.  With no chance of keeping visual track of the blur of motion, Twilight forced the endpoints of her teleport to hold open continuously as the projectile fell ever faster between them.

Steady….steady…!

While holding the tube in place and the teleport ends open, Twilight wrapped herself in the magic necessary for the setup of another teleport, ready to activate in an instant.

Almost….NOW!

She activated the second teleport and flung herself far away, severing her connection to the previous spells in the process, and finally closing the ends of the loop.

She had barely found her hooves after reappearing when the shockwave knocked her off them.  When she had recovered once again, she looked up to see a large cloud of dust rising up from the center of a huge circle of flattened vegetation.  Teleporting back to the edge of the circle, she summoned a strong gust of wind to blow the dust away and approached to examine the result of her work.

She had to raise a shield against the heat.  Much of the area was still smouldering, and she could spot certain shiny section where the ground had been turned to glass.  Finally, she reached the crater at the center, edges still glowing red.  Laying down a few frost spells and reinforcing her heat shield, she approached and peeked over the edge.  The crater ran deep into the ground, deep enough that she might not have been able to see the bottom if not for the glow of the walls.  In the soft red light, she could make out a significant change in lithology part way down the pit.  Rock and earth gave way to a section of concrete rubble and twisted metal.  She smiled as she spotted a gap in the tunnel wall, leading into the rest of the room that had just had a hole blown through it.

Twilight cracked her neck twice, rolled her front shoulders, flexed her knees, and focused her sight on the gap down below.

And here, we, go!

There was a bright flash of purple light, and then she was gone


***


Rainbow Dash gave another awkward wrenching motion of her wing, turning the spoon handle and the flat-head bolt it was lodged into another few degrees.  She rejoiced at yet another tiny step towards freedom.  They were quickly adding up.

It had been painfully slow going at first, the handle frequently slipping out of the groove without budging the tight bolt in the slightest.  It had taken nearly twenty minutes just to get the first full rotation, but she had kept at it.  Soon her motions grew more practiced, and the bolts looser and less resistant to further turning.  She had gone from frustration, to a calm trance of repetition, to tense excitement as her progress began to accelerate.  Already, the bolts securing the bonds over her forelegs were loose enough for her to audibly rattle them.

Feeling a cramp start to work its way up her right wing, she switched the spoon off to her left and resumed working on the other bolt.  She would need both free if she was to escape, and once she got one loose it wouldn’t be long until somepony noticed.  She would need them both free at the same time.

That just left the question of how to get her rear legs free.  She assumed the answer lay somewhere with the large gearbox next to the end of her bed.  She already knew some of the levers controlled the incline of the bed, but there were too many for just that.  She was willing to bet that some of them opened and closed the restraints around her limbs.  Of course, there was always the chance that they were simply padlocked, but she hadn’t seen or felt any keyholes around the bands on her forelegs, and there didn’t seem to be a good reason to have drastically different designs between the front and back.

The sound of the door sliding open brought her attention back to the moment, and she quickly stashed the spoon back in its hiding place before the morning nurse had finished pushing her cart into the room.

Damn!  I was so close!  Probably not going to get another chance to work at it today.  Tomorrow for sure though.  I can definitely finish this up before breakfast tomorrow and have enough time to figure out how to get out of this room.

Admittedly, she wasn’t quite clear on how exactly she would get out of the room, but it was extremely unlikely that she would learn anything more by staying bound to this bed any longer.  She would just have to cross that bridge when she came to it.

Breakfast and the routine morning checks proceeded as usual, though the knowledge that she just had to wait out one more day stoked a flame of excitement inside her.  It also made everything feel unbearably slow.  Perhaps it was a good thing there wasn’t a clock in the room, as  she would probably be caught constantly staring at it.

“Hmm...heart rate is slightly elevated this morning,” one of the nurses commented.  “Nervous? It’s perfectly understandable dear, but there’s nothing to be worried about.”

“No I-what? What would I be nervous about?”

“The change in your treatment plan?”  Rainbow Dash only stared back with a confused look. “Oh, I guess they might not have told you yet.  Well I’ll let the doctors explain it when they get here.  They know all the details and should be here any minute now.”

As the nurse packed up her things, Rainbow Dash was left to ponder her words.  New treatment?  As much as she would welcome some variety as a reprieve from the monotonous daily routine of testing, something about those words caused her concern.  For the past few weeks, she had seen plenty of testing, monitoring, and recording, but very little that matched her expected definition of ‘treatment’.  There had been that spell they cast once, but as far as she could tell, it hadn’t actually done anything to her.  Visions of hypnotic screens, electric shocks, and strange drugs swam unbidden into her mind.  Now it was even more imperative that she make good on her escape as soon as possible.

Soon Resonance Image and two other doctors, one mare and one stallion, arrived and began to set up the equipment.  There were a few additional items that Dash hadn’t seen before, and they were soon attached to some of the lesser used arms on the overhead assembly.

“Hey doc, word on the street is that you’re trying something new.  Is it leeches?  Homeopathy?  Gonna call in a phrenologist for help?”

Rainbow Dash hadn’t the slightest clue what phrenology actually was, but given the general context of the rant she had once heard Twilight use it in, she assumed it was sufficiently insulting.  The doctor gave only the slightest of frowns in response.

“Yes, we’ve finished our latest observation period and are moving forward with an aggressive  new treatment plan.”

“Aggressive? Exactly how ‘aggressive’ are we talking here?” Rainbow Dash asked, a small note of concern rising in her voice.

“Just give me a moment to finish this last bit of setup and then I’ll answer any questions you may have.”

Considering there wasn’t much she could actually do to stop him, she nodded in agreement.  After checking the connections on a few more wires, he held up what appeared to be a small metal cage, open on the bottom, with a large cone sticking out of the top.  She lost sight of it when he passed behind her, but soon got another view when he began fitting it over her head.

“Alright, how’s that?  Relatively comfortable?  No pinching or prodding?”

“It’s okay I guess, kinda hard to move though.”

“That’s rather the point.  I’m afraid absolute stillness is a must.  An errant twitch would be...problematic.  On that note, how is the rest of your body?  In a comfortable position? You’re going to have to hold it for a while.”

“Eh, fine I guess.  I mean, I’d rather be up and flying, but whatever.”

“Good.”

There was the sound of a switch being flicked, and Rainbow Dash felt a sudden shock, followed by all the muscles from her neck down suddenly falling dead and refusing to respond to her commands.  A faint pink glow covered her body.

“What the shit?! I-I’m paralyzed!! What did you do?!”

“Relax Ms Dash, it’s only temporary.  I assure you, you will regain full control of your body once the machine is turned off again after the procedure.  I know it may be distressing, but I wasn’t exaggerating when I said that absolute stillness is called for.  Such extreme measures are often necessary, even for more...enthusiastic patients”

Dash made use of the fact that her facial muscles remained uninhibited to throw a sneer his way.  “And I notice you’re putting off explaining exactly what all this is for until  after I’m already paralyzed.  I’m guessing you don’t think I will be very ‘enthusiastic’ about whatever it is you’re planning to do.  Don’t think I’ll approve?”

“No, I suspect your approval would be a dubious proposition at best.”

“Though that really hasn’t been an issue so far, has it?  So why not just knock me out and do whatever you want while I’m asleep?”

“Unfortunately, it is vital that the patient remain awake, alert, and closely monitored when undergoing brain surgery.”

Rainbow Dash blinked twice in the brief pause.

“Okay, back up a bit.  What was that last part?  Cause it sounded an awful lot like you were going to start cutting holes in my head.”

“Oh no, nothing like that.”

“Well good, because-”

“This device here,” he tapped the large cone with a hoof, “allows us to directly focus telekinesis inside a pony’s skull for fine adjustments without any need for exterior incisions.  No scalpels, bone saws, or blood to deal with, it’s all very clean.  Of course it requires very precise aiming, hence the necessity for immobilization.”

“...”

“We also don’t need to shave-”

“THAT’S NOT THE PART I’M CONCERNED ABOUT!  It’s the cutting inside my brain part that I’m really really REALLY not okay with!”

“Yes, you have made that very clear.”

“Have I?  Because I really don’t think I can overstate how not onboard with this I am!  The board and I are in completely different cities!”

“Indeed.”  The doctor gave a resigned sigh before continuing.  “Well I won’t tell you to try to relax as I know that would be a futile effort at this point, but we will be beginning in just a few minutes.”

“What?! W-W-Wait!  Hold on a minute!”  She fought a losing battle trying to keep a note of fear and desperation from starting to creep into her voice.  “I-uh-I just ate!  Aren’t you supposed to like, not eat for several hours before surgery?”

The doctor continued on with his fine tuning as he answered.  “That’s mostly for the benefit of the anesthesiologists, as a full stomach can complicate the process of putting a patient under, and the fact that some patients experience nausea afterward.  Since we need you fully awake for this, it doesn’t apply here.”

“Well-uh…”  Rainbow Dash racked her brain for some way out, but came up blank.  She couldn’t even flex a muscle below her neck, and was still bound even if she could.  The only thing she could do was talk, and if there was any special combination of words that would somehow change her fate she couldn’t think of them.  She felt her heart pounding in her ears as a cold, nauseating feeling spread through her blood.  It was a feeling she had little experience with.

Though it might shock some ponies to learn, the daredevil pegasus, like any sane pony, was perfectly capable of feeling fear in dangerous situations.  Thrill seeking hardly worked if the pony in question couldn’t comprehend the sense of danger after all, but the source of that fear had always been something she could face head on and do something about by focusing harder, dodging faster, and relying on her skills (and often those of her friends) to get through it.  Fear was something she could harness to be even more awesome.  Fear was fine.  Helplessness was something else entirely, something that was transforming that familiar rush of adrenaline into a poison that bathed her mind in a terrified panic.

There isn’t a way out.  This is going to happen. Any minute now, they’re going start cutting and there’s nothing I can do to stop it.  Then…

She wasn’t quite sure what would happen after that.  There was certainly a wide variety of horrible possibilities, most involving them accidentally rendering her, if not a drooling vegetable, then blind, deaf, mute, partially or fully paralyzed, aphasic, or any combination of the above and hundreds of other possible results of brain damage.

She wasn’t even sure if the no mistakes ‘success’ scenario was better or worse.  Their stated goal was to make her not love Twilight.  Was that even a thing they could do?  She didn’t know, but the idea scared her just as much as all the others.  If they could somehow do that, then...then who would she be?  It would be like somehow taking away her love of flying.  Whatever came out the other end of that procedure, it wouldn’t be her.

“Alright, we’re just about ready to begin,” Resonance Image announced as he directed his horn at the large conical structure.  The other doctors took their positions at two separate knob covered panels.  “This won’t hurt, but it may feel...odd or disorienting.”

With the situation now far past the point of argument, and aware that pleading would get her nothing, Rainbow Dash fell back on the only thing she could think of and let loose a torrent of ear singeing profanity.  For all she knew, it could be her last chance to form complete words, and the stream of consciousness generation of creative new insults did something to distract her mind from dwelling on the helplessness and terror.

Her tirade continued as a tingling itch appeared on her skull and began to sink in deeper.  There was a slight sense of pressure, and an unfamiliar feeling she would have had difficulty describing if asked.  It was as if somepony had strung a guitar string across the inside of her skull and plucked it, while simultaneously filling the space with chocolate pudding full of very confused bees.

Her stream of invective slowed noticeably as the strange buzzing in her head sapped more and more of her focus.  The fount of anger that fueled her effort soon became muddied and polluted with a rush of other conflicting emotions, many completely inappropriate to the situation at hand.  She had to suppress an errant giggle of sorrow as she struggled to finish an unflattering comment about somepony’s mother.

“Almost to the target,” a calm and detached voice called out.  “Aaand...there.”

The chaotic mash of conflicting emotions faded, drowned out by the rising intensity of a new challenger.  Images of Twilight rose and fizzed over her mind like champagne bubbles.  Her smile, her scent, the sound of her laugh, those deep violet eyes, the giddy excitement when she found a new book. That unconscious little flick of her tail she would give to emphasize a point when lost in lecture mode, the cool and determined face she wore when fighting threats to Equestria, how a deep blush could still be pulled out of it with a quick kiss and the proper application of wing tips.

Some of the fragments clustered into specific memories.  Their one month anniversary, where they had both gotten each other the same gift, a rare first edition copy of the fifth Daring Do book with the alternate ending, and spent the next ten minutes in uncontrollable laughter.  The time she discovered the word that Twilight had been unknowingly mispronouncing for years, having only read it in books before, and was immediately sworn to secrecy with Twilight’s assurance that “they would never find the body” otherwise.  The night Twilight had jolted awake from some nightmare and latched onto her, half hysterical, and refused to let go until she promised she wasn’t going to fly off and never come back.

Rainbow Dash’s blood burned with desire.  She needed Twilight in her hooves this instant.  The fact that Twilight was out there somewhere while she was stuck in here was a crime against nature.  A profound wrong that had to be corrected at any cost.  She had to find her.  It was the single most important cause in the history of ponykind.

“Beginning termination process.”

Rainbow Dash barely had time to hear the words before the buzzing returned and overpowered her thoughts.  While the bees had been floating about in confusion before, now they were focused and angry, swarming and stinging at her thoughts.  Images and memories of Twilight continued to bubble up, but somehow less vibrant, less alive, and quickly overwhelmed by the angry buzzing.

BZZZZZZnoZZZZZZstopZZZZpleaseZZZZZZ!

While the buzzing continued to grow in intensity until it was a roar that drowned out all coherent thought, something inside of her began to break, placed under ever increasing strain like a fraying cable on a suspension bridge threatening to snap at any moment.

ZZZZZZNOZZZZZZZSTOPZZZZZZZZZ!

A deafening crash filled her mind and then everything went dark.


	…
…
…


Angry and confused shouting filled the pitch black darkness.

“What the fuck was that?!”

“What happened to the lights?!”

“What was that noise?!”

Still dazed, It took Rainbow Dash a moment to realize that she hadn’t passed out, and a few more to grasp enough meaning behind the shouts to work out that she hadn’t suddenly been rendered blind.

“Damnit!  I’ve got no signal on my earpiece.  Crystal communication must be down.  Somepony find the hardline on the wall and find out what in the bowels of Tartarus is going on out there!”

There were sounds of ponies stumbling and tripping through the kind of total darkness only achievable in a sealed room deep underground.  After a few more moments, a victorious shout rang out from the far wall.

“Found it!”

There was the sound of a handle being lifted and a switch being thrown.  Still trying to clear the fog from her mind, Rainbow Dash strained her ears to learn whatever she could of this strange new predicament.

“Hello?  Anypony there?...Right, this is patient room 01.  Can somepony kindly explain what is going on out there, because we just experienced a complete loss of power IN THE MIDDLE OF A NEUROSURGICAL PROCEDURE!...Well is there anything you DO know?!...And how long will that take?...Alright, well call me back the second you have anything more.”  The sound of a handle being replaced a bit more violently than necessary echoed briefly through the darkness.

 “Well?”

“No details yet, but it seems like something happened to the main generator.  The whole base is blacked out at the moment, but the emergency power should be coming on any minute now, and we should at least have lights again.”

“Why isn’t it on already?  Isn’t there supposed to be an automated transfer switch that activates the instant main power drops?”

“That’s what I thought, but I guess whatever broke the main generator broke that too?”

“But they’re not even on the same floor!”

“I don’t know.  All they said is that somepony has to go hit the manual override in sector B.  In the meantime, everypony just stand still.  The last thing we need is for somepony to break a leg and several hundred thousand bits worth of equipment.

Finally approaching something resembling clarity, Rainbow Dash reviewed the admittedly little information she had gained.  Some kind of freak blackout?  For some reason or another, providence had seen fit to throw a small miracle her way.  Then again, it was really only a delay at most.  Once they got the power issue settled, they would be ready for round two, and she was still stuck here.  Her wings gave a nervous fidgeting flap at the thought.

Wait…

She gave her wings another flap, this time intentional, then flexed the muscles in her legs.  Whatever device that had been immobilizing her had stopped when the power went down.  She could move again!  Well, sort of.  There was still the problem of her restraints.

She quietly rattled the bonds over her forehooves, feeling the slight give from the half loosened bolts as one last desperate shred of hope rose up.  She absolutely had to act now.  The power could come back any moment now, and then her last chance would be gone forever.

Rainbow Dash threw herself forward with all the strength she could summon.  The bolts held.  She pushed forward again, just as strong.  The bolts still held, but gave a small squeal of protest.

“What was that?” one of the voices called out in the darkness.

“It wasn’t me,” another confused voice responded.

Rainbow Dash continued slamming herself against the restraints like a mare possessed.  She pulled, twisted, and thrashed with an intensity that dwarfed even the efforts she made on the day of her arrival.

Faster Damnit!  Come on!  They’re gonna catch you any second!  You have to get out NOW!

With another shriek of strained metal, she felt her right forehoof raise an inch above the bed before being stopped.  The unprecedented accomplishment spurred her on as she continued her assault on the restraints, oblivious to the heavy bruising of her fetlocks.  She could almost taste the fresh air and sunlight of freedom.  At the same time, she could already feel the buzzing of those angry bees once again, the cost of failure, ready to swallow her up any second now.

“Seriously, what is that?  It sounds like it’s coming from over-”

The voice was cut off by the sudden sounds of wrenching metal and one or more objects falling to the floor in a loud clatter.  Mixed in with the cacophony were noises like hooves scrabbling, a lever being thrown, and gears turning, all in the span of a second.

“What in the-?!”

The emergency power finally activated, prompting everypony to reflexively raise a hoof to protect their dark adjusted eyes as their pupils shrank to pin pricks in the sudden flood of light.  Dr Resonance Image was the first to regain his vision, but what he saw when he lowered his hoof from his eyes caused them to dilate once more.

The operating bed lay empty.  Hovering several feet above it was Rainbow Dash, enjoying a supremely satisfying stretch and staring back at him with a very VERY large smile.

“Oh, Shit!”

That was as much as the doctor could get out before a blue blur kicked him across the room and into a set of metal cabinets.  The two other doctors snapped into action and charged, hoping to end it quickly with their slight numerical advantage.  Unfortunately for them, in addition to shattering every speed record at the Wonderbolts Academy, Rainbow Dash had also been at the top of her class in close quarters combat.

The mare, an earth pony, reached a hoof into her coat pocket and pulled out a syringe.  Dash sidestepped the lunge and grabbed her extended foreleg, pulling her forward and off balance before slamming her head down on a nearby cart.  At the same time, she twisted and slammed the foreleg down, shaking the syringe out of her grip before scooping it up and  jamming it into the stunned mare’s flank.

She spun to face the other doctor, a unicorn who had decided to leap back and keep his distance after seeing how quickly his colleague had been dispatched, and dodged the telekinetic jab of another needle. Dash grabbed a pillow off the bed and swatted the floating needle out of the air before chucking it at her enemy’s head.  In the moment it took him to catch it and throw it away, she closed the distance and delivered a quick left right punch combination to his face.

She frowned a bit as she saw him stumble but stay on his hooves.  It looked like a few weeks of atrophy really had dropped the stopping power of her punches a bit.  With a quick beat of her wings, she rose up and pulled back a few feet, then launched forward, giving another flap to turn into a tight twist.  She lashed out with a back leg, using her angular momentum to turn it into a kind of biological flail that connected with the stallion’s head, sending him sprawling to the floor, and out of the fight.  He was joined a moment later by the shambling mare who finally lost the fight against the sedative and slumped to the ground.

Rainbow Dash scanned the room and spotted Resonance Image limping his way along the wall to the hardline communication set.  She flew over and dropped down in front of him.  He took a step back, eyes still glancing past her to his goal just a few feet away

“What’s up Doc?”  She shot him the same evil grin as before.  “We got a lot of catching up to do you and I.”

He took a wild swing.  She easily ducked, delivered a quick breath stealing hoof strike to his stomach, swept his legs out from under him, and finished up with a small kick to the head for good measure.

“Now now, none of that.  Come on, I’m not done with you yet.”

Winded and seeing stars, he was in no shape to resist when she seized him by the tail and began to drag him across the room.  On the way, she paused to grab the second syringe off the ground and give the other downed unicorn a quick jab to ensure he stayed out.  When they reached the door, she released his tail and grabbed him by the coat collar, giving a quick slap across the face to make sure she had his attention before continuing in a calm and even tone.

“Now, during all this wonderful time we’ve had together these past weeks, I think you’ll recall me making certain...promises.  Promises involving you and me in a set of circumstances very much like the ones we find ourselves in now, of certain activities that I would enjoy greatly, while you...well, let’s say ‘your approval would be a dubious proposition at best’.  Do you follow so far?”

The stallion gave a terrified nod and a gulp.

“Good.  Now, fortunately for you, after spending all that time in bed, what I really want to do more than anything, even beating your sorry flank to a pulp, is to go for a nice walk and a fly.  Why, I might even get so distracted that I forget all about that long long list of promises.”

Without warning, she slammed his face up against the door and continued to press it in while bending his right foreleg at an angle pony limbs were most certainly not meant to bend.

“And here is where we run into a rather large problem.  As you can see, this door is closed.  I don’t think I need to point out any further why that is very bad for you.  I suggest you get on that quick.”  She applied an extra bit of pressure to his foreleg for emphasis.

“Ahh! I can’t! I can’t open it from this side!”

“Sure you can doc.  I’ve seen you do it plenty of times.  I can’t say this kind of negativity is going to do anything good for our relationship.”  The pressure increased until she could feel the shoulder joint on the verge of dislocating.

“GAAAAAH!  No!  I mean because of the power outage!  When the power dropped, the door went into emergency lockdown!  It can’t be opened from this side!  None of us can get out until somepony on the other side comes and unlocks it!”

“Well, isn’t that incredibly inconvenient?  Now I know you wouldn’t lie to me, would you?  Not after all we’ve been through together.”

“It’s the truth! Look at the top right!”

Rainbow Dash glanced up and frowned at the small flashing red light and the label below it that read Emergency Lockdown.

“I gotta say doc, that’s not good news.  Not for me, and not for you.  If there are any other details you’ve forgotten to mention, now would be a very good time to remember them.”

“Uhh...I….that is….”  he frantically sputtered.

Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes in frustration.  It was clear he didn’t know anything else and was just trying to find something she wanted to hear.

“Fine, nevermind.  Where do you keep the rest of those syringes?  The ones with the sedative.”

“What? Why-OWW!”  She slammed his head into the door again.

“That wasn’t an invitation for questions, but if you must know, I need to render you unconscious for more than a few seconds, and while hitting you in the head really hard would be the fun way to do that, I’m not looking to inflict permanent brain damage, as awesomely ironic as that would be.  I’m no neurologist, but they cover basic first aid at the academy, and I’ve got more than enough experience in both receiving and giving concussions to know that staying out for more than a few seconds is extremely dangerous.  So, is it going to be the easy way, or the fun way?

“...Third drawer from the left on the back wall.  The key is in my pocket.”

Dash reached into the coat pocket and retrieved a small brass key.  Wrapping a hoof around him in a headlock, she flew them over to the drawer in question and unlocked it.  She opened it, revealing several dozen ready to use syringes, all filled with a premeasured dose of sedative for an adult pony.  She grabbed one, pulled the safety cap off the tip of the needle, gave the doctor another quick kick to the solar plexus for good measure, and jammed the needle into his leg.

Once he was out, she finally let herself grimace at the pain in her legs.  All this sudden exertion after such long inactivity, without even any warm up, was giving her some massive cramps.  She turned back to the drawer’s contents.  They might be useful once she figured a way out of this room and had to sneak and fight her way out of the rest of the base.  Of course, she couldn’t exactly carry them without some saddlebags, or at least pockets.  After a moment’s deliberation, she decided to help herself to the doctor’s now somewhat bloodstained lab coat.  After stuffing the pockets full of syringes, she turned back to the rest of the room.  Now all she had to do was actually find a way out.

Okay, so the door is probably a no go.  Think.  How would Daring Do escape?

She scanned the room until her eyes caught on a small grate just below the ceiling.

Aha!  Air ducts!  Of course!  Now I just have to...to…

She frowned with disappointment upon discovering that the vents were not, in fact, conveniently pony sized.  The opening was barely large enough for her hoof to fit inside.

Okay, forget air ducts.  Air ducts are stupid.  Something else then. 

She cast another quick glance around the room, full of cutting edge medical equipment and cabinets stocked with supplies whose use she could only guess at.  No doubt Twilight would be able to use it to science a way out of here in no time.  Then again, Twilight could probably just teleport or blow a hole through the door.

Come on Dash, you can do this.  You’ve hung around Twilight enough that some of that eggheadedness has to have rubbed off on you. Okay, just...take inventory.

She began rifling through drawers and cabinets, looking for anything that might spark an idea.  Cotton swabs, latex gloves, IV bags, nothing terribly useful there.  A first aid kit with bandages and rubbing alcohol, useful to have in general, but not very helpful at the moment.  One cabinet held a wrench and a few other assorted tools, probably for maintenance of all the machines scattered around.  She wasn’t going to break down the door with a wrench, but she’d probably need it for something.

Finding nothing more of note in that section of the room, she moved on to examining the free standing equipment.  She skimmed over unfamiliar abbreviations, symbols, and letter codes until something familiar caught her eye.

One of the machines required an active coolant system.  Dash didn’t know anything about that, but she did recognize the attached tank of liquid nitrogen, having spent a fun filled afternoon with Twilight, freezing and smashing various objects and making flash frozen homemade ice cream.

Hmm….could that…?  I guess it’s worth a shot.

Fortunately, she didn’t have to try and disentangle the tank from the system of hoses.  A spare tank was sitting next to it, ready to be swapped in when the first ran dry by a technician who had more of an idea of what they were doing.  She grabbed the tank and flew over to the door, pointing the spout straight ahead.

Alright, here goes nothing.

She braced herself, turned the valve, and was disappointed by the relatively tame stream that sprayed forth.  She cranked the valve as far as it would go, but that only mildly improved the flow rate.  It wasn’t enough.  She didn’t have all day to stand around before somepony came by, and she needed this door cold fast.  Closing the valve for the moment, she gently laid the tank down and went to retrieve the wrench.  A few solid strikes greatly improved the situation, unleashing a torrent of liquid nitrogen which she directed over every inch of the door.  When the tank finally ran dry, she tossed it aside and stepped back with a shiver.  The whole area was covered in a layer of frost.

Rainbow Dash flew back and found one of the heavier looking carts, loaded it up with boxes of junk, and lined it up with the door.  She gave her wings a few practice pumps, braced her hooves against her end of the cart,, and took a deep breath.  Then she sprung forward with as much force as she could manage from a cold start, trying to pick up as much speed as possible over the distance of the room.

*Crash*

Boxes flew everywhere, the cart overturned, and the door stood firm while Rainbow Dash picked herself up, nursing a few new bruises.

Okay, so no.  That’s not quite enough.  Still, I think the freezing was a good start.  I just gotta hit it harder.

She eyed a couple oxygen tanks in the back corner.  Maybe she could use one of those to cause an explosion?

No, Twilight’s lecturing voice rang out in her head.  Oxygen on its own isn’t explosive.  It’s necessary for other things to combust, and they’ll more easily catch fire in an oxygen rich environment, but oxygen by itself won’t explode.  Sometimes the tanks will burst when heated, but that’s just the pressurized gas expanding and rupturing the casing.  So to answer your question, no, Daring Do could not have blown up that dragon like that.  Also, your grammar is terrible and you-hey! Don’t give me that look!  You’re the one who asked me to proofread this!

Something else then.  She continued her search, paying close attention to the small warning symbols and looking for one that would indicate an explosive hazard.  She finally found what she was looking for in a cabinet marked ‘anesthesia’.  A small, orange, cylindrical tank with warnings to keep away from open flames.  ‘Cyclopropane’.

She grabbed her new prize and carried it over to the door.  Now she just needed some way to ignite it, preferably without blowing herself up in the process.  What she really needed was something that could act like a fuse.  After a few moments of thought, she returned to the cabinet with the first aid kit and pulled out the bottle of rubbing alcohol.

Before going any further, she gathered up the three unconscious ponies and piled them on the far side of the room at what she hoped could be considered a safe distance, overturning a few carts and piling up a couple loose boxes into a crude barrier.

Pouring liberally around the tank, she then left a trail of rubbing alcohol out to the edge of the barrier.  There was only one thing left that she needed.  She returned to the bed where she had spent so much time, reached a hoof into her secret hiding place, and pulled out the tuft of cloud she had been cultivating.  Positioning it over the end of her alcohol trail, she returned to the tank and took a deep breath.  She gave a large turn on the valve, then dashed over to her cloud and gave it a single swift kick.

A tiny jolt of electricity lashed out from the miniature cloud, barely more than a spark, but it was enough.  She dove behind the barricade as the flames began to spread.  For a few seconds, all she heard was her heartbeat and the distant hissing of the open tank.  Then a massive kaboom and loose boxes raining down on her.  Once she had determined that she was still all in one piece, she peeked up over the edge of what remained of her barricade.

Where once had stood an imposing door, now there was a scattered pile of scrap and a gaping hole leading out into the hallway beyond.

“Ha!  Take that, door!”  Rainbow Dash cheered in triumph.

Dusting herself off and patting at the syringe filled pockets of her blood spattered lab coat, Rainbow Dash made her way to the exit.  She had spent plenty of time in this room already.

Time to meet the neighborhood.  Alright, play this smart and stealthy and I just might be able to-

The air filled with the sudden wail of alarm sirens as she took her third step out of the room.  She let out an aggravated sigh.  A voice buzzed to life over the intercom.

“Attention all units!  Red Alert!  Breach detected in Section C!  Intruder presence confirmed!  Possible Code Violet!”

Wait...What?!


	***


Twilight skulked through the darkened hallway,  eager to put distance between herself and the wreckage of the generator room before ponies arrived to investigate the disruption.  She walked as briskly as her sense of caution and her muffled hoofsteps spell would allow.  A minimal glow emanated from her horn as she attempted to balance stealth with the necessity of seeing where she was walking.  In the complete darkness of the bunker, even her faint light felt like a glaring beacon, revealing her location to anypony who might wander by.  She could only hope that if she kept it dim enough, she could spot the light sources of any approaching ponies before they spotted hers.  Of course, she was going to have to abandon stealth at some point; there was next to no chance of her making it through this entire ordeal without being discovered, but the further she could get before then, the better.

As if on cue, a set of overhead lights flicked on.  Twilight shut her eyes against the searing light and reflexively raised a shield to protect herself while she was blind and vulnerable.  After a few moments, her eyes readjusted and confirmed that she was still alone in her stretch of hallway.

Looks like they’ve got the backup power on.

She took a quick look around her now brighter surroundings.  Without the blanket of darkness it was far too exposed, with nowhere to hide from sight if a pony suddenly turned the corner.  She took off again at a quickened pace.

Doors and side corridors zipped past as she kept an eye out for a stairwell that would take her to the next floor down.  Apart from one instance of ducking into a supply closet to avoid a pair of ponies hurrying in the opposite direction, she kept up a brisk canter until she caught sight of a large sign.

Communications

The large pair of double doors beneath the sign sat open, four ponies running frantically about within.  Twilight ducked out of sight and slowly peeked around the edge of the doorframe.  In the center of the room was an enormous crystal, ringed by a series of control panels.  The four ponies were currently occupied dashing between the panels, flipping switches, and calling out readings and directions to each other in an attempt to get the system rebooted after the loss of power.  Twilight licked her lips in contemplation.  Sabotaging that effort would be a huge benefit to her mission, but how to accomplish that without drawing more attention to herself in the process?

She reached into her bag and pulled out another small crystal, enveloping it in a soft glow as she began to program it with her instructions.  When finished, it would send commands directly to the central crystal, randomizing its broadcast frequency every five seconds.  While bypassing the security restrictions to change the operating parameters of a central command crystal would normally be a significant challenge for any unicorn, being the primary designer of the system and underlying technology tended to give one an edge in exploiting what security holes remained.  The only downside of her spell was the short range, meaning she would have to place it somewhere inside the room.

Twilight cautiously peeked around the corner once again.  The ponies inside took no notice of her, still focused on the panels that were beginning to light up one by one in response to their efforts.  She looked up to the rafters, searching for a suitable location to hide her tiny saboteur.  Finally settling on the joint of a crossbeam that was both within signal range and suitably out of sight, Twilight affixed the crystal with a small bit of tape and returned her gaze to the four ponies.  Once she was sure none of them were looking, the small glowing projectile zipped up through the air and stuck itself firmly into its hiding space. Her work done, she quietly retreated to the hallway to resume her mission.

A minute of further searching finally brought her to the desired stairwell, raising a small smile which fell when she spotted the guard standing attentively at the entrance.  Twilight ducked back behind the corner before she was spotted and began weighing her options, trying to decide if there was a practical way to sneak past or if she was better off abandoning stealth and rushing in to subdue him.  Her thoughts were interrupted by an alarm and the loudspeaker crackling to life.

“Attention all units!  Red Alert!  Breach detected in Section C!  Intruder presence confirmed!  Possible Code Violet!”

Her decision made for her, Twilight ignited her horn, rounded the corner, and fired.  A purple bolt of light flew through the air and clipped the guard in the left shoulder.  As he staggered back into the wall, Twilight teleported the remaining distance to deliver a close range electric shock.  He fell to the floor, unconscious and sporadically twitching as she raced down the stairs three steps at a time.

Upon reaching the bottom floor, a flash of green in her peripheral vision caused her to duck just in time to avoid a magical attack.  She looked up to see a terrified pink unicorn in a white lab coat hastily raising a defensive barrier as she attempted to shout over her shoulder without taking her eyes off Twilight.

“HERE!  SOMEPONY GET OVER HERE RIGHT N-!”

Twilight’s attack tore through the barrier like tissue paper and slammed into the unfortunate pony like a freight train, sending her flying back several feet where she slumped to the floor to focus on forcing air back into her lungs.

A second unicorn rounded the corner, this one wearing guard armor and accompanied by two burly and even more heavily armored earth ponies.  The trio charged forward in a wedge, the mage projecting a shimmering wall in front of them.  In a few seconds the earth ponies would be close enough to engage her.  Not liking her chances in melee combat in a confined space, Twilight opted to seek a safer position on the ceiling by altering her personal gravity and running up the wall.

The unicorn guard barely managed to reorient his shield upward in time to block as she unleashed a continuous beam from her new position.  The shield held, but the signs of strain were apparent on his face and one of his forelegs bent enough to touch a knee to the ground.  The flanks of the shield dimmed and vanished as he redirected more energy into the narrow area above them to hold off the onslaught.  Twilight disappeared with a flash and reappeared directly behind them, unleashing a telekinetic blast that sent the trio flying through the air like confetti from a party cannon.  As they clattered against the walls and the stairwell, she grabbed all three of them in her magic and flung them back the other direction to slam into the back wall next to the mare in the lab coat who was still trying to recover her breath as she watched in horror.

A metal panel, loosened slightly by the repeated heavy impacts of ponies being thrown against it, tore off the wall and began to twist and deform under a magenta glow.  The same glow quickly bunched the four ponies together before the sheet of metal bent into a tight band around them.  Two bright flashes fused the ends to the wall behind them.  Her targets now clustered and immobilized, Twilight quickly rendered them unconscious and turned the corner to continue galloping down the hallways.

Next left.  Second right.  Come on come on, it should be around here somewhere.  Aha!

She spotted a small sign with the words “Patient Room 01” and an arrow pointing left at the next junction.  Her hooves slid across the cold hard floor of the hallway as she drifted around the corner.  A bit of magic caused a small protrusion to thrust up from the floor, stopping the momentum of her hindquarters as she braced a back hoof against it and pushed off to launch herself at full gallop once again.

A flicker of motion up ahead caused her to reflexively raise a shield just in time to block a thrown syringe inches from her neck.  She looked up to see a scrap of white lab coat disappearing behind the corner, the pony clearly deciding that they didn’t stand much of a chance in a direct confrontation once their sneak attack had failed.  Twilight decided to let them go and turned to follow the next sign.  She didn’t have time to chase down enemies who were retreating away from her target.  It was time to find Dash and get out.

Almost there!

She could almost feel Dash’s wings wrapped around her at their joyful reunion.  Could smell the sweet fragrance of her mane and taste her lips.  That aching absence in her chest would be filled once more and she would finally be able to breathe again.

Don’t get too ahead of yourself.  We still have to actually get OUT of here as well.

Twilight bounded around the final corner and came to a screeching halt, jaw agape.  Where there should have been a door, there was instead a large hole accompanied by a pile of rubble and twisted metal.  The smell of burning plastic hung in the air.

What?!

The scene inside looked like a warzone.  Dark scorch marks were burned into the floor around the entrance, and the rest of the room was covered in a scattering of debris and overturned medical equipment.  Her stomach sank as a she caught the sight of blood.  Confusion was overtaken by the onset of panic and rage as she began to desperately look around for Dash, when a sound from the back of the room caught her attention.

Twilight advanced on the unusually dense wall of debris and looked over the edge to find three unmoving ponies.  The brief fear that they had been killed in the apparent explosion was cut off by one of the ponies emitting a loud snore.  It was then that she noticed the other two were visibly breathing as well.  A quick medical scan spell revealed plenty of bruises, cuts, contusions, a few hairline fractures, and a high presence of sedatives, but no burns or internal bleeding.

The shape and size of their injuries were consistent with a bare hoof pummeling, and given the current physical absence of a certain martially inclined pegasus, it wasn’t hard to deduce their origin.  It was a comforting thought, especially as she completed a quick circuit of the room and took note of the remains of what appeared to be a thaumatic neuroscope and some kind of overturned bed with metal restraints.  Her eyes narrowed as she focused on a blood stained corner of the latter, dark flames of anger beginning to rise.

That had better have come from one of those three.  If not, there’s going to be a whole lot more staining the walls.

No.  There’s no time for that.  Dash isn’t here.  We have to find her and get out.  The entryway was still warm from whatever explosion she caused to get out.  We can’t have missed her by more than a couple minutes at most.

Her eyes darted back to the three unconscious ponies as she suddenly realized something peculiar.  One of them was missing a lab coat.  Her mind flashed back to the brief moment of spotting a white coat disappearing behind a corner.  The pony wearing it had been running away from this area.  Had there been the briefest flash of a cyan back hoof?  Had it actually been hovering a few feet above the ground?

As Twilight’s eyes widened in realization, her hooves were already launching her back out into the hallway at full speed.


***


Rainbow Dash flew quickly but cautiously down the corridor as the alarm continued to blare from the loudspeakers.

This would be a whole lot easier if I had the slightest clue where the exit is.  I mean, I guess up is a decent plan, but where am I supposed to find the stairs?

She came up on an intersection and took a right, keeping a tight grip on her next syringe.  She had already had to use one on a pony she had practically collided with as they hastily exited a side office.  Fortunately, Dash’s reflexes were a lot faster and a quick tackle and jab in the side had put the hapless nurse out before she could even recover from the surprise.

Rainbow Dash paused at the edge of the next corner and took a quick look.  It was another straight section with a T intersection at the end, and she could hear the sound of rapid hoofsteps approaching from the right.  She ducked back behind the corner, hoping they would simply run straight through to the left side so she could sneak by them.  There was the squeaking sound of something sliding across the floor and then the hoofsteps growing much closer.

Crap!

Dash gripped her syringe like a dart and gave a blind throw around the corner.  She didn’t wait to see if she hit her target, and immediately flew off to double back and try the previous left turn.

For several nerve wracking minutes she wandered blindly from corridor to corridor, heart in her throat as she did her best to avoid roaming guards and braced for a possible fight at every door and blind corner.  By dumb luck and persistence she gradually made her way to higher floors.  Meanwhile, the alarms continued to blare and the loudspeakers repeated a series of incomprehensible codes with reference to a breach in section C.

If breach means what I’m pretty sure it means, then that could be my ticket out of here.  Probably a whole lot easier than trying to get the front door open at any rate.  Now if I could just figure out how to GET there!  Seriously, would it kill them to put some ‘you are here’ maps around?

She slowed down as she heard voices coming from behind a door up ahead marked ‘Intercom Station’.  Peeking up over the bottom edge of the built in window, she spotted a pair of ponies frantically flipping switches and speaking into tethered headpieces much like the one in her room that one of the doctors had used when the lights were out.

She was about to move on when she spotted something of interest.  Every few seconds one of the ponies would make a mark on a large sheet of parchment with a complicated series of lines on it.  From her angle, she could just barely make out a big red circle around one portion and a bit of large print text that read ‘-tion C’.

A map!  Finally!

Now she just needed to find a way to get that map for herself.  She put her ear to the door and listened.

“What’s the status of the primary comm room?”

“They’ve got power restored, but the crystal comm system is still not operational.”

“What’s wrong with it?”

“They can’t tell. Apparently the frequencies keep changing on their own?”

“Damnit, we need that online!  Or at least more ponies here if we’re going to try to manage all these communications ourselves!”

“I know, but all available hooves are busy sweeping the lower levels and-hang on-mmhm...oh shit!”

“What?”

“Red team just reached patient room 01 and it looks like some kind of explosion went off.  The door’s blown to pieces.  The neurology team appears alive but unresponsive.”

“And the patient?”

“Gone.”

“Shit!”

“I know!”

“Celestia will have my ass if we don’t find her RIGHT NOW!”

Figuring she wouldn’t get a better invitation than that, Rainbow Dash burst through the door and launched herself at the source of the last voice.  She crashed into a burly pegasus guard and slammed him into the wall, bringing the syringe in her right forehoof down for a quick strike at the exposed area between two of his armor plates.  The needle snapped against steel as he twisted with lightning quick reflexes and turned a shoulder to block the vulnerable spot.

Uh oh.

Dash barely had time to process the thought as a split second later a pair of strong hooves grabbed her by the foreleg and threw her toward the wall.  It was only her own sharpened reflexes that let her bring a hind leg up under her in time to brace against the wall and spring back off.  Unfortunately, her foreleg remained in the tight grip and she quickly found herself being pulled down to the floor.  As she plummeted downward, she managed to twist and grab her opponent’s head between her back legs.  Using the momentum of her fall, some assistance from her wings, and what would most likely later turn out to be a pulled abdominal muscle, she managed to flip him head over hooves and slam him into the ground with her.

Her right forehoof still pinned, she quickly reached into her pocket to extract another syringe with her left, raised it, and promptly had it kicked out of her grasp by a back leg that quickly slammed down and pinned her left limb to the ground.  Another back leg came down on the back of her neck and caught her head in a scissor lock with the first.  Legs still weakened from weeks of inactivity, she knew her chances of winning a direct grappling match were poor at best.

Reaching her left wing into her pocket, she pulled out yet another syringe.  The guard quickly raised his one wing that wasn’t pinned to the ground beneath him, but she blasted a sharp gust of air into his eyes, reached out to grab his wing with her right, and slammed the needle down on the space just above his wing joint.

He gave a howl of pain and his grip loosened for a brief moment.  It was all Dash needed to twist free and get back on her hooves, giving her opponent a quick kick in the head in the process.  He was up and on the offensive much quicker than she had expected, but his strikes were starting to slow and swing wide, allowing her to dodge each attack and land a series of vicious blows on his face.  She finally managed to wrench his helmet off and slam it into the side of his head.  He stumbled and collapsed against the wall, staying down as the sedative finally took him.

“C-Commander!”

Dash looked up to see a uniformed mare whose normally cream colored coat was blanching to ivory.  She spared a quick glance down to the defeated guard and noticed the insignia and small cluster of medals on his chest.

Oh, I guess that was the guy in charge around here.  Well good, I was worried I wasn’t going to get to thrash anypony important before I left.

She brought her gaze back to the mare in front of her.  Everything about her screamed ‘desk job’.  Her eyes remained locked on Dash as if her life hung in the balance.  After two painfully long seconds of eye contact, she turned and lunged for the intercom microphone behind her.  The indisposed commander’s helmet was transformed into a makeshift projectile, briefly stunning the unfortunate mare with a strike to the head before she was tackled to the floor.  Dash reached for another syringe, but found one pocket empty and the contents of the other smashed by her earlier impact with the floor.  She settled on a sleeper hold instead.  She only needed the mare out for a minute anyway, enough to grab the map and be on her way.

When the kicking had finally stopped and she felt her victim go limp, Rainbow Dash stood up and looked around the room.  In addition to the two unconscious ponies, a large portion of the floor was covered in soil from an overturned potted plant and a spreading puddle from a thoroughly destroyed water cooler, both victims of her dramatic entrance.  Her eyes finally caught on her prize pinned to one of the walls with several tacks.

She quickly found Section C at the top of the map and traced a hoof over to a large red circle marked ‘breach’.  Similar red circles marked a series of different diagrams which she soon realized represented separate floors.

Wait a minute...this...how big is this breach?  It cuts through all the floors!  I don’t even have to make it to the top, it’s a giant shaft straight to the surface from any floor!

She quickly set to finding her location so she could plan a route.

Intercom...Intercom...Come on! This is why Twilight always carried the map...aha!  There we go!  Let’s see...mhmm...got it!

She set about pulling the tacks out of the wall with her teeth.  Though she had quickly memorized her planned route, it couldn’t hurt to take the map with her in case a collapsed hallway or a small army of guards forced her to change paths.

As she tucked the rolled up map underneath a foreleg, she gave one last glance to the microphone sitting on the control panel.  True, the wise course of action would be to delay as little as possible and leave while the leaving was still good, but something nagged at her mind.  Spending a couple months involuntarily bound to a bed, stuck using a bedpan while ponies debated how best to ‘cure’ you of loving your marefriend tended to make one a bit bitter, and with so few awesome accomplishments in recent months to fulfill her regular quota of bragging, there was no way she was going to walk away from a chance to sneak in a little victory gloating.

She walked up to the microphone and pressed the button.


	***


Two more guards slumped to the floor after being thrown against the walls in a purple flash.

Damnit!  Where is she?!

Twilight turned and disintegrated a pair of bolas midair before teleporting behind the guard who had thrown them, telekinetically pulling his legs out from under him, and hitting him with a small burst of lightning.  She left him twitching and spasming on the floor as she continued her frantic gallop down the corridor.

The rescue was certainly not going according to plan.  Sure she had done her best to brace for unexpected difficulties in either finding the room where Dash was held or getting the both of them back out again, but blindly chasing an escaped Rainbow Dash around the base had certainly not been on the list.  Who knew how long they could be at this?

Well, either until I find her or she’s recaptured, at which case we pretty much revert to the original plan.

Her heart froze as she realized a possible third option.

Or she actually managed to escape. Like say, through that giant hole I conveniently made.  She runs off, we miss each other completely, and then I spend who knows how many more months trying to find her again.

Twilight’s heart began to beat faster.  Should she circle back to the breach?  What if Dash was already gone by now?  Her thoughts were interrupted by the loudspeakers blaring to life once again, highlighting the slightly longer than usual pause for which they had been silent.

“Attention eggheads, bucketheads, and other assorted tools.  First of all, fuck you. Second-”

That’s Dash’s voice!

From that fact, three conclusions surfaced.

1: Dash was still in the base.

2: She was currently located in the intercom station.

3: Every conscious guard remaining was now aware of conclusion 2 and would likely be on their way there shortly.

“-so as much as I’d like to give each and every one of you the personalized ass kicking you deserve, I’m afraid I’ve got more important things to do and places to be.  Don’t worry, I’ll be certain to come back sometime with my friends and really mess the place up.  Rainbow Dash out, bitches.”

There was the screeching feedback of a microphone being dropped on the ground, followed by a control panel being smashed.

Wait, that sounded a lot like she had already found the way out.  That means…

Twilight set off at top speed, teleporting herself down straightaways as she frantically tried to make her way back to her entry point before Dash did.  After all she had gone through to get here, the thought of simply missing Dash in passing was too much to consider.

Several ponies tried to bar her way and were swept aside like dried leaves.  She called up the her mental map of the base, potential routes racing across her mind.

All too slow.

Summoning a substantial amount of magic to her horn, Twilight let loose and blew a hole through the concrete wall and several feet of earth separating her from the hallway on the other side.  She jumped through and continued her galloping, prepared to do the same to anything else threatening to keep her separated from the most important pony in the universe.  The pony she had already fought and bled so much for.

The hallways began to look more familiar as she approached the remains of the reactor room once again.  She rounded the last corner just in time to see a cyan and rainbow blur streaking up through the vertical shaft.

“DASH!”

But it was too late, she was already out and likely putting distance between herself and the base at a staggering rate.  She had missed her.

NO!

Twilight prepared herself for a teleport.  The safety feature for long range teleportation helped one avoid manifesting inside a tree or a wild animal that might be inhabiting the location by kicking them sideways a few feet, but it would do little to protect against a target location encased in several meters of dense earth.  That was why teleporting into the base without precise knowledge of the layout would be suicidal.  Teleporting back out was somewhat simpler, as long as one was willing to err heavily on the high side of one’s estimate of the distance.

There was a bright flash, followed by a rising feeling in her stomach as she reappeared several hundred feet above the ground and went into freefall.  She scanned the horizon, spotting a rainbow contrail racing off in the distance.  She focused on a spot in front of it and let off another flash of magic.

“DASH!”

“AAHH!”

That was all she could hear before plummeting away from her target.  She turned her attention downward, focusing on how she was going to survive this fall.  Options raced through her mind, although not quite as quickly as that ground seemed to be rushing up to meet her.  This was probably going to hurt a bit.


	***


WOOOOO!  YEAH!

Rainbow Dash enjoyed the fresh air of freedom as she continued to put distance between her and her former prison.  She had almost forgotten what open wind currents on her wings had felt like.  But what to do now?

Time to find Twilight.  Should I go back to Ponyville or-

A bright flash of purple appeared in her flight path, followed by a screaming pony.

“DASH!”

“AAHH!”  Rainbow Dash let out a startled yelp as the suddenly appearing pony dropped away towards the ground.

Wait, was that Twilight?!

Thoughts about how that hadn’t taken long at all were superseded by the urgent fact that Twilight appeared to be once again plummeting towards certain death.  Rainbow Dash turned into a tight dive and raced after her.  A small glow had just begun around Twilight’s horn when Dash caught up and wrapped her legs around her, wings flaring out and braking hard.  They finally touched down with only a slight skid to their landing at the edge of a treeline.  When they came to a stop, she released Twilight and spoke.

“Twilight!  What are you doing he-?”

She was cut off by a pair of purple lips thrusting themselves hungrily into her own as she was tackled to the ground.  Twilight pressed into the kiss with the desperation of a drowning pony pressing against the surface for a mouthful of air.  Rainbow Dash pushed back and felt...nothing.

Something was wrong.  Something was terribly wrong.  In place of the mind melting bliss she had come to expect there was simply emptiness.  Her heart still raced with the leftover adrenaline from the escape and close rescue, but nothing else stirred it further.  Twilight’s lips, once the divine ambrosia of the heavens themselves, were now simply plain lips.

What’s wrong with me?!

Whatever it was, it terrified her.  Twilight finally broke the kiss, opened her eyes, and gave a look of concern as she noted the confusion and fear on Dash’s face.

“Dash?  What’s wrong?”

“I...I…”

Rainbow Dash stared at the mare she shared so many precious memories with.  She could remember the fun filled days and passionate nights, but for some reason she still felt nothing.  The fire was simply gone.

She needed to go.  Needed to fly away for a bit and get her head back on straight.  Needed to make sense of all this before she could process anything else

“I gotta go!”

She sprung into the air and took off.


	***


“D-Dash…?”

Twilight stood with her mouth hanging open as she watched the love of her life take flight and leave her behind.  As she watched Dash quickly disappear into the distance, a single image burned into her mind.  That look she had given her before she flew off had been of fear.

No…

She’s not coming back.  She’s afraid of you.  She hates you and can’t wait to get away.

No.

And why shouldn’t she?  You’re a monster after all.

No!

And it’s exactly what you deserve.

NO!

The trees behind her cracked and splintered.  The ground beneath her deformed into a small crater.  Her mane whipped wildly in the magical wind that swirled around her, lifting small rocks that were subsequently crushed into dust.

Dash was gone.  Dash hated her.  It was all over.  There was no point to anything anymore.  The only thing standing between her and the bottomless black sea of despair those thoughts brought with them was the white hot inferno of undirected rage.  Rage that called out for some kind of external target.  Something or somepony she could burn, crush, eviscerate, and choke the life out of with her own hooves.  Somepony she could punish for all her suffering.

A pair of faint popping sounds came from behind her, followed by a demanding voice in a familiar country twang.

“Hey, Twilight!  What did you do with Rainbow Dash!”

That would do.

Twilight turned and fired.
> A Brief Interim
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


Carousel Boutique


"Do you guys ever feel like there's important stuff going on out there that you're missing out on?"

"Pinkie, whatever are you going on about?" Rarity asked as she drew another card from the deck.

"Like, do you ever get the feeling there's some big dramatic adventure unfolding somewhere, and you've just kind of been...left behind and forgotten?"

Spike arched a scaly eyebrow from behind his cards.  "Wouldn't know a thing about that" he replied in a tone dry enough to demolish half of Cloudsdale before throwing two more chips into the center of the table.

"I dunno, it's like if everything were some kind of story, but the writer was a hack who had no idea what to do with your character or how to work you into any of the scenes, so they just stopped mentioning you and hoped nopony would notice, and now you're trapped in some weird narrative purgatory?"

"You mean like those horrid semi-coherent piles of explosions and sex scenes that Rainbow Dash calls her Daring Do fanfiction?" Rarity asked in reply.

"Yeah! Ever feel like that?"

"No.  Now, as much as everypony enjoys a brief dip into solipsistic musings, it is currently your turn Pinkie."

"Oh, right.  Uhh...go fish!"

"Pinkie, we're playing poker!"

"Uno?"

"Pinkie..."

"Gin?"

"Ugh, yes please," Rarity muttered under her breath.

To the group's surprise, a large gin bottle suddenly manifested on the table.  The cork flew off with a loud pop, releasing a cloud of smoke that coalesced into the upper half of a draconequus dressed in Saddle Arabian garb, the lower half remaining a thin stream of smoke running into the neck of the bottle.

"Eh?...Eh?..." Discord said as he looked expectantly at the three pairs of eyes blinking back at him in silence.  "Ah, you guys are no fun.  Twilight would get it."

"Ahem, to what do we owe the pleasure of your visit Discord?"

"Oh, nothing much.  I was just in the middle of some first rate entertainment, but decided to take a brief intermission to go out and stretch my legs."  He gave a quick glance down to the still vaporous lower half of his body.  "Metaphorically speaking of course."  He floated over to Pinkie, who had resumed her uncharacteristically contemplative staring out of the boutique window.  "Why so melancholy?"

"Hmm?  Oh that's just the Cutie Mark Crusaders' latest attempt to get their cutie marks.  I'm sure they'll get Winona's head out of that cantaloupe soon."  Indistinct shouts could be heard from across the street as three fillies chased after a highly agitated dog.

"Beautiful chaos indeed." Discord took a moment to wipe a small tear from his eye. "So why do you look as if the party store ran out of confetti? Unless it actually did. I suppose that is a thing that could conceivably happen. Did it?"

Pinkie gave a short shake of her head. "No, it's not that. Besides, I always keep a two month buffer supply in case of confetti emergency."

"Naturally." Discord gave an understanding nod. "Well then, if the logistics of tiny squares of brightly colored paper isn't the problem, what is?"

Pinkie gave a small sigh as she turned her gaze back out the window. "I dunno. It just feels like I'm...like all of us are just fading into the background. Like the whole world is centering around somepony else and we've just drifted to the edge and fallen out of the spotlight to be forgotten."

"Mhm." Discord nodded from behind a pair of large spectacles as he scribbled away at a notepad, adding the finishing touches on a detailed sketch of him throwing a pie into Celestia's face. "Go on."

"If only there was a way to get back into that spotlight. Something to make us relevant again..."

There was a brief pause, filled only with the continued scribbling and the sounds of Spike and Rarity trying to clean up the mess of cards that had been knocked around by Discord's entrance. The moment of relative calm was ended when Pinkie jumped up with a shout.

"RARITY!"

"What?!" Rarity shouted back, startled by the sudden outburst.

"WE HAVE TO MAKE OUT!"

"WHAT?!" Both Rarity and Spike shouted back. Discord merely arched an eyebrow before pentagoning the other.

"Pinkie, we're not playing spin the bottle. That's not even a card game!" Rarity groaned as she pressed a hoof into her face.

"No! It's super important that we make out immediately! Also start dating. It's the only way to win back the narrative focus!" Seeing the lack of comprehension etched on every other face in the room, she continued to explain. "Shipping! All the others have already been paired off except us! If we want back into this story, we need to launch Raripie!"

"Ra-?" One of Rarity's eyelids gave an involuntary spasm as her brain attempted to grapple with the nonsense pouring into her ears. "Pinkie! I have zero romantic interest in you. I'm not really even that into mares to be honest."

"Ooh, good! That's a setup for some good conflict. We could definitely stretch a couple chapters out of that."

Her hoof alone proving insufficient to the task, Rarity dropped her head to the table in front of her. 

"Ugh. Why do I keep inviting you over?"

"A secret wellspring of burning sapphic desire?"

"And why do I keep loaning you those novels?"

"Wait" Spike interrupted, "you went thinking of possible romantic pairings involving everyone here, and you ONLY thought of you and Rarity? No...significantly better pairing right in front of your eyes? Maybe one that has been building up for years?"

Pinkie slapped a hoof to her forehead. "Of course! It's sooo obvious! Sorry Spike. I didn't mean to step on your dragon toes there."

"Well, I guess it's fine. As long as you recognize th-"

" I would never want to overshadow you and Discord."

Spike's angry protests were drowned out by deafening, hysterical laughter as Discord thrashed on the floor. Whatever comment Pinkie was about to add next was interrupted by a series of spasms in her ears and hindquarters.

"Be right back! Don't do anything dramatic or narratively significant without me!" Pinkie shouted as she hurried out the door, leaving the howls of laughter that continued to echo through the boutique behind her. 

A minute's steady gallop brought her to Sugarcube Corner, where she quickly ascended the stairs to her bedroom. A few seconds of digging around in the back of a wardrobe produced a small pile of party hats, some streamers, a piece of half-eaten cake, some fir branches, a lamp post, and finally, the object of her search. A large, red, helium filled party balloon. A leftover from the welcome to Ponyville party she had thrown for the town's new (and to be honest, sorely needed) health & safety inspector (and next to Twilight, the second biggest checklist enthusiast in Ponyville). The name "Check Off" was still scrawled across it in large, colorful letters.

Pinkie stuffed the balloon into her mane, the fluffy pink strands securely storing it for a future balloon related emergency. Her errand complete, she began her trek back to the boutique. With that matter resolved for the time being, she could get back to the important issue at hoof. That is, if she could get her friends to focus long enough. Sometimes she just had no idea where their priorities were. The indistinct shouting grew more coherent as she approached the door to the boutique.

"-ust saying you don't have to worry about compatibility on that front."

"Don't Care! Don't Care! Really Don't Care!"

"Not that it matters, given the shape-shifting and all, but-"

"NOT LISTENING!"

"It's draconic by default. Both of them."

"AAAHHHH!"
> Chapter 15
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Applejack threw herself to the ground as a bolt of sizzling purple energy passed close enough to leave an uncomfortable warmth before showering her with the charred debris of what used to be the tree beside her. With reflexes honed by a lifetime of close proximity to the Everfree and regular trips through the fire swamp (not to mention the semi-annual tangles with world threatening demigods), she pulled in her legs and leaned into the ground, rolling to her hooves with knees bent and ready to launch her in any direction. She chose right, having only half-consciously noted the partial cover of some stumps and a raised mound of earth in that direction while she was rolling, just in time to dodge a large gout of flame that blackened the grass at her previous position.

"YOU!"

The word sent an involuntary shudder down Applejack's spine. She knew it was Twilight who had spoke, but the pulsing magical aura around her had amplified and distorted her voice, causing her to sound like the physical incarnation of wrath and fury. The air throbbed with arcanic pressure, to the point that even an earth pony as unattuned as Applejack could still feel it buzzing in her teeth.

"Yeah, me! Damnit Twilight! What's going on?!  Where's Rainbow Dash!" She readied a length of rope.

"GONE! SHE'S GONE! IT'S ALL OVER! SHE'S GONE AND NOW I HAVE NOTHING!"

"What do you mean gone? What did you-?"

Applejack was interrupted by the abrupt disappearance of her cover as it transformed into a liquid and collapsed into a puddle. She lashed out with her lasso, kicking off the ground as the end snagged on a high branch. She wrapped a forehoof and pulled the rope taut, shifting and twisting her weight to send herself swinging in a wide arc. Hoping to keep moving as erratically as possible, she kicked off a nearby tree to change directions, but quickly found herself falling to the ground as a purple bolt smashed through the branch anchoring her rope.

Fortunately, she wasn't more than a few meters above the ground to begin with, leaving her with only a few minor scrapes as she hit the brush and tucked into another roll. As soon as she was on her hooves, she swept her tail across the ground, flinging several small rocks into the air behind her. A quick series of kicks sent the stones rocketing backward in a barrage meant to momentarily distract more than anything else. She could hear the projectiles shatter against a barrier as she dove for the cover of a three pony wide oak tree, yanking the rest of her rope after her, the end still tight around the remains of the unfortunate branch.

"ARE YOU HAPPY NOW?! NOW THAT EVERYTHING HAS FALLEN TO PIECES?! ARE YOU HERE TO GLOAT?!"

"Twilight, you're not making a lick of sense and I don't have a damn clue what you're talking about! I'm looking for Dash, and you and your problems are a distant second!"

"SO YOU'RE HERE TO SWEEP HER BACK UP NOW THAT I'VE LOST HER! OF COURSE! I KNEW YOU COULDN'T STAND TO SEE HOW HAPPY WE WERE TOGETHER AFTER YOU TOOK HER FOR GRANTED AND THREW HER AWAY! THIS WAS YOUR PLAN ALL ALONG!"

"Twilight! I don't know what you're talking ab-!"

"LIAR!"

The accusation was quickly drowned out by the sound of the large oak being ripped from the ground, crushed, and exploded in rapid succession. Diving clear of the rain of smoking tree fragments, Applejack lashed out with her rope, using the branch tipped end as an improvised flail. She saw her target disappear in a flash of purple, and immediately responded by giving a sharp buck backwards with both hind legs. She felt her hooves connect with something solid, but lacking in texture, accompanied by a large cracking noise and the sound of staggered hoofsteps. She quickly threw herself forward, pivoted on her front hooves, and threw the looped back end of her rope through the temporarily shattered defensive barrier and around Twilight's neck, following up with a sharp tug.

To her surprise, Twilight didn't fall to the ground. Instead, she quickly adjusted her stance to retain her balance, gripped the rope in her magic, and pulled hard. Applejack tried to dig her hooves into the ground, but Twilight pulled at an upward angle. She quickly let go of the rope, but it was already too late. Her hooves were off the ground and she had no way of taking any evasive action.

The next two seconds were something of a blur. A shock hit her in the side, causing the muscles in her legs to spasm, and preventing her from drawing them in to protect her core as she felt herself raise slightly and then slam into the ground, knocking the breath from her. She was also pretty sure she had received a kick to the head somewhere along the way, but she couldn't be sure when it had happened. Through the ringing in her head, she could just barely hear what sounded like a panicked voice tearfully pleading for them to stop fighting.

Still struggling to get her breath back and stop the twitching in her limbs, Applejack felt herself slowly rise off the ground, surrounded by a magenta glow. She floated upright in the air, back hooves swinging ineffectively several inches above the grass. As the spots in her vision passed, two blurry purple shapes came together and resolved themselves into Twilight, eyes blazing white, and mouth twisted into something that fluctuated between a snarl of rage and a grin of sadistic anticipation. With each step she took closer, Applejack could feel the magic tightening around her neck.


Well, crap.



***



Crush her! Rend her!

Stop!

Burn her! Smash her!

Twilight! Please stop!


Twilight steadily approached her now helpless target, the inferno within her blazing hotter with every step closer.


It's her fault!


"You!"

Her voice no longer carried the booming echo it had before, but what it lacked in volume it made up for with menace, as if each syllable, rather than traveling through air, propagated instead through a liquid mixture of malice and ill intent.

"I should have known. I should have seen it from the start. This is all because of you!"

Applejack attempted to reply, but all that got past the telekinetic grip around her throat was a strained gurgle. Twilight tightened her grip slightly, causing Applejack's back legs to kick a little quicker while her forelegs continued to fruitlessly swipe at her neck, as if there were anything physical to pull at.

"You already stole her from me once! You stole her and I didn't do anything about it. I sat and I waited while you enjoyed everything I ever wanted and took it for granted. I waited and I waited, and I finally got my long overdue chance when you idiotically let her slip through your hooves. But no, you couldn't just let us be happy together. Couldn't let me succeed where you had failed. You had to go and steal her again!"

Through the choking struggle for breath, a look of confusion still made its way to Applejack's eyes.


Twilight! Stop! She didn't do whatever you think she did! Just calm down!



She's lying! punish her! Hurt her! It's all her fault!


"Don't deny it! I know it was you! You left those goggles on my doorstep!"


What? The goggles? But-


"I don't know if you were just trying to taunt me or trip me up, but then you went and got the  princesses involved! All so you could get her back! Admit it!"

The look of incomprehension on Applejack's face only deepened, but Twilight was too engrossed in her newly constructed narrative to notice.

"Then you come galloping in as the big hero, capture the villain, get the mare, and live happily ever after for a second time while I rot in the dungeons. Well it may be over for me, but I'll be damned if you get to enjoy that happy ending. I won't silently whither away in the dark, clinging to dreams and fantasies while you get everything. Not again! Never again!"

Years old dark fantasies from the weeks after Rainbow Dash and Applejack had first started dating came bubbling up from the archives of Twilight's memories.


Pull her legs until they tear off!

Stick her head underwater until she stops kicking!


 Let her go! 


Set her mane and tail on fire and see which one burns faster!

Bury her alive!


 This isn't you Twilight! You're a better pony than this! 


Slash her tendons and throw her to a manticore!

See if we can actually fit that hat down her throat like we always wondered!


 She's your friend! 
 

Do it now! It's her fault! It's all her fault!



Stop
 


STOP!
 


"STOP!"


Twilight jumped backward, horn at the ready, as the faint voice she had so easily been ignoring grew several times in volume and proved to be significantly more external than she had initially assumed. She readied an attack for the interloper, but what she saw when she looked up stopped her cold.

She stared, transfixed, into two wide blue eyes. A flood of tears welled up from deep within the cyan pools, creating a glossy sheen before spilling over the sides. Twilight could almost feel herself falling into them, sinking into the pelagic depths and drowning in the salt water tides. It was a sight she had repeatedly seen in her nightmares.

Her prior thoughts came to a crashing halt.  In their place, fragments of painful memories rose up to prick at her mind. The smell of sweet perfumed candles. The texture of rose petals on sheets. The dampness of tears pressed into her coat and the vibration of shuddering sobs. And of course, those tear filled eyes. 

With all she had done, there were few things she actually regretted. Few things she couldn't consider ultimately justified by the goal of winning Dash's love.  For all the actions that would earn her a permanent stay in Canterlot's dungeon, it was the memory of extinguishing  the light in those eyes that truly tore at her conscience and choked her with guilt.

Twilight's rage evaporated, the magic in her horn and eyes disappearing with a flicker.  There was a loud thump and a gasp of breath as Applejack fell to the ground. A second thump followed as Twilight's legs gave out underneath her and she collapsed onto her side.  There was no point in fighting anymore. What good would it do? It wouldn't bring Dash back. What reason was there to move from this spot? To avoid capture? She could lie unmoving on the floor of a dungeon cell as well as she could lie here in the dirt. It wouldn't be any more devoid of Rainbow Dash than anywhere else.

After a few seconds of not quite silence, filled mostly by Applejack gasping for breath and muttering a few choice words while she climbed back to her hooves, Fluttershy cautiously approached the pony who had rather suddenly keeled over in front of her.

"Twilight...?  Are you okay...?"

She had to strain her ears to hear the murmured response.

"No."


***


Rainbow Dash streaked through the air at her usual dizzying speed, but her thoughts still raced faster.


What's wrong with me?!
Why did I just bolt like that?!
Turn around you idiot! 


Her mind was inexorably drawn back to that kiss with Twilight. Twilight. Her beloved marefriend. The pony she loved more than anything else in the world. The pony she had been desperate to get back to and wrap in her hooves. The pony who had acted as the singular driving motivation behind her escape from captivity. The bruises and aches that covered her body and were just starting to make themselves known as the adrenaline started to fade were a testament to how powerful that motivation had been.

So why, when she had finally found herself reunited with the pony she cared about most, when she had found herself kissing those lips she had been fondly remembering for weeks, had she felt nothing?  It didn't make any sense! 


This is ridiculous! It's like...like...

Like I don't love her anymore.


Rainbow Dash shook her head violently as a creeping anxiety spread through her stomach. No! That couldn't be it!  If there was one unshakable truth of the universe, it was that she loved Twilight.  She could still remember the agony she had been in before flying to Twilight's house to confess her feelings.  She could recall the fear and exhilaration when she had stopped trying to choke out the words and simply lunged forward for a kiss like the impulsive idiot she was, and the absolute euphoria that consumed her when Twilight kissed her back with twice as much intensity.  She remembered all the times she had woken up in the middle of the night, looked over to see Twilight curled up beside her, and silently wondered what she ever could have done to possibly deserve this much happiness.

But she couldn't feel it anymore.  The memories stirred no echo of the emotions they centered around.  They were detached, as if she were simply watching events that had happened to somepony else, except even in a movie the audience was still supposed to feel something vicariously and empathize with the characters on the screen.  It was like flying without the sensation of wind, g-forces, or any sense of movement at all, just a bland repetition of wing motions and the aggravating knowledge that this was somehow supposed to be the greatest thing in the world.


Arrgh! What did those damn doctors do to my head?!


That was it. Those incompetent eggheads must have broken something in her. She'd just have to fly back there and whip their sorry flanks until they fixed whatever crucial piece of her they had broken.  No, that was a stupid plan.  She should go see Twilight instead.  If anypony in Equestria could figure out was wrong with her and find a solution, it was her.  The reassurance of the thought was undercut by the lack of the familiar warm pride that normally accompanied thoughts of her marefriend's talent.  Twilight's skills were simply a factual, emotionally neutral statement of reality, like the sky being blue, or mountains being tall.


The sooner I get back, the sooner I can get my head on straight and this all becomes a bad memory.


Rainbow Dash turned in a wide arc and began retracing her path.  As she flew, another disconcerting thought began to intrude.


So I guess those doctors actually succeeded in their goal in the end.  I mean, they wanted to make me not love Twilight, and well, here I am.


Dash shook her head. It was a temporary circumstance, that was all.  One that would be righted soon enough.


Still, if they were actually able to pull that off, it raises the question of what else they might not be completely full of shit about.


She pressed her forehooves against her head in a futile attempt to halt the upsetting line of speculation.

I mean, as outlandish as it sounds, one has to wonder what could cause so many doctors to be so convinced (or at least pretend to be) that I was under some kind of enchantment.  What bizarre conspiracy or mass delusion stretches up to the Princesses themselves?  What was that Hockam's Razor thing Twilight was always going on about? The persimmons answer? The parsing answer? The simplest answer with the least assumptions is usually the right one.  It almost seems like in this case, that would be-

No! That was absurd. Worse still, it was disloyal, and disloyalty to Twilight could not be tolerated, though the injunction felt significantly diminished now that thoughts of the mare in question no longer stirred any emotions.  It still wasn't something she should be thinking. Proof of how broken, how wrong, she was now.

Who's our enemy? Why are they so interested in breaking the two of us up? How did the princesses get involved?  There's definitely a lot to go over with Twilight, even on top of all those questions I still wanted to ask her about why she put me to sleep in the middle of a fight and I woke up in the forest, and why it seems like she was trying really hard to hide something from-

"No, no, no, no, no." Rainbow Dash muttered to herself as she flew.  "No way.  Twilight could never-!"

Well, I mean, she almost certainly COULD. From a magic standpoint, obviously.  If anypony could pull off a spell like that, it would be her.  She certainly has the means.

"Shutupshutupshutupshutup!"

But the key part is she WOULDN'T, right?  Sure, it turns out she's been madly in love with me for years, and some might say there was plenty of motive after I turned her down that one time—and I still don't know why I did that!  Why wasn't I interested back then?  She's the same pony now as she was then.  She didn't drastically change.  It's more like I...changed...really suddenly...and started loving Twilight.

Though the act of flight was too automatic and embedded in muscle memory for Rainbow Dash to falter and plummet out of the sky at the thought, that didn't stop her stomach from falling away without her. She continued flying in a straight line, but from the way her vision was spinning, she might as well have been running through one of her more aggressive stunt routines. She still needed to find Twilight and get some answers to her questions, but there was now a growing suspicion that she wouldn't like the answers that were waiting for her.


***


"Twilight?"

"Blrgh..."

"Twilight, please get up," Fluttershy gently pleaded. "We've come a long way to talk with you."

The only response she received from the purple pony with her face in the dirt was a series of groans and a dismissive hoof wave.

"Landsakes Twi! Get up! You can't just lay there forever!"

"Lie there."

"What?"

"I can't just lie here forever. Also, yes I can. Watch me."

"Consarnit, Twi! You nearly burn me to a crisp and take my head off, then you start lecturing about grammar?!"

"It would seem so."

"You think this is funny?!"

"Not particularly, no."

The hairs on Applejack's back began to bristle as she prepared to shout something in response, but Fluttershy set a gentle hoof on her shoulder and gave a quiet shake of her head before approaching the uncooperative pony and lowering her head to speak softly into her ear.

"Twilight, I can tell you're very upset."

"However did you guess?"

Fluttershy ignored the jab and continued. "And I know lashing out with bitterness and sarcasm is just what you do when you're hurt. I'm your friend and I want to help you, but I need you to talk to me.  Applejack is your friend too.  She's a little angry right now, and I think you'll agree she has some good reasons to be, but the important part is both you AND Rainbow Dash are our friends and we want to help you both. We just don't know how, because we don't have all the information."

Twilight grumbled something incoherent and curled into a ball.

"Now we know you're not feeling very well, but do you think you can fill us in?  Sharing your problems with a friend might help a bit."

"Doubtful," Twilight muttered, burying her head underneath her forelegs.

"Do you think it would make you feel any worse?"

"...I don't think that's possible..." Twilight  gave a long shuddering sigh as she moved her legs back underneath her and slowly pushed herself to a sitting position.  "Alright."

"Thank you Twilight." Fluttershy gave a pleased nod. "Now, can you tell us where Rainbow Dash is?"

"I-I don't know!  She flew off! Th-That way!  Sh-She!" Twilight had to pause to clear a lump in her throat.

"I see. Did the two of you have a fight?"

"N-No. We kissed and then she just...I mean she—it was right after we got out of the bunker, and then—"

"Wait, bunker? What bunker?" Applejack interrupted.

Twilight waved a hoof behind her to a patch of rising smoke in the distance. "That one. We had just gotten out, and—"

Fluttershy interrupted this time.  "Twilight, I think you need to start a bit earlier. Please tell us about this bunker and why you and Rainbow Dash were there."

Twilight took a deep breath, held it for three seconds, then exhaled. "Rainbow Dash and I got separated.  She was captured by diamond dogs and turned over to the royal guard for the bounty Celestia put out.  I spent the last few weeks trying to find her, and it turns out she was being kept locked up in this secret bunker. There was a part where I blew up a changeling hive and snuck into Luna's bedroom, but that's not really relevant at the moment. I found the bunker and broke in to rescue her, but I guess she was already in the process of escaping on her own and I almost missed her and barely caught up with her in time, but now she HATES ME AND I'LL NEVER SEE HER AGAIN!"

"Now just hold on a minute there," Applejack cut in before Twilight could fall back to the ground and return to wallowing in misery. "How long was Dash being held in this bunker?"

"A couple of weeks."

"And Celestia knew she was there the entire time?"

"Definitely. The reports I intercepted say she made several visits and personally selected the entire staff."

"So she's KNOWN where Dash is for weeks now and never bothered to tell any of us back in Ponyville! Why would she keep that secret from us?!"

Twilight shrugged. "She probably wanted to keep the whole thing away from the public eye until the doctors had finished their work, and I'm guessing she wanted to avoid having to explain why all the restraints and sedatives were necessary."  Seeing the pair of questioning glances, she continued. "From what I briefly saw of the room she was being kept in, including the pummeled doctors, she was a very uncooperative patient."

There was a brief pause as both ponies processed the comment and worked through the mental imagery. The silence grew longer as the weight of the unasked question swelled.

"So...um...Twilight...?" Fluttershy cringed as she tried to force out the words until Applejack mercifully cut in.

"Would you tell us why exactly Dash was needing the attention of doctors in the first place? Along with the how and why of you ending up on the number one spot of the law's most wanted list and running around the forest playing fugitive for weeks?" Twilight grimaced as her ears fell flat against her head. "Celestia told us a story, and you definitely ain't looking to good in it, but whatever it is you've done, given what we've all been through together the last few years, we figure we should at least hear out your side of the story first. Just on the off chance that it's a giant misunderstanding.  I know you're a reasonable mare, Twilight, and you don't do anything without a good reason, so I'm hoping against hope there's a damn good explanation as to why this whole thing isn't how it looks, cause it looks bad."

"Umm...yes. What she said," Fluttershy added.

"I'd like in on that explanation too if you don't mind," a third voice called out from above.

Three pairs of eyes shot skyward to find Rainbow Dash hovering above them.

"D-DASH!" Twilight sputtered out as her heart did its best to leap out her mouth and take off running across the horizon. She gawked at the pegasus like she had grown several extra heads that had announced an immediate test on a subject she hadn't studied for. "Y-You're back! You left and I-I...!"

The world had stopped making sense. She had already resigned herself to never seeing Rainbow Dash again. She had her plan for the future, namely, wallow in despair, waste away, and die. Now Rainbow Dash was back.  Back, but not particularly happy looking, and Twilight hadn't the slightest clue where to go from here.

"Yeah, I'm back.  Sorry to just bolt like that, but I needed to stretch my wings and think some things over." She turned to face the two other ponies present. "Hey guys."

"RD!" Applejack gave a relieved shout.

"Rainbow Dash! Oh, we're so glad you're okay! I mean, you seem okay. Are you okay?" Fluttershy questioned as she flew up and started examining miscellaneous minor injuries."

"Just some scrapes and bruises, that's all. Nothing broken or sprained. I got some nasty leg cramps, but I'll live." Fluttershy paused to examine a small patch of Dash's coat that had been stained by blood from the lab coat she had borrowed earlier before ditching it as soon as she had cleared the bunker. "Oh, uh, that's not mine."

"Are you sure you don't need any medical attention?  My first aid kit is back with the cart, but I'm pretty sure I could at least put together a poultice with-"

"I'm fine, Fluttershy. Believe me, I've had my fill of 'medical attention' recently. Speaking of which, I believe Twilight was just about to give us some long awaited answers, so nopony change the subject."

Twilight steeled herself as three pairs of eyes and three pairs of ears turned to focus on her. It wasn't that she had never considered this scenario. To the contrary, she had imagined many situations that were quite similar while neurotically anticipating everything that could possibly go wrong with this entire endeavor.  It was simply that any attempt to plan a course of action for such a contingency invariably ended with 'just don't let that happen'. 

"So, Twilight. Would you care to explain why every guard in Equestria seems so intensely interested in sticking you in a cell, and me in a hospital room with a dozen different doctors poking at my head?"

Twilight took a deep and shuddering breath. "It's kind of a long story."

"We've got nowhere to be," Dash replied. Applejack nodded while Fluttershy chewed anxiously on her mane.

"Well...what have you all heard so far?"

Applejack brushed some dust off her hat as she stepped forward. "All Celestia told the rest of us was that you put some kinda love spell on Rainbow Dash."

"That's pretty much the same story I got from the doctors and both princesses. They had a lot more medical terms involved, but that was the gist of it."

Twilight dug absently at the ground with a hoof. There was no point in denying it. Even if she could begin to imagine a credible lie to explain the situation, even if Applejack weren't there with her borderline supernatural skill at detecting the truth, she would still find herself incapable of directly lying to Dash. It just wouldn't be something she could bring herself to do.

"Well, that's...a pretty accurate summary actually."

There was a small gasp from Fluttershy, but it felt like more of a formality than anything else. While everypony may have hoped for a different answer, nopony could say they were genuinely surprised. Applejack was building back up to seething, Fluttershy looked, if at all possible, even more anxious than before, but Rainbow Dash simply drifted to the ground, face placid and unreadable. When she spoke, there were no shouts of anger, nor any icy chill of hatred added to her voice, just a flat, emotionless probing for facts, like a jaded journalist who simply couldn't be bothered to care anymore.

"When?" 

"Three days before we first got together. I..." Twilight dipped her head slightly, suddenly finding her hoof very interesting. "...snuck into your house and cast it on you while you were asleep."

Rainbow Dash's expression remained a blank slate. "How?"

Twilight took another breath and tried to steady the shaking that had been building in her legs. She considered it a small victory that she hadn't yet thrown up or passed out. As far as living through worst fears went, this was going fairly well.

"Well, I made the spell myself. The actual effect is pretty simple. Most of the complicated parts are just for precision targeting the correct area of the brain. I had to use Heart's Desire as a material component to act as a focus and abstractor for some of the fine detail work. I also used some dragon scales and hydra blood, but those were just for damping heat output and quick dissolution of the other ingredients. I gathered everything I needed from the Everfree forest, then I-"

"We don't need an entire course on spell creation!" Applejack cut in. "What did it actually DO to Rainbow Dash?"

"Wait, hold on a second." Rainbowdash waved a silencing hoof through the air. "So this was sometime before that big fire, right?"

Twilight wilted a slight bit more. "Oh, uh...about that. While gathering ingredients, I had a run in with some timberwolves and a manticore that got a bit out of hoof, and I may have sort of maybe...started that fire."

Some part of Twilight found it comical that she should be so embarrassed by something as minor as accidental arson, given what she was in the middle of confessing to.

"So that angry dragon nearby was just an unrelated coincidence?"

"Well, he was likely angry because I ran into his cave, bound him to the floor, and took a few of his scales, so, not entirely unrelated?" Twilight forced an awkward smile while Dash's hoof moved to her face, muffling incoherent obscenity laced mutterings about paperwork. "Anyway, during all that, I think when I was getting knocked in the head by a manticore, I lost a pair of anti-cockatrice goggles I had been wearing. I know somepony found them, and I'm pretty sure they're the reason this whole thing fell apart this way, as they left them sitting on my doorstep to taunt me, but I still don't have a clue who they are or how they could have found out about the spell."

"Ummm..." a meek voice called out. Three heads turned to focus on Fluttershy. "Th-That was me actually."

"What?!" Twilight's jaw hung open, incapable of delivering any further words, even if her mind wasn't too busy reeling to properly compose any.

"I found them when we were doing the investigation on the fire. I found a few strands of your mane in the strap, so I knew they were yours.  I went to return them, but...umm...you and Rainbow Dash were....busy at the time." Fluttershy's cheeks reddened slightly.  "I dropped the box and left, and just kinda forgot about it until now."

Twilight blinked a few times and rubbed at her temple with a hoof. "So...the spell? You didn't..?"

"No, I didn't know anything about that."

"Huh. So I went into a paranoid panic and started setting up safe houses and secret supply caches over nothing. Though I guess not for nothing. Wait! If that's true, then how did the princesses even find out about all this in first place?!"

Her voice still stuck in its flat matter of fact tone, Rainbow Dash chimed in. "When I first woke up in that bunker, Celestia said Cadence 'sensed something' during her visit to Ponyville. Apparently that was enough to bring you in for further questioning, and the whole jumping out the window and running bit that followed didn't exactly scream 'innocent'."

Cadence?

Twilight pressed a hoof into her face and sighed.  She had thought the spell was faint enough, that the periodic pings of magic were quiet enough to be essentially impossible to detect unless one was thoroughly searching for them. But of course Cadence would be uniquely qualified to pick up on a spell like that, particularly given the origin of the spell that had formed the basic framework. She would also be particularly vigilant. Even the faintest hint that she was experimenting with that again would have set off some major alarms. She could have found some way to mask the signal coming from Dash's head, drown it out with something else, kept Dash and Cadence from prolonged interaction for a few weeks until the decay function on the pulses had progressed farther, a dozen different solutions, but she had been too focused on chasing phantoms and dead ends with the goggles. When she had finally let that go, she had relaxed too much, taking a break from paranoia to enjoy a visit from her beloved sister in law.

Applejack cleared her throat and gave a small stomp of irritation. "As great as it is learnin' all about Twi's adventure in arson and Fluttershy hiding evidence, I think we strayed a bit off topic here." She turned her gaze back to Twilight. "What did your little mind control spell actually do?"

Twilight felt the hairs on her back start to bristle. "First of all, it's NOT mind control. That implies the target is little more than a puppet with no individual will of their own, and it wasn't like that at all!" She turned to face Dash. "You KNOW it wasn't like that! Right?"

"Well, several hours ago, I KNEW I wasn't under the influence of any kind of spell and that every accusation against you was a blatant lie, so maybe I'm not the best pony to ask."

"Ah, fair point." Twilight winced slightly and fidgeted with her front hooves, wishing she could curl up and become invisible. Fluttershy gave a cringe of sympathy. "W-Well it wasn't anything as overt as that. What it actually did was create a neural bridge from the amygdala, where strong emotional responses are processed, to the parts of the brain that hold memories and abstract concepts related to a specific target. In this case, me. Thinking of me would cause the connection to also trigger a strong burst of positive emotion. I also set it to pulse periodically by itself to keep the connection strong and healthy early on. The brain does the rest on its own and interprets that as affection and romantic interest. That's how a lot of stuff in the brain works actually. We feel or do something by reflex, and then our brains come up with a story to justify why after the fact. Once Dash's brain thinks she's in love with me, it's self-reinforcing and that becomes the truth. There's no altering of memories, no forced control. Everything that follows is real affection."


"Hooey!" Applejack spat. "Becomes the truth? What kinda nonsense is that?! Those feelings are only there because you put them there! That makes the whole thing fake!"

"No it doesn't! There's no such thing as a fake feeling. You can't say that somepony only thinks they are sad or happy or in pain, because it's always a matter of what's in their head.  I may have grown a new connection, but I guarantee you that if you were to cut open the brains of the Cakes, you'd find something similar that grew over decades of a happy relationship. It doesn't matter whether it was put there artificially over the span of a few minutes, once it's there, the resulting feelings are real. Even the automatic pulses were set to rapidly wind down on their own. Within four to five months, there wouldn't be a shred of magic left. If we had a huge fight or something, there's nothing that would keep her from being mad at me, nothing that would force her to stay with me no matter what.  The only thing keeping us together would be the pleasant memories we made together. REAL memories!"

Twilight's pulse pounded rapidly in her ears. She took a few quick ragged breaths, feeling slightly lightheaded from breathing too little while words continued to pour out somewhat quicker than she had intended. She focused her gaze back on Rainbow Dash. She had to make sure she understood.


I'm not  a monster! I'm not! 


"I just set the ball rolling. Everything that happened after was real!"


You're blowing it.


"You said once that 'the spark just wasn't there', so I found a way to put it there. That's all!"


She doesn't understand.


The corners of her vision began to blur with tears as her words became less persuasive arguments and more desperate babbling.

"I-I just wanted to find some way to make you feel what I felt! I wanted to share that with you!"


She hates you now.


The blurriness spread across the rest of her vision, creating a kaleidoscope of a dozen different Dashes starting back at her with that same placid, emotionless face. She closed her eyes, forcing the tears to run down her cheeks.

"I-I-I know it was wrong not to ask first! I told myself it was okay because it would make you happier, but I don't know what I'd do if I asked and you said no! Then I'd be stuck with an even worse choice!  Either I'd then have to go ahead and cast the spell directly against your will, and I'm not sure if I could have brought myself to do that, or I'd have to give up and leave things as they were, and I DEFINITELY couldn't do THAT!  I was falling apart! I could barely eat or sleep, and it just hurt all the time! 

Twilight struggled to keep talking through her tightening throat and running nose. Her tear ducts showed no sign of slowing.

"An–An–And sometimes. When it was particularly bad. I–I–I'd look at a pair of scissors and I'd think–or I'd t–take a walk up to the bluffs and I'd just sit there at the edge and I–and I always went back but every time I'd stare a little longer and think that maybe next time...and I knew if you ever found out, that would basically be emotional blackmail, so I never told anypony, but that didn't make it hurt any less and I'd still stare longer each time!"


If you'd made the right call back then, you could have saved everypony the trouble, you coward.


"I just wanted you to love me back! I know it was terribly selfish! I understand exactly why it was wrong! Why anypony who does something like that SHOULD be locked up! But I...I'm..."

"What?" Dash replied. "You're sorry?"

Something sparked in Twilight's mind. Something that returned a sense of clarity and focus and stilled her choking sobs. A glow of magic wiped way the tears and mucus as she opened her eyes, straightened her back, and opened her mouth to respond.

"NO! I'm NOT sorry!" Twilight shouted with every scrap of conviction she could muster.  The other ponies took a step back as if they had been struck.  "I mean, yes, I'm obviously sorry I got caught. That this all blew up into such a huge mess.  That we even need to have this conversation at all.  But if you're asking if I regret my choice to cast the spell in the first place? Absolutely not!  If I could go back, knowing everything about how it would all end, I'd STILL make the same choice!"

"Why?!" Applejack and Rainbow Dash both shouted back.  Fluttershy shifted uncomfortably and gave a small nod.

"Because," Twilight locked eyes with Dash. "It was worth it. YOU were worth it!  Even if it was only for a short time.  Being with you was better than I ever imagined, and I don't know if you or anypony can properly appreciate what that means, because I imagined a LOT!  I wouldn't trade the time we had together, however brief, for anything.  I KNOW it was wrong, but I'd do it all over again, even if I could only have you for a week!  I'd do it for a single DAY!  I'd do it because I LOVE YOU!"

Twilight stood panting, wanting nothing more than to collapse into a heap of catharsis and emotional exhaustion. Dash stood blinking in surprise for a few moments. She closed her eyes, inhaled deeply through her nose, and returned to the same emotionless expression as before.

"One last question, then."

Twilight gave a weak nod, too drained to muster up any kind of vocal response.

"Is it possible..." Cracks of awkward discomfort began to form in her emotionless mask. "The doctors managed to undo the effects of that spell. I think by destroying that bridge you were talking about. Can you...I mean, would you be able to...?" 

"What?"

"...Put it back?"


...

...

...


"WHAT?!" Though Twilight was too dumbstruck to voice the thought herself, Applejack was more than up to the task. "What in tarnation are you talking about Dash?! Are you–?"

"Brain damaged? Yeah, just a bit." Rainbow Dash gave an aloof shrug.

"But WHY?! Why would you ever ask her to do that again? How can you not be furious?!"

"Oh, I'm definitely mad, but it's...complicated, AJ."

"It don't seem like it should be." Applejack replied with a snort.

"Yeah, well it is. It's like..." she turned to face Twilight. "I look at you and feel...nothing. It's not just the lack of love that was there before.  I mean, I'm pretty pissed off about everything, but there's no personal sense of betrayal because it doesn't actually feel like we were ever friends. It's like you're some stranger I never met and have no particularly strong opinions about."

Twilight quivered on her hooves and struggled to fight back a new wave of tears. "Dash, I–"

"No! That's not what I mean! Not that you're 'dead to me' or anything. I'm saying there's all these regular feelings that SHOULD be there but just aren't.  Even all the anger I should feel towards you can't focus right. It's like...when your train is late and that makes you late for something really important. You're mad, but not at a specific pony in particular, just events in general. Even if the delay was actually caused by a single individual's screw up somewhere, they're a distant faceless cog. It's not really personal. I can see you in front of me, but it's like I'm mad at some distant nameless pony I never met. Does that make any sense?"

Twilight gave a hesitant nod. "I think so?"

"But what's worse is, I REMEMBER all sorts of things, like how we met, parties we went to, adventures we had, battles we fought, all of it. But when I think about those memories, I don't feel anything. I remember what I'm supposed feel when I think about them, but I can't actually feel it anymore. Like they happened to somepony else and I'm just reading about them in some kind of really dull encyclopedia."

"That sounds...upsetting?"

"It is. And the absolute worst are the memories of us together. I remember.  I can't feel it anymore, but I remember exactly what it felt like. I remember being happy. Happier than I've ever been before. I remember chocolate chip waffles for breakfast and messing around with lasers in the lab. I remember taking you flying and reading the newest Daring Do book together all night until the sun started to rise. I remember waking up next to you and thinking I was the luckiest mare in the world to have found you. That there was no way I could possibly deserve such a life, but I would fight with every fiber of my being down to my last breath to hold onto it."

Tears once again began to fill Twilight's eyes, but now they were accompanied by the flicker of a struggling smile.

"Dash..."

"And now it's gone!" A slight shake entered her voice as her cool composure started to crack. "It's gone and I...fuck me, I know it's messed up, but I MISS it! Every sensible bit of me says that's crazy. That I should leave, just cut you out of my life and move on, but I've always been a senseless idiot, and I just want that feeling back!"

After wiping some dampness from the corners of her eyes, Rainbow Dash took a few steadying breaths until she had regained most of her calm.

"So that's most of the reason why I'm asking if you can recast that spell. There's one more part, but it's a lot simpler."

"W-What's that?" Twilight managed to choke out through irregular sobs as tears continued to run past the huge smile involuntarily stuck on her face.

"I remember promising that I'd always stay with you and stick by your side, unconditionally, and until the end of time. I remember meaning every word of it, and it'll take a lot more than the revelation of a horrible crime, traumatic brain surgery, and the opposition of the Princesses and the combined military might of Equestria to make Rainbow Dash break a promise to her marefriend."

With that, the dam burst and Twilight threw herself forward, wrapping Rainbow Dash in a tight hug and sobbing into her chest.

"Thankyouthankyouthankyouthankyou!  I don't deserve a pony as great as you!"

"Oh, you definitely don't." Rainbow Dash replied with a light chuckle as she wrapped her wings around the mess of a unicorn. "But hey, better to be lucky than good, right? But just so you know, I now automatically win all future arguments. Like, forever."

"Deal." Twilight managed to reply through the uncontrollable mixture of laughter and crying that had overtaken her. 

She suddenly felt light in a way she hadn't in...years? Whether it was her true feelings for Dash, or the actions she took in pursuit of her, she couldn't remember the last time she hadn't walked around with the weight of a terrible secret, carefully watching every word and action so as not to betray what could never be revealed, every second of every day for years on end. Now there were no more secrets. The weight was gone, and she felt as light as the feathers on the gentle wings that wrapped around her. She could finally rest.
> Chapter 16
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Applejack and Fluttersy stood silently as they watched the emotional scene on display before them. They both shot one another questioning looks, as if to glean any answers as to how they should feel about this new development. When Twilight's tears of joy had finally died down, a full minute passed before Fluttershy finally broke the silence.

"Umm...so...what now?"

Twilight and Rainbow Dash both jumped, apparently having completely forgotten about the two other ponies present. Twilight cleared her throat and spoke.

"Well, to answer Dash's question, yes I could recast the spell. All I'd need is to gather the right ingredients again. If we're going to do that, we should head back towards Ponyville and the Everfree." She closed her eyes to think for a few seconds before raising a hoof toward the horizon. "Which should be that way."

"And you think that'll just wrap up everything with a nice tidy bow?" Applejack interjected. "Twilight just gets to walk and everypony forgets about the whole thing and pretends it never happened? You know it ain't that easy, right?"

"Why not?" Rainbow Dash responded, a defensive tone in her voice. "I said I'm fine with it. I kinda get why nopony cared about my opinion earlier, but I'm not under any spell at the moment. You and Fluttershy are both witnesses. Those doctors can even scan my head and confirm it, and I'll sign whatever in front of whoever to make this happen."

Twilight gave a sad shake of her head. "She's right, Dash.  "Whether or not you forgive me for it now, the original act was extremely illegal. Even if nopony was ultimately hurt in the end, it's not the kind of thing the princesses can afford to set a precedent for letting slide."

"Well screw them, then! I'm going forward with this, and I'm not gonna do it just to have them tear us apart afterward for what's in the past. I'm sticking with you, and if that puts me on the wrong side of the law, then I guess that's just where I'll be from now on."

Applejack huffed and muttered something under her breath. Rainbow Dash turned and leveled a glare her way.

"What? You going to stop me?" The note of challenge to the question was unmistakable.

"I reckon I'm obligated to at least try to knock some sense into you before you go throwing your life away like this."

"Try being the key word there. Even without Twilight backing me up, anypony looking to stop me is going to have a fight on their hooves. I like you AJ. Along with Fluttershy and Twilight, you're one of the closest friends I've ever had. But don't think that means I'd hold anything back."

The two rivals and ex-lovers continued to stare one another down, both tensed and ready to spring into action as seconds ticked by. Twilight and Fluttershy held their breath as they looked on. Finally, Applejack spoke up.

"So you're really serious about this then? This is what you want?"

"Yeah. It is."

"And ain't nothin' nopony can say to change yer mind?"

"No."

"...Alright then. Fine." Applejack relaxed her stance as Rainbow Dash blinked in surprise. "The main reason I came out here in the first place was to find you and make sure you were alright, and to get you help if you weren't. Getting answers outta Twilight was secondary, and dragging her flank into custody would have been in the interest of getting her to fix you up. But if you ain't hurt and you don't need freeing from any spells anymore...I guess it ain't really any of my business anymore is it?" Rainbow Dash slowly began to relax. "Don't get me wrong, I certainly don't approve of any of this. None of it sits right with me, but I figure you've at least got time to sleep on it and change your mind before Twilight's got the stuff she needs to recast her spell. If you're still set on this when the time comes, well, I can't tell you how to live your life. If this is what you really want, I won't get in your way."

Rainbow Dash gave a sigh of relief. "Thanks, AJ. I appreciate it."

Applejack kicked at a loose pebble and pulled her hat down over her eyes. "Shucks, I know I wouldn't have a chance of stopping you anyhow. I know it'd be somethin' of a tossup whether I could take you one on one, and Twilight would probably squash me flat before I even got close." She cast a quick glance to the scorched devastation around them and rubbed a hoof at her throat while Twilight blushed and fidgeted in discomfort. "And I doubt Fluttershy here would tip the balance, assuming she didn't just straight up join your side to begin with."

A startled "eep" escaped Fluttershy's lips as attention shifted back to her. "Oh! Um..."

"Relax. I know your heart weren't exactly set on seeing Twilight dragged away in chains this whole time."

Fluttershy sighed. "No. To be honest, I'm mostly just relieved I don't have to pick sides between Rainbow Dash and Twilight. Or you now, I guess. I am still worried about one thing though. If we don't try to stop you, does that make us...um...what's the term?"

"Accessories?" Twilight suggested.

"Yeah."

"I don't think so," Applejack replied. "As there's no way the two of us can physically stop them, we should be fine as long as we're not directly helping them. Sure we're probably obligated to report what we know to the guards the next time we find ourselves in town, but as we don't really have a clue where we currently are, we can't do that. Unless Twi and Dash feel like giving us directions to the nearest town, in which case we would be legally bound to go there and make a full report to the authorities, we'll just have to follow the way Twilight pointed earlier back to Ponyville."

"And if that just so happens to be the way we're traveling as well..." Twilight added with a smirk.

"It's better to keep an eye and ear on ya both as long as possible so we can make a more detailed report on your activities and last known location when the time comes." Applejack nodded.

"And if, say, you happen to stop and make camp where we do?"

"It's not our fault if you happen to set up your camp close enough to ours that they start overlapping. And seeing as we left our supplies behind in a wagon that's now who knows how far away in who knows what direction, we really have no choice but to scavenge whatever happens to be nearby out of necessity. And if we happen to find some food to cook and end up with more than the two of us can eat by ourselves, well, there ain't no crime in leaving leftovers sitting around unattended is there?" Applejack questioned innocently.

"No, I suppose there isn't." Twilight replied with a smile.

"Peachy. Well, best get going. We're burnin' daylight."


***


"So let me get this straight," Rainbow Dash said as she finished stacking the pile of firewood. "You kicked Princess Luna, co-ruler of Equestria, right in the horn and then melted her face off?"

Twilight looked up from her work snapping the ends of the last few tent poles into position. "Well, she definitely got burned. I don't know if it burned off her whole face, as she regenerated pretty quickly, but that's basically what happened."

"Bullshit. You're just messing with me now, aren't you?"

"Nah, she's tellin' the truth." Applejack called out from the campfire where she and Fluttershy were occupied cooking dinner. "We found that hideout, and it sure looked like one doozy of a rumble went down there. We even found one of Luna's feathers next to some bits of blood, so I'm pretty sure Twilight got at least one good lick in."

"Wow, she must have been pissed."

"Yeah. She was." Twilight shuddered.

"So what did you do?"

"Well, I freaked out, threw a tree at her, somehow managed to dodge a lot, got a lucky hit in and managed to throw her into a bush, and then threw everything I could think of at her."

"So what happened?"

"She got really pissed off, and then I woke up the next morning in a cage with a headache and a high end magic inhibitor on my horn."

Rainbow Dash raised a hoof to her mouth to muffle a short series of giggles.

"Yeah, well it wasn't terribly funny at the time."

"Sorry. So how did you get out from under Luna's nose without magic? Or did you have to break out of Canterlot somehow?"

"Well, that's where things got kinda weird, cause then the changelings got involved."

"Soup's on everypony!" Applejack called out. "Come and get it!"

The retelling of Twilight's adventures was put on hold as both ponies hurried over to the fire to fill their bellies.  Twilight and Rainbow Dash both helped themselves to a steaming bowl of soup that sent their eyebrows skyward as soon as it touched their lips.

"Whoa! I don't know if it's just because I've been eating hospital food for the last few weeks, but this stuff is great!" Rainbow Dash exclaimed.

"That would be Fluttershy's doing. Turns out she's got a real knack for spices." Applejack shot a proud glance over at her sous-chef, who fidgeted at the attention.

"Umm, yes. Applejack has been giving me some cooking lessons. I've still got a ways to go until I'm as good as her, though."

"I wouldn't be too sure about that. I may still have the edge in baking, but when it comes to campfire cooking, you're pretty much on the edge of passing me up. Plus you're scary good at scavenging all kinds of herbs and mushrooms and stuff from the wild. My pigs would be downright jealous of how quick you can scrounge up some quality tubers."

"I...umm...thanks." Fluttershy gave a small nod, sending her mane forward to hide the slight pinkish tinge in her cheeks at the unexpected praise.

"Well whatever you guys are doing, it's definitely working," Dash said before diving back into her food. 

"It truly is delicious, Fluttershy. Thank you," Twilight said with a beaming smile. 

She quivered slightly, as if caught by a sudden chill, and stared down at her own bowl of soup. "I-I think I need to gather just a little bit more sage, actually. You girls go ahead and keep eating. I'll be fine."

Placing her bowl back down next to the fire to keep it warm, she quietly slipped away into the long shadows of the surrounding trees. Twilight joined Rainbow Dash, who continued to stuff her face without pause, while Applejack stared after Flutterhshy's departure with a single raised eyebrow.

After a minute of pondering her own bowl, Applejack stood up and stretched. "I'm gonna get us some more firewood. You two just keep eating."

Rainbow Dash, too busy to raise her face from where she continued to shovel food into it, simply curled a wing into an approximation of the 'thumbs up' gesture Spike occasionally gave, while Twilight responded with a silent nod. Taking a moment to readjust her hat, Applejack trotted off into the trees in the direction Fluttershy had left.

As she searched for her friend, the quiet of the surrounding woods left her alone with her thoughts.	

She had started this little adventure to find Dash and make sure she was okay. Now Dash was certainly found. She at least wasn't physically hurt, and her usual pigheadedness was still undeniably intact, but 'okay' still wasn't a label she would be willing to stick on the pegasus. 'Okay' really didn't apply to anyone involved in this entire situation.

Rainbow Dash had had her brains scrambled with magic. Twice. In addition to being confined to a bed for weeks. An unbearable situation for someone who lived and breathed flying.

Twilight, for her momentary victory here, was still the most wanted fugitive in Equestria, not only for scrambling Dash's brains, but for further resisting the shit out of arrest to the point of assaulting royalty, all of which she appeared to be completely unrepentant about. If the lingering soreness in her throat and the singe marks on the edges of her hat were any indication, Twilight was also barely holding onto sanity by a thread. A multicolored thread named Rainbow Dash. As much as she seemed like the same lovable bookworm now that Dash was back, Applejack had gotten a long, hard look at the storm of fire and rage that would just as soon reduce the world to ashes should that no longer be the case.

Is it weird that I still think of her as my friend, though? For a mare who spent so much of her life in voluntary isolation, she always was oddly skilled at getting ponies to like her and follow her lead without even trying. Maybe it's just nostalgia from all those 'saving the world' adventures, but I look at her and I still see the mare with the plan that will lead us to victory and make everything turn out alright.

Then, of course, there was Fluttershy. It was painfully obvious she wasn't over Twilight in the slightest. That torch still burned like Celestia's sun. Add in the fact that Rainbow Dash was her oldest and closest friend from fillyhood, and she didn't even want to guess about how many directions the poor mare's mind had been torn recently.

And then there's me.

Applejack's thoughts were interrupted by a barely audible sigh, uttered just before she let out the heavy breath from her own lungs. She looked around for the source, but couldn't find it. A second sigh, more like a whisper, carried through the air. Applejack looked up and spotted a low floating cloud next to a small hill several paces away.

Trotting up the hill, Applejack saw Fluttershy sprawled listlessly over the top of the spacious cloud and staring off into the distance. It looked as if her thoughts were heavy enough to send the fluffy mass of vapor plummeting down into the dirt at any moment.

"Howdy."

Fluttershy shot up into the air with a choked "EEP!" and whirled around to face the unexpected intruder.

"A-Applejack! I-I was—"

"Looking for sage?"

Fluttershy's shoulders slumped as she cast her face down towards her hooves, kneading the cloud below.

"Of a sort, I guess."

Applejack nodded. "Not sure I have any to give. Could actually use some myself. Still, it's always easier to find with a friend than alone."

Applejack gave two quick pats to the top of her head and crouched. Fluttershy was about to ask what she was doing but was interrupted by the farm pony leaping from the top of the hill into the open air. Her eyes widened, and she was just about to scream in horror when Applejack landed next to her on the cloud with a smile.

"What? How...?"

Applejack slowly reached a hoof under her hat. When she pulled it out, a gold chain was draped around her foreleg. At the bottom of the chain was a small, lightly glowing pendant, slowly twisting from the motion of being retrieved. On one side was engraved a trio of apples, while the other bore a lightning bolt striking out from a cloud.

"An old gift from Dash. Back when..." she let the rest of the sentence go on unfinished. "Apparently, she secretly enlisted Twilight to enchant it with a cloud walking spell for her so me and Dash could spend more time together at her place." Her fond smile morphed into a frown. "Now that I consider the context...it's kinda messed up, really."

"And you...kept it." Fluttershy murmured, hoping she didn't sound like a fool for stating the obvious.

"Yeah."

"And, umm, you just...keep it on you all the time, then?"

Applejack didn't respond. She simply let out a sigh as she pushed her forelegs forward from her sitting position until she was lying completely prone and stretched out on the cloud. Fluttershy silently assumed the same position next to her. From their elevated position, they could spot the soft glow of the campfire and the outlines of two ponies chatting happily beside it. One could almost imagine the last few weeks had never happened and Ponyville's latest power couple was simply enjoying a romantic camping trip.

"Do you think...?" Fluttershy murmured with hesitation, wary of of breaking the moment of silence. "Do you think it would have worked out? Twilight and Rainbow Dash, I mean. If none of this had ever come out in the open. Do you think they would have...?"

"Made it for the long haul?" Applejack finished.

"Yeah."

"Well, nothing's certain, but with nopony the wiser, I imagine Twilight would be able to keep Dash magicked up and under her hoof as long as she wanted." Her pensive expression dropped into a scowl.

"No." Fluttershy gave a brief shake of her head. "Remember? She said the magic was set to fade out over time. After another month or two, there wouldn't be any magic at all, just them. Do you think they would have lasted past that point? Without the magical support, would the relationship just kind of...fizzle out and slowly die? Would all the love Rainbow was made to feel earlier be enough for them to just kind of coast forward for years until they've been together so long that it's just easier to stay together rather than face being single again? Or...or maybe...?"

"What?"

"Maybe, their relationship is wildly successful because they really are great for each other, and it really just took a bit of horribly unethical magic to get the ball rolling. What if, in some alternate timeline, Rainbow Dash had given Twilight a shot, gone on a few dates, and they'd both ended up just as perfect together as we all thought they looked?"

Applejack closed her eyes in thought. True, Dash and Twilight had some undeniable chemistry together, but it was impossible to tell how much of that was due to the spell Dash was under. They had fit together so naturally, so effortlessly, that it had been days before she and her friend could fully wrap their heads around it being artificial. There hadn't been anything approaching a red flag. No small oddities to look back to in hindsight and kick oneself for not suspecting that Dash wasn't acting like herself. No smile was just a little too forced. No gaze just a little vacant. Just Rainbow Dash in a happy relationship.

Was it so ludicrous to believe that maybe that was just what happy relationship Dash looked like? It wasn't like she didn't have some personal memories of their own relationship to compare with, and the comparison checked out. Was it so big a leap to think that maybe, in addition to Twilight's damned spell, the two of them had some natural compatibility of their own and made each other happy in a way that was independent from magic?

That doesn't make any of this right, though!

"Applejack?" 

"No use tying ourselves up in what ifs and could haves. There ain't no way for anypony to really know one way or the other about things that didn't happen, so worrying over it won't do any good. Better to focus on what to do next." 

"Right." Fluttershy gave a slightly disappointed nod. "So, umm, what do we do next?"

Applejack lifted herself up from her prone position just far enough to give a casual shrug. "Hay if I know. Keep an eye on those two and hope Dash comes to her senses? And if she doesn't, try to bring myself to at least support her decision even if I don't approve or understand it. As for the whole Twilight and the law situation, I guess I'll just have to cross that bridge when I reach it. What about you?"

"Me? I-I don't know. I just...I want..."

"What?"

"No, it's dumb."

"Yeah, probably. Tell me anyway."

Fluttershy dropped her face forward between her forelegs and mumbled through a mouth full of cloud.

"Gee, thanks."

"Feelings and desires are dumb all the time. For all the cliche's about 'following your heart', hearts ain't exactly built for thinking. It's no surprise that what they spit out is downright idiotic more often than not. And yes, I know that ain't how it literally works. I know emotions and what not are all handled by a part of the brain and that's pretty much at the core of this entire mess, but my point still stands. Twilight's the smartest mare I know, likely one of the smartest if not the smartest in Equestria, and listening to her heart (or whatever you want to call it) set her down the most damn foolish path I've ever seen. Point is, don't worry too much about wanting something stupid. Happens to everypony. Happens to me all the time."

Fluttershy said nothing, but a slight quiver passed down her body, which soon grew into a solid shake. Muffled noises rose from where her face still pressed against the cloud as tremors continued to rack her body. Applejack was just about to reach out a hoof to console the distraught pegasus when Fluttershy raised her head, bringing the clear sound of laughter as a few stray beams of sunset gave her smiling face a golden glow.

"What is it? What's so funny?" Applejack asked as a slight tinge of pink reached her cheeks.

"Nothing. It's just, you get so into it when you start in on one of your 'folksy wisdom speeches'. That's what I call them anyway. It kinda reminds me of Twilight rambling on in lecture mode."

"F-Folksy wisdom speeches?" The color in Applejack's cheeks was steadily growing brighter. "Rambling?"

"Oh, don't worry. It's very endearing. Cute, even."

"Uggh!" Applejack pulled her hat down over her face, hiding what at this point could be mistaken for a second set of apple cutie marks.

"Anyway, thanks. Rambling or not, they do always make me feel a bit better. The truth is..." she let out a tired sigh. "Even though I know better, I keep thinking that somehow there must be some secret way to make everything work out. A way to make this whole mess go away and just put everything back to normal. Some impossible scenario to make everypony happy. You, the princesses, Twilight, Rainbow Dash, and all of our friends."

"And?"

"And what?"

"I can't help but notice you left a certain pony off of that list. So, what scenario ends up making you happy?"

"Me? Oh, uh, you know. As long as everypony else is back together and happy, then I'm fine."

"Really, now?" Applejack responded, skepticism dripping off of her flat expression.

"Y-Yeah, of course," Flutershy replied, her no longer glowing smile starting to drop at the edges.

"So if we all just went back to how things were a few weeks back, minus the magic none of us knew about at the time, you'd be just peachy?"

"Y-Yes!" Fluttershy squeaked out, suddenly very interested in absolutely everything that wasn't Applejack's face.

Applejack said nothing, but maintained her stony gaze, secretly wondering if maybe she should have just let the subject drop so that radiant smile from a few moments ago could have lasted a bit longer. It was too late for that now.

"I-I just..." Fluttershy struggled to force words past a lump developing in her throat. "As long as Twilight and Rainbow Dash and everypony else are..." She willed back the water threatening to creep over her eyes. "All I want...I want...I want..." She bit down hard on her lower lip until she started to taste blood. Slowly, she inhaled and exhaled through her nose until the shaking in her body had finally stopped. Calm at last, she opened her mouth to reply that she was perfectly fine as long as her friends were happy.

But that wasn't what came out.

"I WANT HER TO LOVE ME!"  Her head fell back to the cloud where it was promptly covered by her forelegs while the rest continued to spill out. "I want her to somehow discover feelings for me and that we were meant to be together all along and somehow Rainbow Dash ends up being completely okay with it. Then everyone just forgets about the whole love spell and fugitive business, you and Rainbow Dash somehow get back together, and the four of us go on double dates just like we used to, only this time SHE LOVES ME LIKE I LOVE HER!"

Unable to come up with anything appropriate to say, Applejack settled on placing a comforting hoof on Fluttershy's back and rubbing gently.

"And I KNOW there's no way that's going to happen. I know it. But I had to go look for her because staying at home and not seeing her, maybe never seeing her again, was killing me. And even though I know what she did was wrong, I still want to help her because when I look at her and the way she looks at Rainbow Dash, I can't help but feel like I'm looking in a mirror. Like I can somehow, I don't know, vicariously be happy by helping her find happiness with Rainbow Dash, while still burning up with jealousy. Then I'd usually feel horribly guilty because Rainbow Dash was under a spell and I should be working to free my best friend instead of helping the pony that was keeping her enchanted, which makes me a bad pony and a terrible friend. And on top of that, I was still jealous and a bit angry at Rainbow Dash for stealing her from me, despite her having no choice in the matter, which is just completely insane! So now I'm a crazy pony in addition to being a terrible friend."

Applejack continued her silent back rub while Fluttershy took a few haggard breaths before continuing.

"And now! Now Rainbow Dash says she's okay with it and wants to be with Twilight anyway, so at least if I wanted to help Twilight that no longer means betraying Rainbow Dash. That should make things simpler, but it really doesn't because I still want her to love ME! I want so badly to see Twilight get what she wants, even if she's done bad things, even if she doesn't deserve it, but I want what she wants to be ME!"

A few minutes of cloud muffled sobbing passed. Applejack kept up the steady rhythm of her hoof until Fluttershy's breathing grew steady once again.

"Is that dumb enough for you?"

"Bout what I expected really. It ain't that dumb, just...an unfortunate position to be in."

"A bit of an understatement."

"Definitely. Feel any better?"

"Marginally? I'm still miserable, but..." 

"But it's nice to finally say all that out loud for a change?"

"Yeah."

"And just so you know, you're a great friend, and the furthest thing imaginable from a bad pony. You're probably the best pony I ever met, and I mean that in the sense of just being fundamentally good inside.  I know circumstance has got your head all twisted up with self-doubt, but I thought you should know that."

"Umm...thanks?" Fluttershy replied, unsure how else to respond to a compliment of that magnitude. "You're, uhh, great too?"

A few minutes passed as the two ponies stared off into the reddening horizon. The sounds of nature were beginning their transition from day to night, the songs of birds fading out as crickets began to stir. With a tired sigh, Applejack finally spoke.

"Sorry for your crappy situation. I know there's nothing I can really do to make it better, but...if you ever need to talk, or just get your thoughts out loud for a bit, I'll be there to listen. For whatever it's worth, you don't have to be miserable and alone."

"Thanks. And actually..." The slightest hint of a smile began to pull at the corners of Fluttershy's mouth. "It's a very distant second, but there is kinda something else I want. You'd be the one to see about it too."

"What's that?"

"More of those apple turnovers?"

"HA! Well, shoot. We just need to see if Twilight has any cinnamon packed away. It's a bit more difficult to make baked goods with a camp fire, but I know a few tricks. I'll even teach 'em to ya."

"I can't wait." Fluttershy's unsteady smile grew as she wiped the remains of tears from her eyes with a wing."

"Come on then, let's head back before Dash eats all the soup. I don't know about you, but I'm starved."

The two made their way back to the camp, grabbing a small hoof full of kindling and herbs on the way. When they arrived, Twilight was back to regaling Rainbow Dash with the stories of her adventure, having reached the part about sneaking into Chrysalis' bedroom while she slept.

Fluttershy took her seat and resumed eating, feeling her mood immediately begin to improve by the addition of food to her empty stomach. She settled in to listen to Twilight's exploits, but was soon distracted by something on the horizon.

"Umm...girls?" Three heads turned towards her. "The sunset. Was it always that shade of red?"

"Well the red color is due to the differential scattering of higher frequencies of light as it travels through the atmosphere, and variances can be caused by the pockets of high pressure along the line of–"

"What about angry throbbing?" Rainbow Dash interrupted.

"What?" Twilight spun around to look at the setting sun and was struck speechless.

"That's bad, right? What's it mean?" Rainbow Dash asked, squinting at a sun that looked as if it had been dunked in a mixture of blood and kerosene. 

Twilight gave a nervous gulp. "I'm guessing it means we should stick to tree cover and give Canterlot a wide berth."
> Chapter 17
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

With all the delicate caution of a pony who had constructed hundreds of ships in bottles, performed oral surgery on dragons, and negotiated international politics for millennia, Celestia gently laid her now sleeping sister down to rest on her bed. The tenderness of her motions as she placed a kiss on Luna's cheek and pulled up the sheets belied the storm of fire and fury that raged within.  Something had harmed her dear baby sister, and that something would pay dearly.

Celestia had long played the smiling diplomat, slow to anger and quick to laugh, while her sister took the more severe and militant role. Back in the old days, when conflict was more common, Luna had been the proverbial steel to Celestia's silk, responsible for meting out the crown's justice by night as her sister offered beneficence and mercy by day. Their adoption of such roles had owed a great deal to individual temperament; Luna had always tended toward terse and commanding, while Celestia had a long fuse and a penchant for small talk. However, part of it lay with the results when the end of that fuse was finally reached. When she had experimented at being the steel rather than the silk, it coincided with the introduction of the term "scorched earth" into common parlance.

Sickly crimson light spilled in through the window from the setting sun, flooding the room with the bloody tint of a battlefield. Celestia sighed and attempted to stretch a sore spot out of her neck. The day's ordeal had certainly been as physically and emotionally exhausting as any battle she had ever participated in. Unfortunately, there was no time to rest or celebrate victory. The consequences of canceling an entire day's schedule needed to be faced. Appointments needed making up and rescheduling. The Night Court needed informing (in a way that wouldn't cause panic), that Luna would be absent a few days to recover. Most importantly, there was a perpetrator out there that needed a large helping of divine wrath.

After casting one last look down at her peacefully sleeping sister, Celestia turned to leave. Taking a final moment to compose herself, she dropped the wards surrounding the room and opened the door to find one of her guards waiting patiently on the other side. From the fatigue visible in his stance and the slight grumbling of his stomach, it appeared he had been attentively waiting for her exit for the better part of the day.

“Your majesty! Urgent news from mid-morning! My apologies for not relaying it sooner, but you were otherwise occupied and physically unreachable.”

Celestia gave him a reassuring nod.

“No apologies necessary lieutenant. I set those wards myself and was engaged with an issue of the absolute highest priority.  Now, what is your news?”

“Facility R-1 has been attacked. No recorded fatalities as of yet, but numerous injuries and extensive damage to the facility itself. The crystal communication system is still undergoing repair, so updates have been limited to physical messengers. ” 

Celestia forced herself to stop clenching her jaw, lest the sound of her grinding teeth disturb the entire castle.

“And the primary subject?”

“Escaped, along with the assailant, identified by staff as Twilight Sparkle. Current whereabouts of both individuals remain unknown as of the latest update.”

Back to square one then. Damnit! If Twilight has Rainbow Dash back and under her thrall, she’s likely to go to ground and never stick her head up again. 

“Have a chariot ready to depart in 10 minutes.”

“One is already prepped and ready to depart on your order.”

Eight minutes and a rapid briefing of critical personnel later, Celestia made her way to the flight deck. She stifled a yawn and chased it by draining the coffee mug levitating beside her, grimacing at the dark liquid that was more suited to her sister’s taste. Caffeine was needed, but there simply wasn’t time enough to enjoy a proper cup of tea. One more thing Twilight had taken from her this day. Tossing the now empty mug to an aide behind her, Celestia stepped into the vehicle which took off into the sky the moment she reached her seat. 

Sitting in silence as the wind howled and the land below rushed past at a dizzying pace, Celestia wore an expression that shot straight past pensive and directly into brooding. As much as she wanted to believe that Twilight wasn’t the one responsible for Luna’s condition, that theory was looking ludicrously implausible.  Even leaving aside the fact that she could count with two hooves the number of ponies beside Luna and herself who were familiar with that kind of dark magic (and one of them had been disintegrated by the Crystal Heart), it would take some seriously willful blindness to discount the timing as a coincidence. 

An attack on the secret facility holding Rainbow Dash during the window when Luna was incapacitated and she herself fully occupied with treating her? The time when it would be most difficult for Canterlot to organize a speedy response? No. It was definitely Twilight. Whether it was a premeditated tactic or simply an attack of opportunity hardly mattered. Twilight had done this to Luna, and for the first time, when she thought of Twilight’s name, the phrase “faithful student” was not reflexively appended by her mind. Instead of images of a smiling bookish schoolfilly and daughter figure, there was only a collection of facts, like a mental dossier. Skills, habits, and motivations. Nervous tics and tells. Possible physical weaknesses or psychological blind spots. Fears and insecurities to be exploited. 

As the chariot began its descent, Celestia was pulled from her thoughts by the view below. The thick overgrowth of thorny vegetation that normally concealed the outpost was gone. Everything within a half mile radius had been knocked flat, as if by an immense shock wave. In the center was a hole like a gaping wound in Equus itself. A wound in the process of scabbing over with a series of tarps being set up by a small group of guards below. It was at least something to keep any passing pegasus from wandering in out of the sky.

Stepping out of the now grounded vehicle, she saw a familiar well muscled pegasus approaching to greet her, sporting several alarming new bruises and bandages.

"Your majesty." He snapped a smart salute, not betraying even a flicker of discomfort from his injuries.

"Commander." She returned a brief nod. "What's the situation?"

"Terrible, but slowly getting better. We've at least finally gotten the work crews started clearing debris and patching things up, though it'll be a while before we can do anything substantial about that." He pointed a hoof toward the massive hole. "It was a real mess earlier. Those of us who were still in a state to move around when all the action was over were busy dragging the rest to the infirmary.  Add the fact that we're still trying to get the blasted comm system fixed, and well, we only managed to get an engineering corps team in here to start a proper cleanup about 2 hours ago."

"My apologies for my unavailability commander. There was an...incident in Canterlot that required my attention."

"I figured it had to be something big. The castle was a powder keg of nervous tension. Was it related to the attack here?"

"I strongly suspect it might have been."

"Your captain had his hooves full quelling rumors and maintaining order, and I'm sure I didn't do him any favors by barging in looking like death warmed over and requisitioning the nearest dozen ponies with sufficient security clearance along with two wagons of medical and construction supplies."

"You made the flight yourself?" She cast another look at his bandages. 

"It's not as bad as it looks. I also slept a good part of the day before waking up in the infirmary and figured I'd rested enough."

"And the chief medical officer just let you go?"

"I had to go. Needed somepony with the rank to bark orders around and get reinforcements from Canterlot. That, and the good doctor hadn't woken up yet."

"I see. Shall we get to it then? I'd like a full report and a tour of the damages." 

"Of course." He turned once again to the breach. "I suppose that would be the obvious starting point. Our first guess was some kind of meteor strike, but when we investigated the bottom of the shaft, we detected unusually high levels of gold with some residual magical energy. As best we can tell, it was some kind of artificial slug thrown at high speed from a great height." 

Celestia peeked over the edge of the maw, the bottom too deep to be seen in the last fading rays of sunset. "What did it hit on the way down?"

"It tore straight through the main generator. It also destroyed the relay switch two floors down that was supposed to activate the backup generator, so we had about 2 minutes of blackout before somepony managed to hit the manual override."

The commander spread his wings and started a gentle glide down the shaft. Celestia silently followed.

"Along with the scorch marks, we've gathered enough accounts from those who directly engaged with the intruder to reconstruct a route and rough timeline." He stopped at one of the floors and turned into the adjacent hallway. "We believe she came down here, all the way to stairwell B, where first contact occurred shortly after the power was restored."

The tour made a brief stop at a room filled with exhausted looking unicorns fussing about a gigantic flickering crystal, scribbling notes on a white board, and opening up the panels of a dozen different consoles to go over every inch of their innards. A tired expression came across the commander's face.

"Any progress yet?" he asked with an apparent lack of optimism that the answer would differ from the last several times he had asked it.

"If by progress, you mean progressively driving me up the bloody wall, then yes!" came a response in a heavy Trottingham accent. The slender blue unicorn with a cutie mark of a matrix filled with ones and zeroes continued to rant, not bothering to turn around. "It defies all sense and reason! We get a signal for about five seconds, then the frequency goes all wobbly. Every time we implement a fix to lock it down, it resets itself and the spell network kicks back some error message about needing administrator permission. I am the bloody administrator!"

"Sabotage?" Celestia asked. 

"Obviously! But we've swept every inch of every console twice and fuck me over afternoon tea, but I can't find where it's coming from!"

There was a brief beat of silence as he placed the newcomer's voice, then whirled around in utter mortification. "P-Princess! I-uh-welcome! Repairs to the communication system have unfortunately hit something of a snag."

"So I've gathered. Do you mind if I try something?"

"Um, of course. Go right ahead."

Celestia closed her eyes and reached out. The room buzzed with dozens upon dozens of interlocking spells running from the network of machinery. Each major component hummed with its own unique flavor, heavily based on it's manufacturer and further made unique by a lingering influence of any past unicorn who had serviced or operated it. Finding a specific bit of malicious spellcraft in that network would be akin to the proverbial needle in the haystack. Unless of course, the piece one was looking for hummed with a flavor that one was intimately familiar with. Then it was like searching for a needle dyed bright purple and doused with lavender perfume.

Celestia's horn lit with a golden glow, and down from the crevice of an overhead crossbeam joint floated a small crystal. She held the device in front of her for the gathered ponies to see, then encased it in a translucent bubble, cutting off the signal.

The effect was immediate. The large crystal ceased flickering, followed by a row of flashing red lights on several consoles switching to a solid green. The technicians hurriedly sent out a few test messages and several cheers of relief and enthusiastic hoof bumps when they came back positive. The blue unicorn from before simply stared dumbfound at the now isolated spell crystal. 

"All of that trouble because of this little thing? And it wasn't even hardwired into the system! Remote hijacking of the initialization protocols? How is that even possible?"

"I suppose being the chief designer of the underlying architecture would be a start."

"What? Wait...you mean..." He quickly pulled over a pair of saddlebags and took out a well worn tome emblazoned with the title 'Piezoarcanic Telecommunications Field Manual'. Directly below was the author's name, T. Sparkle. "Huh."

Celestia turned back to the commander. "Shall we continue?"

The pair resumed their tour, following the path Twilight had taken through the facility and noting small white x's marking where various incapacitated personnel had been found. A frown crossed the princess' face as something become increasingly apparent. Twilight had taken a direct path to Rainbow Dash's room.

"She knew the layout in advance."

"It definitely seems that way. We haven't the slightest clue how, though. If she was able to get in to do any recon, I doubt she'd need to blow her way in so dramatically. Everypony here is professionally tight lipped, and floor plans are a strange choice for idle chatter anyway.  Add the fact that we've all been stationed here and living on site for the duration of the project, and nopony would have even had the opportunity to leak anything."

Troubling. How would Twilight even get the location of this facility in the first place, much less the floor plans? Access to somepony on the original construction team? But how would she even get the list of names to even begin tracking one of them down? How would she find the proper project code name and relevant files for a facility she didn't even know existed?

It didn't make any sense. Twilight would have to have actually been there during construction, or had some informant on staff at the time. Twilight didn't seem the type to be secretly running and maintaining a subversive spy network for years. There was certainly another who fit that profile though. One Twilight had apparently encountered recently. Celestia resolved at the next available opportunity to check the construction staff roster against Twilight's little 'gift' from a few days back. 

Thoughts of the considerable purges  that still needed to be orchestrated based on that document were interrupted by their sudden arrival at what had formerly been Rainbow Dash's room. Celestia took a moment to stare in awe at the destruction and gaping jagged hole that had once been the door.

"A bit inelegant, but I suppose I shouldn't be terribly surprised given her choice of entrance to the base itself."

"That's what we thought at first, but upon closer inspection, we determined that the door was in fact blasted open from the inside. It turns out Rainbow Dash managed to somehow get out of her restraints during the power outage, knocked out the doctors, then got into the general anesthesia supplies and blew the door. She pocketed a hooffull of syringes of sedative and carved her own completely independent swathe of destruction. Given that Twilight Sparkle wasn't with her when she came charging into my office, it's likely they just missed each other."

"Oh?" Celestia said nothing more, with only a slightly raised brow inviting him to continue.

"Yes, well, it didn't go great for me, as you might have guessed. Few things let you know just how old you're getting quite like getting KO-ed by some hotshot academy rookie, no matter how good her training scores are. Moving on, I've been informed that after I was out of commission, she grabbed the intercom controls to do a bit of gloating. After that, we don't have any direct eye witness confirmation, but we assume both Rainbow Dash and Twilight Sparkle left through the breach. We can't confirm whether or not they actually encountered each other before or after leaving."

"Is Dr. Resonance Image alright?"

"A bit black and blue, but he's doing fine now. He should be waiting for you in his office."

"I shouldn't keep him waiting then."

Celestia made her way to the familiar office, which happened to be in one of the few locations untouched by the conflict. Two quick, authoritative knocks elicited a "come in" from behind the door. She entered to find the room already prepped for a meeting, projector warmed up and ready with a series of slides and various documents lined up on a table. Waiting patiently behind a large desk, and wearing a slightly less form fitting lab coat than she recalled, was the lead neurologist and project director.

"Ah, your highness. welcome. Please, have a seat."

"I hear you've had quite the eventful day."

"That's one way of putting it. Too many more eventful days like this, and I'll be in an early grave."

Celestia found a comfortable seat on a nearby couch.

"So, now that I've got the general overview from security, what was the medical situation of our patient right up until the unfortunate disruption?"

"Well, to start, I could not think of worse possible timing. As you know, we had previously tracked the influence of the enchantment to a small bridge of tissue running into the amygdala. Despite dispelling the original magic, the patient's condition remained unchanged. We decided to move ahead with a surgical procedure to destroy that bridge with a neuroscope. We were in the process of conducting the procedure when the catastrophic power loss occurred."

An alarmed look shot across Celestia's face. "Oh my. Is she...?"

"We didn't have much of a chance to do an examination, as she was loose by the time the lights came back on, but we are confident that there are certainly no impairments to her speech or motor functions. As for emotional stability and regulation of aggression, well, we've been sorely lacking a baseline to compare to. Spatial and analytical reasoning seem in good shape, given her inventive escape from the room. I'm confident there was no significant unintended damage stemming from the disrupted procedure."

"Unintended?"

"There still remains the question of whether the primary goal of the surgery was accomplished or not. The power went out right as we were completing the destruction of the tissue bridge. As soon as I was mobile again, I scoured the remains of the room for the printouts."

He adjusted the projector, displaying several pages that looked like they had been to Tartarus and back. Some parts were crumpled, torn, singed, or had something spilled on them, sometimes all at once. He pointed at a line on a graph that rose steadily before coming to an abrupt halt.

"Here's where the power cut out." He pointed at the sudden flatline. "Now, what we expect to see when excising the target tissue is just this sort of build up, followed by a sharp dip the moment the target is destroyed. Unfortunately, from the look of this curve,—"

"The dip should be right around where the power cutoff occurred," Celestia finished for him. "

"Exactly. It's down to a matter of milliseconds. I've poured over it again and again, but we just don't have the kind of resolution to say with absolute certainty whether or not the target tissue was severed before the power went out. The best I can say is there's about a 70% chance it did."

"And we're still not certain what, if any, behavioral changes such a result would correspond to."

"Indeed."

Celestia helped herself to a glass of water provided on a nearby table while she focused her thoughts. If Rainbow Dash remained unchanged and devoted to Twilight, and they were reunited, there was very little that could be done. They would go deep into hiding and it could be years before they were found. If she was still under the effect but separated, they were all back to square one, trying to catch one or both of them while they stumbled about in search of each other. Finding and tailing Rainbow Dash covertly might in fact be the best way to find Twilight. If Rainbow Dash was freed from the spell's influence, then what? Would she eventually turn herself back in and help in capturing Twilight? Try to exact retribution herself? Would she just want to go home and think things over?

Maybe there was something she was missing? Some middle ground?  If the procedure had some effect on Rainbow Dash, surely that would be cause for concern to Twilight.  She'd want to know more, perhaps as much out of legitimate concern for her marefriend's health as for maintaining hegemony over her mind. Where would a desperate, and increasingly bold Twilight turn? 

A plan of action began to form. It was a long shot to be sure, and it was likely nothing would come of it, but it was at least proactive and something a step better than 'sweep Equestria and wait for something to turn up'.  With a bit of luck, it might just send Twilight running right into her hooves.


***


“Dash? Dash, where are you? I told you not to wander off!”

Twilight swept her eyes over the forest canopy above in her fruitless search for the troublesome pegasus. Hadn’t she heard her detailed speech on why they needed to stick together from now on? The last thing they needed this close to their goal was to get separated  and maybe spend a few more months trying to find each other again. She really didn’t want to keep pushing her luck with breaking into and out of highly secured areas full of guards.

“Dash! If this is some kind of joke, it isn’t funny!”  A brief jolt of panic struck.

What if she changed her mind about being with me? What if she recovered her emotional connection, but it’s all negative and she hates me now? What if she got eaten by a monster? What if she ran off with an evil version of me visiting from another dimension? What if I’m the evil version and she ran of with the GOOD version of me from another dimension?!

“Relax, egghead,” a voice called out from above. I can tell you’re doing one of those ‘what if’ cascades in your head again. I just went to gather some berries and nuts. Now let’s get these back to Applejack and Fluttershy so they can turn it into lunch.”

Twilight looked up and gave a sigh of relief, just in time to see her once and soon to be marefriend get blindsided by a beam of golden magic. 

“Rainbow Dash!” Twilight spun around to find the source. What she saw caused her jaw to drop and her heart to attempt leaping up past it.

“Hello there, Twilight.” Princess Celestia stood serenely in a patch of golden sunlight streaming down through a hole in the treetops. She wore a smile that didn’t quite reach her eyes.

“P-P-Princess! H-How did you—?”

“It’s a beautiful day outside,” Celestia remarked, ignoring Twilight’s sputtered question entirely. “Birds are singing. Flowers are blooming.” She paused to examine a butterfly that had momentarily landed on her outstretched fetlock before sending it on its way. “On days like these, fillies like you...”

In an instant, everything was fire. The surrounding vegetation burned as Celestia’s mane and tail transformed into a raging inferno. A small blue flame flickered in the center of her left eye.

“...should be burning in Tartarus.”

Twilight bolted awake, flailing and thrashing in fear and confusion as she became tangled in her sleeping bag. The others were quickly awakened, partially by the noise of all the commotion, but mostly by her inelegant tumbling into them in the close quarters of the tent designed for two ponies rather than four.

Both Applejack and Rainbow Dash were on their hooves and braced for a fight within a second. Fluttershy had reflexively shot to the top of the tent and retreated to a corner to cower. A magenta bubble shield quickly popped up around Twilight as she teleported herself out of the tangle of bedding and back onto her hooves with her back to one of the walls.

After a few dozen racing heart beats passed, the group began to relax as it became clear they were not under attack. With a glower that expressed in rich detail her lack of amusement, Applejack turned to Twilight.

"Twi, what in tarnation was that?"

"I-I don't know. I guess I, uhh..." embarrassment began to creep in as adrenaline drained away, "Sorry, I think I just had a bad dream?"

"Oh my," Fluttershy called down from her corner where she still cautiously hovered. "Do you think it's...?"

Twilight shook her head. "No, I don't think it's Luna. I didn't feel any attempt at a trace, and I've taken certain precautions against that anyway. I think it's just the regular old fashioned kinda nightmare."

"Wonderful. Now that that's resolved..." Applejack settled back down on her end of the unzipped sleeping bag the four of them were sharing as bedding and pulled the blanket back over her head. Dash was already snoring, having wasted no time crashing back to sleep as soon as it had become clear there was no imminent danger.

"Right. I'm just gonna go stretch, maybe get something to drink. I'll be right back." Twilight moved to exit the tent.

"Um, me too." Fluttershy quickly followed Twilight out, zipping the entrance shut behind them.

The two began a slow circuit of the campsite, the dull roar of crickets and cicadas providing accompaniment to the sounds of their soft hoofsteps. Fluttershy urged herself to say something, to take advantage of this rare window of being alone with Twilight since this entire ordeal had begun, but she came up empty.

"Uhh, Fluttershy?"

"Hm?" She snapped out of her thoughts and looked up to see Twilight wearing an awkward expression as she glanced between her and the row of bushes up ahead. It took her a moment to catch the hint. "Oh! Um, sorry." She quickly backed up a few paces and waited behind a tree for Twilight to finish her business.


Say something!

What? 'Hey, I'm still really into you. Wanna make out and/or run away together?' What would that accomplish? I already KNOW she doesn't feel the same way about me. Stating what she almost certainly already knows, because she's not utterly oblivious and I'm not a master of deception, isn't going to change that.


Approaching hoofsteps signaled that Twilight had finished her business, and the two soon resumed their walk. Eventually, Fluttershy scraped together the courage to speak.

"Twilight?"

"Hm?"

"I've got a question. A magic question."

"Shoot."

"It's about how your spell works. The one you used on Rainbow Dash."

It would have taken an expertly trained eye to see the ripple of tension that passed over Twilight in the dim starlight. It passed quickly, resulting in only a deep inhale and exhale through the nose.

"What do you want to know?"

"I know you used it to make Rainbow Dash love you, and it seems like you could use it to make a pony fall in love with somebody else, or at least Chrysalis certainly seemed to think so."

"Yeah. That would be done pretty easily with a minor adjustment."

"What I'm wondering is...purely theoretically...would it be possible to cast the same spell on yourself? Make yourself..."

"Make myself fall in love with somepony else."

"Yeah."

"I'm not sure, though even if it were possible, it would probably be a bad idea for the same reason it's a bad idea to perform surgery on yourself. Doubly so for brain surgery."

"I see. Well, I'm ready to go back to bed. Goodnight Twilight."

"Goodnight Fluttershy."

As soon as Fluttershy disappeared back into the tent, Twilight let out a breath she didn't know she was holding, relieved there had been no hypothetical followup questions.

It was true that she wasn't certain if casting the spell on herself was feasible, but it wasn't as if she had ever tried to put any thought into it. She was inventive enough that if it were possible, she probably could have figured out some kind of safe means of doing so had she tried. But the thought had simply never crossed her mind until now. That instead of changing Dash, she could just change herself and sidestep all the ethical problems. Reprogram  herself to reciprocate the feelings she knew a certain pony already had for her. She would have jumped at that idea once.

So why hadn't she? Once she had decided to cross the line on magically altering a pony's mind, why was it Rainbow Dash who had to change to fit her desires and not herself? Something in her simply balked at the idea of simply not loving Rainbow Dash anymore. It seemed too much an abandonment of a core part of her identity. Even as she rationally recognized that learning to not love Dash had been exactly her goal for over a year, that she wouldn't miss that love when it was gone, that she would be just as happy with Fluttershy or whichever pony she enchanted herself to love as she would be with Dash, because that's how she designed the spell to work. There shouldn't be any difference between what the spell induced and the 'real' thing, because it was real.

Unless of course, she thought her own love for Dash was somehow different. Some extra special thing ordained by fate that took priority. Some self-absorbed notion that her own unrequited feelings were intrinsically more important to satisfy than those of anypony else, even if she should theoretically end up just as happy either way. Maybe she was just a massive hypocrite who talked a good moral consequentialism game when it came to mucking around with the brains of others, but still considered her own head inviolate.

Given the storm this line of thinking on a hypothetical possibility had already unleashed, Twilight decided to place the academic question of whether self-casting her spell was actually theoretically feasible at a very low priority. It was better if it stayed 'probably not possible anyway' a bit longer. She turned back toward the tent. It wouldn't be long until morning, and there was a long day of travel ahead of them.


***


As the pair of shears snipped neatly through the last of the thorny vines, a soft magenta glow enveloped the flower, guiding it into a waiting jar.

"That's one down."

Twilight delicately placed the container back into her saddlebags with a victorious grin. It was unusual to find Heart's Desire growing this far north of the heart of the Everfree. She had hardly believed her eyes when she spotted a distinctive violet shape at the edge of the dry creek bed where they had stopped for a rest. Perhaps luck was turning her way for once.

"Cool. What else do we need again?" Rainbow Dash asked from where she hovered overhead, snacking on a cucumber and daisy sandwich. 

"A dragon scale and some hydra blood. At least that's what I used last time. Any sufficiently acidic venom should work, and I might be able to make do with a couple wyvern scales, or anything in the draconic family. The Heart's Desire is essential though."

"So I guess we're a third of the way there, then. Nice."

"Yeah." Twilight began to walk back to where Applejack and Fluttershy were packing away the remains of their lunch, but paused as a thought that had been nagging her all morning returned. "Say, Dash?"

"Yeah?"

"This is what you want, right?"

Rainbow Dash swallowed the last remnants of her sandwich and gave a confident nod. "Absolutely. I'm 100% behind this."

"Would you be willing to put that down in writing?"

"Sure, I guess. Why?"

"Well, I want to do things right this time. Properly documented consent and all that. Something to show that this was actually your choice. Not that I think it'll make up for what I'm definitely guilty of, but I'd rather not be accused of it twice. Also, maybe there's a slight chance it might stop them from immediately trying to 'cure' you against your will."

"If it means avoiding anymore extended involuntary hospital stays, then I'll sign anything! Get me a quill and I'll do it right now."

"Unfortunately, I don't think that's going to be quite enough."

"What do you mean?"

"Well, aside from the four of us, nopony really knows that you're not still under the effect of a spell right now. Actually, Fluttershy and Applejack don't really know either. They kinda just have to take our word for it. As for the rest of Equestria, they really wouldn't have any reason to think that I didn't just enchant you and then have you sign whatever I wanted, or that the first spell was never actually broken in the first place."

"And they'd ignore anything I said, just like the first time around."

"Exactly."

"So, we just need some kind of proof that my head is currently spell free! You can do that, right? Do some spell to take a picture of my brain or something?"

Twilight gave a nod. "I can, but not here. I'd need specialized equipment to both resolve the picture, and stamp it with the right metadata to show it was authentic and not something I just drew up."

"So where can we get this equipment?"

"Well, we're coming up on Balitmare soon. The Baltimare General Hospital should have a neurology ward with a neuroscope and imaging setup that would work for us. The tricky part would be getting inside to use it without getting caught."

"So let me get this straight, now I need to break INTO a hospital so I can be strapped down and have a pony poke around in my brain?"

"Only if you're up for it."

Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes hard enough for them to pull the rest of her body into a barrel roll as she let out an exasperated sigh. "Sure, why not? It's not the craziest thing I've ever done. And if it means I'll have evidence to throw in the faces of any ponies saying I can't make my own decisions, then I'll do it."

Twilight gave a relieved nod. "We should reach the outskirts of town in about an hour. I'll have thrown together some kind of plan by the time we get there. Hopefully one that doesn't involve a smoking crater and a pile of battered medical personnel."


***
 

Mane, tail, and coat freshly tinted black from the last of the stage dye she had 'borrowed' from Trixie, Twilight peeked over the edge of the cloud to study the city streets below.

"So what's the plan?" asked Rainbow Dash from beside her, whose utterly conspicuous mane and tail remained too wild to be tamed by any amount of dye. "Do we wait to ambush two of the doctors or nurses, knock them out, and steal their uniforms?"

"No need. Take a look." Twilight pointed a hoof out toward a small building with a sign displaying a variety of hats, helmets, goggles, vests, gloves, and general work attire.

"Wait, you're telling me you can just stroll in and buy a nurse uniform?"

"Well, it's not really a uniform so much as just a hat, but essentially, yes."

"It's just...I thought there was some kind of law or licensing thing? Like, you have to show you're actually a nurse to get one? They don't check ID or anything?"

"Nope. They don't particularly care. They even usually have sales around Nightmare Night and Hearts and Hooves Day."

"Huh."

"Alright, I'm gonna head in, then go to that art supply store over there. When I give the signal, drop down and meet me in that alley.

There was a bright flash, then Twilight was on the ground and entering the shop door. Rainbow Dash pushed the cloud over the mentioned alley and watched Twilight emerge with a small shopping bag before walking a few blocks up and entering another store adorned with images of paint brushes and chisels. Two minutes later, and Twilight had made her way to the alley, levitating a large parcel. She gave a quick snap of her tail, the signal for Dash to quickly drop out of the sky and join her.

"Okay, so what's in the box?"

Twilight removed the lid, revealing a large amount of white powder. "Plaster. Now hold still."

The pair of saddle bags Rainbow Dash had been carrying rose off her bag and tucked themselves into a hiding place behind a nearby dumpster. Two water bottles floated out from Twilight's bag and emptied their contents into the powder, transforming it into a wet mush as Twilight stirred it with her magic. At the same time, strips of cotton bandages rose from the bag and began to wrap themselves around Dash's head and hindquarters, spreading across most of her body until she was almost entirely encased and her mane and tail were completely hidden. Large globs of wet plaster floated up and began smearing themselves over the bandages. Within minutes, the plaster had hardened and Rainbow Dash was encased in a full body cast, completely unrecognizable, save for a pair of magenta eyes that spoke of mild irritation at the sudden restriction of movement.

"Perfect"

"Ugh. And how long do I have to stay like this?"

"Just until we get into the cranial imaging room. I can teleport us right out afterward. In fact..." The soft purple glow rose over her horn as she set down an anchor point behind the dumpster. "There. Now there's only one thing left that we need. Wait here."

Unable to do more than shift slightly in place, Rainbow Dash waited as Twilight disappeared around the corner, trying desperately not to think about her current inability to scratch any itches that might arise. After an unknown amount of time that was likely no more than a couple minutes, but still enough to worry about whether Twilight had been caught and whether she would be stuck in this alley for days until somepony found her, she spotted Twilight turning back around the corner with a wheelchair in tow. She soon found herself hovering off the ground and gliding gently into the seat.

"Okay, so we're just gonna walk right in. Don't say anything. Just sit tight and let me handle it."

Unable to nod in agreement, Rainbow Dash uttered a quick "Got it."

It was only a matter of a few blocks until they reached the hospital, though measuring by the pace of their heartbeats would suggest it was closer to a 10k marathon. Near the entrance to the squat, flat building stood a line of wheelchairs like one of the cart returns in a big city supermarket, likely the source of their pilfered transportation. The doors parted automatically as Twilight, nurse hat sitting neatly on her midnight black mane, pushed the chair bearing a now undeniably itchy Rainbow Dash through the entrance.

Twilight held her breath, hoping nopony would stop her to ask why a patient in full body cast that should clearly be in a room already was being wheeled in from outside. That would lead to a hastily constructed lie about a transfer from another hospital, which would likely lead to paperwork checks, which had a very high chance of ending in taking the building by force when her freestyle fabrication proved ineffective. Suffice it to say, she held a strong preference for the scenario that didn't involve blasting up a hospital.

Fortunately, the pony at the front desk proved inattentive, incurious, or both, and Twilight and her 'patient' were allowed to keep moving. Once clear of the reception area, she spotted a pair of plastic receptacles attached to the wall and stocked with spare clipboards, pencils, and blank patient sheets. She quickly snagged one of each in her telekinesis and began scribbling some improvised patient notes while keeping an eye peeled for the neurology ward.


Come on. Come one. Where is it? Radiology? No. Poison control? No. Trauma? No.


She was weighing the relative risks of stopping to ask someone for directions vs looking increasingly suspicious by continuing to wander around blindly, when a dark hazel pegasus bearing a doctor's coat and name tag turned the corner in front of her, bringing them face to face.

"Oh? What do we have here?"

"Flying accident. Three broken ribs, multiple fractures in each wing, dislocated shoulder joint on right foreleg and sprains on the other three, and a lost tooth." Twilight recited her cover story with all the perfunctory precision of a guard report.

The doctor gave a low whistle. "Must have been some accident to cause all that." He glanced down to the still silent Rainbow Dash in the chair. "What happened? You fly into a wood chipper?" 

A cold sweat formed on the back of Twilight's neck as she rushed to improvise something. "She—"

" Just trying to do a phoenix fall into a triple mongoose twist with a reverse quarter pitch on the down stroke." Rainbow Dash piped up, seizing on the initiative. "I almost had it. It was going great until the ground got in the way, then that brick wall, then that second brick wall, then those trees."

Though it seemed  little more than gibberish to Twilight, the doctor seemed to understand. "I've heard of recklessness, but that could give the notorious Rainbow Dash a run for her bits. You're lucky to even have all your pieces close enough together to reassemble."

"Yeah, yeah. I'm fine, I swear! Swear to Cell...Sally...Celestia." Rainbow Dash insisted, a bit of a mumbling slur creeping onto the end of her words. Ms. Uptight here insists I need to go get my brains scanned. Something about routine check blah blah post-cranial trauma blah blah bruising blah. Waste of time if you ask me. I'm fit as a cello. Speaking of which, morphine is awesome." 

"It is indeed." The doctor gave an empathetic nod and then turned his attention back to Twilight. "I'm guessing you're looking for one of the imaging techs to get you set up, right?"

"Hmm? Oh, yes. Having a bit of trouble tracking one down though."

The doctor gave an exasperated sigh and shake of his head that appeared well practiced.

"Figures. I swear, those guys are flakier than the entire dermatology clinic." The barely suppressed smirk betrayed the fact that he had been dying for an excuse to try out that line for some time now. Twilight gave a polite snort in response. "Don't worry, I know one of their common loitering spots."

Twilight quickly fell in behind him as he turned and began a swift march down a nearby hallway. Keeping her eyes forward, she leaned down and whispered to Rainbow Dash.

"Where did all that come from?"

Rainbow Dash whispered back. "Ponies keep forgetting that I'm kind of an expert when it comes to head injuries, particularly ones caused by feats of awesomeness. This isn't anywhere near my first run through the system."

The doctor stopped a few paces ahead of them and turned into a small break room that was barely larger than a utility closet. Twilight briefly wondered if it had in fact been a closet that some enterprising ponies had converted via the addition of two chairs, a small table, and a vending machine. One of the chairs was occupied by an ashen grey unicorn with a neon green mane, currently engrossed in a magazine.  A loud clearing of the doctor's throat sent the startled unicorn scrambling to his hooves.

"Who's she?" he asked, fixing a confused stare at Twilight.

"Oh, I'm n—"

"She's somepony who needs you to actually do your job for once," the doctor cut in, "now get examination room A prepped."

"Fine." With a roll of his eyes and a belabored sigh, the tech walked out the door, throwing Twilight a gesture to follow him.

Twilight braced for a series of questions that never came. Their guide could not have been less interested in their names or stories, and remained silent as he set a brisk pace to their destination, presumably operating under the philosophy that the sooner this job got done, the sooner he could get back to slacking off. By the time Twilight followed him around the last corner, he had already retrieved the appropriate key from his ring and was busy turning it in the lock of a large set of double doors. When opened, they revealed a harshly white room with a large reclined chair surround by banks of machinery.

Once inside the room, he moved even faster, flicking switches, turning knobs, and checking calibrations in a storm of activity. After about two minutes of frantic fiddling, he turned to face Twilight.

"You trained on how to work this thing?"

"More or less?"

He let out a pained sigh and pointed at a block of controls. "Directional controls are there, but you'll just want to use magic for the direct movement. Center wheel controls depth." He pointed to a large screen with a prominent button below it. "That prints the current image. Got it?"

"Yeah."

"Need anything else?"

Though she didn't detect any magic at work from the unicorn, she could still feel every pore in his body willing her to answer in the negative so he could leave. Fortunately for him, that suited her just fine.

"Nope. I can handle it from here."

One would have thought he had just found an oasis after days of wandering in the desert, from the wave of relief that briefly washed  over him before he was out the door without another word.

"Great, he's gone. Now get me out of this itchy thing!" Rainbow Dash called from her seat.

A magenta glow encased the plaster shell around her moments before it split apart with a resounding crack, freeing the trapped pegasus within. At the same time, the double doors closed and locked themselves, with a nearby desk and filing cabinet repositioning themselves as a makeshift barricade for good measure.

"Alright, up in the chair! Let's hurry!" Twilight ordered as she moved to take a closer look at the controls.

Rainbow Dash hesitated as she approached the vacant chair. The hair on her back stood on end as she stared at several familiar looking pieces of machinery hanging above it. Gritting her teeth and pushing back the unpleasant memories, she took the last few steps and climbed into the seat. 

"So, uh, how...invasive is this going to be? You going to be doing much poking around?"

"Not at all. This is just imaging equipment. It's not even capable of doing any kind of surgical work. At least, not without some serious modification." Rainbow Dash gave a small sigh of relief, but her hind legs continued an involuntary fidget. The sooner they were done and she was away from anything even resembling a hospital, the better. "Alright, I'm about to start, try to keep your head still so I can get a good focus."

The moment Twilight focused her magic into the controls, some kind of strange power surge pulsed through the system. A bright golden aura flashed over the machinery for a fraction of a second  before vanishing as quickly as it had appeared. It had come and gone too quickly for Twilight to make heads or tails of it, but something about it triggered her instinct for trouble. It could have just been a sign of poor maintenance, a blown arcanic capacitor or an unaligned resonance chamber, but the part of her that had kept her alive and out of a maximum security cell in Canterlot was screaming at her to get out. She looked back to the controls. There was no telling when another opportunity like this would present itself. 

"Let's make this quick." 


***


Princess Celestia sat in her chambers, sipping tea while reviewing security briefs. Repairs on the Hoofington facility were proceeding well. As for the changeling threat, loyal forces were almost in position to seize all the infiltrators in one sweep, minimizing the risk of any slipping away and assuming a new cover. 

There were no updates regarding the search for Twilight. After her initial check in at the bunker, she had moved quickly on a long shot plan that relied on Twilight being just the right amount of desperate to know exactly what the doctors had been up to. She had visited every major hospital within 50 miles of the bunker as part of a "surprise secret royal inspection" and personally buried a small silent alarm spell in all the imaging equipment, keyed to respond to Twilight's unique magical signature. A similar cantrip to the alarm on the restricted section of the library, but of significantly longer range and tied directly to Celestia herself. There was more than a strong chance that it would never pay off at all, but at least it was something proactive.

She was just about to pour herself another cup of tea and move on to signing transfer orders when a beacon lit up in her mind.


Baltimare!


The teapot fell to the table, taking the cup with it as it tumbled over the edge, spilling its contents across the carpet as Celestia spun and lunged for the nearest window. Fortunately, for the window's sake, it was already open as Celestia vaulted through it and spread her wings. 

It was possible, even likely, that Twilight would have bolted as soon as the alarm tripped, but Celestia held out hope that, with a bit of luck, she might be able to get the drop on her former student. At the very least, if she could just get within a few hundred meters, she should be able feel out Twilight's magical signature as long as she was actively looking for it.

She had already weighed the merits of sending a message ahead to the town's guard force who, despite being woefully outmatched, could still throw up an interdiction cordon around the town. She had ultimately decided against it. After witnessing Twilight's tampering with the crystal hub at the bunker, Celestia couldn't ignore the possibility of Twilight tapping the communication lines. On the chance that Twilight hadn't fled as soon as the spell had been tripped, it was better to maintain silence until right on top of her. That was why the spell fed to Celestia directly instead of broadcasting to the local garrison. This was something Celestia needed to put an end to herself.


***


"Careful now. Steady," Applejack coached as Fluttershy cautiously wielded the tongs in her mouth and approached the large metal box sitting over a fire that served as their makeshift oven.

While Twilight and Rainbow Dash were off on some kind of heist like secret mission (of which the only information shared was "the less you know, the better"), Fluttershy had gone into town to shop for the necessary supplies for her current, no less nerve wracking mission. Attempting to bake a banana cream pie via campfire.

She worked the tongs around the handle and gently pulled open the door of the small compartment. A wave of hot air escaped and hit her in the face, pulling a bead of sweat out of her forehead that raced down toward her right eye, prompting a squint to avoid stinging disaster. Reaching further in, her tongs found the edge of the pie tin. At a glacial pace, she moved backwards, extracting her prize and working to keep her head absolutely level. Her neck might as well have been a steel rod, an extension of the tongs gripped between her jaws that ran uninterrupted down the length of her spine.

Slowly placing one hoof in front of the other, she approached the flat rock that served as their counter space. Once the pie tin was over the chosen position, she ever so slowly bent her knees, setting the newly formed pie crust down with all the gentleness she would normally bring to bear in bandaging the wing of a baby bird. Once it had finally come to rest, she dropped the tongs, stepped back, and wiped the sweat from her brow with a relieved sigh.

"Mighty nice work there sugar cube. That's perfect pie crust if I ever saw it."

"Thanks," Fluttershy responded, still looking as if she might faint from the tension at any moment.

"The rest should just be a trot in the park in comparison. All cold prep. Just gotta fill in the fruit, custard, cream, and all that good stuff."

"Sounds fun."

Fluttershy's prediction proved correct as the next few minutes transformed the empty crust into a fully realized banana cream pie.

"I think we should add just a bit of cinnamon on top," Fluttershy assessed. "Twilight and Rainbow Dash both love cinnamon."

"Shoot, who doesn't? I'll see if we've got anymore left in the bag."

While Applejack dug around in their supplies, Fluttershy took a moment to admire the monument to her domestic skill. Her imaginings of Twilight's face upon returning to lovingly prepared baked goods were interrupted by a bright flicker on the horizon. No, not exactly the horizon. It was most of the way up the great Canterhorn mountain. Right where Canterlot would be. A bright fiery glow like a shooting star, only it wasn't arcing across the sky, but growing bigger. No, it was growing closer.

Fluttershy couldn't help but worry that it had something do with Twilight and Rainbow Dash's errands for the day, and that her provisional dinner plans would be taking a hard rain check. 


Stay safe Twilight.



***


"Almost there..." Twilight's tongue poked out of the corner of her mouth as she kept her eyes glued to the screen. "Just a little...bit...more..." She increased the magnification by three percent and attacked the focus knobs, fighting to keep the picture clear. "Got it!"

There it was. A patch of amygdala with the faintest bit of scarring around a protrusion that might once have been a neural bridge, now severed. 

"In fact, I think I might be able to...if it's been recent enough....yes, yes!" Several more knob twists and dial turns brought up a series of filters. "If I can just find the right tracer spell they used, it'll be perfect."

One last button press brought up a filter that showed the area saturated in a sparkling pink effect, the remnant of the tracer the doctors had used for targeting during the initial procedure. Such routine medical spells would normally fade away harmlessly over the course of a week, but with the procedure still so recent, there was enough of it left to serve as definitive proof that this was an image of the target area, and the operation had been completed successfully.

Twilight slammed a hoof down on the print button, snapping up the still warm pieces of paper as they came out of the tray.

"Okay, let's go!"

"Don't have to tell me twice!" Rainbow Dash replied as she vaulted over the seat to land next to Twilight.

A violet flash enveloped them both as they disappeared and reappeared at the marker previously laid down in the alley. Retrieving the hidden pair of saddlebags, Twilight stuffed the papers inside before handing them off to Rainbow Dash.

"Alright, I'll teleport us back to the tree line and the path back to camp."

After a quick nod of acknowledgement from Rainbow Dash, there was another flash and the filthy brickwork of the alley was replaced by the greenery of the lightly wooded hoofhills outside of town. Twilight nearly fell off her hooves as she gave a sigh of relief.

"We made it."

"See? What did I tell ya? Nothing to stress over, egghead. In and out without a hitch. Didn't even have to bust any heads."

Twilight shot Rainbow Dash an amused look. "I seem to recall you being just as concerned about all the possible things that could go wrong."

"Nah," Rainbow Dash dismissed the accusation with a wave of her wing. "You must have been imagining things and hallucinating from all the paranoid worrying."

Twilight gave a slight chuckle in response. "Well I suppose I can get a bit carried away sometimes. You're right, though. It did all go off without a hi—"

Their conversation was interrupted by what was presumably a meteor striking directly in front of them. The shock wave knocked them off their hooves and the air was suddenly filled with dust and smoke from surrounding vegetation that had burst into flames.

Before Twilight had even finished finding her hooves and wiping her eyes clear, she felt an interdiction field wash over the area. A gust of magical wind cleared the smoke, revealing the form of Princess Celestia standing tall, even amidst the smouldering indentation left by her landing. 

"Hello, Twilight. Be advised, if in the next three seconds the next words out of your mouth are anything other than 'I surrender', you are going to have a bad time. Do you want to have a bad time?"
> Chapter 18
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


AAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHH!


Through some great feat of willpower, Twilight managed to keep her screaming internal as she opened her mouth to reply.

"Now let's just talk abou—"

"Wrong answer."

Twilight didn't quite see what happened next.

One instant, Celestia was a good 20 strides in front of her, then a momentary flicker and Twilight found herself flying backward with the frontal barrier she had raised in startled reflex completely shattered. Fortunately, the moment she started moving, another reflex prompted her to pour magic into a rear barrier that helped cushion her subsequent impact through three trees and into the sturdy trunk of a fourth, letting her off with only a cracked rib instead of the shattered spine she would almost certainly have ended up with otherwise.

Though she wouldn't notice it until later, being more than a bit distracted at the moment, something in the blow had purged the stage dye from her mane, coat, and tail, returning her to her usual lavender self. The distant cry of "You kicked the highlights out of her hair!" went unnoticed, drowned out by the pain that was starting to make itself at home in every part of her body.

Before she could pick herself up off the ground, a bright white disc that gave off a high pitched hum appeared directly above her. Twilight rolled out of the way just in time to avoid a searing beam of white light that shot down from the disc, leaving  a black circular scorch on the ground. Three more discs appeared alongside the first and proceeded to chase her, working together to fire beams in increasingly elaborate patterns. Hardly able to get her hooves under her most of the time, most of Twilight's dodging was accomplished by roughly throwing herself with her own magic. 

After a few narrow misses resulting in a singed mane and tail, Twilight ripped up a large patch of earth that had been glassed by beam strikes, pulling it up and over her in a protective dome. A quick spell increased the reflectivity of the glass to a mirror like sheen, while the surface warped and flowed, covering the dome's surface with small concave pockets formed of three edges intersecting at right angles, like a honeycomb if bees were obsessed with corners. The beams struck the retroreflectors, melting them to slag, but having enough of their energy reflected straight back to strike the discs themselves, which disappeared with a pop.

Gasping for breath, Twilight channeled some healing magic into her cracked rib, forming a temporary patch that would hold it together and numb the pain to keep her on her hooves for the next hour or so, but would require some real treatment later. She shot a dumbfounded look at Celestia, taken aback by the unexpectedly brutal lethality of her opening salvo.

As if sensing Twilight's unspoken question, Celestia replied. "I am very good at healing magic. You would be quite surprised at what a pony can survive and what I can bring them back from. Now, perhaps you're ready to rethink your—"

Celestia was interrupted by the sudden impact of a blue blur that ricocheted off the side of her head and back up into the air. The brief shimmer of a golden barrier revealed that the projectile had been stopped inches from her face, but the grooves her hooves dug into the ground as she slid several meters testified to just how much force had been behind it. 

"Leave her alone!"

Celestia shot an annoyed glare up at Rainbow Dash who was already leveling herself out and turning for another attack run. A golden aura plucked the pegasus out of the air and pressed her against a nearby tree. More magic poured into the trunk, causing the bark to rapidly grow until it had completely encased her limbs and torso, leaving only her head sticking out of a pony shaped knot in the wood.

With Rainbow Dash immobilized, Celestia turned back to the matter at hoof to find Twilight had been quite industrious with the the few seconds of distraction. Roughly two dozen purple orbs surrounded the princess,  forming a dome with no more than a few inches between any two adjacent orbs. Twilight was too busy panting from the exertion of creating them all so quickly to smile, but managed an internal smirk as they started humming.

It doesn't matter how freakishly fast you move, you can't dodge this.

She didn't expect it to end the fight (it would take significantly more than that to put Celestia out of commission), but at least it would keep her on the defensive. Perhaps it would even buy enough time to work on freeing Dash and fleeing at supersonic speed until they passed the boundaries of the interdiction field. What she certainly didn't expect was for Celestia to disappear in a flash of golden light that signified teleportation.


Cheating! That's Cheating!


Despite the overwhelming unfairness of her opponent being able to teleport within an interdiction field, Twilight retained enough presence of mind to immediately throw herself sideways, narrowly avoiding a hoof strike that left a small crater in her previous position, and to fire a strong blast straight down into the ground, blowing up an obscuring cloud of dirt, dust, and smoke. Surrounding plant life withered as she rapidly pulled in moisture from the environment into a compact ball of water and instantly vaporized it, blanketing the area in steam to complete her makeshift smokescreen.

The moment line of sight was broken, she took off at a gallop in a random direction, spawning illusory silhouettes to head off in other directions, or just run back and forth erratically. It would buy her a few moments to think, but not long. Celestia was already eliminating copies at a frightful pace, faster than Twilight could produce them even if doing so wasn't little more than a way to exhaust herself and hand Celestia a victory through attrition. Any of her attacks could be the lucky one that hit the real target, and the odds of that happening grew larger every moment.

First on the list was fighting fire with fire. If the teleportation situation remained this asymmetric, her chances didn't even approach those of the proverbial snowball in Tartarus. Not liking her chances of brute forcing through Celestia's interdiction field, Twilight decided to even things in the other direction by throwing up a field of her own.  At least that would boost her odds of getting out of this from laughable to merely abysmal.

A moment after her spell had swept through the area, she was nearly knocked off her hooves by the arcanic pressure wave created by its subsequent shatter. Celestia had wasted no time in tearing it apart like wet tissue paper. Twilight quickly gathered up the shattered remains of the spellwork before it could dissipate and reforged the field anew. It was promptly shattered again.

As long as she kept reforging the field from the remains of the previous one, the actual energy cost should remain a fraction of what Celestia spent to blow it apart each time. Unfortunately, there was no telling just how deep her former teacher's reserves of magical power were. Any plan relying on victory through attrition fell somewhere on the spectrum from foolhardy to suicidal.


Think, Twilight! Think!


She had a few illusory copies fire a few equally illusory attacks and shuffle positions in response to Celestia working her way uncomfortably close to her real location.


If I can't block her teleportation with my own field, I'll just have to neutralize hers.

Easier said than done. We don't have the kind of power to punch through that. Even if we did, there's nothing stopping her from using our own trick against us and reforging it.

I don't need to break it. Just compromise it. If she can still teleport with it up, there must be some kind of mechanism that recognizes her and makes an exception. A backdoor into the system. By necessity, that makes the whole thing less secure than just a solid wall. I just need to pick the lock.


Twilight focused her magical senses on the interdiction field that permeated the area, revealing the intricate spellcraft that lay underneath. A complex web of golden threads in a tight mesh, strong and resilient. Pressure on any single point would be rebuffed by the strength of many connected points, the whole network standing together as one. Redundant lines crossed, looped, and doubled back on themselves in a maddeningly labyrinthian knot that dared any attempt at comprehension.

In short, it was the exact kind of puzzle a more innocent and naive Twilight of the past might have rejoiced at burning a weekend deciphering. Now the stakes were substantially higher and the time frame substantially shorter. Hoping the few remaining seconds her decoys could buy her would be enough, she got to work.


Input! Sensing! Detection! There's gotta be some part of this that works to identify Celestia as separate from other targets, and that has to start with a sensor somewhere! Then that should lead—which should trigger—which calls—there! Now to just—


As Twilight dove deeper into the guts of the spell, something in Celestia's magic sense gave something analogous to an ear twitch. She turned away from the Twilight she was currently pursuing and adjusted course several degrees to her right. The sensation grew stronger.


Almost there! Just a little...got it!


Twilight finally managed to worm her way into the section of spell responsible for gating access. There didn't seem any simple way to destroy it, isolate it, or take it out of the picture in any other fashion. There was, however, something she could do that was even better. Add additional exception targets.

Twilight punched in her own magical signature just as Celestia materialized in front of her in a flash of golden light, horn pointed straight at her face. As a blossom of light emerged from the tip, Twilight focused on her intense desire to be anywhere else.  Shards of scorched bark exploded out of the tree Twilight had been leaning against as she reappeared in a violet flash behind Celestia. The princess quickly spun around with a shield raised, instinctively anticipating an attack from the rear, but she only caught Twilight catching her bearings before disappearing in another flash. 

Celestia's eyes widened with alarm. A moment later, she disappeared in a flash of her own and reappeared directly next to Twilight, who was already working to extract Rainbow Dash from her arboreal prison. The violent extension of an alabaster wing, known through most of Twilight's life as a source of soothing maternal compassion, struck with enough force to send her flying off her hooves and rolling through the dirt.

As she rolled to a stop, she felt the interdiction field drop, replaced immediately by a new one. A much simpler one without built in exceptions. At least her opponent wouldn't be able to teleport anymore. It was a small step in the right direction, but as she spat out a small amount of blood and pulled herself to shaking hooves, it felt quite small indeed.


Now the fight can begin in earnest.


It was too bad her body felt like she had already lost this fight several times over.

Three spears of light formed in the air and thrust downward at Twilight, who jumped backward just in time to avoid being skewered. She tried to counterattack, emulating the dark daggers she had seen Luna use against her once, but Celestia was too quick to get a fix on, suddenly appearing off her left flank with a melee strike.

Twilight twisted, turning it into a glancing blow that only grazed her barrier, but still sent her skidding backward on her hooves. She resorted to blasting off wide angle concussive waves to force Celestia to keep her distance, which was only slightly effective. Aside from being only marginally less dangerous at range, Celestia's flash steps made her nearly impossible to hit, even if Twilight wasn't kept on a constant and ever weakening defensive by the endless assault. With the way she was constantly being forced to fall back, steered by an attack to one side or the other, Twilight had no doubt that she would soon find her back hitting a wall.


I just need some time to think!


Twilight sprayed a thick stream of frost in front of her, briefly driving her enemy back, then arced it over herself, creating a protective dome of ice that was quickly reinforced inside by one of frozen earth. Twilight sat in the cold darkness, already feeling a faint directional heat from where Celestia was burning her way through like a blowtorch through a wax statue.

She had to be faster. Move faster or at the very least think faster if she was going to come up with a way out of this. While Twilight Sparkle on a slow day thought faster than most ponies scrambling to finish their thesis an hour before deadline after an unfortunate ink spill, it simply wasn't enough here. She needed a boost.

Knowing she would pay for it later, Twilight turned her magic in upon herself. Her pupils dilated as her adrenal glands kicked into overdrive. Her muscles twitched as they stockpiled extra reserves of oxygen, pulled in by the swollen aveoli in her hyperventilating lungs. She grit her teeth at the burning sensation that set into her entire body as the magic worked into her nerves, reinforcing myelin layers to speed up conduction, or creating redundant pathways to transmit signals at the speed of aether rather than electrochemical potential.

Riding a buzz that would make Pinkie on coffee look like Gummy in a freezer, Twilight felt like she could grab the world and break it in half. She quickly set to work priming a flashbang spell that would trigger the moment the inner dome was breached, adding a few sharpened rock projectiles as a bonus. Celestia would of course have a frontal shield up, expecting an attack the moment she broke through, but that was just a distraction.

Twilight moved to a point 90 degrees off from where Celestia was quickly burning through, and begun work on an exit. Frozen earth flowed like a liquid across the inner surface of the dome, from the point where her horn touched the wall to the site of the imminent breach. From Celestia's perspective, it would probably look like a desperate attempt to keep her at bay by thickening the barrier (one doomed to failure as the princess pushed through faster than the spot could be reinforced), but it would delay just enough to get the timing right.

The darkness filled with a searing light as Celestia's punched through the inner wall, glowing like the sun. An even brighter light filled the space as Twilight's trap immediately activated while she simultaneously erupted out of the now paper thin side of the dome. Between the blinding light and the motion, there was no time to get a visual fix, but thanks to basic geometry, she knew just where to aim anyway. At the moment when Celestia was blocking a barrage of small rocks to the face, Twilight sailed through the air and let loose a blind fire volley of attacks at her flank. A storm of purple beams and telekinetically propelled bits of rock and debris (the remnants of the wall through which she had made her dramatic exit), launched themselves at the approximate location of her target. 

She landed and refocused her sight just in time to see the last of her assault blocked, deflected, and otherwise neutralized as Celestia turned to face her with inequine speed, though her heightened visual acuity managed to pick up what appeared to be an unsightly welt or two on the royal posterior. The dramatic flaring of wings that followed might have just been meant to intimidate, but it might also have been to obscure what possibly could have been a few small specks of scarlet staining the pure white coat of the solar matriarch. A reflexive effort to hide any evidence that a mortal pony could draw divine blood. 

Up to this point, Celestia's face had been a dispassionate mask of serenity. She had gone about kicking Twilight's haunches around the area with the same sense of calm and duty with which she might offer a toast at a banquet, instruct a lesson, or fulfill any other of her royal responsibilities. Now that mask cracked around the eyes, in which clear irritation could be seen. Bits of flame could be seen sparking sporadically on the fringes of her tricolor mane. 

In an instant the assault was back on. Twilight's heightened perception and reflexes helped her keep clear of the attacks, but she was still stuck unequivocally on the defensive, lucky to get even an attempt at a counterattack after every tenth strike and unable to find anything that would even connect, much less do any real damage. Celestia's attacks were also growing harder and harder to avoid. Whether she was starting to slow down, Celestia was speeding up, or her actions were just growing more predictable, Twilight couldn't tell. What she could tell was that the momentum had turned against her.


It's not enough. I need more! I have to be faster. Or at least make her slower.


Twilight projected a curtain of strong gravity in front of her. An ordinary pony walking into it would have been driven straight into the dirt, unable to get up. To Celestia, it was more like a sudden unexpected shift from running on pavement to running on sand, just slowing her down enough for Twilight to leap away from the next hoof strike. 


Still not enough! More!


She pumped more magic into the field, causing the image of Celestia on the other side to flicker and shift position slightly due to the increased refraction of the now much denser air. Whether it was this effect or luck that caused Celestia's next searing beam to fire wide of its mark, Twilight wasn't sure. 


More!


The gravitational field grew stronger still and stretched into a protective ring as Twilight pushed it out in all directions. As the view around her rippled, a mad idea struck. She pulled up the beginning of one of the spells she had seen in the Starswirl section of the library, making several rapid modifications. This on the fly spellcraft would turn this fight around, and she gave it a 70% chance it wouldn't rip her apart on the atomic level. The math on those odds might have been a bit shaky, but optimism was an important part of both magical innovation and dueling one's mentor/ruler/deity.

Twilight continued pushing power into the gravitational ring around her, feeling it warp the surrounding space as she constricted a zero gravity bubble around herself until it traced the outline of her body. She held her breath and pushed against a growing resistance in the fabric of the universe until there was a metaphysical 'pop' and something began to give with a reluctant grinding progress. Twilight focused her gaze on Celestia, who had broken off her attack and taken a cautious defensive pose while trying  to determine exactly what it was Twilight was doing. The constant rippling of her mane began to slow until it reached an apparent stop. 

Along with everything else.

Still holding her breath, Twilight gazed about at the perfectly still world around her. She hadn't actually stopped time, just encouraged it to greatly slow down for everything but her. Or one could say she had greatly accelerated herself into a much faster time stream than her surroundings. It came down to a matter of perspective at this point, and both were equally valid descriptions. The important fact was that she finally had the speed advantage. 

She attempted to take a step forward and found the air firm and resistant, like a wall of ball bearings suspended in gelatin.  Of course. She was trying to push her way through nearly stationary molecules with a casual walking speed that was probably somewhere near mach 10. Twilight wasted no time in summoning a protective barrier to hold the heat of friction at bay as she pushed her way forward. Even if the strain of maintaining this time spell wasn't immense, breathing the air in this state was not feasible. She only had as long as the breath held in her lungs would last her.

No sound issued from her hoofsteps as she crossed the distance. With the requisite pressure waves moving at a glacial pace, the entire world was silent, truly silent in an unnerving way, leaving her own thundering heartbeat as the only sound in the universe. More disorienting than the sound, however, were the colors.

From the moment the spell took effect, the color pallet of the world had shifted. With a longer perceived time between peaks of light waves striking her retina, everything had become slightly more red. Things that were already a dark red, like the flecks of blood on her coat, had turned black as they shifted out of her visual spectrum. Most astonishing of all were the new patterns of blue and purple that emerged on some of the surrounding vegetation, shifted down from the formerly ultraviolet.

What really threw her for a loop was how much everything changed whenever she moved. Taking a step reversed the effect in front of her, turning the black blood stains red, then orange, then a light yellow, while former greens turned blue and purple. Meanwhile, the red effect only deepened behind her, until she came to a stop and the world returned to its new "normal". As stunning as her surroundings were, they weren't enough to distract Twilight from the fact that she was currently in a fight for her life, even without the reminder from the ever dwindling supply of oxygen in her lungs. She approached Celestia and considered how best to attack. 

A physical strike from her current sped up state would certainly pack quite a bit of power, but would that mean shattering her own bones like trying to punch through a concrete wall? Or would she only experience the impulse based on force and collision time from her own time frame? It depended on how time reacted on the contact point between the two streams. That she had managed to walk without shattering her ankles was a good sign, but it was still probably best not to push it. Melee attacks were out.

The usefulness of projectiles and makeshift weapons from the environment was severely limited as well. She couldn't pick up a rock or a tree to bludgeon her opponent with, because it was stuck in the same slowed time frame. Nearly immovable.

Out of curiosity, Twilight tried casting one of her standard magical bolts. It froze in place as it left her horn, causing her to take a step back to avoid the awkward pooling buildup of magic as the back end of the attack tried to exit into the same space.  She examined the misshapen bolt. If she looked closely, she could see it crawl forward ever so slowly. She set to work casting more bolts in a tight ring around Celestia. To avoid the pooling effect, she gave a gentle sweep of her head through each attack, painting purple beams into the air with her horn like a calligrapher with a brush. From this short range, there was no way they wouldn't hit their target before a shield was raised.

She looked up to Celestia's face. Her pupils had shifted slightly and there was a faint glow emanating from the base of her horn, likely the beginning of a first reflexive response to Twilight's initial movement.


How fast is she?!


Twilight looked at her ring of attacks and knew it wasn't enough. She needed a decisive stroke. She wouldn't easily pull off something like this again, and the burning in her lungs made it clear she didn't have much time left to make it count. She needed something truly incapacitating.

Touching her horn to the ground beneath Celestia's hooves, she cast a spell to change its consistency. Now a 5 meter diameter circle on the surface and 20 meter cylindrical shaft beneath it would temporarily behave like a liquid. Like quicksand without the water. She could see the normally instantaneous spell trickling from the edges of the circle inward and knew it was gradually working its way down as well. Next, she took a step back and cast a counter-spell over a slightly larger circle with a delay timer of 1 microsecond. Finally, vision starting to fill with spots from the lack of oxygen, Twilight summoned all her remaining strength to rain down a storm of telekinetic blows onto Celestia's head.

Finally reaching her breaking point, Twilight leaped clear of the area, covered her ears, and let out her breath as she ended the spell.

As time resumed its normal flow, the area was rocked by a series of sonic booms and a glaring heat as Twilight's hoofsteps kicked plumes of dirt skyward and left small craters in the ground. At the same time, a brilliant flash of purple coincided with a fountain of liquefied earth shooting into the air as Celestia was driven straight down like a nail, the ground instantly closing and solidifying above her as if the planet itself had simply swallowed her whole. 

Twilight pulled herself to shaky hooves, panting for breath and staring in partial disbelief as the first bits of liquid earth began to rain back down. 


I did it? I did it! Now what? Dash! Get Dash and get out of here!


After taking a moment to get her bearings and work out which direction she needed to head, she forced her exhausted legs to take a few staggering steps. 


Move damnit! You can rest when you're dead! 
Or preferably, miles away from here, in a secure location, wrapped in cyan wings! 


She had made it perhaps twenty paces when a large rumbling shook the ground beneath her hooves.


No.


The rumbling only grew in intensity.


Nooo.


Twilight turned around to see another jet of scorched soil launch into the air as an incandescent Celestia erupted out of the ground, mane and tail ablaze. Her scorching gaze fixed squarely on the bruised, battered, and desperately in need of a nap unicorn below her. 


Oh, come on!



***


Fluttershy flapped her wings harder as she approached the ridge, her stomach a knot of fear and anxiety. Her hooves still held an absent minded grip on the pie she had been holding when whatever it was had crashed down on the outskirts of the woods. Unable to control herself, she had taken off immediately towards the crash site, compelled to investigate. 

Something in her knew it was nothing good, and urged her to run and hide, but that terror was outweighed by the fear of not knowing the details of the threat. Better a concrete and defined fear than an amorphous one. Especially if, as something deep in her gut told her, it was a threat to her friends.

Maybe it was just that repeated world saving adventures with her friends had physically conditioned her to run towards disasters instead of away, no matter how scared she felt. Maybe that was the same reason Applejack was charging along right behind her. Or maybe she was simply trying to stop her from charging in like a damn fool. That might explain the angry shouting, the exact words of which she had been too lost in her own thoughts to make out.

As she drew closer, clouds of smoke and dust reached up from above the last rise, illuminated by flashes of light and accompanied by thundering crashes. The smell of smoke, burnt dust, and blood grew stronger. Fluttershy braced herself and put on a final burst of speed to reach the crest and looked down from the bluff on the scene below.

Down amidst the carnage of destroyed vegetation stood Princess Celestia. Opposite her stood Twilight, surrounded by some kind of shimmering field and looking like she had been dragged by the tail through Tartarus. Fluttershy heard a set of hoofsteps come to a stop beside her.

"Just what in tarnation do you think—"

The rebuke was cut off by the force of a sonic boom knocking them both off their hooves. They quickly scrambled to right themselves and looked below through the cloud of settling dust to find that Celestia had vanished from sight. An exhausted looking Twilight, a ways off from her previous position, staggered to her hooves and began to crawl away amidst a dark brown rain. 

The pair stared in shock a moment. Fluttershy had just opened her mouth and leaned forward to call out to Twilight when there was a sudden tremor and a terrifying flaming alicorn burst out of the ground, causing her to duck back down again and resume her cautious peering. 

The fiery alicorn unleashed a torrent of flame that engulfed Twilight, sending Fluttershy's heart leaping in panic as a strangled cry died in her throat. The inferno passed a few seconds later to reveal, much to her relief, an intact Twilight surrounded by a flickering shield, though sporting a few patches of fresh burns. A small storm of lightning swirled around the alicorn in an apparent counterattack, with a few bolts even seeming to connect, but if they caused more than a minor annoyance to their target, it wasn't visible from this distance.

Fluttershy squeezed her eyes shut.


Do something!

Do what? What could I possibly do that wouldn't be worse than useless in this situation?

This was always going to end this way. Twilight was never going to go quietly. 

This will be over soon and then...and then the princess will arrest her and take her away.


She opened one eye and caught sight of Twilight not quite succeeding at dodging an attack and being sent rolling across the ground. As she came to a stop, she pushed herself back up once again with a wet cough that left behind a dark patch of blood, causing Fluttershy to squeeze her eyes shut once again.


Not if she gets herself killed first! Which is definitely what she's heading for at this rate. If there were any pony in the world powerful and stubborn enough to die rather than be taken alive, it would be her.

Just surrender already, Twilight. Please!


She opened her eyes once again to a sight that should have brought a measure of relief. Twilght was held suspended in a golden glow. She still kicked and thrashed, magic glowing at the end of her horn, but it was pointless. The fight was decidedly over. Celestia, the flames having vanished from her mane and tale, was saying something inaudible from her current distance. Likely trying to convince Twilight to cease her struggling and accept that it was over.

For some reason, the fact that the peril to Twilight's life had passed didn't bring the expected relief. Twilight would finally be arrested and taken away. Locked up for what might be forever. Fluttershy couldn't exactly argue that Twilight hadn't earned such a fate several times over, nor that such an outcome was anything other than what she ultimately anticipated from the very start.


Maybe they'll let me visit her when she's locked away in the dungeon. 


Some insane part of her mind still said to rush in and save her. To throw away everything and attack Princess Celestia herself, all to free an unrepentant criminal who would never even love her back. A pony who would only run off with her best friend even if her laughably implausible treasonous attempt succeeded.

Fluttershy did her best to squash the thought. 


I'll bring her tea and cupcakes, and board games to play, and books! I'll come every day, or as often as they'll let me. I'll keep her updated on what's going on outside. 


There were several flashes down below as Celestia made several unsuccessful attempts to get Twilight to finally stop resisting.


I'll be the highlight of her day. Her connection to the outside world. Maybe, with enough time, she'll even...see me differently. Maybe she'll... 


The golden glow had intensified around the area of Twilight's throat. The kicking of her hind legs grew gradually less energetic. It was nearly over. Fluttershy could see the panic in her eyes as they darted wildly around her surroundings. A desperate, unspoken message thrown out into the world, directed at nopony in particular, but clearly received by the watching pegasus.


Help!


Without the slightest input from her mind, Fluttershy's body took action. 


***


"That's enough, Twilight. Stop resisting."

"NO!"

Twilight thrashed in the magical grip that held her.  Built up magic pulsed in her horn, held in check by the golden aura, just like when Luna had held her. Unfortunately for her, it looked like Celestia was not going to be moving her anywhere close enough to get off a good kick to the horn this time.

"It's over, Twilight. Time to give up."

"Never! As long as my heart is still beating, it's not over until I say it is!"

She pushed another surge of magic into her horn. The buildup, in addition to turning her eyes a bright white, was creating a splitting headache, but it was hardly worse than how the rest of her body felt.

"Sleep!"

Celestia issued the command, but the spell fizzled with a flash as Twilight blocked and dispelled it. She couldn't get magic out of her body, but she could still counteract any spell trying to act within it. She wasn't going to be rendered unconscious that easily.

"You are severely trying my already worn patience."

Golden chains manifested out of thin air and began wrapping themselves around Twilight, but disintegrated on contact.

"I remember that trick from Luna," Twilight spat back. 

"Fine," Celestia responded coldly, "it's inelegant, but it seems you've left me no choice."

The golden aura tightened around Twilight's neck. The white began to drain from her eyes as spots danced across her vision and the world started to grow dark around the edges. Her eyes gave one last desperate flicker before rolling back into her head.


No....can't....stop...


The constriction around her throat suddenly vanished, along with the rest of the field holding her. As she hit the ground and sucked in a lungful of air, her eyes rolled back down to behold Princess Celestia with a face full of banana cream pie.

"Disc–?"

That was as far as the stunned Celestia got before Twilight froze the world once again with a scream. She flung magical attacks with wild abandon, including copious amounts of the shadowy daggers she had once seen Luna use. In her desperation, she even conjured the first large object she could think of from the nearby town. A steamroller popped into existence directly above Celestia's head and Twilight proceeded to hammer it with a few downward telekinetic strikes before she finally gathered her wits enough to turn and run. 

Somehow she managed to keep her legs moving and her breath held until she returned to the tree Dash had been imprisoned in. The spell dropped and Twilight braced as the shock wave from her sonic boom washed over her, much to Dash's surprise.

"What the—? Twilight!"

She quickly fired a beam at the arboreally bound pegasus that melted off the restraining bark like hot wax. Still trying to catch her breath, she wrapped her hooves around her prize and managed to choke out two commands.

"UP! FAST!"

Dash complied, rocketing them into the air with a speed that sent their blood rushing into their back hooves. The moment Twilight felt them pass beyond the boundary of the interdiction field, they disappeared in a brilliant purple flash.


***



Oh, dear.


That was all that cycled through Flutterhy's head as she watched the pie leave her hoof and fly in an elegant arc toward Princess Celestia's head. One more thought intruded as she saw it land squarely in the face of the ruling diarch and goddess of the sun.


I really shouldn't have done that.


Her view of the unfolding disaster was abruptly interrupted by her being yanked backwards, thrown over somepony's back, and carried off at great speed.

"What the blazes is wrong with you?!" Applejack hissed in a barely subdued whisper, desperately hoping they could get clear without being seen or heard. Her next exclamation was delayed by another echoing boom from the scene they were leaving behind. "Have you lost every last scrap of sense in that yellow head of yours?!"

"I-I don't know what happened. I just reacted and before I knew it—"

"Shut it and let me think of how I'm gonna save your sorry flank from this."

Fluttershy tightened her grip around the farm pony's back and pressed her cheek into a hug. "Thanks for looking out for me."

Applejack's only response was a constant stream of muttered profanities as she kept running.


***


With a brilliant flash of purple, Twilight Sparkle appeared in the darkness. She looked around to find...nothing. This wasn't right. She should be...well, she didn't have an exact destination in mind during that last teleport, just a general direction, but she should definitely be somewhere and not this nowhere. More importantly, wherever she was, Rainbow Dash should be there with her. Another quick inspection confirmed that this was not the case.

She attempted to summon magic to her horn for some more light and cried out at the searing pain. Glancing down at a partially reflective piece of void she happened to be standing on, she saw a large crack running down the length of her horn. Given what she had just put it through, it wasn't all that unexpected.

Had this caused her to botch the teleport? Left her trapped in subspace or thrown into some dimensional gap between worlds, while Rainbow Dash was sent off who knows where? It seemed unlikely. A botched teleport might send them to different locations, but they should probably still be on the same plane of existence. It didn't explain what she was doing here. It was more like something had interrupted her mid-transit and redirected her here, but why?

The sound of smug applause echoed through the void.

"Good show! I say, good show indeed old chap!"

A serpentine figure with mismatched limbs emerged from the darkness, wearing a top hat and monocle.

"Discord!" Twilight spat the name with a mixture of disdain, bewilderment, apprehension, and exhaustion.

"Hello, Twilight. I thought it was time we had a bit of a chat."
> Chapter 19
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Discord!" Twilight shouted at the snazzy dressing draconequus. "What's going on! Why have you brought me here!"

"Well, first of all, I just want to say how much I appreciate your work and the work you've inspired in others. I mean, Fluttershy of all ponies chucking a pie right into the face of Ms. prim pony princess herself? Priceless! It was even banana cream! I tell you, if death was a thing I could experience, I could do so happily now. It was so perfect that Celestia is convinced that I was the one behind it. Sure, that probably means she's throwing a fit around my house as we speak, but still, totally worth it."

Twilight responded with a death glare that went completely ignored.

"And though most of the credit goes to Fluttershy herself, I appreciate your role in it. You've really earned those wings and crown in my book."

"What?! What does that even mean?!"

"Oh right, I forgot you mortals have temporal tunnel vision and can only see one timeline at once. How frightfully boring."

"Enough games, Discord! Why am I here and where's Rainbow Da—ACK!"

A coughing fit shook Twilight from head to tail, bringing each of her many injuries back to her full attention. By this point, she had only been kept upright by adrenaline and the lingering magic from the boosting spell she had cast on herself. With the last of that spell finally ending, her legs buckled and she collapsed to the section of void that served as a floor, unable to move any further. 

"Ych! Has anyone told you that you look like a five course meal six hours later?"

Twilight didn't respond from her broken heap.

"Well, you're no use to me like this. Let's see if we can't do something about that look, girl."

Discord stepped forward and sprouted ten extra arms, bearing a wide assortment of combs, hairspray, makeup brushes, eyelash curlers, and a variety of other implements, including what might have been a power drill. The arms whipped into a frenzy, running Twilight's face and mane through a gauntlet of styles and fashions as a panel of Discords voiced their disapproval of each one. 

The lead Discord paused to examine his latest attempt. Twilight's mane was done up in a tight librarian bun as she glared from behind a pair of glasses, unable to move any other part of her broken body. Discord let out a ponderous "hmm..." before flinging the glasses off and undoing the bun to let her mane fall freely, restoring her exactly to her default look. 

"Bravo!"

"You've done it again!"

"A masterpiece!"

Thunderous cheers and applause rang out from the panel as Discord took a bow. 

"Well, now that that's taken care of..."

He gave a casual snap and the panel of Discord clones vanished, along with all of Twilight's injuries. Now the picture of health, Twilight climbed to her hooves with the same begrudging gratitude that accompanied any instance of Discord offering help in the most infuriating and roundabout method possible.

"If you're through having fun, are you finally going to tell me why I'm here?"

"Oh, Twilight," Discord replied with a devious chuckle, "you should know by now that I'm never through having fun. But to answer your question, your presence is required to solve a friendship problem."

"Oh?" Skepticism dripped from Twilight's raised eyebrow, quickly running down her cheek and pooling on the ground. Twilight stepped back and wiped her face clean with magic, sending Discord an unamused glare.

"Yes. As you know, Fluttershy's birthday is coming up soon."

"That was four months ago."

"Well sorry if not all of us are great with orderly calendars and linear time. It's not so easy to keep track of the small details when you're used to the large view. Speaking of which, that little stunt you pulled back there twice might have had a few teensy ripple effects back through the timeline."

"What?"

"Nothing major, though I'm still cracked up about the fact that the number between six and eight is now pronounced 'seven'. To hear classrooms of fillies and colts repeating such filth, completely unaware! It's a real kick."

"You're making this up," Twilight accused in a flat matter of fact tone.

"Am I? And I suppose I'm also making up that your big sister, Shining Armor, is now your big brother?"

"Shining's always been my brother."

"He's always been your brother, now."

Twilight set aside the almost certain (but not entirely 100%) likelihood that Discord was simply messing with her, and attempted to get the conversation back on track.

"So what about Fluttershy's birthday?"

"Right! Given Fluttershy's wonderful, if unintentional gift to me of a picturesque pie pitching performance, I really need to step up my gift giving game. I need something that will really impress. Something that will knock socks onto and back off of her. The perfect gift to show just how much I've truly come to value our friendship."

"That's...actually kind of sweet. I'm...proud of you?"

"Don't get all sappy on me now, Sparkle." He gave a quick snap, and one of Twilight's forelegs that had been starting to melt into maple syrup returned to its usual flesh and bone. 

"So you need my advice to help you pick out the perfect gift for Fluttershy?"

"Advice? No, not at all. I've already got the perfect gift picked out. It was quite easy once I got into my thinking tree." A miniature Discord caricature made out of smoke sat in a biologically improbably shaped tree as a visual aid. "I just thought to myself, what does Fluttershy want more than anything else in the world? And then..." A lightbulb came sailing out of nowhere and collided with the caricature's head, knocking it out of the tree. "Eureka! The answer was obvious."

"That's wonderful news." Twilight's approving smile gradually morphed into puzzlement. "But if you've already figured it out and don't need my advice...why am I here?"

Discord chuckled, a mischievous glint shining in his eyes. "Oh, Twilight. And here I thought you were the clever one. Don't tell me all those blows to the head have dulled your wits."

He snapped his fingers once again and an elegant oversized red bow appeared on Twilight's head.

A beat of silence passed as Twilight stared at the shiny ribbon cascading down her sides.  Her eyes suddenly snapped wide and her horn lit up as she prepared to defend herself, but Discord was already behind her before her pupils had even finished expanding, a single talon resting on the tip of her horn. Her fate had been sealed since the moment she arrived.

A wave of something swept through her body from horn to hooves. She leaped away in shock, firing a concussive blast that caused Discord to explode into a cloud of glitter that swirled and reformed into the same smirking draconequus a moment later, utterly unfazed.

"What did you do?!"

Discord picked idly at one of his claws. "Oh, nothing you should have any objections to."

Twilight ran a diagnostic spell over herself. Nothing seemed physically out of place. She ran through a mental checklist.

My name is Twilight Sparkle. Daughter of Night Light and Twilight Velvet. Element bearer of magic. Former pupil to Princess Celestia. Most recent address, The Golden Oaks Library in Ponyville. Madly in love with Rainbow Dash Fluttershy. I like books, vanilla ice-cream, and red balloons, and dislike quesadillas. 

Everything seemed to check out. She performed a few quick tests of bodily coordination and basic spell casting. No problems there. Her coat still had the same lavender hue it always had. But then what exactly had Discord done to her? What had they been talking about immediately prior? Something about Fluttershy?

Twilight's heart melted at the thought of the sweet, wonderful pegasus. The sound of her brash and cocky gentle and compassionate voice and the sight of that wild and unkempt long and elegant mane and tail never failed to lift her spirits. She couldn't wait to be wrapped in those strong gentle cyan yellow wings once again.

Something in the back of her mind didn't add up. They had been apart for so long. Why was that? She had been on the run, a fugitive. Why? She'd done something. Something terrible but necessary. At least she believed it was. She had fought diamond dogs, changelings, royal guards, and the princesses themselves because she was fighting for something that was worth it. It had to be Fluttershy, right?

No. That didn't make any sense. Why would the princesses want to keep her apart from Fluttershy? She was in trouble for casting a spell...a LOVE spell! But she didn't need a spell to win over Fluttershy. Fluttershy had come to her. They had dated a while and...and then she had broken it off! WHY?! 


Another pony?


It seemed preposterous. Who could possibly lure her away from Fluttershy? But nothing else fit the facts. She had sacrificed everything in pursuit of this other pony, committed treason multiple times over, but she couldn't fix the name or image in her mind.


	Who cares! We have a second chance to make things right with Fluttershy! We can't let that opportunity slip away!

No. Something's wrong. It's all wrong!


Twilight bore down on her memories.

The sweet smell and taste of chocolate chip waffles. A joyous breakfast with Rainbow Dash Fluttershy. No! That was wrong! They had never had chocolate chip waffles together.

The wind whipping through her mane as Rainbow Dash Fluttershy carried her through a series of aerial stunts. Wrong! Fluttershy was no stunt flyer! In fact, she was quite self-conscious about her weak flying skills!

The whirlwind of passion as they made their way up to her bedroom for the first time and the triumphant joy she had felt afterward as she lay there next to her sleeping lover who started to mumble in her sleep.

"mmm...Twilight...I love you."

"I love you too, Dash Fluttershy."

NO! She and Fluttershy had never gotten that far! She remembered rose petals on bed sheets. Blue eyes overflowing with tears. Fluttershy sobbing into her shoulder. Guilt and self-recrimination for breaking a sweet mare's heart and for letting the relationship drag on as long as it had. Bitter acknowledgement that she was alone once again and could go back to miserably pining for Dash in solitude.

Wait, what was that?  The name had been clear for a moment before it slipped from her mental grasp. Something about pining and misery.

Tears rolling down her face as she woke up crying again. How long was 'moving on' supposed to take? How long until she stopped dreaming about Dash? Another night of alternate screaming and sobbing into a pillow.

Burning jealousy coursing through her veins as she was forced once again to witness another public display of affection by Ponyville's greatest couple. Applejack didn't deserve a mare like Rainbow Dash! Oh, how she'd love to wring that pony's neck until her head popped off! Anger shifting to shame as she considered how that would hurt Dash, and what she would think of her if she knew she harbored such thoughts.

A table crashing into a wall and the world spinning as she held Dash's polite rejection letter. The rain whipping in her face as she ran through the storm. Wet mud sticking to her belly as she peered over the edge into the sharp rocks and swirling waters below. The scalding heat of the bath and the burning in her lungs as she held her breath beneath the water, trying to clear her mind of any thoughts of Dash, and wishing she had the force of will to just not come up again.

Fear and anxiety twisting at her guts as she examined the goggles left on her doorstep. How much did they know? Was her secret safe? Was everything she worked for going to be ripped away? Creeping paranoia. She wouldn't let them. She'd start stockpiling supplies, contingencies, safe houses. She'd come too far to let anyone take Rainbow Dash away from her.

Rage. Fury. Dash had been taken. A diamond dog choked and sputtered while she levitated him by the throat. "Where is she?!". An empty patient room, debris and trashed medical equipment littering the floor. A bed with restraints, marked by a small patch of blood. If they had hurt her in any way... Dash looking at her with shock and fear before taking off and flying away. Dash hated her. There was nothing left but to drown the world in blood and fire before that empty darkness swallowed everything.

The pleasant memories may have been corrupted into a twisted mockery, but the truth remained in the painful ones. Down in the misery and heartache, the jealousy and rage, the desperate selfish greed and the self-pitying self-hatred. Down in that choking black sea of pain. That was where her true love lay. She focused on it.


No. Please. I don't want to go back there. We worked so hard to get out. Can't we just be happy for once?


Love wasn't about happiness. It wasn't romantic moonlit strolls, or shared laughter, or quiet evenings together by the fire. It wasn't beautiful and pure. It was ugly and pathological. Fundamentally selfish in nature. A desperate, unyielding need to have and be had, to be as big a part of another's world as they were in yours. It might be mistaken for altruism on the surface, but it was naked greed at its core, and talk of "self-less love" was a pretty drapery of lies and self-delusion hung over the ugly truth.

Love was a sickness, a compulsion that would drive the afflicted to any lengths to win the affection of their target. Sink to any depths. Commit unspeakable crimes. As long as it made the agony cease. The relationship and the happiness and the growing old together? That was the treatment. Love was the disease. Love was suffering, and she loved Rainbow Dash.


You have to understand how crazy that sounds, right? How fundamentally fucked up that is? You're not well Twilight.

I'm the sane one here! I'm the one keeping us grounded in our actual identity while you try to drag us off into some fantasy!

It doesn't have to be a fantasy. We can easily make it a reality. I'm trying to take us down the path to somewhere actually approaching healthy. Somewhere that doesn't involve being miserable all the time. Do you even remember what that's like?

I might if all my non-miserable memories weren't tainted with lies! The only thing I can trust is that we love Rainbow Dash. I'm not going to let us throw that away!

The bulk of your collective misery montage is about us trying get over Rainbow Dash! That was the goal, remember! But you never believed in it, did you? Your vain desire to see yourself as some tragic leading figure in the story of your own mind caused you to hold back. You never put yourself out there. You held us back from ever becoming truly invested in the one relationship that fell into our lap, ultimately sabotaging it so you could go back to your masochistic, narcissistic,  self-indulgent wallowing! I'm sick of you dragging us down because of your gluttonous appetite for suffering! 

Yeah, I'm a big downer, and an insufferable bitch. I'm also the one who cares about facts, logic, and objective reality, so stuff it!

You actually think you're the RATIONAL half? The fucking voice of REASON? Hah! You're the one that swings wildly between impulses to self-harm, fits of violent rage, and megalomania! You're a pathology!

I'm the only one who seems to be at all interested in fighting off the influence of foreign magic attempting to rewrite our brain! Something you seem to be oddly unconcerned with!

You unbelievable hypocrite! Now you're a champion for the sanctity of the  inviolable mind? A little utilitarian rewiring is good enough for Rainbow Dash, but not good enough for us? With her, it's just 'a slight adjustment of preferences, leaving the underlying personality intact'. For us it's something to be resisted to the death! Never mind that we know we'd be happier that way. But we both know this isn't why you're doing this. You're not making a stand based on some philosophical principle about mental autonomy. You're just doing what you always do. Making excuses to justify clinging to your own pain because you're still too terrified to let it go.

It's who we are!

No it isn't! That's just part of the twisted coping mechanism you invented when we were stuck and it didn't seem like there was any way out. You started making the pain out to be a part of our identity, but it's not. It is NOT what defines us! Just because the pain goes away, doesn't mean we do too. We existed before it did, and we'll still be here when it is gone. We'll still be us on the other side.

It's...It's too late for me. I...I can't...

You CAN! Please. If there's any part of you left that still cares about our well being, then please, PLEASE trust me on this. There's still time to come out of the darkness. It's easier than you think. Just take my hoof and let me help us.

I...maybe I...NO! Dash! Priority 1! Dash above everything! Want her! Need her! Must have her no matter the cost!

No! Stop it! You were so close!

Anything that would keep us apart is my enemy, an obstacle to be crushed. Whether external barrier or internal doubt. You are an obstacle to be crushed! A heretical treason to be struck down and silenced!

No! You're not shutting me up this time! I won't let you blow this for us! I'll drag you kicking and screaming into the light if I have to!


Discord, completely oblivious to the civil war raging inside of Twilight's skull, had meanwhile been occupied flitting about and rearranging bits of void to make the place more presentable. 

"Oh, I simply can't wait! Calendars be damned!" 

There was a snap and a flash, then a beautiful, melodious sound reached Twilight's ears.

"Wha–? Where am I ? Discord?"

"Happy It'snotyourbirthdaybutscrewitIwantedtogetyouagiftanyway Day!'

"Huh?"

Twilight's head whipped towards the source of that beautiful sound. "Fluttershy!" She set off bounding towards the pegasus like an overexcited puppy. "Oh, I'm so glad you're here!"

"Twilight? Twilight! Are you okay? I saw you fighting with Celestia and you looked—"

"I'm fine. Better than fine now that you're here. In fact I'm great! Great! Grrrrrraaaagh!" Twilight let out a low growl as she raised her right foreleg and bit down hard, focusing on the pain and the taste of her own blood in her mouth.

"Twilight! Are you sure you're alright? Is something wrong? Can I help?"

Oh, sweet and wonderful Fluttershy. An endless wellspring of compassion, ever looking out for others. Twilight's heart soared as she refocused her sights on the gorgeous mare whose pure kindness inspired others to be their best selves. 

"No! Nothing's wrong. It's just nerves. You see, there's something I wanted to tell you, and I'm just not sure how. I've recently realized that...I...I...I...I...!" Twilight pressed a hoof into her forehead, pulling it off to reapply it again over and over with increasing force as she mumbled to herself. "Throbbing in my head. Blood in my eyes. Was a fool to go into the forest alone. Refuse to die here. Burn it all down!"

"Twlight?! Twilight, what's wrong? Please stop hurting yourself!" Fluttershy reached out to grab Twilight's hoof, which only caused her to retreat in alarm.

"Don't touch me!" Fluttershy recoiled in shock as Twilight resumed her muttering. "Bile in my mouth. Haggard eyes in the bathroom mirror of the restaurant. This can't continue."

"Discord, do something! Help her!"

A snap echoed through the void and Twilight froze in place. 

"Not to worry, I've still got the warranty. Just give me a moment to call in some professional help." Discord quickly summoned a rotary phone, which floated in the empty space, connected to nothing. "Hello? Yes, I'll be needing a technician sent right away....mhmm...yes...yes...absolutely not!...yes...parakeets, obviously...yes. Alright, see you soon."

A moment later a door materialized, a knock echoing from the other side.

"Come in!" Discord called out.

The door swung open to reveal another Discord, this one wearing a hard hat and a belt full of various tools. 

"So you've got yourself some technical issues huh? Yeah, those Twilight models are really prone to breakdowns. How long have you had it?"

"About a minute and a half."

"Well, let's just take a peek under the hood here."

The repair Discord flipped up the top of the still frozen Twilight's head and raised a magnifying glass to his eye. Two tiny Twilights fought within, each kicking, biting, and pulling at the other's mane.

"Break it up, you two." He lifted a spray bottle from his belt and gave them both a few good spritzes. They each arched their backs, gave a few angry growls and hisses, and scampered off, letting him resume his inspection. "Hmm...I think I'm starting to see the problem here."

"Yes?" the other Discord asked.

"It seems whoever set this was a complete idiot. You've got the new pattern just thrown down haphazardly over the old one. As far as I can tell, not even an attempt at integration with the recent event log, and there's bleedback corrupting core memory files. No wonder the thing split straight down the middle. I've never seen such sloppy work! Amateur hour over here!"

"Yes, yes. We get the point," an increasingly cross Discord replied. "Just fix it already."

"Hang on, the boys will wanna see this." He snapped and six more identical Discords appeared. "Check this out, fellas."

"What the—what am I even looking at here?"

"Did they really try to use an auto-replace?"

"Was this put together by a blind infant?"

"Where's my camera? This is going to be my new holiday card."

"It's so incompetent, it's almost...beautiful."

"AHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!"

"AHEM!" Seven draconequus heads turned to face Discord. "Can you fix it or not?" 

"Hmm? Oh, yeah. No problem."

The first repair Discord snapped his fingers and slammed the top of Twilight's head shut, then disappeared with the rest of his crew.

"Ugh. I can't stand those guys," Discord muttered under his breath.

Utterly bewildered and not even attempting to make sense of whatever the Discords had been talking about, Fluttershy stared anxiously at the still frozen Twilight.

"Discord! Is she okay or not?!"

"Let's find out."

Discord tapped the end of Twilight's horn. There was a whirring sound like a machine starting up, and then she started moving again. She took a few staggered steps, rubbing her head until the brief disorientation passed.

"Twilight?"

"F-Fluttershy? Is that you?"

"It's me, Twilight. I'm here and—eep!" Fluttershy let out a startled squeak as Twilight suddenly lunged forward and threw her forelegs around her in a hug.

"Run away with me."

"W–WHAT?!"

"Run away with me," Twilight repeated as if it were the simplest thing in the world. "I love you, I wanna be with you, and I think we should run off together."

"T–Twilight, you're not m–making any sense!" Fluttershy stuttered as her face grew bright red. "What about Rainbow Dash? I thought you loved her!"

Twilight winced. "It's true, I was crazy about her for a long time. But look where that got everypony! I'm pretty sure anypony would agree that the healthiest thing for both of us would be to stay as far apart from each other as possible. At least for the foreseeable future. She'll get the professional help and care she needs to get better, Applejack and the rest of our friends will stick by her side through it all, and us?  We'll get each other. It'll all work out. Trust me."

"I...but when did you...? Discord! What have you done?!"

The horror in the accusation flying straight over his head, the preening draconequus responded.

"Just gave you what you wanted most in the world. I know, I know, best gift giver ever. You deserve it though."

"Discord! You can't...you can't just...!"

"No, as it turns out, I actually CAN. It wasn't even that hard. I mean, maybe the first draft didn't work out so well, but that was just a warm up."

"No, I mean you—eek!"

Fluttershy was interrupted by Twilight squeezing tighter and starting to place kisses on the base of her neck.

"Please, Fluttershy. Give me another chance. I know I don't deserve it. I know I've done horrible things, but...I know I can be a better pony as long as I'm with you." Fluttershy could feel tears in her coat as Twilight pressed into her shoulder. "All those things I did, I was just angry and hurt and lost and afraid, and so tired of it all. But with you? With you I feel like I can finally rest. All that fear and pain and anger just drifts away in the breeze.

"Twilight...I...you..." 

It was getting harder and harder to think clearly, but there was no way Fluttershy could stand for this. Was there? No. NO! It was sick. It was wrong. She had to shut it down this instant. So why was she having such difficulty saying a simple word like 'stop'?

"And I know I've got no right asking this after the way I hurt you before, and I'm so, so sorry about that. I never gave us a fair shot. I went into that relationship already waiting for it to fall apart. Of everything I've done, that's my biggest regret. That I never really gave you the chance you deserved. I promise that I'll do everything I can to make it up to you if you'll let me."

Fluttershy inhaled sharply in an attempt to bolster her resolve, but with the proximity of Twilight's head, she only succeeded in catching the scent of Twilight's mane. Painful, precious memories rushed to the surface of her mind, bringing an aching throb to her heart. Would it really be so bad if..? No, she couldn't.

But why not? She spent so much time and energy trying to make others happy, but what about her? Wasn't it time Fluttershy took what Fluttershy wanted for once? Especially when it was given to her on a silver platter like this? She had suffered enough already. As Discord had said, she deserved this.

Sure, the princesses probably wouldn't just let Twilight off the hook that easily, but she had an omnipotent chaos god in her corner. They would learn to deal. Everypony would learn to deal. She could have the ending she always wanted. She could have any ending she wanted. If she wanted her friends to be happy, they would be happy. If she wanted a crystal castle, she would have a crystal castle. If she wanted the world, she could have that too.

But she didn't want the world. All she wanted at this moment were Twilight's lips on hers, and they were right there. All she had to do was take them. It would be so easy. Just a kiss and then—

"NO!"

She pushed Twilight away as tears welled up in her eyes.

"STOP IT DISCORD! STOP! SHUT IT ALL DOWN!"

Discord's face fell from its default smug expression to a rare state of actual worry. This wasn't how things were supposed to go.

"What's wrong, Fluttershy? I thought—"

"I KNOW WHAT YOU THOUGHT, BUT I DON'T WANT IT! UNDO IT! UNDO IT NOW!"

"Alright!" Taken aback and bewildered by Fluttershy's sudden distress, he gave another snap and Twilight fell over, head in hooves as she tried to process the emotional whiplash. "Done!"

He looked down at Fluttershy, who had started shaking involuntarily as tears ran down her face.

"I don't understand. I thought that was what you wanted?"

"I know! I know you meant well. I know there are certain things you still don't understand. Things about right and wrong I still haven't taught you yet, but I just...CAN'T talk to you right now. I can't be HERE right now. Send me back!"

Another snap sounded and Fluttershy vanished.


***


"Fluttershy?" Applejack called out to the surrounding wood. Where had that girl gone off to? She had turned away for a second and when she looked back, it was like the pegasus had vanished into thin air. "Fluttershy!"

As if summoned, the mare appeared in a bright flash directly in front of her. Applejack didn't have time to utter a word before Fluttershy was suddenly sobbing into her chest, shaking uncontrollably. 


***


Back in the void, Discord was brooding. The whole affair had turned into a major bust. He had been confused by the tears at first, until he had remembered that sometimes ponies cried when they were happy. Except apparently that wasn't the case this time. Apparently giving a pony exactly what they wanted made them miserable? Maybe that's why they invented gift cards. Mortals were so...vexing. He turned back to Twilight.

"What do you think? Maybe a nice card and some artisanal flowers?"

"RAAAAAAHHH!"

Twilight simply charged him with an inarticulate scream and tried to blow him to pieces. Again. Her contributions to the conversation were growing a bit repetitive for his taste. 

"Well I don't hear you coming up with any bright ideas."

"GRRAAAAAHH!"

"Well if you're going to take that tone, I don't think i have anything else to say to you."

A final snap rang out and Twilight vanished, leaving Discord to retire to his thinking tree in peace.


***


Twilight reappeared in the late afternoon sunlight, sitting in the bottom of a dry creek bed and holding her head in her hooves as she tried to settle the storm within. A cavalcade  of emotions, no, that was too orderly. A brawling bar fight of emotions rocked through her mind, none of them particularly pleasant. She wasn't quite sure what it was that bothered her most.

There was the outrage at the violation of having her feelings for Dash stripped away, along with a heavy sense of shame for letting it happen. That somehow the purity of her devotion was diminished by the lapse, and she was somehow complicit for failing to stop it. She had made a heroic last stand in her mind and then it had simply been swept aside like nothing with a snap. Even though she knew better, she had still somehow thought of her love for Dash as something more profound than a crude collection of neural synapses, so vulnerable to manipulation. One would think that she of all ponies would have come to terms with that humbling facet of reality a long time ago, but it still hurt to be smacked in the face with the truth of it.

What bothered her even more was the fact that, at the time, she had meant every word she had said to Fluttershy. She wasn't a puppet or a passenger in her own head, with no control over her actions. That was her. That was all her. She had loved Fluttershy just as passionately as she loved Dash now. Her rejection had hurt. Even now, returned to her senses, the memory of it still stung and part of her grieved even as she reminded herself that Dash was the one she was in love with. Forget the fact that mere moment ago, she had been gleefully willing to throw Dash away.

But that wasn't the worst part. She would recover from all that. The shame would pass and she'd convince herself that it wasn't her fault. That there wasn't anything she could have done against such a spell. That thinking she could have changed the outcome if only she had fought harder was just egotistical. There was nothing anypony could have done.

What would stay with her forever was the fact that Fluttershy had been offered the chance to have it all, an end to the heartache, a happy ending, and without even the need to dirty her hooves in the slightest, and she had turned it down. She had absolute power at her disposal, the pony of her dreams throwing herself at her, and she had just walked away. That was what gnawed at her mind the worst. What she would toss and turn over years from now, trying to tell herself it didn't matter and it didn't bother her.

Fluttershy was a good pony and just plain better than her.
> Chapter 20
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Twilight didn't know how long she sat at the bottom of that dry creek bed as she tried to put together the pieces of her fragmented psyche. It could have been seconds, minutes, or hours as she struggled to wrangle emotions into some semblance of order, or at least get them to form a line for processing. It wasn't until she heard a familiar voice that she made any progress.

"Twilight?! Twilight, if you're out here somewhere, answer me! You better not be dead!"

The sound of Dash's voice cut through the storm in Twilight's skull, forming a mental focal point to rally her thoughts around. Familiar priorities reestablished themselves. The chaotic winds stilled as she took a breath and opened her eyes, herself once more.

"Twilight?!"

"I'm over here!" Twilight called out as she stood up and climbed out of the dusty creek bed.

Rainbow Dash crossed the distance to her side in an instant.

"There you are! I was starting to freak out. Started getting flashbacks to the last time I was teleported alone to the middle of nowhere. That day didn't exactly end well for me."

"Sorry about that. I got...sidetracked."

"What the hay does 'sidetracked' mean?"

"Just Discord...being Discord. I'd rather not talk about it at the moment. Are you okay? Are you hurt?"

"Me? I'm fine. You're the one who...is actually looking a lot better than when I last saw you a few minutes ago. At least it looks like most of your blood is on the inside now."

"Yeah, has to do with the sidetracking, and the less said about it the better."

"Whatever. As long as you're not about to keel over and force me to carry you, because I don't actually have any clue where we are."

Twilight closed her eyes and focused on recalling their position immediately prior to teleporting, and the panicked vector she had set.

"Can you show me where you arrived? I think I can work out our bearings from there."

Rainbow Dash led her a short distance to a long furrow carved into the ground. The result of her having been teleported to ground level mid-flight. Twilight winced apologetically.

"Yikes. Sorry about that."

Rainbow Dash merely shrugged. "Meh, I've had rougher landings."

"Well, at least it gives a clear sense of direction. It should be..." she raised an authoritative hoof, "...that way to camp".

"Great. Hop on and let's get back quick. I'm starving from all the excitement."

"Actually..."

"What?"

"Celestia might be searching the area, and until we know whether or not she found the campsite—"

"We need to stay below the tree tops or we'll be spotted immediately."

"Right. Same for teleporting or any significant magic use on my part. She'd detect that instantly."

Rainbow Dash let out a pained groan "We're going to have to walk, aren't we?"

"Afraid so."

"And it's a long walk, isn't it?"

"Kinda, yeah."

She gave one last sigh of resignation and turned to start on the path, Twilight following close beside her. "Fine. But somepony better make me some dinner as soon as we get back."

Twilight gave a quick snort. "As if anypony would allow the alternative of you cooking. I was already burned, shocked, blasted, choked, and generally beaten within an inch of my life today. I don't need to add being poisoned."

"Oh, like you're such a great cook yourself."

"Better than you at least."

"That's a low bar and you know it. I'm just saying there's a reason we let Spike do most of the cooking for us."

"I'm not the one who started that fire."

"Hey! It's not my fault that your tree is so much more flammable than clouds!"

"But the resulting explosion and fire from trying to light the gas stove with a storm cloud because, and I quote, 'it's cooler' certainly was."

"Come on! You make explosions all the time!"

"On purpose, and only in the properly designated section of the lab devoted to advanced stress testing and calorimetry."

"You mean the Explodatorium?"

Twilight rolled her eyes. "That's not its name, no matter how many times you and Spike keep trying to make it a thing."

"I seem to recall there being a vote on the issue."

"You can't vote to change the name of part of my house to something that isn't even a word."

"You say that, but...I mean, we kinda did. So...clearly we can.

Lacking a convenient pillow to throw at Dash's head, Twilight instead opted to to give the annoying pegasus beside her a playful hip check. She braced for the retaliatory bump that soon followed. From there, the situation quickly escalated to tail whippings, and Twilight soon found herself laughing and yelping as she was buffeted about the head by a pair of wings.

"Ah! Alright! Stop! Stop!" The onslaught of feathers diminished. "You are so lucky I have to avoid using magic right now."

"Bah, like you even need it anymore."

"What?"

"I wasn't sure how to bring it up, but...you're looking a bit ripped for a bookworm."

Twilight looked herself over. "Really?"

"Yeah. Don't get me wrong, you've still got some of that signature librarian cush in the tush, but those swinging hips have a lot more force behind them." She briefly rubbed at a sore spot on her flank. "Also a lot less squishy on impact. I can tell there's some muscle under there."

Twilight was still transfixed by her own haunches. "Uh, thanks? I guess a few months of running, fighting, and living in the woods will do that." 

She turned her attention back to Dash, who was still nursing a sore spot. For the first time, she noticed that Dash's breathing was still just slightly heavier than normal. Was she still winded from that bit of roughhousing? Then it clicked into place. Of course! While she had been getting into the best shape of her life, Dash had spent that entire time confined to a bed, letting her muscles atrophy. No wonder she disliked the idea of walking. It wasn't just slower, it was probably a grueling ordeal for her legs. And here she was, battering her around like some oversized dog trying to play with a baby chick.

Her apology was cut off by Dash seeming to read her mind (probably through the look of dawning horror and guilt on her face).

"Hey, don't worry about it. I'm fine."

"But—"

"No, seriously. I'm fine. You're not gonna break me. I think you're forgetting just how awesomely fit I started out before this. You'd need to drop me in a coma for a lot longer than that before there was any real damage done. Gimme a week or two at most and I'll be back to winning Iron Pony competitions with ease."

"You're sure?"

"Yeah. I did manage to fight my way out of that bunker you know. It left me about the third most sore I've ever been, and it felt like my legs were gonna fall off the next morning, but I still did it."

Twilight nodded. They continued in silence a few more minutes before she spoke up again.

"So, what was it like?"

"Hmm?" Rainbow Dash responded, drawn out of whatever daydream or deep thought she had been lost in.

" Your time in that bunker. And the escape and all that. I rambled on all about what I'd been doing, but...what about you? "

A frown crossed Dash's face. "It sucked."

Twilight paused, waiting to see if Dash would continue. The pause stretched on. "Umm...if you don't want to talk about it, that's—"

"When I first woke up and thought I was abducted by some insane conspiracy, I brained a doctor with an EKG machine, smashed through an observation room, and made it a good distance into the hall before being swarmed by guards. The next time I woke up, I was strapped to a table, and stayed there until the day I escaped using the handle of a spoon I snagged when nopony was looking. The princesses came in that first day and gave me some mad story about you casting a spell on me and my needing 'treatment'. That my loving you was an affliction that needed to be removed."

Twilight winced. "And how did you take that?"

"I told them to take their story and shove it so far up their plots that it shot out their horns." 

Twilight failed to suppress a gasp. 

"They just gave me those infuriating pitying looks. Like I was just some dog at the vet, barking up a storm in frightened confusion, and unable to understand actions taken for my own good. After that, I worked on being the most difficult patient possible. I was actually proud when they had to sedate me each night to bathe me and change sheets, because I'd bite and kick anypony I could. Day to day, it was mostly scans and test, nothing more invasive than the occasional blood work really. That is, until the end, obviously. Most of the time I was just bored out of my skull, with nothing to do but fantasize about kicking in the lead doctor's face, and wonder what crazy conspiracy had wrapped up all these ponies, and why breaking up our relationship was so important to their schemes. Eventually I loosened the bolts on the restraints with a stolen spoon, tore free during a power outage (which I guess was you), dispensed some beatings, blew the door with some anesthesia, took out the pony in charge, and bailed through the convenient giant hole in the roof. You know the rest from there."

"I'm...sorry you had to go through all that." Twilight replied with her eyes cast down at her hooves.

Rainbow Dash shrugged. "The funny thing is...I know now that they weren't making all that up. They were just trying to help. But even so...I still feel like....fuck 'em. I still want to repeatedly introduce my hooves to the faces of those doctors. I still want to burn that entire place to the ground. That condescending and pitying look the princesses gave me still makes my blood boil. The fact that their bullshit story turned out to be true just makes me angrier. Like I don't want to give any of them the satisfaction of proving right their claims of 'you'll thank us later'. Logically, I know that I should probably be directing this anger toward you."

Twilight flinched, ears lowered.

"But...you're not the one who kept me confined. You never insisted that I wasn't capable of making decisions for myself, or that I didn't even know the thoughts in my own head. You never gave me that pitying look, or else stared right through me like I was just some object not even worth considering listening to.  I guess you did do a bit of brain surgery, which, you know, isn't great, but that incident didn't come with vivid memories of trying to scream 'STOP' and being ignored."

Twilight, having no idea what one was supposed to say to something like that, decided not to say anything at all. Rainbow Dash gave an aggravated sigh and stared at the ground.

"I don't know, maybe this is all just me being stubborn. Like I'm so pissed that they were actually kinda right about the spell thing, that I'm trying to reverse things out of spite or something. Crap, that makes me sound like a petty foal throwing a tantrum. Look, all I know is that...that last time the world made sense was when we were together. That's the last time I felt free. Like control of my life was actually in my own hooves. Sure, it turns out I had some feelings that may not have been entirely my choice to have, but I don't think anypony has ever 'chosen' to have a feeling about something, and what I actually did with it was still up to me. And now. Now I actually do get to choose how to feel, and it's not a hard choice at all. In fact, it's so easy that it makes me wonder if it even counts as a real choice."

Twilight found herself studying the ground as heat rose to her cheeks. "When did you become all verbose and introspective?"

"I guess you've just been a corrupting influence on me. There is in fact a brain underneath all these stunning good looks, and it does occasionally handle more than flying and staring at your flanks, as fun as both those activities are."

Twilight raised an eyebrow. "You know, for a pony who supposedly has a complete emotional dead zone around me, you certainly do seem to be quite the flirt."

Rainbow Dash shrugged. "Basically a force of habit by this point. Like muscle memory I guess? I don't get the same...buzz out of it that I remember, but it's easy to just fall back into familiar patterns. Like flying. Even if it feels off and weird, my wings will still move without me even really thinking about it."

"So  what you're basically saying is, you could flirt and banter in your sleep?"

"Pssht! I always could. When you're this naturally suave and charming? It's just a good thing I don't sleepwalk, or I'd wake up covered in ponies."

Twilight gave a well practiced nod and eye roll before responding in a flat tone. "Truly, I am in awe. Your licentiousness stands as a beacon for all ponykind, topped only by your boundless humility."

"Bah! You know you love it."

"I never said I didn't" Twilight replied with a chuckle.

A few minutes passed in silence before Twilight voiced a question that had been sitting on her mind.

"So, when you attacked Celestia in that fight back there, was that also...?"

"Habit? Reflex? Yeah, I guess so. I mean, I can easily come up with some reasonable justifications. I want you to recast this spell, and you being captured puts a bit of a damper on that. Not to mention she'd probably want to send me back for some more medical tests and monitoring. They're perfectly valid reasons, but they weren't what was on my mind at the time. I saw you in trouble and just took action without stopping to think about it. Maybe it's just muscle memory from all those monsters we've fought together and with the rest of the girls, and I've just got your back in a fight by reflex. Maybe I've just needed to hit something for a while, and she was in sight when the adrenaline kicked in.  Maybe I'm just an impulsive, overly loyal idiot who will become best friends with a bunch of ponies that I've only known a day, and will attack royalty for somepony because I've been traveling with them for two."

"Well, whatever the reason, I appreciate it."

"Eh, not like I really accomplished much."

"No, I mean it. Any second I could get to think without being knocked around or desperately dodging was a blessing. Even if it was just a momentary distraction, it could have been the difference between taking another solid hit in the beginning that could have changed the entire outcome."

"I suppose so," Rainbow Dash replied, looking a bit more reassured. "I didn't have a great view, but judging by the sounds and the height of some of the dust clouds, it must have been pretty intense. And by the end you looked like somepony had thrown you down a mountain side. Twice."

"It certainly felt like that, only with a side of being lit on fire."

"Yeesh. So, how in the hay did you manage it anyway? Also, what was with that sonic boom and trail of fire? You trying to upstage me as the fastest thing alive?"

"Oh, you know, just warping the fabric of time with an untested spell made up on the spot. No big deal."

"Naturally."

"The thing is...it still would have been all over for me if not for..."

"What?"

"Well, things were looking pretty bad when...a pie came out of nowhere and hit Celestia right in the face?"

"Whoa, seriously?"

"Yeah. And the really crazy part is I'm pretty sure Fluttershy is the one who threw it."

Rainbow Dash, sparing her legs a bit by hovering a few feet off the ground now that the overhead brush had thinned a little, faltered and nearly fell to the ground.

"What?!"

"I know, it—"

Twilight's response was cut short by the sound of a familiar voice up ahead.

"Consarnit! We're as lost as an apple seed in a grain silo!"

Before Twilight could open her mouth, Rainbow Dash had already shot forward.

"Applejack! Hey Applejack, over here!"

"Dash?"

A section of brush parted to reveal the farm pony carrying a bulging pair of saddlebags bearing Twilight's cutie mark, followed closely by a sullen and red eyed Fluttershy. Applejack's eyes swelled with a mixture of surprise and relief.

"Dash!  Glad to see you're okay. Thing got a bit crazy back there and I didn't know if—" she faltered as she noticed the unicorn beside her. "Twilight?!"

"Hey there."

"How...? Last I saw of you, you looked three hooves in the grave, staring down the business end of a half-ton of divine wrath."

Twilight shrugged and grinned. "Just slippery I guess?"

"And all those injuries? You spontaneously invent a whole new type of healing magic or something?"

"Or something," Twilight replied eager to steer the conversation away from her 'sidetracking'. "What are you doing out here anyway? No offense, but I know you're not exactly an avid supporter of this little mission of ours, and I would have thought you might..."

"Go join Celestia, head back to civilization, and leave you to face your comeuppance for your criminal ways? Well, the thought did cross my mind, but then certain...complications arose."

"Meaning?"

"Meaning somepony temporarily took leave of their senses and did something jaw droppingly stupid, requiring me to step in and save them from the consequences of their own astounding idiocy." Behind her, Fluttershy attempted to shrink into a ball and hide behind her mane.  "Sweet and kind, and kinda brave and heroic in a sorta way, but...so damn foolish."

Applejack ground a hoof into her forehead as she let out an exasperated sigh.

"I swear, your damn foolishness is contagious Twilight. You've gone and infected Dash and Fluttershy. And here I am tagging along with you bunch of fools, so I guess I caught it now too. Anyway, I booked it back to camp, tore it down in record time and stuffed it all into these magic bags of yours. Then Fluttershy vanished for a while but won't tell me what that was all about. Then we got good and lost and ran into you."

Rainbow Dash cut in with clear impatience. "Great! The team's back together!" She quickly turned to Twilight. "Does this mean we can make camp and eat now?!"

Twilight took a break from pointedly avoiding eye contact with Fluttershy to respond.

"Yeah, there should be a good spot not far from here." She levitated her saddlebags off of Applejack's back and returned them to her own, moving up to the front while Fluttershy wordlessly slid to the back.  The two ponies in the center struck up a conversation regarding what should be on the menu that evening as the first rays of sunset spilled over the horizon.


***


"So you've noticed it too, right?" Rainbow Dash's question broke over the crackling of the campfire, jolting Applejack from her staring contest with the embers.

"What's that sugarcube?"

"You know, them." She briefly pointed a hoof to Fluttershy and Twilight. The former was washing the dishes in the nearby stream, having refused any help with surprising assertiveness. The latter had retreated to the far side of the tent, donning a headset and scanning the local frequencies for any guard chatter. All evening, the two had been avoiding each other with as much subtlety as one of Pinkie's party cannons. 

"Yeah." Applejack replied with a weary sigh. "I noticed."

"So what do you think is up with them?"

"Beats me. I haven't been able to get a word out of Fluttershy since her little vanishing act. One minute she disappears into thin air off my back, the next I find her crying in the woods, and ever since she's been clammed up like a seafood buffet."

"When Twilight teleported us away, I couldn't find her for a couple minutes. She mentioned something about Discord being Discord and now she just changes the subject if I try to bring it up. I don't wanna pry, but..."

"But you're worried."

"Yeah. Does that sound weird? I mean, a few days ago I went on about how I didn't feel anything for her at all, even though I wanted to."

"You've always had a good heart Dash, and you've always worn it right on your fetlock. I'm sure Fluttershy would tell you the same thing. Once you decide somepony is worth your attention, you don't waste any time. It's straight from stranger to best friend who has their back in a fight against the world."

Rainbow Dash frowned  "That makes me sound like an easily manipulated, hot headed idiot."

"Your words, not mine. Me and most other ponies I know actually consider it kinda endearing. Anyway I'll go try and talk to Fluttershy. You keep trying with Twilight." With a stretch and a satisfying pop, Applejack stood up from the fire and made her way through the surrounding darkness. 

Rainbow Dash gave a brief glance to the tent, then back to the fire. She picked up a stick and gave the coals a vigorous prodding, tossing it in when she finally decided that further procrastination was not likely to bless her with inspiration. She made her way to the far side of the tent where Twilight was tinkering with her headset while muttering a series of profanities under her breath.

"Any good tunes?"

Twilight removed the headset and casually tossed it aside. "Nothing. Either we're still far out of range and my calculations are off—"

"In which case Tartarus just hit a sudden cold snap."

"—or they've finally caught on to the fact that I might be tapping their communications and have taken some kind of countermeasures. Probably found my little gift back in the bunker and swept every relay station in Equestria from top to bottom looking for more. Not a whole lot I can do about it way out here at any rate."

"That sucks." Rainbow Dash offered sympathetically. 

"Yeah, but it had a good run. So what's up Dash? You need something? "

"Just wondering how you're doing over here."

"Me? Fine. Totally fine. Everything's fine. We're back on course, making good time, and have good cover from here to Ponyville. Everything's good."

"Uhh, great."

"Yeah."

"Soo...no problems then?"

"Nope."

"Cause it kinda seems like there's something going on with you and Fluttershy." She could see Twilight's body stiffen instantly.

"What?! No. Wh-Why would you say—?"

"Because the two of you have been acting like a couple of foals at their first school dance. Because you've been super evasive about where you were for those couple minutes when you disappeared and I was actually really worried. And because I heard from Applejack that Fluttershy also vanished about the same time and hasn't said a word since."

Twilight turned away, suddenly very interested in her hoof.

"It–It's not important."

"Oh come on Twilight! Of course it is! Now just tell me."

"I...I can't! I just can't okay!" She bit down on her lip as she struggled and failed to meet Dash's gaze.

"TWILIGHT!"

Jumping at the unexpected shout, Twilight caught sight of the fierce expression in Dash's eyes.

"Twilight." Dash repeated at a more controlled volume. "I know you're upset, but consider for a second that the events of recent months have left me with zero fucking tolerance for the keeping of secrets. In particular, secrets kept by you and from me. Now, I really want to move forward, but for this revived relationship thing to work out, the first, second, and third rule has got to be no more secrets. I don't care if it's embarrassing. I don't care if you think it's for my own good. No more secrets. No more hiding anything. Now. Tell. Me. What. Is. Wrong."


Twilight stiffened her back, clamped down on the growing nausea in her stomach, and attempted to force out the appropriate words.  "I...I...what you have to understand is..."

"Twilight!"

"I cheated on you!"

"Umm...what?" Dash's prior irritation gave way completely to dumbfounded confusion.

"Okay, so not like in the literal physical sense or anything, but emotionally! Which is way worse!"

Rainbow Dash sighed, massaging the space between her eyes with a hoof. "Twilight, I know you think that counts as some kind of sensible explanation, but you 're going to have to break that down for me a bit more. Now, what exactly happened?"

Twilight paused to take several deep breaths. When it seemed like the danger of her heart bursting out of her chest had subsided, she continued. "In the middle of our teleport I got...summoned by Discord. He healed me and then went on about needing help with a birthday gift for Fluttershy. And then...boop." She tapped a hoof against her horn. "Suddenly I'm in love with Fluttershy."

"Okay...that's...pretty messed up."

"Yeah. Of course, I could tell something was wrong because none of my memories made sense anymore. I could tell there was supposed to be somepony else, even if I couldn't remember who they were, and I fought it. It was hard and it hurt, but I fought it with everything I had. It was like trying to stay awake while lying down on the comfiest bed in the world after staying up for 3 days straight, but I kept fighting it."

Twilight's breathing began to quicken once again as she started pacing back and forth.

"Fluttershy appeared at some point. Most of my attention was focused on stopping myself from throwing myself at her, and trying to work through the distorted memories. Then...then my memory gets kinda hazy. I just know that when I woke up again there was no more conflict. All my memories were back in order the way they should be. I knew who I was with a sense of inner clarity I hadn't felt in a long time, and I knew without a doubt who I loved.  But..."

"But...?" Dash echoed.

Tears welled up in the corners of Twilight's eyes.

"It was Fluttershy! And it's not like my love for you was suppressed or overridden, it was just gone. And I knew what had happened. I knew that I had been altered. I just didn't care. I could perfectly recall that minutes prior I had been in the fight of my life, beaten and singed and exhausted, but pushing on because holding onto you was all that mattered, then suddenly...utter indifference. Not even worth thinking about. And I wasn't bothered by it at all. And I wasn't bothered by the fact that I wasn't bothered by it. All that mattered was finding some way to get Fluttershy to take me back. I wanted that so badly. I just..." She cringed, turning away from Dash. "I'm sorry."

"For what? Twilight, why are you acting like this is somehow your fault?"

"Because it is! Don't you get it? I was ME then. As me as I am now. I didn't just feel that way, I wanted to feel that way. I didn't care about you anymore and I liked it. I always told myself I'd fight for you no matter what, but when my feelings for you were gone I was relieved to be rid of them! I couldn't wait to start a new life with Fluttershy and forget all about you!"

"Twilight, that's not your fault!"

"I should have done something. I should have fought it."

"You did!"

"And then I stopped. I gave up on you!."

"Your brain was rewritten by an omnipotent chaos deity! What is anypony supposed to do in that situation?"

"I'm not supposed to be just anypony! I'm supposed to be more!"

Taken aback by the outburst, Rainbow Dash's mouth hung open in silence.  Twilight's hooves snapped up to cover her own mouth while a tinge of mortified shame crept across her face.

"Twilight..."

"I...I didn't mean it like...I know that sounds horribly self-absorbed, but I just mean..."

Rainbow Dash held up a hoof to stop her. "I get it."

"You do?"

"Yeah. Twilight, I know you're crazy talented. I know you know it. I know very important ponies have been telling you how special you are since you were a tiny filly. Then add the quite frankly ridiculous amount of times the fate of the world has fallen onto our shoulders. Yeah, I know that was on all of us, but, you're kinda the defacto leader of our little group. Even if you wouldn't call yourself as such, that's definitely how the public sees you. Add in being personally groomed by Celestia as an apprentice on top of all that heroism and ponies start to look at you like...like you're some kind of demi-god or something, and even the most humble pony in the world is gonna start thinking they have to live up to that."

"But you never...you never looked at me like that."

"Are you kidding? There have been plenty of times I was super-intimidated by you. But then I'd just remember how terrible you are at cooking, or times you've walked right into a door frame because your nose was buried in a book, or that I know exactly how ticklish you are and where, and that reminds me that you're a mortal pony like the rest of us. And that's the thing Twilight. You ARE mortal. No matter how smart and talented, you're made of the same flesh and bone as the rest of us. No special immunity. A big enough rock dropped on you will squash you flat as anpony else. A spear through your heart is just as bad for you as it is for the rest of us. No matter how brilliant that brain in your head is, a large enough force to the casing will drop you as effectively as it will the stupidest pony in Equestria. And that's what makes you so brave when you charge into danger. So awesome when you decide to take on the princesses and all of Equestria just to come find me. It wouldn't be nearly so inspiring if you were invulnerable. So when it comes to reality warping chaos magic, something I'm not even certain the princesses themselves would be immune to, don't go expecting to shrug it off any easier than the rest of us."

Twilight opened her mouth, then closed it. She opened it once again to deliver a long winded rebuttal, and closed it once again as the words disintegrated on her tongue. Her impersonation of a fish pulled ashore continued for a good twenty seconds before she finally found the words.

"That...that actually does make me feel a little bit better somehow."

Rainbow Dash gave a snort of pride. "Of course it does, I'm Rainbow Dash, expert head shrinker."

"That has got to be the most ironic title I have ever heard," Twilight remarked with a small laugh. "But it's still not that simple."

"Of course it is."

"But...If I felt like me then just as much as I feel like me now, how do I know which one is the real me? The one that loves you or the one who's glad not to love you?"

"The one that's here now."

"But how do you decide that?!"

"Because the other one doesn't exist anymore."

"But–I...that's it? It's just that simple?"

"Yeah."

"But aren't you trying to...you know...change yourself back to a previous state?"

"Yeah, because I want to.  Do you want to go back to how you were then?"

"....No."

"Well there you go. And since alternate you didn't seem to feel any obligation to go back to being current you and seemed perfectly happy to let current you go on not existing, I wouldn't say you owe that bitch anything."

Twilight eventually managed to retrieve her jaw from the ground. "I...I can't for the life of me tell if you're some kind of master philosopher or just an idiot too thickheaded to even understand the problem."

"Pfft! Is there a difference? My initial impression of philosophers was that they're a bunch of ponies killing time by asking dumb questions then ignoring any answers so they can keep re-asking the same questions in slightly different and equally dumb ways. Your book recommendations, at least the parts I could make it through before my eyes glazed over, didn't do much to change that opinion besides making me think some of them had a vendetta against trees, and that Foucolt is actually just a form of torture."

"And that actually does not clear it up in the slightest." Twilight gave a quiet laugh followed by a deep sigh before leaning backwards and sprawling out on the grass. She stared up at the night sky and gave another exhausted sigh. "Maybe you're right. Maybe I am just overthinking all this."

"You definitely are," Rainbow Dash replied, staring down over her.

"I just don't know how to stop."

"How about this?" Rainbow Dash flopped down on the grass beside her. "Why don't you tell me about the stars." 

"The stars? What about them?"

"Everything."

"I must have told you nearly everything there is to know about them by this point."

Rainbow Dash grinned. That lovely mischievous grin that never failed to melt Twilight's heart.

"Let's say I forgot." 

Twilight smiled back and started into her lecture.



***


Applejack approached the stream where Fluttershy was preoccupied staring into the slow moving water, pile of cleaned cookware by her side. She sat beside the pensive pegasus and shared a few minutes of silence.

"So..."

"So..?"

"Something on your mind?"

Fluttershy continued to stare at the water, offering no reply.

"Looking for sage in a stream?"

"Hmph." Fluttershy suppressed an amused laugh. "Sounds like a pretty poor place to look, doesn't it?" 

"I've heard of worse. We could always go find a cloud."

Fluttershy deflated with a sigh, falling forward until her belly was flat on the grass. "You're not going to let this go are you?"

"You know I don't like being nosy, but I'm worried about ya. Dash is too. It's clear there's something under your skin, and while you don't hafta share it, I really think you'd feel better if you did.  But I ain't gonna force ya. If you really want me to screw off and mind my own damn business I will. If you'd rather tell Rainbow Dash, or Twilight, or nopony at all, that's your business." Applejack politely ignored the visible flinch Fluttershy gave at the mention of Twilight's name. After another minute of silence, Applejack moved to stand up, but paused as a faint word escaped from Fluttershy's throat.

"I..."

Applejack resumed her previous position.

"I..." Fluttershy repeated, lapsing into silence as she struggled to find the words.

"I think...something inside me...is dying."

Applejack said nothing, letting Fluttershy continue.

"Changing? Not the same as it was before. It's...scary. Discord, he...tried to do something nice for me. Something terrible but well meaning, because he still doesn't know any better, you know? Doesn't quite understand right from wrong the way ponies do."

Applejack silently nodded.

"He...made Twilight love me. Rewrote her mind so that she was head over hooves in love with me and willing, no, desperate to run off with me and make up for lost time. And he didn't explicitly mention it, but I knew the offer came with additional protection. Protection from any consequences. From the princesses or anypony else. Everything I ever wanted. And I said no."

Applejack repressed the urge to speak. Fluttershy clearly wasn't done yet.

"And it was so hard. I knew it was the right decision, but...ponies talk about feeling right and wrong in your heart, but it was exactly the opposite this time. Taking the offer felt right. I could have jumped right in and probably never regretted it. It was only mentally, intellectually that I still knew it was wrong. More a faint and irritating obligation to do the right thing, rather than let myself be happy. But that little voice in my head, that irritating little voice was fading so quickly. A little longer and it would have been gone, and I could see who I'd be on the other side of it. 

I saw my future laid on in front of me in a single instant. With no restraint and Discord at my beck and call, I could do anything. Me and Twilight would live happily ever after in a crystal castle. I could be the Princess of Kindness and make sure everypony in Equestria got along. All the meanies in Equestria could be made nice. Flim and Flam, Trixie, those bullies who used to tease me in flight camp, ponies who cut in line. Just a quick snap and they'd be reformed into kinder and gentler versions of themselves. And not out of any sense of retribution, no. There wouldn't be an ounce of malice. Just an earnest desire to make everypony happy and the power to do it. And me, with Twilight by my side, ruling over a land of eternal and mandatory happiness.

And in that moment I was terrified. Terrified that if I waited any longer, that would start to seem like a good idea. I told Discord to undo it all and send me back, which was when you found me."

Applejack stayed quiet, this time less out of restraint, and more out of having no idea what one was supposed to say to a story like that.

"What's worse is that it's not...it wasn't just over and done in that moment. There's still a part of me wondering if maybe I should have chosen differently. And I know that, even now, I could probably call up Discord, tell him I changed my mind, and still have all that. I have to keep making that choice every second, and while it's getting a bit easier with practice, it's still...hard. Draining."

Applejack finally found the words to speak. "And what you said before? About something changing in you?"

"That's the thing. It is getting easier with practice. But it's taking something else with it. Twilight was throwing herself at me and I rejected her. Right to her face. It was horrible and it...broke something? Knocked something loose? I look at her now and it doesn't feel the same. I wouldn't say I don't love her anymore, but...the flame definitely seems cooler. And every time I reject that offer in my head I turn her down again and it grows a little fainter. I guess that objectively that's probably a good thing in the long run, but it's...scary. Like an important part of me is fading away. Dying. Like without it, I'm less certain of who I am."

"You'll always be you Fluttershy. And trust me, that's a heck of a thing to be. There's a whole lot more to define you than just a broken heart."

A moment passed before she responded, filled only with the gentle trickle of the stream and the performance of an overzealous cricket in some distant vegetation.

"Thanks Applejack. Somehow that actually does make me feel better." 

"Glad to hear it. It ain't easy being this folksy and wise, I just make it look that way."

A smile cracked across Fluttershy's face, and for a moment one could be forgiven for thinking that dawn had come early. A demure giggle issued forth from it, growing in intensity to a chuckle and then a full blown laugh, incapable of being restrained by hooves pressed to her mouth in futility. Just as it seemed to be dying down, a single (and very non-demure) snort revived it to triple strength and brought Applejack crashing down with guffaws of her own.

Fluttershy wiped a tear from her eye with a wingtip as she finally managed to catch her breath. "That sounds so much like something Rainbow Dash would say," she remarked with a wistful sigh.  "I guess some parts of her really rubbed off on you, huh?"

The two stared at each other in silence for a solid ten seconds, as they struggled valiantly to retain their composure. To remind themselves that they were better than that. It was a struggle eventually lost as they both burst into shameful snickering.

"No. NO!" Applejack managed to choke out between laughs. "Landsakes! What are we, school colts?!"

"I know! We're terrible!" Her observation did nothing to halt the laughter continuing to tear its way free from deep inside her.

"The worst."  Applejack agreed, in no better shape.

As the duo recovered their breath for the second time, their tremors of laughter transformed into light shivers, the cold of the night so far from the fire slowly but steadily catching up with them. Neither had noticed the shrinking distance between them as their bodies automatically sought out the nearest source of warmth, nor how Fluttershy's wing had moved aside to make room, and was now half-stretched across Applejack's back.

"Applejack?"

"Hmm?"

"Do you think...maybe we could...?"

"What?"

"Make some cobbler?"

"Heh. Sure. Grab one of them pans and go see what we got in the way of fruit."

Another smile bloomed on Fluttershy's face as she turned and made her way back to the warm glow of the campfire. Applejack lingered a while longer, fidgeting with her hat as she stared into the running water. An expression of careful thought spread over her face, as if scrutinizing an apple being considered for a premium batch of cider, or navigating a fork on a treacherous path. Eventually she rose and turned back toward the fire to help with the dessert, a faint and distant splash breaking the surface of the water behind her as a small amulet was carried away by the current.
> Chapter 21
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Why do we have to do this again?!" Rainbow Dash shouted as she barrel rolled away from a set of snapping jaws.

"Hydra blood is a highly potent reagent and a necessary component for the spell!" Twilight shouted back while firing a concussive purple beam into the side of one of many heads.

"And this is the best way to get it?!"

"If you know of any better ways, I'm all ears!"

The hydra intruded upon the conversation with a bestial roar, expressing its immense displeasure at having its ordinary day of wallowing in muck and minding its own business interrupted by such a savage assault. One of the heads let out a series of exasperated growls that, had Fluttershy been anywhere nearby to hear them, would have translated roughly to "I've heard about snack attacks, but this is ridiculous!" followed by a series of expletives as it took a bright purple beam to the eye.

"If this stuff is so great, why didn't you keep any in your lab?" Rainbow Dash questioned, dodging another lunge and countering with a solid kick to the face.

"I did keep some for further experiments, but my house is probably the most surveilled place in Equestria at the moment, so sneaking in there is a terrible idea."

The hydra, dizzy, exhausted, and lightly concussed from a combination of kicks, magical blasts, and an improvised hail storm, finally fell over. Twilight pulled out a diamond tipped scalpel and a specimen jar as Rainbow Dash dropped in at her side.

"You mean you didn't pack hydra blood in as part of your crazy prepared paranoid travel supplies? You must be slipping Twilight."

"Well I stashed some in one of my supply cache's, but that's like a day and a half that way." She pointed a hoof at the horizon before making a small incision on the beast's belly and levitating up the specimen jar.

"Wait, what?! You're joking right? Right?" Twilight said nothing as she sealed the top of the jar and stowed it back into her saddlebags. "Holy crap you're not joking! Seriously?! If you already had some stashed away, then what was the point of all this?"

"One, it's actually much better if I can get it fresh. Two, I had the sneaking suspicion that you were growing a bit bored."


***


Earlier...


"Uggggghhh! I'm soooooo bored! When Twilight mentioned having to collect 3 components for her spell, I thought this was gonna be a cool adventure filled quest or something like in Daring Do. But instead it's just a bunch of walking and nature, like in those terrible old fantasy books she made me read." 

There was a sharp gasp followed by indignant sputtering.

"Wh-huh-bu-wha? HOW DARE YOU! The entire fantasy genre as we know it owes its very existence to those stories!"

"It was hundreds of pages of ponies walking to a volcano!"

"You take that back!"

"Sorry, you're right. It was walking punctuated with the occasional 10 page backstory on the genealogy of a random shrub they passed and how it's great ancestor had been planted by the vice-duke of who-gives-a-crap to celebrate the 200th festival of nobody-cares!"

"It's called world building you uncultured swine!"

"I'm just saying that Daring Do doesn't take 1200 pages plus six appendices to tell a story which could probably fit into 120 if you took out all the walking! Which brings me back to my previous point of THIS IS SO BORING!" 


***



Presently...


"Whaaaat makes you say that?" Rainbow Dash asked with a nervous laugh.

"Call it a hunch. Now come on, let's head back and meet up with the others."

"Right, right." Rainbow Dash waved a hoof as she hovered behind Twilight. "So that's two ingredients down. Where are you gonna get a dragon scale?"

"Well, since I can't exactly stroll into Ponyville and get some from Spike, there's only one other dragon whose location I know. We're not exactly on good terms."

As they continued towards their appointed rendezvous, Twilight revisited a problem that had occupied her thoughts more frequently as they grew closer to their goal. What came next? After her spell was recast, they'd still be wanted mares. She'd taken precautions against Luna tracking them through their dreams, but the two sisters would never stop hunting them. Could they really spend the rest of their lives on the run? Hiding in the wilderness?  Should they leave the country and get new identities? Was it fair to ask Dash to give up her career as a Wonderbolt, her whole life, to spend the rest of her days as a fugitive? Was there really any other choice at this point?

Such thoughts continued to run on a loop inside Twilight's head as they met up with Applejack and Fluttershy and continued on to their next destination while Dash recounted the details of their latest battle. Those two presented yet another problem. Now that they were this close to Ponyville, Applejack was sure to start picking up landmarks and getting her bearings soon. The already thin excuse of being lost would crumble before long, and they would have to either leave or make some effort to stop her, or else start skirting the edges of being considered accomplices. 

Despite her emphatic disapproval being made quite clear, Applejack had so far settled on letting Dash make her own decision. But was that just in the hope that she could convince her otherwise before the final moment came? When it was time to actually recast the spell, would her non-interference hold? Would she run off and alert the authorities, even knowing  it would be too late and that they would be long gone by then? Would she try to stop them, even knowing she would certainly lose?  Where would Fluttershy fall in all this? Hopefully not on her side. It was bad enough she was dragging Dash down with her.

By the time Twilight's attention returned to the world around her, they were standing at the mouth of a familiar looking cave. 

"This the place?" Rainbow Dash asked from Twilight's side.

"Yeah. We just need to get a scale and get out. Stick close and—" She was interrupted by a loud, rhythmic stomping that was closely followed by the head of a huge green dragon peeking out the mouth of the cave to investigate the commotion on its doorstep. 

Two reptilian eyes stared down with disdain and annoyance at four equine shapes. Two in a low crouch, one hovering a few feet off the ground and one cowering behind the others. The rumbling preparations of a deep inhalation were suddenly interrupted when the eyes caught a magenta glow gathering around the bony protrusion on the head of the lead figure with a familiar lavender coat.  A few moments of stillness passed before a great clawed hand raised up and plucked loose a scale, tossing it with as much contempt as possible at the hooves of the lead equine figure.  The two eyes turned back towards the cave interior as the gargantuan clawed feet stomped their way back inside.

The four ponies stood in silence as they watch the back of the dragon disappear into the darkness.

"Umm...okay then. Dragon scale, check." Twilight bent down to grab the scale in her teeth and placed in her saddlebags.

"That's it?! Oh, come o–oww!" Rainbow Dash rubbed the back of her head where Applejack's hoof had delivered a concise argument on the lack of necessity in picking fights with dragons, while Fluttershy resumed breathing. "So, uhh...what's next?"

"Now we just find somewhere to make camp. It should only take me about two hours to prep the ingredients, and then...then I guess..." 

"Show time?" Rainbow Dash finished.

"Yeah."

Twilight felt a growing sense of tension as they searched for an appropriate camping spot a respectful distance away from the dragon's cave. Like sitting and waiting for the start of a test that, even though she had done everything possible to study  for, she was sure would surprise her with something she had completely forgotten. The unease only grew stronger as her makeshift lab setup took shape over the campfire and she watched her concoction start to bubble.


***
 

Applejack took a break from her pacing to take a look at the rest of the camp. It seemed nopony else was able to sit still either. Dash had been flying circles around the camp for a little over an hour. Fluttershy would sit down somewhere only to stand back up and walk to another location like a filly in a school play desperately searching for her mark. Even Twilight, who had remained rooted in place to obsessively watch a pot boil, had been fidgeting so much that her back hoof had tapped a deep indentation into the ground. Not that she herself was much better. She looked down at the groove she had been working into the forest floor.

Procrastination was not something Applejack was overly familiar with. Through most of her life, she had excelled at knowing what needed to be done and then doing it, and rarely had there been any appreciable amount of time between the two. That was why this mounting sense of urgency screaming in her head at the approach of an unaddressed deadline felt so foreign. 

In fact, there was only one other time she could clearly remember feeling this way. That was the night she decided to confess her feelings to Dash.  There had been that same paralysis as a window of opportunity shrunk ever smaller. As they sat on that hilltop, she had silently screamed at herself to take action before the chance passed her by completely, only for her body to stubbornly refuse and sit there as the minutes dragged on. She remembered a sense of incredulity at the fact that she could face down dangerous Everfree monsters and millennia old mad gods without batting an eye, but simply telling Rainbow Dash the truth about how she felt was enough to turn her lily-livered! She had been moments away from calling the whole thing off and slinking home to drown her miseries in cider when Dash had kissed her out of the blue. As it turned out, this wasn't a case of Dash being more perceptive than normally given credit for, seeing where this whole thing had been going, and helping her get past her cold hooves. She had later admitted to liking her but not having any clue if she liked her back, and just deciding to resolve the matter by charging forward with her typical lack of impulse control.

Applejack shook her head, leaving bittersweet memories behind and returning her attention to the present. Even if that relationship was long finished, she was still grateful for it.  Dash had saved her from making a terrible mistake, and she owed it to her to at least attempt to return the favor. Even if it was fruitless, even if Dash refused to listen, she had to at least try. She wouldn't be able to live with herself otherwise.

"Hey Dash?" Applejack called up at the restless pegasus, still flying her circuit.

"Hmm?" Rainbow Dash stopped her aerial pacing and glided down to where Applejack was waving her over at the edge of the camp. She followed her a few paces further and behind a large tree where they could talk privately.

Applejack took a deep breath and let it out slowly. "So, you're really serious about going through with this?"

Rainbow Dash stiffened. "Yeah. I already said I was." Without thinking about it, her knees bent ever so slightly into a defensive crouch. "You got a problem with that?"

"I think everypony already knows my opinion on the matter." Applejack suppressed the rise in her voice and did her best not to mirror Dash's posture, forcing her body to relax as she worked on appearing as non-threatening as possible. Falling into a shouting match would end things right here.

"And I was pretty sure everypony knew mine!" Rainbow Dash growled back. "Did I stutter or something?"

"No. I know. It's just that...there was a lot going on that day. Emotions were high. And since it's been a couple days now and things have cooled down a bit, I was wondering if there were any...second thoughts?"

"You mean, have I calmed down, come to my senses and realized how right you are and how wrong I am?  How you always know what's best? You and everypony else because Rainbow Dash is just an immature idiot who can't be trusted to make decisions about her own life without screwing it up! Her dumb jock brain can't handle a thought more complex than 'gotta go fast'!" Her breathing grew more rapid as her eyes widened and her wings began to twitch at her sides. "She's a barely functional child in an adult body, so just ignore her when she screams and protests and thrashes around on the table because she's just physically incapable of understanding how right you are! Is that it?!"

"Damnit Dash! I'm not looking for a fight here! I just..." Applejack closed her eyes, took a breath, and let it out through her teeth as she mentally counted to three. "I really, honestly, just want to know how my friend is doing. I just want to know you're alright."

"I..." Slowly, grudgingly, Rainbow Dash forced herself to relax. "...yeah. Yeah, I'm okay. I mean, I guess I'm a bit tense. It's just that..." She paused as she struggled to find the right words. "Just that...even though it was days ago and I'm out and miles away. When it feels like...like somepony is second guessing me or ignoring what I'm saying, I...my heart starts pounding and my fetlocks start aching, even though the bruises are pretty much gone now, and I swear I can smell antiseptic and taste blood and hear that horrible buzzing noise and every part of me is just ready to fight and–and—"

Rainbow Dash's rambling was cut off by Applejack pulling her into a gentle hug. "I'm sorry." 

"It's fine. Really. I'm fine." Rainbow Dash returned the hug, raising her hoof behind Applejack's back to wipe at what was most certainly not the beginnings of a tear trying to form.

"You know I don't think of you like that, right? You ain't always the easiest to get along with, but I never thought you were some foal who couldn't manage on her own. Even with the occasional tendency to leap before looking, you're frequently single-minded and damn near as stubborn as me sometimes, but that's not the same thing as stupid. I'm sorry if at any point I ever made you feel otherwise."

"I know, I know.  Really, it's all good. You can stop apologizing already you idiot."

Applejack just squeezed her tighter as she whispered into her ear.  "Your taste in music is still shit though."

The definitely not tears finally found an escape as Rainbow Dash collapsed to the ground in laughter.

"Oh, screw you, you banjo humping bumpkin! And like I told you a thousand times before, 'The Rainbooms' is a great name for a band!" 

With the tension finally drained, Applejack decided to get the conversation back on track.

"So, no second thoughts at all?"

"None. I'm 100% on board with this." 

"Don't suppose you'd reconsider?"

"Applejack."

"I know, I know. It's your life. Your decision. It's just that, you know this ain't just the end of it, right?  This don't wrap everything up in a nice happily ever after."

"Yeah, I know.  There's still a big painful mess to sort out afterward."

"I don't see much getting sorted if you stick with Twilight. Either you keep playing fugitive with her until you're both caught, she gets locked up and you get sent back to more doctors," Rainbow Dash gave a quick shudder, "or you manage to beat the odds and spend the rest of your days on the run, no more Ponyville, no more Wonderbolts training, no more seeing the rest of your friends."

Rainbow Dash shifted uncomfortably.

"But those aren't your only options. There's one more." She raised a hoof to point to the southwest. "You and me walk out of here right now and don't look back.   We don't stop until we hit Ponyville.  I can vouch for you that you're completely cured of any and all magical influences and if anypony tries to take you off to poke around your head without your say so, they can take it up with the twins." Applejack shot a glance at her hind legs. "In short, you get your life back. I ain't gonna try to force ya. I know I can't. It's your choice, but if we're doing this, we gotta do it now."

"I appreciate it Applejack, really. But my mind's made up. It's not that I haven't thought about all that stuff. I really don't want to give all that up. But if I were to go back the way I am now, I just don't think it would ever feel right. It still feels like I'm broken. Like I'm not really me, but some...cheap impersonation. I want so badly just to go home and sleep in my own bed again, maybe grab a cupcake from Sugarcube Corner, but I want to feel like me again even more.  And I've never felt more completely myself than when I was with Twilight, including my life before we met. 

She always saw more in me than I ever imagined was there. For one thing, I never would have picked up a Daring Do book if not for her. But not just that. Whenever she'd try to explain some bit of science or philosophy or some other egghead stuff to me and I'd start to get lost, she never wrote it off as a lost cause. Never assumed that I was just too dumb to ever get it, even if I assumed so. She truly believed that I was capable of understanding if she just found the right way to explain it, and she was right!  Some of it was still horribly boring, but some of it I actually found interesting, and before I knew it I was borrowing books and discovering more parts of me I never knew were there. 

That was the real me. And anything that spell actually did to my head was insignificant next to what simply being with Twilight did, which was actually make me grow as a pony. I'm not just looking to get doped up on happy magic. I need that spell so I can get out of this weird funk caused by my memories and feelings not connecting right and get back to being that better me. If I can just do that, I know I can face whatever messed up stuff comes after, especially if Twilight's there to face it with me."

Applejack just shook her head and gave a defeated sigh. "She really did change you didn't she? You never were one for impassioned speechifying. Really nothing I can say to change your mind?"

"Nothing."

"Well alright then. You can't say I didn't try."

"I appreciate the effort anyway."

"Glad to hear it. You know, as messed up as it is, even though I'll miss you terribly, I hope you beat the odds and I never see you again after this."

"Thanks. I'll miss you too."


***


Encased in a magenta glow, the viscous mixture rose into a column around the solitary strand of Twilight's mane, hardening into a thick candle. All preparations were finally complete.

"R–Ready!"  Twilight called out with a surprising degree of hesitancy in her voice. 


Get it together. This is what you've been waiting for, isn't it? 


Fluttershy jumped with a startled "Oh!" and looked even more at a loss as to what to do with herself.  Applejack appeared from behind a large tree on the outskirts of the camp, approaching with a notable frown. Rainbow Dash came zipping around from the same tree in a polychromatic blur, appearing in front of Twilight so quickly that she nearly fell backwards.

"Finally! So, what do I gotta do?"

"N-Nothing really. We already took care of all the paperwork, and Applejack and Fluttershy witnessed it. Not that I expect it will count for much, but at least it's something. Oh! One more thing." A bright pulse of magic suddenly flared out of Twilight's horn, followed by Applejack and Fluttershy falling on their sides wrapped in glowing magical bonds.  "Sorry about this! If anypony asks, there was nothing you possibly could have done to stop me."

"Okay, so we're all set then?" Rainbow Dash asked, her impatience growing more obvious by the second.

"Y-Yeah. I should probably put you to sleep first. I mean, I don't think there would be any adverse effects to being awake for it, but you were asleep the first time and it's probably best if we recreate—"

"Twilight! Less talking, more casting!"

"Right!" Twilight leaned forward and tapped her horn to Rainbow Dash's forehead, causing her to slump forward into a snoring heap. She then tapped the wick of the candle, which ignited with a magical spark.


Okay, here we go. Making with the magic. Getting our marefriend back to normal. Paying off all that blood, sweat, and tears. Yep. Starting now. Now. Noooooow!


Twilight's horn remained distinctly unilluminated. A stream of violet smoke continued to rise straight up from the candle, unperturbed by any magical effects. From her prone viewpoint, Applejack raised an eyebrow at the lack of action, but said nothing.

"Just give me a minute!" Twilight snapped in response.


You're really going to choke here of all places? Get it together!

It just feels...wrong somehow.

Are you fucking serious?! Really?! NOW you're squeamish?  NOW you think that maybe there's something morally problematic about this whole concept? It's a tad bit late for that, genius!


As the stillness dragged on, Applejack finally spoke up from the ground. "What's the matter Twi? Not as easy to do in broad daylight with ponies watching as it is skulking around and breaking into bedrooms under cover of darkness?" A gag magically appeared in Applejack's mouth, cutting off any further remarks, but Twilight didn't look away from the candle flame as her internal struggle continued.


We knew it was wrong last time and made peace with that fact. If anything, this should be much easier. We've got enthusiastic consent here! What's the holdup?

It just...feels like cheating?

That makes absolutely no sense at all.

I mean, do we really NEED to do this?

Yes. Have you not been paying attention?

It could be my imagination, but it kinda seems like Dash has been warming up a bit the more we travel together. She says it's just ingrained habits, but...maybe this could be a chance to start over. To actually do things the right way.

Except for the part where she's got brain damage now.

Brains are amazingly plastic, and habit drives behavior. That was the whole point of our spell in the first place.  And given that Dash is clearly interested in pursing a relationship now, there's a chance that damage might repair itself. That just continuing to reinforce those habits will reforge those affectionate connections. We can build new memories together. It may be slower, but we can get to where we were before without any magic.

The result of the spell is physiologically identical to the 'natural way' you're talking about. Just faster. That was the entire point. Why take the slow way?

To prove to myself that I can! That if just given the chance, I can build and maintain this relationship on my own. That I can make her happy without needing any magic as crutch.  And that we are together because we're actually good for each other, and not just because I have the power to make it so.

Well that's not what Rainbow Dash literally signed up for.

She wants a relationship so badly already that a good placebo would probably do the trick.

So instead of magically manipulating her, you're going to take the high ground and just psychologically manipulate her into thinking you magically manipulated her. 

Shut up!

And of course there's no better way to start your new 'authentic' relationship than with a massive lie. But hey, it's only because you know what's best for her right? Why start caring about her input now?

How am I suddenly the bad guy for NOT enchanting somepony?!

You already promised to do so. Now you're looking for a way to walk it back, even though you want it just as bad as she does, because you suddenly feel guilty about a previous situation with wildly different context. You're a self-destructive masochist who'll go to extreme lengths to sabotage a shot at happiness.

It's called a conscience, you amoral bundle of tenuous rationalizations for sociopathic behavior! Don't pretend like you've got a consistent or coherent moral philosophy.  One minute it's utilitarian arguments about how Dash will be much happier as a result of our spell, the next it's admonishment about how not casting it is presuming to know what's best for her. As long as it leads to the quick and easy path.

It's called pragmatism. And what you're questionably calling a 'conscience' looks a lot like paralyzing self-doubt leading to a lot of pointless dithering and worse outcomes for all involved. And yeah, I'M the sociopath for saying backing out on a deal, lying to Dash, and building a relationship on top of that lie to prove some point to yourself is a fucking bad idea!

We can at least try the non-magical route, can't we? Magic can be a viable plan B, but we can't do the former after the latter. At the very least we can wake her up and float the idea. And who knows? Maybe when she wakes up she'll feel all better thanks to one good shock of placebo and it won't pop when we tell her we didn't do anything and 'the magic was in her the whole time' yadda yadda, and nopony will even care about the spell anymore.

First, the chances of that happening are so near zero that they're in for an awkward breakfast and a walk of shame in the morning. Second, that's assuming time is a resource we have in abundance. Our long term odds don't look particularly good. Our days could be numbered, so how many do we want to throw away gambling on a slow route that might not even work?

So we just need to change those odds. Get the authorities off our backs for good, and we'll have all the time in the world.

And how exactly do we—No, you're seriously considering running with that plan?! I hesitate to even call it a plan! There are simpler ways to commit suicide you know.

It could work.

There are 87 ways it could go disastrously wrong, and that's just the obvious ones I can think of on a first pass. There's a 75% chance it ends with us captured, and a 24.3% chance of ending up dead.

You just pulled those numbers out of your plot, because there's no data to base those calculations on.

That's because there's no way to quantify that many unknowns with all the parts beyond our control that have to go perfectly right, which is the hallmark of a terrible plan!

It's the only real shot we've got of actually addressing the long term problem, and I'll take it over doing nothing. And besides, my made up math says there's higher chance we end up dead than captured. We've pulled off crazy plans before.

And you're willing to gamble the time we have with Dash on it?

If it goes bad, then at least Dash still gets the rest of her life back. She won't be dragged down with us.


Twilight finally moved. With a quick pulse of her horn, she snuffed out the candle.  With a second, she roused the sleeping pegasus.

Rainbow Dash slowly climbed to her hooves with a large yawn and a stretch.  She stared at Twilight as her eyes took a moment to refocus. A habitual smile took form on her face as the familiar lavender outline took shape and she sleepily mumbled out the familiar phrase she had so often recited in the past whenever waking up next to it.

"Morning, Twi."

The smile quickly collapsed into a frown as the usual flood of elation failed to follow, derailing the entire script. This wasn't right.

"How are you feeling?" Twillight tentatively asked.

"Kinda...like nothing happened? I feel the same as before. Did you cast it yet?" A momentary look of panic crossed her face. "Did it not work?! Am I gonna be stuck like this forever?!"

"No, No!  I...I didn't actually cast it yet."

"What? ARRRGH! I'm so sick of getting jerked around! What's a mare gotta do to get enchanted around here?! What's the problem now?!"

"Well first, kind of a side note, but I think there's actually a pretty decent chance you might just get better over time if we keep spending time together."

"And how long would that take?"

"I don't know, but it brings me to the main point. I don't know how much time we'll have after this. How long we can realistically keep running before...." Twilight let the thought trail off. They both knew the possible, even probable outcomes. "But I've got a...well, plan might be too strong of a word, but an idea. An idea that involves holding off on the spell for a while, but just might actually fix the whole 'hunted by all of Equestria' problem."

"And what is this not-plan of yours, exactly?"

"That's the thing. You see...I can't tell you."

"Twilight."

"I know, I know. We agreed to no more secrets, but I really can't! I need your help for at least one part, but some parts of it depend explicitly on you not knowing all the details, or else the whole thing crumbles.  You're going to have to trust me, and yes, I know I've done absolutely nothing to deserve that level of trust, considering all that's happened."

"Will it work?"

"Obviously there's no way to know in advance. I won't sugarcoat it, it's definitely risky. It's a longshot and there's a lot of ways it could go wrong, but that's been true of pretty much everything up to this point, and it's the only thing I've been able to think of that will give us a real shot for the future. But only if you're onboard with it. If you'd rather I just go ahead and cast the spell right now, I'll do that instead.

Rainbow Dash's hooves pulled at her face as she let out a long groan. She was being asked to gamble without knowing the odds, the stakes, or even the game. Normally, Rainbow Dash was far from what any pony would call 'risk-averse', a fact that had led to many crushing defeats in any wager based game with Twilight (along with several legendary victories), but taking this bet also meant patience and delayed gratification regarding getting her head back on straight. And she didn't even know for how long. Still, if anypony could pull off a longshot, it was Twilight.

"Can you at least promise me you know what you're doing?"

"Ehhh, about as much as usual up to this point?"

"Well, I hope you can execute this plan better than you can sell it."

"So you're in?"

"I'll probably regret it, but yeah. If only because now you've got me curious, and I want to hear the whole thing afterward."

Twilight leaped at Rainbow Dash and wrapped her forelegs around her in a tight hug. "Thanks for believing in me. I'll do my best."

Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes and chuckled "Oh, that' s good to hear. Until now I thought you were just gonna half-ass it."

"Umm..."  A quiet voice called out from somewhere low to the ground. Two heads turned to look at Fluttershy, still magically bound and lying on the ground next to a bound and gagged Applejack.  "Can we get up now?"
> Chapter 22
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Okay, I get that you have to play most of this close to the chest, but can you at least tell me what the cloud is for?" Rainbow Dash prodded at the fluffy white mass that sat between Twilight and the dizzying distance to the ground.

"We can't exactly go walking into Ponyville. The place is probably crawling with out of uniform guards just waiting for one of us to slip up and try going home or contacting one of our friends. For all I know, Celestia warded the entire town to detect our bio-magical signatures the second one of us enters the city limits."

"Is that even a thing?"

"No idea. But it pays to assume the worst."

"So this cloud..."

"I figure that any such wards probably wouldn't stretch up indefinitely. They'd probably be dome shaped, so if we keep high enough altitude we might be able to keep out of the area of effect, while also staying out of sight. Of course, I could be totally wrong. It might a be a vertical cylinder, in which case we better be ready for a quick getaway, but you have to take some calculated risks at some point."

" And there's also the chance that there's nothing there in the first place, and we're doing all this for nothing."

"That too, but better safe than sorry. Let's get going. Not too fast though. Try to make it look like it's just a stray bit of wild weather drifting in from the Everfree."

Rainbow Dash grabbed the edge of the cloud and gave  a slow and steady push, directing it toward Ponyville. When they eventually crossed the city limits, Twilight held her breath, as if expecting sirens to go off. After a minute with no noticeable catastrophe, she permitted herself to relax the slightest bit.

"Okay, park us over Sugarcube Corner. Let's try to do this quick before any weather pegasi come to clean up an errant cloud."

"Don't worry. It's the post-lunch slump. Everypony is slacking off and chit chatting. Nopony is gonna come bother with a single cloud this high up for at least an hour."  The cloud drifted to a stop directly over Sugarcube Corner, now looking about the size of a sugarcube.  "Alright, we're here. Now what?"

"Move us South a bit. Little more. Stop." Twilight pulled out a pair of binoculars and peeked through the bottom of the clouds."

"Sooo?"

"I need to get a message to Pinkie Pie. Without going down there, and definitely without using magic, because I'm almost certain that detecting my active magical signature is something Celestia can do."

Rainbow Dash glanced over the edge. "How are you gonna pull that off?"

Twilight pulled out a quill and sheet of paper, scribbling calculations as she glanced between the sheet and the binoculars and stopping only once to lower down a length of string to gauge the presence of any wind. Finally, she pulled out a second paper, containing a simple message with a location and a promise of a "fun surprise". Rainbow Dash watched as Twilight neatly folded it into a paper airplane.

"Seriously? No wonder you said this plan was crazy."

"I guess now would be a bad time to say this is probably the least crazy part that I'm most confident in? By the way, I'm gonna need you to give me a soft breeze that way." Dash complied by rhythmically beating her wings. "Softer. Little softer. Just a bit stronger...there. Just like that." 

Twilight enveloped the note in her magic, held her breath, and threw. The paper missive glided gently down, down, down. Soaring unnoticed over the busy market square full of townsponies attending to their daily errands. Twilight watched through her binoculars as it glided perfectly into the open window of Pinkie's bedroom.

"Yes! Okay, let's get out of here." 

Twilight's horn pulsed and they both disappeared in a flash, leaving the cloud behind. There was a second bright flash as they reappeared at the location described in the letter.

"Alright, now we just have to wait for—"

"Hiya Twilight!"

"—AAAAHHH!" Twilight jumped a foot in the air, spun around, and landed in a defensive crouch, horn illuminated and pointed straight at the bouncing form of Pinkie Pie.

"Oh, and hey Rainbow Dash!"

"Hey."

"PINKIE!" Twilight shouted as she attempted to get her heart out of her mouth and back into her chest. "HOW DID YOU GET HERE?!"

"I walked. Duhh. It's not like there's any train tracks nearby, silly!"

"WHY ARE YOU HERE?!"

"Oh! Well, my knee was feeling pinchy, then I got two eye flutters, an ear itch, and both my back legs fell asleep. That meant it was finally my time to shine! Not a moment too soon if you ask me. So I just followed my nose tingle until it led me here."

"So you didn't even see my note?"

"Silly Twilight. Notes are for hearing, not for seeing. Do I taste like I have synesthesia to you?'

"My message! You didn't get my message?"

"I have no idea what you're talking about, so...probably not? I've been here for about 30 minutes anyway."

Twilight rubbed her temples with her hooves. She had been away from Ponyville for so long that reacclimating to Pinkie took a while.

"A-Anyway, as much as I'd like to catch up, I kinda need to ask a favor. Two favors, really."

"Sure thing!"

"First, I need you to deliver some packages for me." Twilight pulled a bulky parcel out of her bags. "Just drop this off at the post office, but be sure to give this," she pulled out a small envelope, "directly to Spike and tell him to send it to Celestia immediately. It's very important."

"Okie dokie!"

"And secondly, this may sound a little odd, but I need a—"

"One helium filled party balloon coming right up!" Pinkie reached into her mane and pulled out a single red balloon that had, against all reason, remained perfectly inflated despite it's long sequestration. "Phew! It feels like I've been holding onto that thing for YEARS!"

"But...how...?" Before Twilight could pick her jaw up off the ground, Pinkie was already bouncing off into the distance.

"Thanks for the narrative relevance!"

Twilight continued to stare dumbfounded for several seconds before shaking her head and giving up on trying to make sense of what just happened. As she glanced at the balloon in her grasp, another wave of confusion swept over her face.

"Who the hay is Check Off?"


***


Celestia glowered at the papers on her desk. As much as she tried to focus on the routine issues of state, her mind kept wandering back to Twilight's narrow escape during their last encounter. It didn't help that one of said papers regarded a dispute over an insurance claim for a steamroller that had disappeared and later been found smashed and incinerated a few kilometers from the outskirts of Baltimare.

The search for Twilight was consuming an ever increasing number of resources. There was no shortage of untamed corners of Equestria where a desperate pony could hide, and it wasn't as if she or Luna had the time to personally sweep every inch of wilderness trying to sense her magical signature. 

Then there was the matter of what to do with all the changeling prisoners from the raid on the destroyed hive, and the personnel shuffling from the exposure and capture of an alarming number of spies. The royal arcanists were hard at work on the solution of feeding them, looking into a promising theory that they might be physically capable of generating and sharing love with each other, forgoing the need to prey on other sapient species entirely. Not terribly long ago, she would have reached out and tapped Twilight as a director for such a research initiative. 

Celestia's brooding was interrupted by a puff of green flame, followed by the materialization of a rather thick envelope. Eager for a distraction from her other work, Celestia caught the envelope in the air with her magic and opened it. She bolted upright from her seat when she noticed Twilight's familiar horn writing. The message itself was quite short. A time (2 days from now), a location, and a request for parley. There were two other documents attached, one appearing to be some kind of printout from a medical scanner, but they were quickly set aside to be examined in detail later. There wasn't a second to waste.

Grabbing a quill, she scribbled off a quick return message to Spike, asking where he had gotten this envelope.  She folded the parchment, grabbed a stamp from her desk, and stamped a large red 'URGENT' across it. With a golden flash, it was gone.  Twenty long seconds passed before a second spout of flame delivered a reply. Apparently Pinkie Pie had just arrived at the library bearing the previous envelope with directions to send it immediately.

An hour later, Celestia had a mostly reconstructed timeline of Pinkie's movements for the day, cobbled together from her various spies, informants, and operatives. Though Pinkie was notoriously difficult to keep eyes on consistently, she had been spotted sometime in the mid-afternoon entering Ponyville from the northeast bearing a large package and headed in the direction of the library. She left with the same package and later arrived the post office, leaving without it.

Mail schedules were consulted, and four hours later the package was intercepted, checked for traps, and having every part of its contents inspected by a team of analysts in a secure location. The package itself had been addressed to the Manehattan mail distribution center and contained a dozen smaller envelopes, each addressed to the mayor of a different city (except for one construction worker and two coffee shop owners, all living in Fillydelphia) and containing a letter and a seemingly mundane item. One was a screw, another a length of string, another a small glass vial with a black dot painted on the end. The letters themselves ranged from inane comments on the weather, to a thank you note for a Hearth's Warming sweater, to a review of a school play, to utter gibberish. While the items were subjected to tests for any hidden enchantments, code breakers poured over the letters, and another team of analysts searched for any kind of connection between the recipients. 

Whatever Twilight was planning, Celestia would be ready for it in two days time.


***


Twilight finished wrapping the last of her packages. Her real packages, of course, not the decoy she had sent with Pinkie that would keep anypony watching chasing their tails for weeks. These she would drop off later, in a post office somewhere far away from Ponyville. She briefly wondered if anypony would ever appreciate the sheer depths of detail she had put into that much misdirection. She had gone so far as to lightly brush each note with sediment and vegetation clipping from different regional biomes just to confound any attempt at forensic analysis of trace contaminants on the paper to narrow down where they were written.

With the last piece of tape in place and the packages tucked into her saddlebags, Twilight stood up and waved over Applejack to talk privately. "There's...something I need to ask of you."

"Twilight, you know I don't want no part of this scheme of yours."

"I know. I wouldn't put you in that position. I just wanted to ask you...to look after Dash for me."

"Come again?" Applejack raised an inquisitive eyebrow.

"Just keep her safe while I'm gone. In the best case scenario, everything works out and I can just freely come back for her. But...well I've been trying not to emphasize it too much lately, but there's a pretty good chance I don't come back at all. If that happens, I want to be sure somepony is looking out for her. That if anypony tries to drag her away for more tests, she'll have somepony in her corner to back her up. And most of all, I want to make sure she isn't just...left alone. That you, that all of our friends will be there to make sure she's okay."

"Yeah, I think I can manage that. Don't you worry, Twilight. I'll look after her. Fluttershy will to." She glanced over to where Fluttershy was silently standing next to them.

"Umm! I swear I wasn't eavesdropping!" Fluttershy waved a hoof in front of her in a flurry of apologies. "But, umm, yeah. We'll all be there for her if...if...oh, but please do come back safely!"

"I'll try. And thanks. This makes it a lot easier to focus on everything I have to do next."

"And one more thing!" Fluttershy cut in.

"Yes?"

"I...you know, just in case I don't get another chance to say it. I wanted you to know that I...I'll be fine too. You know that I loved you."

"Fluttershy..."

"And it hurt a lot that things didn't work out for us, but I understand. I just wanted you to know that I don't resent you for it or anything, and that I think I'll be okay from now on. So, just in the off chance you were worried about that, don't be."

Twilight smiled and pulled her into a hug. "Thanks Fluttershy. That really does mean a lot to me, actually. There's a part of me that still wishes it could have worked out. And even though I was still obsessed with Dash, that part of me really did care about you. You're a wonderful pony and a wonderful marefriend, and I'm sure you'll make somepony much more deserving than I very happy." From over Fluttershy's shoulder, Twilight shot a quick glance at Applejack, who either failed to notice or pretended not to, though Twilight thought she saw a the faintest tinge of red suffuse the orange cheeks.

The moment was interrupted by a brash voice yelling out. "If you three are done having your secret meeting behind my back, can we get on to the next part of the this plan I apparently don't get to know anything about?"

Twilight looked up at Rainbow Dash and gave a sad smile. "Now I head out. From this point on, I'm on my own."

"Wait, what? You're just leaving? What about me?" 

"You stay with Applejack and Fluttershy. After three days, head back to Ponyville. Stay with one of them."

"I can put her up for a while." Applejack reassured.

"What about that whole thing about Celestia possibly detecting us?"

"Three days from now it shouldn't matter anymore. If everything works out well, I'll meet you at Sweet Apple Acres."

"And if it doesn't go well?"

"Then...then it still shouldn't matter. There won't be anymore running."

"No!" Rainbow Dash shouted. "That's not good enough, damnit! You promise me you're coming back!"

"Dash, I told you there would be risks. There's no way I can promise—"

"NO! I don't care! Either you promise me right here that you're coming back to me or I'm not letting you leave. I'll call this whole thing off! Don't think I won't!"

Twilight  closed her eyes and gave a defeated sigh. "Alright then."

"I mean it. Don't just humor me."

Twilight placed each of her front hooves on either side of Dash's head and looked her straight in the eye. "I promise we'll see each other again."

"R-Really?"

Twilight placed a hoof over her eye. "Pinkie promise."

"A-Alright then."  Rainbow Dash looked unsure for a moment before giving a nod and leaning in for a hug. Applejack and Fluttershy soon joined in.

"So long Twi, I'll take it from here and keep an eye on these two."

"Oh, do be careful!"

"Remember! You promised!"

Twilight waved goodbye to her friends before disappearing in a flash. She only had two days to finish getting her affairs in order.


***


Celestia stood in the middle of the barren field, bathed in the light of the setting sun. This was the meeting place specified in Twilight's letter, in precisely the middle of nowhere. This far from any civilization, there was clearly an expectation of negotiations breaking down in a big way. No matter, that was what the one way interdiction field surrounding the area was for. As soon as Twilight teleported in (clearly her plan given the open visibility for miles around and the small x on the ground before her) the only way she would be leaving was in chains.

Celestia's innate sense of time counted down the seconds. As soon as the final second expired, there  was a bright flash and Twilight appeared directly over the mark, something floating at her side. Twilight wasted no time in turning to look her in the eyes and bark out an order.

"Tell them all to fall back right now!"

Celestia answered with unflappable calmness. "Who exactly are you talking about, Twilight? We're the only ones here."

"Your backup. The guards, Luna too.  Tell them not to try anything and to fall back at least 2 kilometers. For their own safety."

"Twilight—"

"Now! You see this?" Twilight brandished the object floating by her side.

"An ordinary party balloon?" Celestia asked, now legitimately puzzled.

"Yes. An ordinary helium filled party balloon. Encased by an inverted radial gravity spell, as strong as I could make it, and kept in check by a thin shell of a nullification barrier. I think you know what'll happen if I lose concentration for a moment and stop maintaining that barrier."

Celestia paused for a moment. "I'm sure I haven't a clue what you're—"

"Don't.  Something always bugged me about my astronomical studies. Certain things about orbital mechanics and details about the mass and energy output of the sun never quite added up. You were always evasive on the subject, but as your student I had access to most of the restricted section of the library and was pretty good at sneaking into the parts I didn't have access to. I could still tell there were pieces missing. References to works that didn't seem to exist, but after enough reading on some 'officially discredited' theories on sub-molecular physics, I managed to piece together a pretty good idea of how you do it. It was just to satisfy some academic curiosity, and I never felt the need to bring it up, but now I suggest you order them back or else find out how well I can translate theory to practice!"

Celestia stood silent as a marble statue, trying to get a read off of Twilight's face. Twilight glared back, the balloon in her magical grip constricting down to half its previous size under the bright glow. Celestia fired a shower of green spark high into the air. All around them the grass began to move. Royal guards that had arrived and set up position hours ago rose from the ground, the sod covers falling from their backs and the camouflage spells fading as they fell back to a safe distance.

"That means you too Luna," said Celestia.

Celestia's shadow began to waver before slowly rising up off the ground like paint dripping in reverse, forming into the Princess of the Night.

"But Sister! Surely I cannot allow you to—"

"I will be fine. Fall back for now. I will take care of this." Her face softened for a moment as she turned to face her sister. "Please, Luna."

With a face that left no doubt about her disapproval, she grumbled a reply of "very well", shot Twilight a look that could shatter diamonds, and took flight to regroup with the rest of their forces.

With her ponies and sister safe, Celestia turned her gaze back to her once faithful student. "How did you detect them?"

"I didn't. I just assumed you wouldn't show up alone without overwhelming force already in place."

"You must know how foolish this is Twilight. You know that won't hurt me. That flame and heat cannot harm me. And you cannot escape now. I don't need backup to subdue you. It's time to surrender."

"First of all, I don't know that. It's entirely possible that's just a myth that you have no reason to discourage. Second, there's a fair amount of raw concussive force involved. Third, hurting you isn't the point. I came here to talk and I plan to either leave here voluntarily, or not leave here at all.  So keep your distance, don't make any sudden movements, and keep that horn unlit, and let's just talk."

"Very well, then. Tell me your villainous demands, then answer me this.  What happened to you Twilight?  What happened to the wonderful little filly I took under my wing, who shone with a radiant inner light and unimpeachable moral compass and sense of justice. What foul forces or ancient artifacts corrupted her into...this."

Twilight flinched as if struck. A look of genuine hurt crossing her face for a moment, before being replaced by confusion and anger.

"What are you talking about?! Nothing happened to me.  I didn't open any ancient tomes, start experimenting with 'dark magic' and suddenly turn evil. And you know I've always been a consequentalist, and thought that evil being some ontological force you could catch like a disease was utter tripe. I simply fell in love, which slightly reordered my priorities. I understand exactly the problem with what I did, and I chose to do it anyway, but that didn't change anything else about who I am.  It didn't fundamentally alter my personality and turn me into a cackling villain bent on taking over Equestria.  Just because I chose to do one problematic thing doesn't mean I'm obligated to go around kicking puppies now.  I'm still me. This is simply who I was the entire time. I don't want to take over Equestria. I don't want to hurt anypony. I'm not suddenly going to turn into Sombra!"

"Funny you should mention that," Celestia's face shifted from its blank slate into a scowl "after what you cast on Luna."

"A simple tool used in defense. And given her preferred tactic of attacking ponies with nightmares, I figure that turnabout is fair play.  She was only under the effect for a few minutes, anyway. If I can take that, I'm sure she can." Twilight tried not to dwell on the irony of just what that fear had been at the time.

"11 hours, 2 minutes, and 36 seconds," Celestia replied, ice creeping into her voice.

"W-what?" 

"That's how long I spent trying to undo the fused spell matrix that kept my little sister trapped and screaming until her voice gave out. Of course, I don't know how many minutes or hours passed before I found her."

Twilight took a step back, so surprised that she nearly lost concentration on her spell and turned the surrounding field into blackened glass. Her ears flattened against her head and her eyes filled with such genuine seeming contrition that Celestia was taken aback for a moment.

"That...that wasn't supposed to happen that way. I didn't exactly get to test it out first and...is she okay?"

"She will be fine now. Though I'm surprised you care." Celestia glared back coldly, still racked with the memory of that long day.

"Of course I care!  Haven't you heard what I've been saying? I don't want to hurt anypony. That includes you and Luna. And no matter what you want to believe, I don't hate either of you.  I understand completely why you have to chase me. Why what I did is illegal and absolutely should be. I just fight back because I simply don't want to be caught. Because then I'd be apart from Rainbow Dash and simply couldn't bear that."

"So therefore the rules simply shouldn't apply to you? Are you really that egotistical, Twilight?"

"No, that's not what I'm saying at all. I don't think that I deserve any special exemption. It's not about deserving at all.   I can make all sorts of arguments about how my initial crime didn't really harm anypony, but I still know that letting something like that go unpunished sets a terrible precedent. A world in which ponies are allowed to run around doing what I did would be a disaster. I run and fight and try to escape consequences simply because I can. Because enduring those consequences, being locked up and separated from Dash, no matter how well deserved, would simply be intolerable for me. I'd honestly rather be dead, but preferably stay alive and free if at all possible. I know that means I'm not the noblest of ponies, but I'm not malicious. I don't want to hurt you or Luna or anypony else. Which is why I came here to at least try and work something out."

"Oh?" Celestia cocked a single eyebrow. "And what exactly do you propose?"

"Well, I doubt at this point that a profuse series of apologies and community service is going to be enough. Unless...?"

"No."

"I didn't think so. In that case, I'll agree to up to 3 years sentence with open visitation followed by parole and supervised restriction of magic  use for as long as you deem necessary. I sent you the brain scan proving Rainbow Dash is no longer under any magical influence. You can verify it yourself, and after I get out I can continue to be with her so long as she wishes it."

"No deal," Celestia replied abruptly, with hardly a moment's pause.

"In that case, I'll accept exile so long as Dash can come with me."

"No."

Beads of sweat began to form in Twilight's mane as a note of desperation began to creep into her voice.

"5 years imprisonment if I can just see her twice a month! Afterwards, indefinite service to the crown with a horn lock as long as we can—"

"Not going to happen."

"What about—?!"

"No. No deals. You don't get to dictate the terms. You don't get to keep what you stole. Whatever happens, you and Rainbow Dash will not be going anywhere near each other again."

Twilight growled as she brandished the balloon in her magical grip.

"You'd best reconsider that position, because that's just not good enough. We either leave with an understanding, or I don't leave at all! And if you're saying that any further talking is pointless..."

Celestia placed a single hoof forward.

"HOLD IT!" Twilight shouted in response, the barrier around the balloon flickering dramatically.

"I don't believe you Twilight." She placed another hoof forward in front of the first, causing Twilight to take a half-step back. "I know you better than you think. You're not the suicidal type."

"Then it looks like you really don't know me all that well, after all. This is your last warning.  One more step and this thing goes off!"

Celestia's raised hoof paused briefly in the air as she caught a glimpse of the ferocity in Twilight's eyes. The two stared at one another for seconds that felt like hours. When Celestia's hoof finally continued forward and struck the ground, the last thing she heard was a faint whisper of "please forgive me Dash"  before a blinding flash of light and the deafening roar of a nuclear shock wave surging outward. 

When it had passed, along with the rebounding boom of displaced air rushing pack in to the area, a somewhat more bedraggled looking Princess Celestia, panted heavily and stood in the center of an enormous disc of black glass. There was no sign of Twilight Sparkle to be found.
> Chapter 23
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

After retrieving Applejack's cart, (much the worse for it's extended and untended exposure to the elements) Applejack, Fluttershy, and Rainbow Dash  made their way into Ponyville on the third day after Twilight had left. As the familiar sight of Sweet Apple Acres came into view, Rainbow Dash wondered how much longer she was going to have to wait. The last three days had been intolerable enough as it was.

"Hold up here a moment," Applejack waved at the other two.  "Probably best we don't just crash in through the door with a pony that's been missing for months. I'll go on ahead and get them ready. Let them know we'll be having guests."

Applejack ran down to the farmhouse, leaving Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy to stand at the tree line in awkward silence.  Ten minutes later, she came running back with news. Apparently, Applebloom was off visiting her cousin Babs in Manehattan, while Granny had taken a trip to catch up with Goldie Delicious. That left only Big Mac, a stallion that could be counted on to keep his mouth shut in sensitive matters. Furthermore, considering the last thing Applejack had said to him before heading out with her cart was "gonna go bring Dash home" , returning with her in tow was hardly a surprise.

While Applejack got Dash settled into the guest room, Fluttershy took off to check in on her animals, and to relieve the probably much beleaguered sitter she had arranged to care for them in her absence of undefined length. Said settling in took very little time, as Rainbow Dash hadn't exactly brought any luggage to unpack, and with nothing to do but wait for Twilight to come for her, it wasn't long until she was asking Applejack for any kind of work she could help with, just to have something to focus on.

Fortunately for her, a great number of chores had been building up in Applejack's absence.  The two spent the day feeding pigs, mending fences, patching roofs, and bucking apples. It was tiring, left little time to worry, and was followed by a proper home cooked meal not prepared over a campfire. The mood was further brightened by Fluttershy returning to join them for dinner and bringing Tank along with her. After a joyful reunion, some cobbler, and a few rounds of cards, Rainbow Dash took her tortoise under her  foreleg, collapsed into bed, and crashed straight into dreamless sleep.


***


Three more days passed, and despite her efforts to keep busy, doubts and worries continued to make themselves known within the confines of Rainbow Dash's skull. How long was she supposed to stay here? Twilight had been vague and evasive on any kind of timeline, just that she would meet her here. Presumably "soon",  but that could be days or weeks for all she knew.


Unless she's not coming back at all.

No! She's definitely coming back. She promised me! 
Even if whatever she was planning went sideways, she'll find a way to get back to me.


She was shaken out of her contemplation by a commotion out in front of the house.  She peeked out the window to see Applejack staring down a trio of royal guards. In the distance, she could just make out Fluttershy approaching with a basket of treats, catching sight of the scene, and dropping the basket to quickly turn around and fly off.

"I told ya, y'all ain't welcome here right now. Now I got a lot of work to do, so why don't you fellas just move along?"

"We have strict orders to bring the pony known as Rainbow Dash to the Princesses at once. Reliable information places this as her last known location."  He glanced over to see the pony in question peering out the window at them. "And confirmed current location."

Not taking her eyes off the ponies in front of her, Applejack called out. "Hey, Dash! What do you think of leaving with these here gentlecolts?"

"No Way! I'm not going anywhere, and the first pony who tries to make me is getting a broken leg!"

"Well, there you have it.  Looks like she ain't up for traveling. Now, I'm not opposed to talking. I'm all for it in fact. But Rainbow Dash is my guest, and welcome to stay as long as she likes. And to the Apples, guests are like family, and we don't stand for anypony trying to do harm to family around here."

"Our orders—" The lead guard began to repeat.

"I heard ya.  But she ain't leaving unless she wants to, so if the Princesses or anypony else want to chat, they can just come and do it here. Ain't like we're going anywhere." Applejack swept her eyes over the guards, spotting one of the fresher looking ones with the look of a pony about to try something stupid. "Course, if nopony is feeling particularly talkative..." She suddenly lashed out behind her with a hind leg, reducing an empty apple crate into a cloud of splinters. She could see the guard in question reconsidering. "...but no, I can tell we're all reasonable ponies here, and there's no need for any kind of unpleasantness." 

The ensuing staring match was broken by a posh voice calling out.

"Applejack, darling! What is going on? Fluttershy came storming into town saying something about some kind of emergency on the farm. Is everything alright?"

Applejack looked up to see Rarity, Pinkie, Spike (riding on the former's back), and Fluttershy quickly approaching down the path .

"Hi Rares. The short version?  Dash is inside, these fellas wanna take here away, and she don't wanna go."

"Good enough for me!" Pinkie shouted before jumping to Applejack's side and taking a defensive stance.

"Yes, while I quite expect to be caught up on all the no doubt lengthy details later, I trust you know what you're doing, so..." Rarity took her place on Applejack's other side.

With four ponies (plus a baby dragon)  blocking their path to a very hostile fifth, the guards began to recognize that the situation had spiraled far out of control. The new addition of a very large red stallion  rounding the corner of the house and joining them didn't make it any better. Their orders were to secure a single VIP on a psychiatric hold, not start a brawl with Equestria's national heroes. Two guards held position while the leader fell back to call in with a status update and ask for further instructions.

After twenty minutes of alternately being put on hold and re-explaining the situation up the chain of command, it became clear to all present that this standoff was not going to be short lived. After forty-five minutes, an unspoken but mutual agreement was made between both sides to transition to a more relaxed sitting position until further orders came through.  After an hour and a half, rumbling stomachs prompted Pinkie to slip into the house and whip up some snacks for everypony, including the guards and their backup that had been dispatched with orders to wait and observe. Three hours in, and small talk had been achieved, mostly from Pinkie inquiring about what being a guard was like, but eventually transitioning into a few of the younger guards asking about some of the heroic exploits of the Element Bearers. One guard even worked up the courage to ask for an autograph for his kid, prompting a few stern looks from his compatriots, followed by several more such requests. After four hours, somepony produced a pack of cards and Pinkie had laid out a full buffet table of snacks and a punch bowl.

It was early evening by the time Princess Celestia herself arrived on the scene, snapping the guards back to full attention as some tossed away cups and attempted to covertly wipe crumbs from their mouths while maintaining a stony expression. With a curt nod she dismissed them all and turned to address the assembled group of friends.

"First of all, I'd like to apologize for all this."  She waved a hoof at the general area. "I never intended this to be something confrontational. In truth, I should have just come myself from the start, but I was otherwise occupied. I merely wished to confirm that Rainbow Dash is well."

"Well, she's fine. She just don't feel like going anywhere or talking to any doctors at the moment." Applejack swallowed her apprehension as she fixed a determined glare at the divine ruler of Equestria.

"Understandable I suppose. I would like to have her come in for a checkup at some point, but I suppose there's no real urgency if she's not an active threat to herself or others. Is she?"

"No."

"Well in that case, she can schedule an appointment whenever she feels comfortable, though preferably within the next month."

"And she won't be kept there against her will?"

"It shouldn't take more than the better part of a day. There might be a few quick followup visits to schedule, but provided she doesn't attack anypony while there, she should be in and out and sleeping in her own bed."

"Well..." Applejack thought for a moment. "That sounds mighty reasonable, but I ain't the pony you gotta convince."

"Indeed. Which is why I suggest we continue this conversation inside." She looked around at the assembled ponies. "All of us. There is much we need catch up on, and I'm afraid I bring...unfortunate news."


***


Rainbow Dash's world was awash in noise and confusion. There was the clattering of the table somepony had kicked over. Right, that had been her. She was vaguely aware that she was shouting something, but the pounding in her ears was so distracting, she could hardly tell what.

"LIAR!" She thrust an accusing hoof at Celestia. "THAT'S NOT TRUE! THAT'S IMPOSSIBLE!"

Celestia simply nodded solemnly. "I'm afraid it's all too true Rainbow Dash. Twilight is—"

"Don't you say it!"

"Twilight is gone."

"NO!"

Rainbow continued her raging storm of denial. Pinkie sat with her deflated hair hanging down and hiding her face. Applejack held her hat to her chest and stared at her hooves. Rarity had gasped and fainted straight away, while Spike was simply staring catatonic into a corner. Meanwhile, Fluttershy attempted to speak up through leaking eyes.

"A-Are you sure? I mean, you don't have a body, so..." 

Celestia nodded again. "There would be nothing to find. I was reluctant to believe it myself. I'd love nothing more than to be wrong. That's why I waited this long, but after scouring the area over and over, the conclusion became increasingly inescapable. Twilight Sparkle is no more."

"NO!" Rainbow Dash punched a hole straight through a wall of the Apple residence. A small part of her recognized she'd have to apologize to Applejack later for trashing her house like this, but it was a small and distant part. "I don't care what you say! There's no way–she–she promised! She looked me in the eye and promised she would come back to me!" A small voice of reason in the back of her mind told her she needed to get out of here before she demolished the entire building and possibly hurt one of her friends in the process. 

She turned and launched herself out a window, which fortunately turned out to be open at the time, not that she had even paused to check. The wind ripped the tears from her eyes before they could even fully form as she piled on speed. If she could just go fast enough, it wouldn't be true. The terrible reality wouldn't be able to catch her and drag her down into that horrible dark abyss. She didn't know where she was going. With no set destination, she just kept her initial upward trajectory.

Now she was getting dangerously high. The air grew cold and thin. Her wings struggled to find purchase in the low pressure environment, like attempting to swim in foam, and the flight field generated by her pegasus magic began to destabilize. It was also getting harder to breathe, but the lightheadedness helped push the troublesome thoughts from her mind for a few brief moments. Spots swam in front of her vision and she closed her eyes just for a second.

When she opened them again, she was in free fall. Recovering from her brief and blessed bout of unconsciousness, her finely honed reflexes kicked in as she spread her wings and pulled out into a recovery glide as she took stock of her surroundings. She soon spotted something and didn't know if it was simple chance, or something in her subconscious that had directed her here. Celestia had only vaguely mentioned the location of her confrontation with Twilight. Somewhere out in the hinterlands in the direction of Baltimare. A place that would normally be hard to find given the lack of distinguishing landmarks, at least until recently.

Rainbow Dash descended to the large circle of blackened glass that was now eminently visible from the sky. The place where Twilight had di–NO! She was alive! She had to be! Rainbow Dash landed on the cool surface and began searching. For what? She didn't know. Something. Anything. Some clue Twilight would have left behind for her. Something that only she would understand and would go completely unnoticed by Celestia and everypony else. A hidden message or a map etched into the scorch marks, telling her where to meet up. Some obscure Daring Do reference? Something connected to one of their dates?

But there was nothing. No matter how much she searched, there was nothing here. Just the wind howling over scorched earth.  Finally, Rainbow Dash laid down in the center of blackened circle and began to cry.


***


Time, as it is often keen to do, continued to pass. Days became weeks, and soon a month had gone by. With her friends by her side, she had reluctantly submitted to a series of medical examinations, been given a clean bill of health, promptly spat on an offer of "trauma counseling" and been able to return home to her own bed.

Unfortunately, it provided little in the way of restful sleep. Most of the time she woke up in tears. Even worse was when she awoke struck by sudden inspiration, remembering yet another secret location where Twilight might possibly have gone to hide. She'd leap out of bed, racing off into the night to check it. She knew from the start that she wouldn't find anything there, but somehow, every time, a small ember of hope would rekindle itself in her heart, and no matter how she tried to smother it, it would grow into a raging inferno of certainty by the time she reached her destination. When she finally arrived, she knew that this was it. That Twilight was just inside that cave and she'd apologize profusely for putting her through all this. Explain that she couldn't risk reaching out and contacting her in Ponyville, but that she knew Dash would come find her eventually. By the time Rainbow Dash crossed the threshold of the cave , she was always buzzing with excitement.

Only to find a barren interior and have her heart crushed all over again. Those flights back home afterward were always the longest.

Today, Rainbow Dash was in an even fouler mood than usual. All of her friends had left her. Oh, they had invited her along with them. Practically begged her to come, really. But she wanted nothing to do with where they were going, and after enough shouting (and a few thrown objects) they had finally boarded the train without her. 

Today was Twilight's funeral, held by her family in Canterlot. An empty grave in a family plot. A small private affair given her...mixed legacy in the eyes of the public.  It was official now. Everypony had just given up.

Not her though. No. Not her. She wasn't some fair-weather friend who would cut and run and throw in the towel when the chips were down. She was loyal damnit! She had no interest in spending the day listening to speeches from a bunch of weepy quitters! 

After continuing to sulk on her cloud for a while longer, Rainbow Dash returned home to check her mail. 

"Junk, junk, junk, ju–wait a minute!"

Something on one of the envelopes caught her eye. It looked like  a certain familiar cramped but neat horn-writing. Rainbow Dash ripped the thick envelope open with her teeth and her nose was struck by a lavender odor that made her heart leap. FInally! All that waiting had paid off! She quickly retrieved the contents and began to read.

Dear, Rainbow Dash ("Dear" is the greatest of understatements, but I fear that if I stop to search for the perfect words to describe how precious you are to me, I may never finish this letter).

I'm writing this before we part ways and I head off to meet Celestia. I desperately hope with all my heart that you never have to read this, because that would mean I wasn't around to prevent it from shipping after a set period of time as per my instructions when I dropped it off at the post office. Assuming I'm not currently showing this to you in person as we both share a laugh looking back at all this craziness, that means something went wrong and I...didn't make it back to you.

I'm so, so sorry. I hope you can somehow forgive me. I knew there was always a chance this could happen. That I couldn't control for everything. That one day, no matter how calculated the risk, I'd gamble and lose. But that's no excuse. I left you behind. Failed you. And for that I can't sufficiently apologize, though I could spend eternity trying.

I've already written similar letters to be sent to the rest of the girls and Spike (that one was hard), along with copies of the enclosed will. This is the last one and then I'm finished. I can't make myself stop writing, though. I don't want to go. I can hear you getting antsy and irritated on the other side of the camp, wondering why I'm taking so long, and I just want to stay here with you forever. But no, I decided that this was a risk I had to take. I need to finish up and get going.

But...if you're reading this, that means I'm gone. That means this is my last chance to speak to you. Write to you. Whatever. My last chance to tell you how much I love you. How am I supposed to do that?! There's not enough ink and paper in the world. I'd grow old and crumble to dust before I could finish. I'd need to study even more languages, possibly invent new ones, just to have the words to properly convey my feelings for you in a way that would do them justice. 

Damnit! I had this letter neatly planned out. It was going to be succinct and to the point, and now it's become a mess and I can't stop words from just pouring out. I LOVE YOU! I love you so much that my death could be taken as proof against the existence of an afterlife, else I would tear the veil between worlds apart in an instant to come back to you! You're the light in my darkness. The center of my universe. The axiomatic first principle of all reason and understanding. I could go on and on, but I realize I'm just stalling now. I need to wrap this up. 

I'm sorry.

I love you.

I'll never be sorry for loving you.

- Twilight Sparkle

When Rainbow Dash finished reading the letter, she reread it a second and then a third time. She tried reading every other letter and some of the other simple ciphers Twilight had once tried to teach her. When that failed to substantially change the message, she considered tearing it in half, shouting a denial at the heavens, destroying the room in a rage, collapsing into a sobbing heap, or possibly some combination of all of the above. 

Instead, she did none of those things. She gently placed the letter down on the table as she felt something finally give inside of her. It was a sharp, stabbing pain, but one that was accompanied by an almost merciful release of a constant aching pressure. Like lancing and draining a boil. It was that final spark of hope being extinguished, bringing with it an almost perverse sense of relief with all the agony.

Rainbow Dash turned and crawled into her bed. She was so tired. Now, without that constant prodding in the back of her mind that insisted she needed to go out there and continue the search, she could finally get some rest. How long had she been this exhausted? She could rage and scream and cry her eyes out later. There'd be time enough for that after a nap. Rainbow Dash closed her eyes and drifted into sweet dreamless oblivion.


***


Celestia sighed as she reviewed the stack of guard orders, budget appropriations, and intelligence reports. She struggled to face what even Luna had come around to before her. It was nearly time to call off the search. She hadn't wanted to believe it, but either Twilight Sparkle was truly dead and gone, or else so deep in hiding that she wasn't going to be found in several pony lifetimes no matter how many resources Celestia frittered away. 

She thought back to her final meeting with Twilight. She had been so sure her former student had been bluffing. Afterwards, she had been positive she was still alive. That she had somehow covertly worked out a way to breach her interdiction field and escape. But there was no trace of any attempt to teleport out. An illusory Twilight perhaps? Remotely controlled along with the improvised bomb by an invisible Twilight hiding nearby? No. She had definitely felt the real Twilight teleport in at the start, and no physical body had crossed the invisible sensory hemisphere surrounding them to escape milliseconds before the blast. Despite all the evidence it was still difficult to shake the feeling that Twilight was still out there somewhere. 

Celestia had of course ordered Twilight's friends watched and their mail intercepted ever since that day, just in case Twilight was still out there and attempted to contact them. Three days ago, that had paid off when Twilight's packages (the real ones, and not the elaborate decoys sent by Pinkie) had shipped out of a small post office in Baltimare. After exhaustive study, they were determined to be free of any decipherable codes, invisible ink, or secondary messages imprinted with magic that would trigger in the presence of a specific pony. It seemed they were exactly what they appeared to be. A last will and testament and farewell letters to her friends and family. Eventually, she had sent them back on their way to their destinations.

Celestia refocused her attention on the reports. The major issue of managing Equestria's defense against major threats with one of the Element Bearers gone turned out to be something of a moot point.  After several guard patrols encountered overly aggressive vines in the Everfree Forest, Discord had 'remembered' an old gambit of his from roughly a thousand years ago that had 'just slipped his mind until now'. The Elements had to be returned to the Tree of Harmony, leaving them all without a contingency plan for a rogue Discord (as if there were any other kind). Something Discord himself insisted was 'entirely coincidental'.

On a more positive note, the heightened state of alert maintained in the search for Twilight had detected the escaped Tirek, still hiding and attempting to gather strength. Fortunately, he was still too weak to drain the innate magic of anything less magical than a unicorn, so a team of earth pony guards was able to subdue him and return him to his cell in Tartarus. Celestia gave an involuntary shudder at the catastrophe that might have turned into if it hadn't been caught so early, especially without the Elements to call upon. 

Great strides had been made with the changeling prisoners. The researchers claimed they were on the verge of a breakthrough in finalizing a method for changelings to generate and share love among themselves, even if the test cases were...garish. Soon there would be no need to continue feeding them puppies to drain. The puppies recovered eventually when removed and provided plenty of cuddling, but changeling feeding duty remained the most disliked assignment among the guard force. Interestingly enough, with Chrysalis either dead or off hiding somewhere, some of the changeling prisoners had reoriented themselves toward herself as the next clearest source of queenly authority and offered to serve. She had given a few probationary assignments, closely watched of course, and they proved to be remarkably capable spies and informants if directed well.  They showed an aptitude for improvisation and adaptability in the field that she wouldn't have expected from beings living in a hive collective.

She had already begun working up plans to integrate them into her new preemptive threat detection program that would be vital to keeping Equestria safe in this post-Elements future.  There had been too many close calls. She had been relying too much on Twilight and the Elements. It was time to be less reactive and more proactive. There appeared to be the beginnings of a small cult village forming out on the edge of nowhere, led by a powerful unicorn. It was probably nothing serious, but she'd send an agent out to infiltrate and observe. More concerning were rumors abroad about some 'Storm King' seizing power in distant kingdoms. That was where the changelings would really prove useful.  Not only could they take the form of non-pony races, they were also much better suited temperamentally for work in the...less idyllic societies outside Equestria's borders than any of her little ponies. Then there was that mirror. 

That caused her to pause in her duties. Yet another student lost. Celestia wondered if it was something about her, some flaw in her teaching that kept repeating this tragedy.  But perhaps...perhaps the previous one wasn't lost in quite so permanent a manner. Celestia glanced to the bookshelf where the two way journal still lay under a thick coating of dust. Was it still possible to mend that relationship? There was no guarantee it even worked anymore, but she hadn't bothered to try in all these years. She had simply waited for her former student to come back on her own. 


Be proactive, not reactive.


Celestia vowed to make the effort and filed it away in her mental to do list. A list that she had to admit was much more manageable now that Luna had successfully convinced her to share the workload after a long and long overdue talk. In the mean time, she'd wait another month. One more month of keeping Twilight's friends under surveillance. Just in case. Then she'd redistribute those resources elsewhere and move on.


*** 8 months later ***


As she did every morning, Rainbow Dash looked around at the trash pit that was her bedroom. She knew she should clean it, but every time she tried to work up the motivation, a single question would float through her mind. Why bother? It would stay clean maybe two days, a week if she was particularly diligent, then it would be back to this state. Who was she even trying to impress anyway? It wasn't like she was bringing any mares or stallions back to her place these days. 

She had told herself she needed to try to get back in the dating world, if for no other reason than it was a much poorer world without the stunningly sexy Rainbow Dash in it. But...she just couldn't do it. How could she sit through a date and not end up comparing it to what she once had with Twilight? And how was anything supposed to follow up something like that? That wouldn't be fair to her or her hypothetical dating partner. So here she was, single and celibate as a damn monk, entirely out of apathy. 

Apathy was what defined her life these days. It seemed like nothing excited her anymore. Sure, hanging out with her friends was still fun and Pinkie's parties never disappointed, but there was definitely an overall lack of passion. Even the Wonderbolts didn't stir up the same energy. Not that she was considering dropping out of the reserves or anything, but apparently Firestreak was planning on retiring soon to teach full time, creating an upcoming opening in the main team, and Spitfire had come to her first to tell her the spot was hers if she wanted it. It had been her dream since as long as she could remember, but in that moment, all she could think was that it sounded like a lot of extra work and responsibility. She had passed it up, let the opportunity drift right by while telling herself she'd catch the next one, just as soon as she got her head screwed back on right.  Whenever that would be.

Rainbow Dash looked over the detritus of loose change, stationary, takeout boxes, and a rather worryingly large number of now empty alcoholic containers, and knew something needed to change.


I gotta get outta here.


Travel? Maybe a change of environment would break her out of this rut.  One thing was for sure. If she stayed here, there was an increasingly likely chance she'd end up a sad,  washed up has-been who almost accomplished her dreams, slowly drinking herself, if not to death, than into a state that destroyed the sleek athletic body she had worked so hard to build, staring at her past photos and trophies and promising every night that tomorrow she'd turn it all around.

But where should she go? Just start flying East? She mulled over the question as she sorted the small pile of mail on the table. A colorful bit of junk mail caught her eye. Some mass advertisement that had been cluttering up all the mailboxes of Ponyville in the last week. She hadn't paid it any mind until now.


A Land of Adventure Awaits!


Looking for a change of pace? Come visit exotic Southern Equestria! Try the mouthwatering food from street carts along with the local fashions in the vibrant marketplace of Somnabula, Desert Jewel and gateway to the south. Hire a guide and explore the white water rapids and perilous jungles of the Tenochtitlan Basin. Marvel at the architecture and artwork of our many ancient temples. More are being discovered all the time! Will YOU be the one to uncover the next piece of lost history? You'll find thrills, excitement, and a unique beauty not to be found anywhere else!

Get lost in the adventure! Start your trip to Southern Equestria today!

-Somnambulan Society for the Promotion of Tourism.

Southern Equestria? Wasn't that where the Daring Do books were set? She'd actually forgotten it was a real place and not just a fictional setting for her favorite book series.  She wasn't alone in that, either. Unlike most of the northern part of Equestria, the southern half was significantly more isolated. So much so that most ponies thought of it as more of a separate country entirely. Twilight had once mentioned something about the difficult terrain inhibiting the southward expansion of the rail networks that had stitched most of the North together. Rainbow Dash gritted her teeth through the bittersweet pain that accompanied any memory of Twilight.

Still, cutting through jungles and exploring trap filled ancient temples like she was Daring Do could be just the change she needed. True, the reality was probably different from the fiction. The ancient temples were probably closer to museums with gift shops and guided history tours, and velvet ropes blocking you from touching the flaking ancient murals, rather than mazes full of puzzles and traps. But at least she could see the iconic location from the series in person and lose her shit like the fangirl she was. And who knew? She might stumble into some adventure along the way. Maybe foil a nefarious plot by villainous rogue archaeologists or something. 

The notion that had started as a half-joke quickly blossomed into a serious plan of action. Soon she was tracking down maps, packing survival gear, and wondering where she could get a pith helmet.  She found her friends and told them she was planning a vacation of unknown length, arranging for Fluttershy to look after Tank while she was gone. For their part, they were glad to see her with some energy again, looking a bit more like the Rainbow Dash they recognized. She went to the Wonderbolt Academy to clear some time off. Spitfire told her to take as much time as she needed, and that there'd always be a spot waiting for her when she came back. By the time she finished packing, planning, and sorting all the necessary details, the sun was already setting, so she resolved to make a fresh start first thing in the morning.

The second the morning sun shone through her window, she jumped out of bed, practically inhaled her breakfast, grabbed her bag, and leaped out the door. There was only one stop she had to make first.


***


"Hey there Twilight, how's it going?" Rainbow Dash stood in Canterlot, on the well manicured lawn of a small cemetery plot, staring at the grave in front of her. "Dumb question, I know." 

It irked her that it was so...modest.  A pony like Twilight, a pony that accomplished half the things as she had, deserved at least a 50 foot tall statue. Maybe some fountains.  A mausoleum with so many stained glass windows and packed with so much gold, flowers, and golden flowers that Rarity would faint at the sheer garishness of it all.

But Twilight probably wouldn't want all that anyway. She was never comfortable being put up on a pedestal. She'd save Equestria and attempt to brush it off as nothing special. She'd probably appreciate the tombstone being shaped like a giant book though. That was a nice touch.

"So, I'm planning on taking a trip. Don't know how long I'll be gone. I just know that I gotta get outta Ponyville for a while, you know? It's been...hard. Since you've been gone, I mean. I just feel like...like a wheel spinning in the mud.  But I think maybe this trip could change that! I'm gonna go to Southern Equestria and visit all the places from Daring Do."

Rainbow Dash's faint smile dipped briefly into a half-frown.

"I wish we could see them together. Geek out like a couple of eggheads and embarrass ourselves in front of the locals." The delicate smile quickly returned. "Wouldn't that be something? You'd probably find out the North Face Totem actually faces 0.05 degrees Northeast or something and be completely scandalized. Probably get us both arrested when you insist on trying to 'fix' it."

A genuine laugh forced its way from Rainbow Dash's chest at the thought.

"Anyway, I'll be sure to take lots of pictures. I'll write your name on the Wishing Wall, too. Well, I should probably get going. Got a long flight ahead of me.  I don't know when I'll be back, but I'll be back."

Rainbow Dash tilted her head and plucked out a feather with her teeth, placing it gently on the grave in front of her. With that done, she took to the air.

"See ya later, Twilight!"  Rainbow Dash fired a quick salute and took off on her adventure.


***


Rainbow Dash walked through the evening streets of Somnambula, the fatigue of her long journey continued to make itself known in her muscles. Despite this, she was fully alert and ready for action. A small part of that was due to the impressively spicy vegetable kabob she had eaten earlier, but most of it was due to the fact that she was clearly being tailed.

For the last hour, she thought she had caught glimpses of the same pony shaped cloaked figure wherever she went. About fifteen minutes ago she'd spotted them following her when she checked her travel compass with a small built in mirror. She'd continued to check it every couple minutes since, which probably made her look like the most directionally challenged tourist in the world. Each time, she spotted them following along at a distance, trying to blend into either the crowds or the shadows, depending on whichever was more prevalent.

Rainbow Dash was awash in conflicting emotions. Part of her was excited. This was the danger and intrigue she had come for!  Another part was annoyed that this couldn't wait until tomorrow morning after she got some rest. Another was curious as to what this mysterious pony wanted. One thing was certain, if they were looking for trouble, she was ready to deliver it in abundance. 

Rainbow Dash adjusted the strap on her bag as she approached her destination, the Get On Inn. After making her way to the front desk and acquiring a room key, she grabbed a drink and dinner from the nearby bar and took a table in the corner where she could see the door. A minute later, the mystery pony entered, gave a quick glance around the room, and moved to a table facing the opposite wall. 

And the large mirror covering it, through which they could likely see the entire room.  Rainbow Dash scowled and turned her gaze back down to her food. The cloaked pony made no attempt to approach her or offer any cryptic warnings or pleas for assistance, or anything of the sort. They just silently watched her, ordered a drink from a passing waitress, paying with a few bits levitated onto the tray, and resumed watching. A unicorn, then. At least that was something she knew.

Rainbow Dash finished her meal, tossed a few bits on the table, grabbed her bag and headed upstairs to her room. She didn't need to look to know the pony was following her up. She breathed normally, kept her muscles loose and maintained a steady gait, giving no hint that anything was wrong. She knew they were right behind her now. She reached the door to her room, smoothly turned the key in the lock, and pushed the door open. She took several steps inside, stopped abruptly, heard two rapidly halting hoofsteps behind her, and spun around with a lightning fast kick.

To their credit, the cloaked pony had solid reflexes and actually managed to jump back enough to dodge the surprise attack.  Unfortunately for them, they didn't leap back out the open door, but ended up with their back against the wall. They weren't quite fast enough to dodge the second blow, a downward chop that caught them right in the horn just as it was starting to light up, leaving them stunned and completely open to the combo that followed. First, a breath stealing uppercut to the gut, which lifted them up onto their back legs. Second, a low kick that sweeped said legs out from under them. Their fall forward was abruptly halted by Rainbow Dash's back as she pressed in, grabbed one of their forelegs, and flipped them over her shoulder and onto the bed. In an instant, Rainbow Dash was ontop of them, hooves pinned on chest, horn, and major joints.

"Why are you following me!"  Dash snarled.

Still wheezing a bit from the uppercut, the cloaked pony finally managed to cough something out.

"W-Well you always did take my breath away, didn't you Dash?"  An impossible voice replied.

Dash tore off the hood of the cloak to reveal a ghost. A bizarrely corporeal ghost, given the thrashing she had just administered to it.

"What?" That was the only word in her universe at the moment. Twilight, on the other hoof, seemed to have more.

"Or wait, should I have gone with 'you always knew how to sweep me off my hooves'? Crap, now I've really made a mess of it and gotten completely off script. I had stuff planned. It was gonna be a whole thing. I don't suppose I could go out and come back in again, could I?"

"......WHAT?!"


***


A bead of sweat rolled down the side of Twilight's face as she watched Celestia's hoof descend in slow motion, in defiance of her ultimatum. This was it. 

"Please forgive me Dash."

Several things happened within the next half-second as Celestia's hoof struck the ground. Twilight closed her eyes and released a blinding flare of light from her horn. She also wrapped a shield around herself as she slammed a narrowly focused gravity field down ontop of herself, driving herself down like a nail through the plug of dirt covering the long vertical shaft she had previously excavated beneath her current position. As she rapidly dropped away from the surface, limbs tucked in away from the walls of the narrow shaft that left her very little room, the  nullification field around her balloon bomb ended, triggering the detonation.

She hoped she had calculated the timing right. Too soon and she'd be caught by the blast, too late and the delay between her false flash and the actual detonation would be noticeable. And too strong of a gravity slam would render her unconscious and then dead shortly after (whether from the blast, the impact with the bottom, or snapping her own neck from the slam itself depending on how much she overdid it). All she could do was keep her shield up, hope she had given herself enough of a head start on the blast, and keep her teleport primed and ready for the instant she fell out of the radius of Celestia's interdiction field. 

She wanted to simply spam attempts as she fell, but Celestia might detect them. It could be that it didn't matter with the explosion serving as sufficient distraction. Maybe Celestia wouldn't be able to scrutinize what happened with such precision that she'd spot failed teleportation attempts a few microseconds after Twilight should have been vaporized. But if she left any trace of evidence that made Celestia suspect she wasn't 100% dead, this whole scheme would be for nothing. The shaft itself was risk enough, but fortunately a nuclear blast did a good job of cleaning up after her.

Twilight suddenly fell something shift. The restrictive itching feeling of the interdiction field on her coat vanished and she wasted no time in teleporting away. Then teleporting again, and again until her tracks were thoroughly covered.

"OW! OW! OWIE! OW! OW!"

Twilight hissed through grit teeth at the stinging sensation on her back. While she'd made it far clear of the actual blast, the radiation, moving at the speed of light as it did, was a bit harder to outrun. Even though she'd been most of the way to freedom by the time the detonation started, the front of that first wave had caught her, and some of it had even managed to get through her shield. Not enough for serious radiation poisoning, but enough to leave her back with a seriously painful sunburn as a memento.

But she was alive. Somehow. It had worked.

Twilight let out a long sigh of relief as she retrieved her stashed supplies and dug around for some aloe (the good stuff with lidocaine in it) to ease the burning on her back. The risky part was over. Now began the hard part. The waiting. Getting far far away from Ponyville. Away from Dash. As much as it hurt, there could be no communication. No reaching out to let anypony know she was okay. Particularly Rainbow Dash. 

There was no way Celestia would just accept this right away. She'd expect some trick. Would keep a close eye on all her friends and family, just waiting for her to slip up. And even if Rainbow Dash was somehow the greatest actor in the world...no, she couldn't know. The shock had to be real. The grief had to be real. It all had to be real if she was going to sell this. It might take weeks for Celestia to buy it. She'd wait months. If she moved too soon, it would all be for naught. She'd go somewhere far away. Disappear. Let those letters ship. Let the world move on without her. Then...

Then she hoped Dash would forgive her for putting her through something that cruel. That she would even still want her.


***


"I'msorry!I'msorry!I'msorry!I'msorry!I'msorry!I'msorry!I'msorry!I'msorry!"

Twilight, her story now concluded, crushed Rainbow Dash in a vice like hug as she begged for forgiveness. Still trying to stitch the shattered pieces of her entire world back together,  Rainbow Dash extricated herself from the hug so she could breathe once again. 

"So...just so I've got this straight...not dead."

"Rumors of my death were indeed greatly exaggerated." Twilight nodded with a grin.

"And you've been hiding out down here all this time."

"I moved about the area a bit, but yeah, mostly here."

"And your plan to contact me was...junkmail?"

"Yeah, basically."

"So, what, you invented a fake tourism board?"

"Actually, no. The SSPT is a real organization. At least it is now. I may have had a hoof in creating it. With a couple of anonymously written suggestion letters from concerned citizens. And maybe one or two stab in the dark anonymous blackmail bluffs. And possibly planting the idea in the dreams of one or two influential city council members. But hey, it turned out to be a pretty big boon for the town after all. Local business is thriving!"

"So...so we did it? We won?  It's all over now?"

"Well, nearly. There's one last thing I'd like to take care of, and I kind of need your help with it."

Rainbow Dash let out a long suffering sigh "What now?"

" I guess it's not strictly necessary. More a bonus objective. But...It'd mean a lot to me and I'd sleep a lot easier. I just need some packages delivered. I can't take them myself, and I'm not sure if I can trust the postal system. This has to be done by somepony I can count on 100%."

"Alright, so tell me where I'm going already."


***


Applejack fussed about her kitchen ensuring everything was clean and all the necessary ingredients and equipment were where they should be. Now she just had to wait for her cooking partner to arrive. Fluttershy had moved beyond the role of student about two months back when Applejack found she had run out of things to teach her. Now she was nearly as skilled in the kitchen as Applejack was.

Not quite willing to give up on their favorite routine, Fluttershy had suggested they both start making dishes that neither of them had any experience with.  That way they could both learn something new, and if it turned out a disaster, at least it was a disaster with a friend who could help clean up the mess. Applejack thought it was a swell idea, and they had soon found themselves frequent patrons of the library, where Spike would help them find an apparently endless supply of exotic recipe books.

Today's task wasn't all that exotic, but it was something  Applejack herself had never been any good at. Chocolate.  They'd be making their own chocolate from scratch and then attempting to use it in about a dozen different ways, even tempering it. Applejack was no confectioner, but she was ready for the challenge. If she really wanted to ensure they got through this without a bunch of pans coated in a sticky burnt mess, she could always invite somepony who knew what they were doing, like Pinkie, but that wasn't really the point.

Besides, Pinkie would be way too busy to leave Sugarcube Corner today. It was Hearts and Hooves Day after all.  Though that certainly had nothing to do with her selection for today's planned activity. Nope. Not in the slightest. There was a gentle knock on the door.

"Come on in Fluttershy."

Fluttershy walked through the door wearing the same bright smile she always brought over. In no time, they had fallen into position and gotten started. For some reason though, Applejack found it difficult to concentrate on her own work with Fluttershy bouncing happily about next to her.

"Hey Applejack, gimmie some sugar."

"I–What?"  Applejack jerked her head sideways in surprise. The movement also brought her head close to her pan for an unfortunately timed bubble to pop and gently splatter the side of her face with the hot proto-chocolate.  "Ahh! Consarnit!"

"Oh my goodness! Are you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine. It's not that bad. More surprising than anything." She raised a hoof to wipe at the rapidly cooling dark specks that clung to her face.

"Here. Let me." Fluttershy grabbed a damp rag and began dabbing at the offending spots. "Hmm, you know it's almost like you've got extra freckles now. They're kinda cute."

"Uh, th-thanks?"

Fluttershy leaned in closer as she scrutinized a particularly stubborn spot that refused to let go. Applejack was suddenly quit aware of how warm it was in the kitchen.

"You know, you don't have to–"

"No, no, I got it. Just a little more." She leaned in even closer.

"For the sake of Celestia, get a room already you two!"

Both ponies leaped back in surprise and jerked their heads to the window, where Rainbow Dash hovered with a smug smile.

"Dash! Wh-What are you doing here? Didn't you take off traveling?" Applejack pointed a hoof accusingly, trying to pretend she wasn't nearly as flustered as she actually was.

"I was, but I had to pop back real quick to take care of something, then I'll be heading back out again. Speaking of which, these are for you." Rainbow Dash reached into a bag and threw two envelopes down on the table. 

"You a mail pony all of a sudden, Dash?"

"Apparently I am today. Just make sure you read those real soon. See ya!"

Rainbow Dash took off in a blur to complete the rest of her deliveries. Applejack and Fluttershy turned back to each other, as if expecting the other to have any answers.

"So, uh, where were we?" Applejack asked.

"I think here." Fluttershy leaned forward and gave Applejack a quick peck on the cheek, then turned back to the stove, licking her lips slightly. "Needs more sugar if you ask me."

Applejack grinned and turned to join her. Later, when they finished their batch of chocolate, cleaned up , and stopped for a break, they'd look at the letters sitting on the table, sealed airtight with wax. When they eventually opened them, they'd have a scant few seconds to read the message before the exposure to air ignited the pyrophoric iron(II)sulfide that the corners had been dusted with, quickly destroying the letter in an entirely magic-less fire that would leave behind no thaumatic signature. Fortunately, it was a very short message. Only six words.


I'm okay.
Don't look for me.


Meanwhile, Rainbow Dash zipped across Ponyville. She had caught Spike and Rarity together at the same time, out on an expedition for gems. That only left one delivery remaining.  She set a course for Sugarcube Corner, pulling to a sudden stop as she saw Pinkie waiting in the street for her. 

"Hi Rainbow Dash! My Pinkies Sense told me I'd be getting a delivery soon, so I popped out for a quick break."

Through the open doorway, Dash could catch a quick glimpse of the Cakes scrambling to keep up with the tide of last minute shoppers.

"Uh, yeah. That's right. Here you go." She pulled out the last of the sealed letters and passed it over.

"FINALLY! It feels like It took FOREVER to get here.  The writer really took their sweet time, didn't they?"

"Uhh–I–"

"Anyway, gotta get back to work! Have a good vacation, and happy Hearts and Hooves Day!"

"Uhh–Thanks! You too Pinkie!"

Pinkie Pie had already returned to a furious storm of baking.

Her task finally complete, Rainbow Dash set a course southward. With a quick thought to what was waiting for her at her destination, she prepared to shatter her previous speed records.


***


Twilight paced as she waited for Dash to return from this final errand. Her rational self-knew she was engaging in an unnecessary risk. She knew the course of action she should take was to keep letting everypony other than Dash think she was dead. After coming all this way and with everything to lose, why leave any possible opportunity for fate to screw her over? She'd have to be crazy to leave any dangling threads at all. She remembered the adage about three ponies being able to keep a secret only if two of them were dead.

But there was another part of her. A part that had taken something of a backseat amid all the action and fighting and scrapes with death. The part that valued friendship too much to simply leave things the way they were. Even if she could never see her Ponyville friends again, she couldn't just leave them like that, thinking she was dead. They deserved to know. How could she really be sure they'd keep her secret? That word wouldn't get to Celestia, undoing everything she'd worked for?

She'd just have to trust them. She'd spent so long in constant paranoia that she'd almost forgotten what it was like trusting in her friends. She'd missed it.

She heard the door to the room open behind her as Dash stumbled in, panting and sweating profusely from the exertion of her record setting flight.

"All done, Twilight. Now what?"

"Well..." Twilight swallowed nervously and pointed toward a lit candle placed on a nearby table, sweet purple smoke rising from the tip. "If...if it's still what you want, then..." she trailed off.

Dash thought for a moment then walked over to the table. She leaned close to stare into the tiny flickering flame. Then she blew it out with a quick puff.

"Actually, I've got a better idea."

"Oh?"

"Yeah, you see, it's still Hearts and Hooves day, and somehow, impossible as it may seem, nopony has asked me out yet."

A snorting laugh ripped its way involuntarily from Twilight's lungs.

"Inconceivable!"

"I know, right! It boggles the mind." She fixed Twilight with a look of mounting impatience.

A smile spread across Twilight's face like the rising dawn. It lit up the room like a thousand candles.

Twilight cleared her throat.

"Ahem. Rainbow Dash?"

"Yes?"

"Would you like to go out with me?"

Rainbow Dash shrugged. "Sure. Why not?"