> Friendship Eternal
>  by Zervziel
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

> Fighting for friendchips.
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

It had been a long month and a half for Twilight Sparkle, the lavender young protégé of the Solar Princess, Celestia. The series of events that had lead to this point with her in a dimly lit barn with Big Macintosh tied up in the corner menaced by three black cloaked fillies wielding pitchforks, had started about four weeks ago despite feeling like and eternity for her.

Rainbow Dash, who had finally made it to the try-outs for her dream team, the Wonderbolts had been the first of them to meet her fate. The rainbow-haired pegasus had claimed, before the final bout of challenges, that she would win every single one with ease. Amazingly enough the cyan pegasus made good her promise, absolutely crushing all her competitors with ease. Speed, agility, even poise, her admitted weak point. In all three of them, Rainbow Dash outclassed even the best of her competitors. Some of these included former Royal Guards, regional champions, and even a former Wonderbolt whose reason for leaving the team was unknown. He had originally counted on his ties with the team for a easy way back in, but the team's captain, Spitfire, put her hoof down saying that despite his ties he needed to prove he was still good enough to be on the team after his absence. He had agreed readily enough to the fair terms and re-entered in the tryouts where he meet more than his match in Rainbow Dash.

It was in the final deciding event, a group-run through a high-speed obstacle course that disaster had struck. The goal had been to fly through the course at breakneck speeds and then come to a dead stop at the end. Rainbow Dash naturally sped through the course at a record breaking speed, hitting every turn and dive like she had practiced it a thousand times. However some of the other flyers were having a tougher time. Some were not able to get up to the insane speeds required to make the time for the course. Other fliers were not agile enough in the air and more than a few suffered from a mixture of both. One particularly weak, but brave flyer who had some how managed to make it to the finals, had been laboring to make it up to speed to pass the next obstacle, a giant rotating fan. The giant flat blades rotated at a fair rate, the sheer size of the blades taking awhile to pass the contestant's target, a small tunnel through which they needed to pass. The trick to this test was balancing speed, coordination. Knowing when to shave off speed without losing too much time.

This particularly slow flyer had labored to a decent rate of speed before the fan tunnel and probably would have made it with just a few shaved tail hairs when one of the former royal guards thundered past her. As the mare slowly righted herself, the former Wonderbolt blitzed past her upsetting her even more. Now instead of blazing through the tunnel at speed she was heading towards the wall. Rainbow Dash seeing the mare's plight on her victory lap through the course again, speed up to help the tumbling mare before she crashed. Just as Dash had grabbed ahold of her and was trying to right her, another crowd of hopefuls outright smashed into them.

The mare landed on a fluffy cloud where as Rainbow Dash had been catapulted forward directly into the fan. Her neck connected with the leading edge and for one last time, the fastest flyer in Equestria's speed worked against her. The Wonderbolts had posthumously made her a member, awarding her own uniform before allowing the runner up in. It had been the former Wonderbolt. Twilight and her friends had been devastated. Fluttershy retreated even more into her house, barely even seeing her closest friends. Rarity and Applejack poured themselves into their work to hide their grief while Twilight retreated into her books. A pall came over the town since the boisterous pegasus passed. One night Twilight remembered vividly was when they couldn't locate Fluttershy and then she and the others finally found the meek yellow pegasus, curled up, weeping on the door step of Dash's immense cloud house.

Then the other accidents started happened. Rarity fell deathly ill from a new line of make up accessories that had a horrendous reaction with unicorns acting as a steady poison. Twilight found out later Rarity had been the one pony in over a million users to have this reaction to the cream. It's symptoms included extreme exhaustion and irrational bursts of anger. One day Twilight found the fashionista laying in her front yard, spent from magically overexerting herself. According to Rarity, she had a sudden fit of anger and had spent almost all her magic in one massive burst. Sweetie Bell confirmed this saying she had run outside at a sudden shriek of anger followed by an immense burst of magic. She'd found her sister in the same sad state shortly before Twilight arrived. All Rarity had said at the time was. "Dumb rock." She died later that night from the drain on her system by not only the poisonous cream but from her overexertion. Applejack a few beds over had died slightly before while Rarity was asleep.

According to Applebloom, she and Applejack had been in the orchard bucking apples. Applejack had just bucked a particularly large tree when a large boulder fell from the sky landing directly on her shoulders, shattering the strong earth pony's shoulders, spines and crushed a great many ribs. Amazingly enough, the tough earth pony survived the initial impact due to Applebloom's quick actions. The little filly had bolted for help immediately, retrieving her big brother who moved the boulder. Big Macintosh immediately had Applebloom hitch the wagon to him after putting their sister's pitiful, broken body in. He had cantered off to the hospital. Applebloom, after inspecting the rock, ran off towards Carosel Boutique, sobbing after she saw the message inscribed on the boulder what seemed ages ago by a certain playful dragon: LOOK OUT! HERE COMES TOM!

Said playful dragon had not been there at the time, having been on a 6-month study abroad in the draconian homelands to learn of his heritage. That left three ponies out of six to grieve. The horrendous accidents didn't stop there. Next was poor, gentle Fluttershy. She died a relatively peaceful death, having tried using the Stare on a basilisk while defending Angel Bunny from the dreadful serpent. Twilight had been on her way to the butter yellow pegasus's house to provide her some much needed comfort when she spotted the limp form in front of the immense serpent. She had felt a white-hot surge of anger and the next thing she remembered was explaining through broken sobs to a sympathetic Celestia how this rare specimen of snake had imploded.

Pinkie was the second to last pony standing. She'd bravely tried to keep up her spirits in the horrendous series of events, but eventually even her spirit could not bear the pain of so many lost friends in so little time. When she wasn't trying to drown her pain in sugar and hot sauce, the once bouncy and lively Pinkie would eventually find her way into her room at some point in the day to cry. At first the Cakes thought it was the twins crying until one day they discovered the two infant ponies trying to cheer the inconsolable pink party pony. Many empty bags of flour attested to their efforts. Nothing the Cakes tried worked. Parties, the infant's antics, and even the exceedingly rare occasion the Cakes, having no other option, called in the rest of the Pie clan to see if a visit from family would work. Twilight tried talking to her, but the memories the lavender unicorn dredged up were too painful for Pinkie to bear.

With four of her closest friends dead and the fifth emotionally traumatized, Twilight turned to seek out a solution to end Pinkie's plight as well as to ease her own case of grieving. Though Princess Celestia had been with her as much as her royal duties allowed, Twilight Sparkle cried herself to sleep many nights. Questions of "What if" thundered through her mind. What if she had been there at Fluttershy's sooner? She could have teleported Fluttershy away from the deadly creature. What if she had been there for Rarity? Maybe she could have found away to prevent her from using up her magic. What if she had been there at Sweet Apple Acres? She could have caught the boulder with her telekinesis. All these thoughts poured through her mind. The wretched librarian turned to herself to her one outlet of reading.

Her beloved books didn't give her the answer to her problems, but they did inspire her idea that could potentially solve it. To enact her plan she'd need to ask one last thing of her friends. Twilight Sparkle had been reluctant at first to move along this dark path, but support for the dangerous venture came from the oddest source. Applebloom, Sweetie Bell, and Scootaloo, the three Cutie Mark Crusaders, upon learning she may have some way to bring back their loved ones and idol, pressured her to do so no matter what it cost. Fueled with their encouragement and her own grief, Twilight set out to perform the single most ambitious act of arcane spellwork of all time: To bring back the dead to true life.

As they acted to push her to this course of actions, the once playful CMC trio offered to help Twilight with the hardest task: Retrieve the bodies of their loved ones. Twilight had originally planned to do it herself on her own, but the stubborn trio insisted she accept their help. Despite her argument that what they would do and see could scar them for life, she relented when Sweetie Bell pointed out that her and Applebloom's sister were dead and this was their only chance they'd ever have to see their sisters and idol alive again. The four ponies had to retrieve Rainbow Dash's corpse due to her being dead the longest and was slated for cremation as per the pegasi tradition. With the aid of Twilight's hot air balloon, the CMC were able to sneak into the crematorium at night. Once they checked the place for the living, Scootaloo buzzed back to the dark balloon holding station in the night sky, while Sweetie and Applebloom watched the doors and only the doors, too creeped out to look elsewhere.

At Scootaloo's signal, Twilight jumped to the cloud, having prepared the Skywalk spell earlier. Passing over the securing line to Scootaloo, she went inside. Grimacing, she scanned the bodies, and eventually found the bag with her rainbow friend's body in it. With gulp, Twilight Sparkle picked it up with her telekinesis and with the CMC in tow, made her way back to the balloon after putting the decoy in place.

In comparison to the grisly highflying caper, the retrieval of Applejack's and Rarity's corpses was considerably easier. A quick venture into the Ponyville Morgue that same night, yielded the unicorn's friends. The small grave outside of Fluttershy's house, near the Everfree forest was the last place they needed to visit. Before the sun had set earlier leaving, Twilight had chanced a daring venture into the Everfree forest. Her goal was to draw out a massive arcane circle that cut deeply into the verdant darkness. Laying down the magical regents, Twilight then used her magic to set the circle there permanently, section by section until the circle was complete. It may well have been the largest one of its kind in history. Anyone well versed in the most powerful spells available to ponykind would have recognized it as a ritual circle that draws power from the very land itself. Any living creature caught with its magical boundary would be absorbed as well surrendering its life energy to the spell. Twilight chose the Everfree forest for its seclusion as well as for the forest's ability to rebound after the spell was cast, not wanting to scar the land.

Moving to another section of the forest she had drawn another circle, similar in nature, but far smaller. Its purpose was to heal the bodies as much as possible before the larger circle was used. Fluttershy, being the most recent her death a mere 3 days before, was in the best condition. Her death being magical in nature left her with little healing to be done. Rarity would be restored mostly by the major spell. However, Rainbow Dash's neck and Applejack's bones needed to fuse and heal and so the pegasus and the earth pony were the main focus of this spell. Twilight had set the two down in the center of the smaller circle and completed the rest of the arcane matrix that would focus the life-force of the land into the two in the form of the strongest healing magic Twilight could find.

As the lavender unicorns had stood there steeling herself to set off the circle's magic, a small hoof on her side reminded the librarian the Crusaders were still there. Sweetie Bell offered to do ignite the circle herself. Explaining she wanted Twilight at her best for the multi-acre one, the tiny white unicorn lowered her horn onto the outer rim of the circle. The circle flared up, the intricate designs that made up the magical matrix etched in the air. The circles only required a touch of a unicorn's horn and a small amount of magic from the horn's owner accompanied by a command word to set off. After doing so Sweetie was disoriented for a bit, but quickly pulled herself back together. The circle's ignition sent a faint column of light toward the night sky only to be stopped by the wild clouds of Everfree forest. Once the glow died down, Twilight stepped up to inspect her friends and had to refrain herself from leaping about in glee crying "Yes!" Applejack and Rainbow Dash's bodies were almost fully healed. Aside from an almost closed but still visible gash on the underside Rainbow Dash's neck and a few slightly out of place ribs on Applejack, Twilight could have sworn it was just Applejack joining the new Wonderbolt for one of her many naps. Picking the two mostly restored bodies up with her telekinesis, Twilght trotted to Sweet Apple Acres.

The Sweet Apple Acres barn was chosen to house the rest of the bodies for the megacircle as the CMC took to calling it. Another arcane circle was inscribed on the floor of the barn. This one was built to receive to powerful energies of the multi-acre circle and amplify the cascade of pure life energy hopefully to the point the ponies were restored to life. It had been shortly after Twilight had arrived that Big Macintosh happened upon the scene and saw the dead bodies in a circle. Seeing him surge forward towards his sister's body, the CMC leaped into action. They had rigged a trap, just in case this happened. As Big Mac stomped forward, a grim look locked on his normally placid face, a barrel packed to the brim with the heavy bags of grain and suspended by two of Applejack's lasso ropes, swung down and knocked the massive stallion cold. When he came to minutes later, the red draft pony found he was trussed up like a hog and three cloaked figures kept the Apple families' pitchforks trained on him.

Snapping herself out of her mental replay of the hellish month and a half, Twilight Sparkle glanced over at the three fillies. She had no idea where they had gotten the capes from though Twilight suspected that once she was back, Rarity, would find some of her material missing. Not that the fashionista would mind much though. The deceptively goofy and fun loving fillies had been invaluable. From their never-ending enthusiasm, to their stubbornness, to the bravery the three had shown in the face of such grisly circumstances, Sweetie Bell and Applebloom had done their sisters proud. Scootaloo was a whole new story. She had an intact family, but her dedication to her friends and their families had been more than enough to keep the little filly a firm supporter.

Deciding it was time to make the final leap, Twilight motioned Sweetie to come over. "Sweetie Bell, there is one last thing I'm going to need you to do." Twilight's grim tone was to be expected given the circumstances. Sweetie Bell sat down smartly and saluted with a hoof. "What can I do to help, Ms. Twilight." Moving her face closer to Sweetie Bell, who stood her ground, Twilight touched her horn the young unicorn's. "I'm making you a temporary anchor for my soul. Keep your horn in contact with mine through out what happens next." "What does happen next?" The little fillie's question made Twilight's face fall. "The reason I need an anchor is somepony needs to show them the way home. There's no nice way to say it. I need to die now to bring everyone's spirits back." Sweetie nodded slowly keeping her horn touching Twilight's, but her lip quivered at the same time. Regretting she had to tell her, that Twilight prepared herself. In unison, the foal and the mare touched their horns to the circle. The light spread like wild fire, sending out its invisible signal towards the Everfree Forest.

Like before, the circle that had taken Twilight so many hours to put down, flared to an intense life. The light bleeding off of it was enough to awaken Zecora in her hut several miles away in the forest. Once again a beam of light pierced the heavens, the light so bright it brought temporary day to the night. Inside the barn, it was like staring directly into the very soul of the sun. Blinded by the intense light, Sweetie Bell never saw Twilight levitate her discarded pitchfork and use the tines to pierce her throat and the arteries next to it. All that she knew was the unicorn suddenly slumped forward almost falling out of the circle onto her. Suddenly, Applebloom was beside her, steadying Sweetie and Twilight. Scootaloo jumped across the circle and grabbed the pitchfork and pulled it out. From there all the three friends could do was wait.

Twilight found partial death to be an interesting experience. Everything was abstract, almost looking as if an overly enthusiastic artist had blurred the lines of everything with his brush. Twilight watched as her tail seemed to merge with colors around it. Twilight started off into the ever shifting void of colors and noises, calling her friends names over and over. She could feel the presence of thousands, maybe millions of ponies all around her. There could be no ordered search here, so she chose the best thing she had, her heart. Feeling a familiar presence nearby she followed it. As she drew closer, she could feel memories of this pony. The rush of wind through the mane and under the wings The joy of flying just because it was possible and a hunger for speed. Extending a hoof towards the nexus of these memories she greeted her friend Rainbow Dash for the first time in what felt like ages. The star-like apparition convulsed and then took on a form. Reminiscent of a constellation in the shape of a pony, the familiar presence fell in behind her, following Twilight even through death.

Trusting her own heart again, she and the essence of Rainbow Dash set off again. This time draw forwards was subtle, almost fae. As she pushed forward, memories of a new pony started coming to her. Sophistication, glamour, the joy of creating something and having people appreciate it. The joy of seeing ponies faces upon receiving something heartfelt given to them. There was no mistaking this presence. This essence of Rarity quickly joined the other behind Twilight.

After wandering through the shifting and twisting dimension, Twilight's heart told her there was another one of her friends nearby. One pony and two pony essences pushed forward. Upon getting closer to this presence the memories came with the force and bluntness as a hoof to the face. Working hard during the summer under the beating sun, eating together and having tons of fun with friends and family, even a few memories of a friendly competition with a rainbow haired pony. This presence fell into line with the rest of it's friends.

Just one more pony remained. This time Twilight's brain and heart managed to team up. Look for the presence far from the others said her brain. Look for butterflies came her heart's confusing answer. With that in mind Twilight drove on. Sure enough the unicorn sensed the faintest sign of a pony's essence nearby. This presence seemed to shrink on itself like a collapsing star as Twilght closed with it. It seemed inert as if it was shutting itself off from her. Twilight was stumped for a bit, when an idea came to her. She focused all her mind on summoning up an image of Spike to her. Sure enough it worked. The meek presence unfolded a bit at the memory of the baby dragon. Twilight caught glimpses of tons of animals in the memories. Even an immense flock of butterflies numbering in the thousands. Then more came as the pony's essence relented. Images of her and the rest of her friends, Helping Rainbow chose a new pet, staring down an immense red dragon and finally the very first time the whole group had really met during the Nightmare Moon incident. Meekly, the essence joined the rest.

Her job here almost done, Twilight reached out with her magic and found her anchor to Sweetie Bell still intact. Something stopped her though. In this grey, ever shifting world of death, Twilight Sparkle noticed something odd. There was one section of the ever changing light and colors that seemed to almost swirl. The disturbance almost looked like water going down a drain. "Or a black hole" Twilight's mind helpfully quipped. What seemed most disturbing was in the dark heart of the vortex Twilight sensed another presence. No memories came, but a seething sense of dread erupted in Twilight. Whatever was in there she could feel it. Just it's presence caused the lavender unicorn shudder. Vague wisps of alien thoughts emanated from the dark vortex. Twilight didn't know why she consciously avoided these. Just something about them made her feel that if she were to ever touch them, it's taint would never come off.

Morbidly curious, the unicorn found herself staring directly into the dark void of the disturbance. She was almost transfixed when she suddenly felt a sharp tug on her tail. With a start, Twilight looked behind her. The vague pony-like shapes of her friends very essences were right behind her. Twilight's tail was in the grasp of the essence of Rarity. The apparition quickly dropped her tail as it started to smoke. Smiling, she gathered them together. Despite herself, Twilight Sparkle chanced one last look at the disturbance. It was then she felt it. The ever present sense of dread she had ever since laying her eyes on it erupted in full force. Now the swirling slowed as the center convulsed towards her. Terrified as she had ever been, Twilight triggered her anchor to Sweetie Bell and then everything became white.

Sweetie Bell was just wondering if she'd ever be able to see again due to the blinding light of the spell when it stopped. A chorus of 'ouch'es and 'ow's emanated from within the circle. After the temporary blindness passed, The Cutie Mark Crusaders eye's widened in shock before their childish natures took over. Rarity, Applejack, and Rainbow Dash had barely regained their hooves when three miniature comets rocketed into them, knocking them right back down. Applejack might have made it back up even with Applebloom attached to her, when a far larger red comet collided with her. Big Macintosh had broken free in time to see the spell end. The three crusaders promptly started sobbing into their sister coats. It didn't take long before the big red stallion started sniffing too.

Another shock came after the fillies finally disengaged themselves from their sisters and idol. Scootaloo, Applebloom, and Sweetie Bell were now just slightly smaller than the other ponies. "I think it's from them being directly exposed to the magic used in bring us back." Twilight's idea seemed the most likely. Soon Twilight found herself giving that very same explaination to a very surprised Princess Luna as the column of light sent up by the second circle had been visible from Canterlot. Luna had witnessed the sight as had most of the capital.

Twilight informed the Night Princess of what had transpired, who in turn managed to look mortified and deeply touched at the level of devotion shown. Eventually the dark blue princess retired back to the castle, promising that both she and her sister would be there to discuss what had happened the next day. With Luna taking her leave, the five friends sneaked over to Sugarcube Corner in the dark. Pinkie Pie was the first pony invited to the first ever Welcome Back to Life party and by the end, her characteristic laughter had returned to Ponyville.
> Bonus chapter: What comes after.
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Twilight Sparkle was on the verge of panicking. She'd known the risks she had taken to bring her friends back to life were extraordinarily high. The addition of Sweetie Belle, Applebloom, and Scootaloo into the equation made matters even worse. Panicking now, the lavender unicorn scampered around the library.

"Ooooooh, if only Spike were here. He'd know where that book is." Frantically, she bolted around the library using her magic to sift through piles of books. Unable to find it, she sat down a dejected look on her face. "Where is that copy of Equestrian Mages Guide to Arcane Circles and Mystic Trapezoids?"

Twilight wanted to locate that book to see if there were something about what she had done that might have caused the Princesses to shut off contact so suddenly with her. Shortly after Twilight had resurrected her friends Rarity, Applejack, Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy, Princess Luna had visited Sweet Apple Acres to find out about a towering beam of light piercing the night sky.

According to the Princess as she had closed with the light, Luna had sensed a massive amount of magic being redirected towards a location away from the forest. From there it had been rather simple for the Princess to follow the arch of light was being channeled towards the barn. She had arrived shortly after the light disappeared, to find a bunch of very dazed and familiar ponies.

It had been after hearing the story of what happened from Twilight, with some aid in her narration from the Cutie Mark Crusaders who had finally gotten used to their newly changed bodies. Luna had excused herself saying that she would commune with her sister and they'd contact Twilight afterwards. After that all contact with the Princesses suddenly stopped.

Every single letter she sent via mail pony had been returned with the seals intact. The unicorn had even gone as far as to accost the mail pony, Ditzy Doo, about her letters. The mail pony had insisted that the letters had been personally delivered to the castle herself. Then she ended the conversation by stuffing another batch of unopened letters into Twilight's mouth and flying off. Twilight had then just consigned herself to wait.

In the mean time, five other ponies were enjoying themselves like they never had before.

One could hardly tell Pinkie Pie, the famous party pony of Ponyville, who had barely possessed the will to live a few days before from the merry mare who had practically thrown a party a day since her friend's unexpected resurrection. This had gone for almost a week until the Cakes told her to tone it down on the parties, citing party burn out for many ponies. She reluctantly agreed and before the pink pony knew it, she was whisked away by her family to undertake intensive psychiatric therapy, promising to have her back before long so she could throw a family reunion party.

Several miles away, another party amazingly enough, not headed by a certain pink pony, was well underway. This time it was the Apple family, celebrating Applejack's return from the dead. Eventually several barrels of their famous apple cider were rolled out and opened. There was plenty to go around and soon everpony had a mug of the delectable cider.

Holding a mug of cider up in the air to quiet the crowd, the orange earth pony hooked her free forehoof around her sister's neck and drew her close.

"Words can't say how happy I am to see all of my family again. However I want to propose a toast to Applebloom, my not so little sister anymore, who didn't let death itself get in the way of family."

The pale yellow filly gave an awkward smile, blushing furiously, as her entire family raised their mugs in her direction and shouted, "To Applebloom!"

Seeing her sister's discomfort at so much attention, Applejack spoke up again.

"Alright, now let the real party begin!"

With that the music started up and the festivities resumed.

Up in Cloudsdale, one group of ponies were partying for a different reason. It was the elite flying and stunt team, the Wonderbolts. They were partying to commemorate an old friend coming back to the team in their head quarters near the coliseum, the beat of the music and joyous cries bleeding out into the night air.

Many of them were happy to see Rapidfire rejoining the team after having to leave for reasons relating to family. However a pall still hung over the joyous atmosphere. Rapidfire himself couldn't help but feel a little uneasy. One pony took notice of this.

"Hey, Rapidfire, what's up?" The stallion's head jerk up. Behind him was a very familiar face. Spitfire the Captain of the Wonderbolts was watching him as she leaned against the wall near the snack tables.

"You look pretty down for a pony that just got re-accepted into the Wonderbolts. Mind telling me what's got you so down?" Spitfire could easily guess what the reason was, but the flame maned mare wanted to hear it from the horse's mouth so to speak.

The stallion looked a bit nervous, though Spitfire couldn't if it was nerves or discomfort. As part of the hazing ritual every Wonderbolt had gone through in recent years was forced to wear a Wonderbolt suit a size too small for their initiation party. The reason being they had to get used to the suit practically being a second coat. Rapidfire had already done this, but in the spirit of the mood, had donned a flight suit that the mare thought would have been tight on her much less the larger stallion.

"I guess I feel like I lucked out. Like I got in more by luck than actual skill. And-..Oh by Celestia's teats, this suit is riding up! I'm gonna need a pair of pliers just to get this thing of my balls!"

Roughly that time a heavy thud came on the door. Still snickering at Rapidfire's discomfort, the gold mare trotted up to the door. Considering the noise level of the party, she thought it was likely a Royal Guard sent to tell them to quiet down.

Spitfire stopped with her hoof on the door. "Ok, everypony settle down for moment while I get this." Her authoritative voice cut through the clamor of the party. In an instant her co-fliers were silent, each trying to look the pinnacle of innocence for. All eyes on her, Spitfire opened the door.

"Hello, what can I do for-AHHHHHHHHH!"

The mare's knees collapsed in shock of the horrible sight in front of her. Floating in through the doorway, a severed head of a pony glared at her. The eyes were covered with goggles shaped to make it look as if the wearer was glaring at her, a sickly pale yellow light emanating from them. The head was covered in a black silky material, not unlike the Wonderbolt flight suit. A familiar rainbow mane finished off the horrid visage. Blood dripping from the severed neck, the head floated towards her.

Throwing off the paralysis, Spitfire backpedaled quickly towards her friends. The ghastly apparition followed, leaving a path of blood as it slowly floated towards them. All the ponies were too frightened to move fear rooting their hooves to the floor. The head finally came to a stop. It's mouth twisted into a frown and the lights suddenly started to darken.

"Ra-Rainbow Dash?" Spitfire gasped, finding her voice. The head rotated downward to give her a cool stare.

"You! It is your fault I died!" The head spat viciously, it's voice echoing in odd manner. "It's because of you foals, that I'm like this!"

"Wha-what do you mean?" It was Soarin who asked this time. The pale blue stallion looked dangerously faint.

"It was your moon-damned death course!" the head raged. "You moon-damned foals knew having that many ponies go at once on a course like that was dangerous and you did it anyway! Well now it's my turn!"

As it spoke the head rose to the ceiling, the pale light in it's eyes flared and increased in brilliance. The Wonderbolts couldn't bring themselves to look away from the horrid light, something compelling them to look into it.

"In a way, I guess I should be thankful." The spectre's voice had calmed a bit but an unmistaken undertone of menace remained in it's voice. "I have been…recruited to a new flight team, the Shadowbolts." The head gave it's captive audience a broad smile that revealed a mouth full of shark-like teeth. "Unfortunatly, we're a bit short, so I'm here to recruit a few of you a bit early."

The head's less than subtle meaning sank into the assemblage of ponies. Without shout, the Wonderbolts, the elite flight team of Equestria broke and tried to run and fly away.

"Ha! It won't do you any good! Darkwing! Sablewind! Begin the harvest!" With a laugh, the head flew after Spitfire who was trying to pry a window open as two shadowed forms bolted through the open door and after the other ponies.

Spitfire cursed under her breath. The window was beyond stuck. As she turned around to buck the stubborn window to pieces, a horrifically familiar sight greeted her. Floating mere inches away was the former Element of Loyalty's head, a smug grin gracing its face. "Miss me?"

Spitfire tried to back away, but ended up running into the windowsill. Behind the head she could see that the twin shadow ponies had rounded up and frozen in place the rest of her team. Spitfire's body almost seemed to fold in on itself. "Do what you want. I don't care any more."

The head laughed. "Ok, in that case I have one final question for you."

"What?" Spitfire mumbled, tears starting to form n her closed eyes.

"Can you sign this for me?"

The Captain of the Wonderbolts automatically took, signed and handed back the autograph book.

"Gotchya!"

The head howled with laughter as it rolled backwards and dropped to the floor. It was only when Spitfire heard the 'whumf' of a body hitting the floor did it hit her.

As the head of Rainbow Dash lay cackling on the floor, the magic hiding her body faded. As it did the goggles reshaped themselves and the flight suit became a vibrant blue. Spitfire realized that the pegasus had been wearing the flight suit the team had posthumously awarded her underneath the illusion.

Now that the prankster was fully revealed, Spitfire's ire at such a joke surged forward only to be met with confusion. It was a cruel joke, but the pony behind it was supposed to be dead right? Decapitation isn't exactly the easiest death to fake.

Ignoring Dash's laughter, she checked on her team. They were all fine, a few like Soaren still looked lost while some of the other members frowned as they started to get the prank that had been played on them.

Still laughing, the cyan mare struggled to her hooves and walked over to the door. "Hey, Luna," She called to the darkness. "We got 'em! Come on in!"

Before Spitfire could ask what was going on, the two shadow ponies merged together in a sparkling dark blue haze, which darted towards the door. Therer it merged with a larger cloud that flowed in from the doorway. The mass of stars convulsed before flowing upward, molding itself into the shape of a pony. Once the transformation was complete, the Wonderbolts kneeled as one before Princess Luna, the Mistress of the Night.

"You may rise." She intoned.

"Princess, may I ask what is going on?" Spitfire had wanted to accost Rainbow Dash on this, but now that Dash's co-conspirator had shown herself, the mare saw it was more than a simple prank.

The Princess gave a mischievous smile before answering. "We came to tell show you that your most recent addition to the team is alive and well again."

"We noticed." Soaren muttered from the rear of the room, followed a soft 'thump' indicating one of his fellow wonderbolts had kicked him.

Spitfire cast a nervous glance at Rapidfire, who looked even more uncomfortable now. "Um, about that. We only have limited spaces on our team."

"I see." Luna answered, her tone neutral. "As I recall Ms. Dash here came in first at the tryouts in every event you threw at her. Does that not mean should be joining your illustrious team?"

Spitfire was practically sweating bullets now. She knew what the princess was playing at. She like Rainbow Dash enough and the pegasus's flying was second only to some of the more experienced members of the Wonderbolts. She wanted to let Rainbow Dash in despite the joke. However the team had already announced Rapidfire's return. Many fans had been ecstatic at his return to the team.

"Perhaps Rainbow Dash can tryout again next year?" She offered weakly.

"Next year." Princess Luna rolled the words around. She looked at Rainbow Dash, who sat by the door, her face unreadable thanks to the flight suit covering her. Turning back around, Luna locked eyes with Spitfire.

"If my sister has anything to say about this in the light of recent events regarding your testing methods, there won't be a next year. Despite the bad press it will undoubtedly get her, Celestia is serious considering disbanding the Wonderbolts. You will be out of a job."

The Wonderbolts were stunned. Spitfire felt as if she'd been belted in the face by a certain white unicorn again.

"What about Rainbow Dash?" She asked. It was a shot in the ark, but Spitfire felt she had to take it.

Rainbow Dash spoke up this time. "Well a few years back, Nightmare moon offered me a position as captain. At the time, I said no, but tonight Princess Luna renewed the offer to bring back her flight team, the Shadowbolts, in the position of captain. The Princess isn't in any extreme hurry to do so, but if I were to say, have nothing else to do thanks to the Wonderbolts being disbanded, I'd probably take her up on that."

Spitfire's mind felt like it was going to fry. She lived for the Wonderbolts, she'd worked her flank off to keep them number one in Equestria for years. She knew their testing methods were a bit dangerous but too disband them because of that? She envied Rainbow Dash's fallback plan. That pony was set either way things went. Rainbow would either be a Wondebolt flier or a Shadowbolt captain.

Then aid came from the oddest sources. Shedding the tiny flight suit, with aid from Fleetfoot, Rapidfire spoke up.

"Spitfire, I'm sorry but something came up. I believe my grandmother's cousin's uncle's daughter's nephew's roommate just spontaneously exploded. Third time this week. I must go see to them."

With that, the stallion bolted out the door. Spitfire could only look on in astonishment as he disappeared into the night. With a grin she looked back at the hopeful looking pony.

"Well it seems we have a vacant spot on the team roster. Rainbow Dash would you care to join the Wonderbolts?"

The rainbow-haired pegasus made a show of thinking about the offer before soaring into the air shouting "Heck yes!"

With that the party started again, nopony seeing the sense in starting a new party. Princess Luna walked over to the cd-player and removed the previous cd and summoned a cd of her own. Soon heavy beats mixed with electronic tones started up. Some ponies may have normally complained, but when the DJ is an immortal

Night goddess, many ponies found themselves more receptive to different kinds of music that night.

Spitfire and Rainbow Dash found their way to a corner to talk.

"So Dash," Spitfire started. "Why did you wear the Wonderbolt suit under the illusion?"

Rainbow Dash didn't answer immediately. Instead she pushed the goggles up to her forehead and pulled her head and neck free from the suit. "It's mostly because I wanted too, but it was also to get ponies to stop staring at my neck all the time."

With that she pointed a hoof at her neck. Sure enough a thin line of fur was missing. What shocked Spitfire more was in the tiny expanse of exposed skin, she could see holes through the skin. Spitfire's intense scrutiny was rewarded by a small glimpse of Rainbow Dash's throat through one such hole. Covering her mouth with a hoof she looked away.

"Pretty nasty huh? Twilight said the magic healed everypony from the inside out. She says these holes should close up in a few days time."

Rainbow Dash seemed pretty relaxed for a pony with a line of holes in her neck.

Spitfire shook her head.

"Dash, do you ever have a normal day?"

"I did once. It was horrible."






AN: And suddenly: An update! Gonna try for a three parter at least. Had this chapter floating around for almost 2 weeks. Gonna be exploring more of the consequences of Twilight's actions.