A rainbows burden

Chapters

Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Alt Ending
Chapter 4
"Sequel" released!

Chapter 1

“Next time, don't forget to ask the bees before you try and take their honey, Mr. Bear." With a sweet smile, Fluttershy hummed as she smeared ointment on the multitude of stings covering the brown bear who was sitting on a fallen log and sulking.

"There we go. It'll heal up in no time!" The bear looked back at her and let out a thankful growl before he turned to walk towards the forest. Everything was so peaceful and quiet here, it was almost like she was in heaven. Every animal was friendly towards each other, the plants and trees were just magnificent, and the birds quietly sang their melodies while flying around. She could just lie here forever, not worrying about anything, just her and the beautiful nature around her.

A distant scream, barely audible, disturbed the peace. It came from the forest right in front of her. Fluttershy tensed up, but she forced herself to calm. She thought it was just her imagination playing with her , but there was a second scream to be heard , this time louder.

Fluttershy stood up and began to walk towards the source of the scream. She paused before the forest, taking a deep breath. The forest looked intimidating from the outside. Inside, however, all the peacefulness was lost. She stepped forward. Neither birds nor bees sang, and their silence fueled Fluttershy’s fear. Yet she decided not to turn around. There was someone in trouble. She couldn't leave the poor thing alone. It was probably hurt, and needed medical treatment right away.

The brightness decreased in an rapid rate, and after awhile Fluttershy could barely see where she was going. There it was again, very close, thrilling Fluttershy with fear. She quickened her pace, nearly running, when suddenly the ground itself seemed to vanish under her hooves. The entire forest started to disappear right in front of her eyes. Full panic gripped Fluttershy. She struggled with herself. "Run away or help, run away or help, run away or help..." . In her confusion she started to fly, heading towards the sound of the scream, as everything behind her seemed to dissolve.

She felt it now; the origin of the scream was directly in front of her. Fluttershy saw the outlines of a pony like figure. She approached the pony flying, when she realized that she did not come any closer. In contrary, the gap between them enlarged. No, no, no, no she thought, trying to fly faster. She put all of her might into her wings. Fluttershy was feeling the exhaustion get the better of her and the flapping of her wings slowed down; every single muscle hurt. She tried to call for help, but no sound escaped her lips.

Fluttershy was not able to hold herself up any longer. Her wing beats slowed down even further, barely keeping her up in the air. “Come on, Come on” she said to herself. Her body refused to obey to her commands now. Her wings stopped flapping, and she fell into the void beneath her.

=====

Fluttershy awoke with a long gasp. She was back at her cottage, inside of her bed. Drowsy, yet happy that it was just a dream she got up on her hooves. She entered the bathroom, brushing her mane quickly.

Fluttershy made her way into the kitchen. She sliced some carrots and placed them outside of Angel’s hole. Afterwards she heated up some water. A tea was exactly what she needed in order to calm down now. While she waited for the water to boil, she looked thoughtfully outside of the window, gazing towards the Everfree Forest. Thinking of it, the forest in her dreams looked rather similar to it.

A shiver went down Fluttershy’s spine when she heard a distant voice screaming. This time it was real, somepony was really in trouble. Her mind tried to think of a solution. Should I call my friends? Twilight would know what to do right now, or at least Rainbow Dash. She was the brave one, not me. She let out a squeak when she heard another scream, before realizing what was happening, she ran anxiously towards the Everfree Forest. Every scream she heard henceforth was louder. She closed distance quickly.

Fluttershy stopped as she was standing before a huge cave. It was looking intimidating and dangerous. Her brain told her to run away, call for help, everything but to go inside.

No matter how much she wanted to run away, she could’nt. “There is no way I’m leaving something in trouble alone” Fluttershy said to reassure herself, before she entered hestitating.

As soon as she trotted inside the scent of rotten flesh immediately twisted her stomach. She observed her surroundings, the wall was covered in moss the ground was bumpy. The air was muggy, which caused a searing pain in her throat whenever she took a breath. She started trotting, being careful not to trip over something in this light forsaken place. She wanted to fly, but there were far too many stalagmites hanging down from the ceiling. Arriving at a crossing, she hesitated for a second before deciding to take the way to the left.

====

“Where is the pegasus when you need her?” Rainbow Dash let out a sigh, it was Saturday, which meant she and Fluttershy are supposed to practice together. Atleast Dash would be practicing, Fluttershy would just watch and cheer for her. Nevertheless the yellow pegasus was an essential part of her weekly training, her cheer gave Dash the motivation she needed.

It also was one of the rare occasions where they would spend time together. The two pegasi did not have much in common, Dash loved to fly, Fluttershy felt better with her hooves on the ground. Dash loved adventures, Fluttershy wanted everything to be quiet and “boring”, as Dash called it. They were like Day and Night, two totally different sort of ponies.

Yet, Dash loved to spend time with the timid pegasus. She did not know why, but it was the main reason she looked forward to the training sessions with her.

“Well, it seems like I’m on my own today,” she said before dashing into the air. She looped around and spun some clouds, being back at her starting position in no time. But somehow she could not enjoy herself, usually when she was training she felt free and didn’t care about anything, this time it was different. Something or somepony was missing.

Now that she thought it Fluttershy would never be late, let alone not appear at all. Dash could feel that something was wrong, she turned around and dashed off to her cottage.

"Fluttershy?” Dash knocked on her door, but no one answered
“Fluttershy?” she knocked again, this time the door opened up, but not by Fluttershy. Angel looked up to Dash, impatiently waiting for the pegasus to say something.

“Do you know where Fluttershy is?” she asked the bunny, purposely speaking slower than usual. Angel didn’t say anything, but he did point towards the Everfree Forest.

“The Everfree Forest? Is that pony out of her mind?” without waiting for a responde Rainbow Dash burst flying towards the forest. She had no clue where she should start looking for her, but she had to find Fluttershy. What if something happens to her? Simply the thought of this increased her speed.

“Wait, what was that?” she said to nopony in particular. She stopped for a brief moment to concentrate. Dash made out a distant scream. There it is again . It did not come from Fluttershy, but she was certain that the yellow pegasus wasn’t too far away from the origin of the sound. She dashed out off towards the source of the scream. She flew as fast as she possibly could, afraid that she might be too late for.... whatever may have happened.

She arrived at a huge cave. The scream came from inside there, what meant Fluttershy might be there aswell. Without hesitation she flew inside, the stench of rotting flesh sickened her instantly, but she pulled herself together and proceeded to fly towards the voice.

After her eyes got used to the lack of light in the cave, she started to see where she was heading. Dash stood before a crossing, one path leading to the left and one to the right.

Closing her eyes, she tried to make out any noise that could lead her way. She heard a distant noise, it was someone breathing. No, not breathing, panting. Somepony was in serious danger. She followed the noise until she reached its origin. It was a pony, a unicorn, with a blue mane and a moon with a wand as her cutie mark.

“No way,” Dash said. It was Trixie, and she was severely injured.

Dash didn’t know what to do; the unicorn obviously needed help, but she had to find Fluttershy. “I guess it can’t be helped”, she sighed lifting Trixie up on her back.

Now she had to find Fluttershy, if she would’ve followed the screams, she had to be in this cave and if she took the same way as Dash, Fluttershy would’ve found Trixie and returned, or at least be with her. “So she took the other way” Dash concluded flying the way back until she arrived at the crossing, this time taking the left path.

Rainbow found herself in a huge room. The walls had strange paintings on them, and it looked like something was written on the ground, but it wasn’t in any language she was familiar with it.Dash didn't pay too much attention to her surroundings, she was busy trying to find Fluttershy here. She flew some circles around the room. She had nearly given up and wanting to look for her somewhere else, but then she detected a movement from the corner of the room. It was a huge relief when she could confirm that it was indeed Fluttershy, but then she realized that the pegasus was unconscious. Her breathing was irregular, which couldn't mean anything good.

Rainbow Dash gently put Fluttershy on her back and burst off. Approaching the entrance of the room, she slowed down.

"Damn it." she said under her breath. Fluttershy needed medical treatment right away, but she couldn't leave anypony to die, no matter how much Rainbow hated Trixie. It took some time, but in the end she somehow managed to get both of them on her back. She started to fly towards Ponyville, out of this disturbing cave. She tried to speed up, but she just couldn't. The added weight of two ponies slowed her down too much. At this rate she would need hours to arrive in Ponyville, time she did not have. Fluttershy was now breathing a lot louder, and Dash could feel her heartbeat. It was irregular. Seeing her lifelong friend in this state was incredibly painful for her. What would she do if Fluttershy wasn't able to survive this?

Before she met Fluttershy, Dash was alone. She had to prove to everypony that she was the fastest, bravest flier in all of Equestria, and they all just liked her because of this. With Fluttershy it was different. Dash could just be herself. She didn't need to prove anything to her; she just accepted her, no matter what. The thought of losing her was unbearable, and she shed some tears while flying. Every single muscle in her wings were in intense pain. Her whole body begged for a break, but Dash couldn't allow that. "A pair of broken wings is not nearly as bad as a lost friend" she thought. After some time Dash realized that she didn't feel any heartbeat from Fluttershy anymore. She listened carefully. There was no heartbeat. Her eyes were now widened because of the shock.

"Oh nononononoono," She said while she was trying to build up more speed. "Come on stupid wings, hurry up!" She furiously flapped her wings now. The pain nearly made her fall into unconsciousness. She hadn't been in any agony like this before. But she had no intention of slowing down. Dash was now screaming in pain. Finally, she could make out the outlines of Ponyville. She had nearly done it. Pulling off one last dash, she raced towards Ponyville, and crashed down just before the hospital. Dash tried to stand up, but her body refused to. She couldn't move one single muscle.

"Just a few more steps..." was her last thought before blacking out.

Chapter 2

Dash started to regain consciousness. She could feel a bed underneath her, and a soft pillow below her head. A familiar smell was in the air. It was like one of Rarity’s conditioners. She slowly opened up her eyes, and indeed Rarity was sitting on a chair next to her bed. "Oh darling, you’re finally awake!" she said while hugging Dash tightly. Dash hurt all over, and the hug, while appreciated, wasn’t helping

"Ouw, ouch" were the only words Dash could spit out.

"Oh my, I am so sorry. I think I got lost in the moment there. Are you feeling any better?"

"Now that I'm released from your embrace, yes I do, but don’t mind me. Where is Fluttershy?" Rarity didn't respond but simply pointed to the bed next to Dash.

"She’s stable, for now" the unicorn said, "The doctors ran a couple of tests and took some of her and Trixie’s blood." she added. Dash bit down on her lips, it was painful to see Fluttershy like this. She was laying on a white bed, wired to many devices that kept track of her heartbeat. "It is a horrible sight, isn't it?" Rarity said. Dash responded with a nod.

Some time passed before a Doctor came in, carrying some sheets in his hooves. "Do you know what the matter is, doctor?" Rarity asked him as he entered the room.

"We are not entirely sure right now, we never encountered a poison like this. We are unsure what to do against it. The poison’s damage to the organs are severe. It seems to slow down the heart, which leads to a lack of oxygen."

"Uhm, and that means?" Dash asked him. The doctor sighed.

"If we don’t find a cure, and fast, the victims are not going to recover and, eventually, die."

Dash repeated the sentence in her head at least a thousand times, but she still couldn't believe what she just heard.

"Fluttershy might ... die?!" She couldn't believe it. Her lifelong friend may end up dying...

"Is there nothing we can do?" Rarity asked with a blurry voice.

"I am afraid not, at least not right now" The Doc said before leaving the room. Two shocked ponies remained behind. The long silence was interrupted by a familiar voice.

"Is this the room?" Twilight asked while she was walking inside, the other three following close behind her. Their expressions abruptly changed when they saw Fluttershy and Trixie laying unconscious in their beds.

"Ah, what in tarnation happened?" Applejack asked Dash. "Hey Dash, Ah´m talkin’ to ya. Are ya even listening?" She added while walking towards the her. It was Pinkie’s turn to try and get her attention.

"Dashie, Dashie, Dashie, Dashie, Dashie, Dashie, Dashie, Dashie, Dashie, Dashie!" Still no response from Rainbow Dash.

"She is going to die ..." another voice said. Everypony looked towards the window where the voice was coming from. "If we can't find a cure, she wont be able to survive..." Rarity sobbed out.

"What’s going on now?" Twilight asked

"She’s going to die, Twilight, and I can’t do anything about it...” Dash screamed. She took a deep breath, calming herself before continuing. “The poison is going to kill her, and they don't know how to cure it. Hell, they don't even know why she has that poison inside her in the first place." Dash was now standing, tears streaming down her face.

"Oh Dashie, you always expect the worst." Pinkie said with a cute smile, while trying to fight back the tears that were trying to escape her wet eyes. "I bet there is something we can do to prevent that... Isn’t that right, Twilight?" the pink pony added.

"Well, I'm not sure, I have no information about that poison. But I’ll send a letter to Princess Celestia as fast as possible. She’ll know what to do for sure!" Twilight responded with a little grin on her face.

"Yea, Ah´m sure our princess knows what to do" Applejack added, and all of them started to get more optimistic about this whole situation.

==============

Twilight made her way back into her library. She had some of Fluttershy’s and Trixie’s blood with her, so she could examine and study it herself. As soon as she entered her library she called for her assistant. "Spike, I need you to take a letter." Twilight heard his footsteps while he was walking down to the entrance hall, rubbing his eyes.

"Uhm, okay Twilight," Spike said while taking out a scroll and a quill. Twilight started to dictate;

Dear Princess Celestia,

I´m afraid that we have a huge problem in Ponyville. One of our friends, the bearer of the Element of Kindness, Fluttershy and another pony named Trixie have intoxicated themselves with an until now unknown poison. The poisons damage to the vital organs are severe and will likely cause death if we can't find a cure soon.

We are in desperate need of your wisdom.

I’ll eagerly await your response.

Your faithful student,
Twilight Sparkle.

With those words being said, Spike exhaled and burned down the letter, sending it to Canterlot.

Celestia had finished reading the letter that just appeared in front of her and started to make herself out of the castle. She took place inside of the royal chariot and told the pegasi to head towards Ponyville.

=====================

Twilight yawned while she was looking out of her window. The moon was starting to take over. She spend the whole evening studying the poison but didn't accomplish much. No matter what she tried, magic, chemistry, nothing seemed to separate the poison from the blood. "Oh, I hope Celestia knows what to do. I'm stuck here," Twilight said while rubbing her head. Suddenly there was a knocking at the door.

"Spike!" she called out, but when there were no footsteps or the usual moaning to be heard. She stood up to answer the door herself. "Number 1 assistant for sure." She said sarcastically. She sighed and opened up the front door.

"Hello, my faithful student," Celestia said when the door before her opened up.

"Oh! Princess, I thought you would send a letter first, but this is even better! I tried to solve the problem myself but I think this exceeds my knowledge about antidotes ... and magic" Twilight said with a grin on her face.

"Let’s go." The princess said. There was no emotion in her voice and Twilight had a bad feeling about this. She caught up with Celestia and walked alongside her to the hospital.

The whole way there were no words exchanged between the two ponies. Twilight wasn't in the mood to talk anyway. She thought about the consequences if Celestia wont be able to cure the poison. She tried to banish those thoughts, but they kept coming back. They walked through a corridor in the relatively empty hospital. At this time of the day, most of the ponies were at home. They entered the room where Fluttershy and Trixie were. To their surprise another pony was inside as well. It was Dash, sitting silently beside Fluttershy. Dash looked up and her eyes met with those from the princess. Suddenly all of her tiredness vanished away.

"I'm so glad you are here!" she said, sounding happy for the first time since this whole thing started. Celestia simply nodded and walked closer to Trixie. Her horn started glowing for a brief moment, her expression turned from her usual into a smile. Dash’s and Twilight’s faces lighted up when they saw Celestia smile.

‘She can cure it!’ They both thought. The sun princess stepped back and her horn lit up again this time in a blinding light. A magical orb formed above Trixie and a purple texture was slowly being drained out of her body. The whole procedure took around ten minutes. When the last bit of poison got sealed into the orb, Trixie suddenly let out a loud gasp, before falling into unconsciousness again.
"She isn't safe yet. I needed to drag out a lot of her blood to get all of the poison out. She needs some blood donated from another unicorn right away." Twilight simply nodded.

"I understand. I’ll go and find a nurse so the transfusion can begin as fast as possible." She stepped out of the room to make her way into the entrance hall.

"Well then, lets continue" Celestia said and walked next to Fluttershy. Dash stepped aside to make place for her. The alicorn closed her eyes and her horn started to glow again. Dash watched with a smile on her face, happy that her friend is going to be fine in just a matter of time. Dash was expecting that she was just going to drag out the poison like she did with Trixie.
But this time something was different. Her horn already glowed for nearly a minute and no orb had formed yet.

"Is something wrong?" Dash asked, trying hard not to sound impatient or unthankful.

"I.. I can't do anything for her..." Celestia responded. Her horn stopped glowing. Dash’s smile faded.

"What, what do you mean? You MUST be able to cure her!" She was desperate right now. If the princess couldn’t help Fluttershy, no one could. The sun goddess didn't respond. Her head was lowered. She wasn't able to look at Dash.

"What the hell do you mean? You’re the most powerful being in Equestria! You can lift the freaking sun!” She shouted. “You... you must be able to save her, you must, you must, you must..." Dash’s voice was starting to fade. Tears were streaming down her face and she was on her knees right now, directly in front of the princess. Celestia did everything to avoid her gaze.

"I'm so sorry," she simply said. "She inhaled too much poison. The concentration where she was must have been way higher. I can't withdraw the poison without taking away too much blood. There is nothing I can do"

"Then just take my blood! Take as much as you need, but please just save her." Dash sobbed out.

"I'm afraid that's not possible, we are not talking about small amounts like with Trixie. Nearly half of her entire bloodstream is intoxicated. I'm really sorry," Those were the last words Dash heard. She couldn't believe it. Dash was sitting on the ground, panting heavily. So much emotions wanted to just burst out of her, agony, sadness, anger, and so much more. She just started to scream as loud as she could, while hitting her head against the wall several times. The blood dropping from her forehead mixed up with her tears she shed and the only thing that ran through her mind was the question "What is she going to do now?"

Chapter 3

Twilight was now being guided into a separate room, where she was waiting to get her blood drained out. The thought of helping to save Trixie brought a smile into the unicorns face, although she wasn't sure why. It didn't take too long until a nurse with a long needle came in. Twilight felt a short pain in her upper hoof where the needle got injected, but it disappeared as quickly as it came.

"We are going to examine your blood first. Security measures, so we can be sure that you don't have any contagious illnesses before we infuse your blood into your little marefriend." Twilight blushed slightly at that last comment. She liked the thought of them being a couple, but those were quickly banished by her mind.

She made her way back into Fluttershy´s room. Upon her arrival she realized that Celestia was nowhere around. She looked around the room and spotted Dash laying on the ground. The wall in front of her was marked with red spots. It was then when Twilight saw the injury on the pegasus forehead.

"What happened? Where is the princess?" Dash looked up to her and their eyes met.

"She can't cure her, Twilight. Too much of her blood is intoxicated. There is nothing left to do." Dash said quietly. She was too tired to speak up, the pain she felt in her heart was overwhelming. She never understood all those romantic novels Rarity read, with all the pain they talk about if someone they love died, but now she knew the feeling was unbearable. She just wanted it to stop but it didn't.

"Don't say that Dash, there is always a way. We just have to find it." Twilight tried to cheer her up. Some tears were dropping down from Twilight's face, but she tried hard to hold back others that might be coming out of her wet eyes. But in all honesty, what could THEY do even the princess can't? "Wallowing in sadness wont help anypony. We have to keep calm and find a way to save her" Twilight wasn't just trying to convince Dash that there was another way to save her. She was also trying to convince herself.

"You're right Twi" Dash answered. She stopped crying now and her voice regained some of its strength. "After all, were getting used to making the impossible possible, right?" She added with a small smile.

"We sure are, but first you need to rest. You should come to the library with me, your cloudhouse is farther away from here, and I can tell you faster about anything if you are close to me." That was only half her motivations though. Twilight also wanted to keep an eye on Dash. She knew how reckless that pony could be, and in a situation like this, she was pretty much unpredictable.

Back at her home, Twilight quickly set up a guest bed next to hers. She told Dash to go to sleep. She wanted to complain but then she realized how tired she actually was; besides she would just stand in her way while researching anyway. She laid down on the bed. It wasn't as comfortable as a cloud, but for an earth pony sleeping device, it was rather nice. She laid there and thought about Fluttershy. She didn't know why, but all that came to her mind was her kind, cute little smile. Dash was sure of it at this point. She wanted to be more than just friends with Fluttershy. It didn't take too long until she fell asleep with that thought.

=================

Dash woke up with a yawn. It wasn't the best sleep she had, but it took away her exhaustion and that was enough for her. She walked down into the main hall. When she stepped down the last step, she froze there for a second. The room was covered in books, hundreds of them were lying on the ground. "Twilight?" Dash shouted, tiredness slightly infiltrating her voice.

"Oh, you're awake already." The unicorn walked toward her, carefully avoiding to damage any of the books on her way.

"Already? It's nearly noon!" Dash responded.

"Yep! Time always flies by so fast when I’m studying" Twilight said with a little smile.

"Well, did you find out anything?"

"Mhm, not really, aside from the fact that NONE of my spellbooks have a spell in them that could be remotely useful for our purpose."

"That's at least something" Dash smiled back. After a brief moment someone knocked on Twilight's door. Dash flew above the mess and opened up.

"Twilight? I was just checking on Fluttershy in the hospital, and Trixie was awake. I figured I should call you. Maybe she can clarify what happened or what we can do." Rarity said without making any effort to come in.

"Thank you Rarity.” Twilight said. “I’ll go see her right now. I’m willing to bet she knows something useful. Dash, are you coming too?" Twilight asked.

"Yea. There’s nothing to do for me here anyway." Dash answered while flying out of the library. Twilight trotted out as well, closing the door behind her. All of them walked towards the hospital, hoping that Trixie might be able to help them out.

============

The whole way to the hospital, Twilight's thoughts were miles away. She tried to hide her desperation to not panic Dash even more. But the truth of the matter is, there were no spells in her spell books which could be at least a little helpful. She could create a new spell but that would take years, maybe even decades. Twilight concluded in her mind that, if Trixie wont be able to help them out with some information, Flutershy’s chances of surviving were anything but high. When they finally arrived at the hospital Twilight gulped down her thoughts and walked the same way they already walked a hundred times. They entered Fluttershy’s room. She was still in a coma, as expected. Trixie, on the other hand was awake. Her eyes were open. She looked tired and exhausted, but she was conscious. Twilight slowly walked towards her.

"Are you feeling any better yet?" she asked the other unicorn. Trixie didn't respond. Rarity tried her luck with the recovering unicorn.

"Can you tell us what happened, darling?" But again there was no answer given. Dash was at the end of her patience.

"Hey! Answer us! Its the least thing you could do for bringing us.. no, for bringing Fluttershy so much trouble!" The pegasus couldn't hold back her anger against Trixie anymore. It was HER fault that they were in this mess to begin with, and now she refused to cooperate? Dash angrily stomped right next to her bed. "Now, listen! You are the reason were in this mess, now stop being such an egomaniac and tell us what the fudge you know!" She burst out. Trixie didn't respond once again, she simply looked away from her and bit down on her lip. "I should’ve just let you die." Dash said before walking out of the room. Twilight saw the despair on Trixie’s face and tried to cheer her up a little.

"She didn't mean it. I am certain that she was just blinded by her anger" Rarity added "I’ll go and talk to her, before she tries something stupid" the white unicorn said before walking out of the hospital.

The room was now silent. The only thing to be heard were some occasional footsteps when a nurse passed the room.

Twilight made an attempt to break the uncomfortable silence "Is there anything you wanna tell me now?" she asked the blue mare again.

What happened next was the last thing Twilight would have predicted. Trixie burst into tears right in front of her. Twilight was shocked at first, but then slowly wrapped her hooves around the crying mare, trying to comfort her as well as she could.

"There, there. Just let it all out." Twilight said. She wasn't sure what she was actually doing, being in this situation for the first time. Everything she said and did was out of pure instinct. They sat there for quite a while, until Trixie released herself from Twilight's grip. The purple unicorn gave her a concerned look, but Trixie did everything to avoid her gaze.

"What's the matter?" Twilight asked her.

"No one is supposed to see Trixie like this ..." the other unicorn responded in a quiet tone.

"And why is that?" Twilight was about to lose her temper. THAT was worrying her?

"Trixie was an independent pony, who didn't need anypony and could take care of herself. Now look at her! She would have died without you and your little pegasus friend, and on top of all that, Trixie can't even keep my emotions for herself." Trixie cried out. She was angry, sad and annoyed at the same time. ‘Why are these ponies helping me?’ Trixie thought, ‘What do they want from me in return? I certainly would have left them to their fate.’

"Oh, you're so stupid, Trixie." Twilight said, while shaking her head. Trixie was about to say something, but the purple unicorn continued. "Needing help once in a while doesn't make you weak. In fact, it makes you stronger. You can form bonds with ponies, and those bonds can turn into friendship. And nothing is stronger than that." She said, smiling at Trixie. That smile. What was up with that smile? Trixie's tense muscles relaxed at the sight of that smile. She had a strange feeling in her stomach, a feeling she wasn't familiar with. She felt safe when Twilight was around. She felt like she was understood.

"Before my time in Ponyville, I was a lot like you. I hated the idea of having a relationship of any kind with another pony. I guess that's because I thought it was just a waste of time. But boy was I wrong. Its was not and is not a waste of time. The sensation I experienced when I knew I had friends who cared about me was unlike everything I have ever felt. It may be why I think about you that much since you arrived in Ponyville. I want us to have a binding like that as well." Twilight finished with a timid smile on her face, afraid that she may crossed a line with that last sentence.

"Trixie might consider your offer. It seems like you know what you are talking about," Trixie replied with what seemed to be a smile.

"That’s great! But for now you should get some rest, and ehm... uhm... if you haven't found a place to, you know ehm, stay yet, uhm, just so you know the library is pretty big for a single pony and ... I have a spare bed if you happen to, well, want to stay with me for your recovery?" Twilight closed her eyes, what was she thinking? Its way to early to ask things like this. Trixie must think she is a creeper now. Oh goodness, what had she done?

"I suppose Trixie could do that, but for now lets rest."

"Imsorryishouldnthaveaskedthat, uhm what? Oh... oh yeah we should. Goodnight then" Twilight replied before she stood up and made her way out of the hospital, trying to contain her excitement to not make a fool out of herself. As she closed the library door behind her she did some joyous jumps before lying down on her bed. She did it! She asked her to stay with her and she said yes. This made the whole situation with Fluttershy easier to bear. When the thoughts of her friend crossed her mind again, it instantly destroyed her good mood. Oh Fluttershy, I hope I can find a cure ... she thought before drifting into her dreams.

Chapter 5

Trixie entered the main hall and walked towards the hospital secretary.

"I would like to check out" she told the secreta.The dark blue pegasus pony gestured her to wait. Trixie was starting to get impatient but didn't say anything.

After a couple of minutes the pegasus let out a sigh and lifted her head up

"What were you asking again?"

"I want to check out" Trixie answered with the slightest bit of anger in her voice.

"Certainly, you just need to sign here" the pegasus held up a sheet of paper.

Trixie flew over it real quick

"That's it?" she asked while signing it.

"Yep, that's it" the secretary responded

"I don't need to pay anything?"

The pegasus gave her a confused look "The white unicorn that brought you and your other two friends paid for everything in beforehand" she replied before continuing her work.

"Is that so..." Trixie murmured to herself while walking outside.

"That unicorn paid for everything?" she thought while heading to the local library.

=====

Spike let out a groan when he was finally finished with clearing up all the books Twilight had used to search a spell for Fluttershy. Satisfied with his work he made his way into the kitchen to start making dinner. Twilight hadn't come out of her room since she arrived, but that was nothing unusual for her. Once she sets something in her mind that girl wouldn't stop until she finds what she was searching for. He poured some water into a pan and added some celery's; he exhaled a little bit of his fire to make it boil. "Celery soup" he thought "that was Twilight's favourite, it will lighten up her mood for sure!" It was not much, but it was all the dragon could do currently for her. He started to make the table ready for dinner, when the door suddenly rang. "Who could that be" he thought while opening up the front door.

"Trixie?" he said in disbelief.

Walking inside the library the unicorn asked "Does Trixie know you?"

"Yes you do! I'm one of Twilight's friends and we w-"

"Oh so you are a servant? Be a dear and prepare a hot bath for Trixie, will you?"

"What is that unicorn thinking? I'm not a servant! But she looks different from last time, without her cape and hat, not hiding her beautiful, gorgeous mane..." Spike started to get lost in his thoughts, similar to what happens when Rarity is around him. Before he realized what was going on he was already in the bathroom, making the bathtub ready as Trixie demanded.

After a short time Trixie trotted inside. "Where is Twilight, by the way?" Trixie asked him casually.

"She is studying some notes the princess sent her." Spike replied with a nervous grin.

"Is that so? Well then, Trixie awaits her dinner to be ready when she is finished with her bath." Trixie said before sinking into the hot water. Just before Spike left the bathroom Trixie´s voice was heard again "Oh, and could you scrub my back?" she asked him. She could use magic to do it, but she wanted to relax and not have to concentrate on scrubbing her own back.

Spike couldn't believe what he just heard. He took a deep breath before turning around. Picking up the scrubber he slowly approached Trixie.

'Ok calm down, ponies are always naked, this is nothing new for you, you always see them like this.' He thought to calm himself down. When he was right before the tub Trixie turned around, her back was now facing the small dragon. He held up the scrubber with both of his hands and wanted to start scrubbing when suddenly his nose began to bleed. "Waaah!" He screamed and ran out of the bathroom, leaving a confused Trixie behind.

"I guess he couldn't handle that much awesomeness," she said to nopony in particular.

Half an hour had passed before Trixie walked out of the bathroom, feeling much better than before. She stretched herself a bit before trotting to the main hall, where her dinner was already served. "Twilight found her a good servant," she thought while sitting down onto a chair and started sipping her soup.

Meanwhile, directly above Trixie, another unicorn desperately tried to figure out a spell.

"Why isn't this working" Twilight was losing her temper. She tried to get this spell right since hours, but it was no good. It was too difficult for her, but she had to. She promised it to Rarity. She had to get this spell right.

Twilight slowly got up on her hooves again, picking up a knife she cut her hoof slightly and drew a circle on the ground. She bowed down her head until her horn touched it. A burst of magic was send through her horn. She tried her best to contain it, but it was too unstable and the spell imploded right in front of her like so many times before.

"Damn it, damn it, damn it!" The unicorn was heavily panting now. She began to realize how exhausted she was. Closing her eyes she rested for a bit, or at least she tried. But then Dash's and Rarity's despairing expressions came into her mind. She slowly got on her hooves again, continuing to try what she had been trying for hours.

The moon was now starting to take over, and Spike was began to worry about Twilight. He made his way up to her room. "Twilight?" he called while opening the door to her room. The room was dark; the only source of light came from the moon which shined through the window. The whole ground was covered in circles drawn with a scarlet red liquid. The thick air made it difficult for him to breath and the merest scent of sweat was to be smelled.

Twilight was sitting in the middle of her room. She seemed miles away. Her eyes were empty; it was like she is looking right through Spike. The unicorn was also murmuring something but he was not able to understand what. "Twilight?" the dragon called again, but no answer was given; he doubted that she was even aware of his presence. Shocked, he slowly approached the purple pony. "Is everything alright?" he asked with an unsteady voice. Again Twilight didn't answer, nor did she acknowledge him. Spike was now really concerned about her "You wait here, I'll go and call help!" he exclaimed on his way out of the library.

Twilight however didn't even witness what had just happened. She was trapped inside of her own mind, not being aware of her surroundings anymore. A thousand thoughts drifted through her brain. What is she going to do now? Had she failed her friends? Did she even deserve any friends if she can't even cast a single spell to save one of them? She sat there thinking about what she is going to do know, without realizing how much time flew by.

===========

A couple of minutes passed in which the library was in a total silence. Suddenly the front door burst open.

"Where is she?" Dash asked while flying inside.

"In the upper floor inside of her room" Spike replied

Quickly dashing through the entrance hall, Dash arrived there in a matter of seconds. She hesitated for a brief moment before opening the door of Twilight's room. Her eyes dilated at the sight in front of her. "Twilight!" Dash screeched with a shaky voice. Like with Spike, Twilight did not respond or even acknowledged the pegasus.

Dash slowly approached her friend. She shook her slightly to snap her back into reality.

"Hey Twi, what happened?" Again no answer was given. She looked down and saw that the ground underneath Twilight was covered in a tiny sanguine pool and recognized a cut which Twilight had across her hoof. Dash raised the head of the unicorn until their eyes meet. She tried to shake her again, this time more rough. It seemed to work. Twilight slowly returned into reality, she looked around the room before gazing at the pegasus with her empty eyes.

"I can't do it, Dash" Twilight conceded and bowed her head again.

"What was that?" Dash asked

"I'm sorry I can't get this spell right, it's too difficult. Please don't hate me" Twilight replied while shredding a tear.

"Why would she think I hate her? Did I put her under so much pressure? Damn, I didn't want this....

"There is nothing to feel sorry about, Twilight. It's my fault for pressuring you that much" Dash apologized before she continued "You do not have to do everything yourself, just tell us if there is anything we can help you with"

"I don't think it works that way Dash. You can't help me with learning a spell" Twilight answered with a sad tone.

"I beg to differ" another voice from across the room claimed

"What do you mean?" Twilight asked, raising an eyebrow in confusion.

"I happen to know a spell which can combine the minds of various ponies. That way they can help you cast the spell" Trixie replied.

"Oh! That's wo-" Twilight's words were cut off.

"However, for the time you are linked your other friends cannot control how much of their energy they borrow you. Which means if you use too much of their energy it can have lethal consequences" Trixie said with a harsh voice.

With those words being sad, Trixie walked out of Twilight's room again. "It's your decision if you want to take use of this. Trixie will be ready to cast it on you and your friends whenever you are ready."

Twilight and Dash looked at each other, no one willing to say what their opinion on this change of events is. After a couple of minutes Dash broke the silence. "We should do it," she suggested with a confident voice.

"But- but what if I-"

"That's not going to happen Twilight. I'm 100- no, I'm 120% sure that you are going to pull it off without any flaws."

"... I don't know Dash."

"Then tell me, which unicorn was gifted enough to impress the Princess herself?"

"Me..."

"Right, and who was able to defeat an Ursa Minor?"

"Me..."

"And who spends an unhealthy amount of time studying these boring books?"

"That would b - HEY!"

They both shared a short giggle before Twilight nodded with confidence "Your right, I can do this!"

Chapter 6

Dash was already awake before noon, which was some kind of a mirace. She usually slept until noon and proceeded to nap until afternoon, but not today. She had work to do.

After Twilight decided that she is going to take use of Trixie´s spell they agreed that Dash is going to ask their friends if they are okay with this while Twilight practices the spell together with Trixie.

Her first place to pass by was Sweet Apple Acres. Applejack was already bucking apples, in a faster pace than usual because winter was coming soon.

"Hey there AJ" Dash greeted the earth pony while landing in front of her

"Howdy ther´ Dash, what's up with ya bein awake aready?" Applejack asked while putting her saddlebags filled with apples on the ground.

"Well, as you know the princess wasn't able to cure Fluttershy."

"Aw, yea ..." Applejack said with a saddened voice

"However, Twilight found a spell which can save her. The problem is that it is too difficult for her to cast on her own, that's why she needs our help"

"Of cours` we all gonna help her, right?"

"If anything goes adrift in the process we may get severely hurt."

Applejack thought about this for a second but then replied "That's how things are. You can count on me nevertheless!"

"Oh great! I knew you wouldn't let us down, gotta go tell the others now. Just come by the library around dawn. Goodbye!!" Dash yelled while flying away.

Her next destination was Sugarcube Corners.

"Hey, Mrs. Cake, you happen to know where Pinkie is?" Dash asked while flying inside of the bakery store

"Oh hello Dash. I believe she is in her room."

"Ok, thanks," Dash replied while flying upstairs. Opening up the door to Pinkie's room, she trotted inside. "Pinkie?" She called out once she entered the messy room. It was decorated in various pink flairs. Streamers and balloons lying around everywhere.

"I'm here Dashie," a voice responded, and a pink pony approached Dash. "What's the matter?"

"Uhm... why is your hair straight?" Dash asked in confusion

"Oh never mind that..."

Dash felt like there is something wrong with Pinkie but she couldn't tell what "Mhm, okay. I dropped by to tell you that Twilight found a spell which may be able to save Fluttershy!"

"SHE DID?" Pinkies hair curled up at once. She got caught in her excitement and jumped onto Dash. "That's sooooooo wonderful, I was scared that we wont be able to do anything and than bad things would happen to her and we all would be sad and than we wouldn't be happy anymore because we would be sad and I don't like you guys being sad because that makes me sad and then I would be like double sad and ...-"

Dash closed Pinkies mouth with her hoof "I wasn't finished, we need to help her in order for the spell to succeed -" before she could continue Pinkie disrupted her once again.

"Of course we will help, what kind of friends would we be if we wouldn't? I mean if friends don't help friends they wouldn't be friends would they? And we are Fluttershy's friends so we obviously are going to help her because we-"

"PINKIE! Would you mind listening to me for a second?" Dash awaited any signs of protest, when there were none she continued. "If the spell does not succeed it could be that we will get injured, badly."

"Oh Dashie, that wont happen anyway!" she exclaimed joyfully

"How can you be so sure?"

"Because I know it will! I promise you everything will work out just fine."

Dash did not know how Pinkie could be so optimistic "But..." she tried to say something but got interrupted by Pinkie

"Fluttershy will be fine again, Pinkie Pie promise! Cross my heart and hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye"

The pegasus looked at her friend is awe. "How can she be so sure?" she wondered. "I guess your right. Thank you Pinkie. I should go now-" Dash was interrupted by a loud growl.

"Seems like your hungry! Wanna eat something?" Pinkie giggled

Dash still had to ask Rarity if she would be ready to help, but they had time. Trixie and Twilight said that they won't be finished with the preparations until dawn. "Yea, sure, why not?"

With those words being said Pinkie bounced down the stairs and a couple of minutes later she returned with a tablet full of cupcakes. Each of them picked their favourite flavour and they started munching the delicious treats. "Why so glum, Dashie?" she asked while taking another bite out of the pastry.

"Oh its nothing" Dash replied and continued chewing on the cupcake, if only to hide her face.

"That does not sound like nothing! It sounds like something! Are you thinking about the whole thing with Shy?"

"Oh no - I mean yes, but not exactly."

"I think I know whats going on!"

"You do?" Dash said, nervously grinning

"Could it be that you like Fluttershy?" Pinkie asked with a smile.

"Ehm, uhm. Sure I do, I like all of you. I am the element of loyalty after all, so I'm loyal to my friends which means I have to... uhm like them? Yea... that sounds good"

"I mean like like-like" Pinkie teased Dash with a wide grin.

Dash started to blush and tried to think for an answer. Pinkie however saw how uncomfortable she made the Pegasus.

"Oh Dash, I'm just joking!" Pinkie said while pretending to laugh.

"Oh you are? Ahahaha - good one Pinkie you got me there," Dash replied with a nervous smile.

Around an hour passed where the two ponies just enjoyed each others company by eating, laughing and relating old stories.

"Well, thank you for the great time Pinkie, but I still have to talk to Rarity. Just drop by the library in an hour, we'll meet there." Dash stated while flapping her wings.

"Okie Dokie Lokie Dashie. See you there!"

Dash waved as she flew out of the window, flying towards the Carousel Boutique.

======

The Pegasus gently landed in front of Rarity's house and knocked. The door opened, but not by Rarity as Dash expected. It was Sweetie Belle. "Hey there, Sweetie Belle, was it? Do you know where your sister is?"

The small unicorn nodded "You missed her; she just left, but didn't tell me where she was heading"

"Oh okay thank you" Dash thanked Rarity's sister.

"Wait!" Sweetie Belle screamed a second before Dash dashed off. When the colourful pegasus turned back around to her she continued. "Do you know what's wrong with my sister? She seems so sad and I even heard her crying in her rooms sometimes," she asked, giving Dash a concerned look.

Dash thought about what she just heard for a second before giving an answer "Its nothing you have to worry about. I'll take care of your sister now and she will be her old self in no time!"

"Really? Thank you Ms. Dash!" Sweetie Belle joyfully exclaimed.

"No prob, kiddo," Dash said and flew away.

As soon as she was out of sight her expression abruptly changed "Rarity was crying?!" She couldn't believe it, Rarity never cried. This whole situation must be harder for her than she thought. "At least I know where she is heading," Dash thought and picked up more speed.

"Rarity!" Dash screamed at the sight of the white unicorn. Rarity turned around at the sound of her name and spotted the pegasus at once.

"Hello, Rainbow Dash," she greeted her.

"Hey there Rarity. Where are you heading?"

"Nowhere in particular..." Rarity replied with a saddened voice

"To the hospital again?" Dash asked. Rarity simply nodded, being on the verge of crying. "It's alright Rarity, everything is going to be fine." Earlier today she wouldn't have believed herself saying that, but Pinkie made the pegasus more optimistic about everything currently happening.

"Oh it is not alright, my dear. The situation is everything but alright," Rarity exclaimed with a bitter voice.

"I'm sorry, that's not how I meant it"

"No, no I'm sorry, I knew you didn't mean it like that. It's just that," Rarity's voice cracked "I'm so confused right now. I have no idea what I'm going to do if she won't recover. I will be lost. She was the only pony I could hang out with without wearying her."

Dash thought about what she could do to help the crying mare, but before she could react Rarity leaned her head onto Dash's shoulder and cried into it. Dash wrapped one of her hooves around her, trying to comfort her friend as good as she could.

Several minutes passed without any words between those two being exchanged. "Feeling better?" Dash asked once the unicorn finished crying.

"Yes, thank you Dash. I needed that," Rarity replied with a little smile on her face.

"No problem. You can count on me Rarity!"

"I guess I can. By the way, why were you searching me?" Rarity asked in curiosity

"Ohhh right that! Well it seems like Twilight found a spell which may be able to cure Fluttershy, but it's too difficult for her to cast it on her own. That's why she needs our help in order for the spell to succeed. However the spell is risky; if it fails everypony who helped casting it could be severely hurt, and I'm here to ask if we can count on you."

"What a stupid question, dear. Of course I will help. Consequences do not matter as long as she will be fine again." Rarity responded

"Well then, it's nearly dawn. We should start heading towards the library."

With those words being said the two ponies trotted to the library. Both of them hoping that everything will work out just fine...

Chapter 7

The way to Twilight's house was followed by silence for the most part. Drawing closer to the library, they saw Pinkie and Applejack had already arrived and were waiting for them. As soon as Pinkie's eyes caught Rarity and Dash she started to wave frantically at the two ponies.

"At least one of us is in a good mood." Rarity snickered

"Yea that's our Pinkie" Dash giggled as well.

"Hey Rarity, hey Dashie" Pinkie said in the jubilant mannerism she was known for.

"Hello Pinkie Pie" Rarity greeted the pink pony with not even half the enthusiasm.

"Now then shall we get inside?" Dash asked the group; everypony responded with a determined nod, even Pinkie looked somewhat serious.

Dash nervously knocked at the door, unsure what is awaiting them.

"Come in, the door is open" a voice from inside demanded.

Dash pushed the door and trotted inside, the other three following her closely.

"Spike, bring our guests something to drink" Trixie commanded, and Spike, to the other ponies surprise, obeyed without moaning.

"Where is Twilight?" Applejack asked after they all sat down.

"She is currently busy preparing everything, for the time being I'll explain to you how this will be executed."

Meanwhile Spike was finished serving everypony with apple juice. He murmured something about being an assistant and not a slave but no one minded him.

Trixie made sure she had their undivided attention before she started to explain to them how it will be done.

"The first thing we need to do is get the pegasus over here. Dash, you will take care of that. We need to do everything as fast as possible because after Fluttershy has been unplugged from the respirator-"

"Wait I gotta remove her from that thing? Can she even survive without it?" Dash interrupted her in an outrage

"Yes, you have to, and no she won't, at least not for long. That's why we got to hurry up. Once you arrive here you will head to the basement and I'll instruct you further once your back here.

The two earth ponies and the unicorn will stay with me; I'll cast the spell on you while Dash is getting the patient." Trixie awaited any form of respond but it seemed everypony understood what they had to do.

"Ok then lets get started. Go get her Dash, we will be ready when you arrive back here,"

Dash gave them a reassuring nod before flying off.

"You three follow me," Trixie said as she walked down the stairs into the basement.

The dim light instantly assaulted their eyes; the damp and thick air made it a pain to breathe down here. The ground however was spotless, not a single item was lying there.

"Howdy there Twilight," Applejack greeted her friend

Twilight turned around and a small smile formed on her face at the sight of her friends. "Hey guys. Is Dash already on her way?" she asked them; they nodded as a response.

"That's why we should hurry up, I'll need you all to cut your hooves and provide a tiny amount of blood in order for the spell to work," Trixie announced with a dictating voice.

Everypony, except Twilight, was slightly confused. Rarity was the first one who levitated the knife which Trixie held and cut her hoof firmly.

"Now?" Rarity asked

"Draw a circle alongside the outlines on the ground as long as your blood lasts" Trixie answered, pointing at the contours of a circle approximately 10x10 inches big.

"You two do the same" she told Pinkie and Applejack and proceeded to cut her own hoof as well. Twilight did the same.

A couple of minutes passed before the entire circle was overdrawn with blood.

"Applejack you go to the top please. Pinkie you go to the right hoof left corner and Rarity you go to the top left hoof corner." Twilight exclaimed as she gestured where every single pony had to stand. After her three friends stood where they should, she moved to the bottom left and Trixie to the bottom right.

When everyone was in position Trixie spoke up "I will cast the spell on you now, it will combine our minds with Twilight's. She will lead us through the spell. It is important that you keep calm during the whole procedure."

With those words being said, the blue unicorn closed her eyes and her horn started to glow.

Several minutes passed without anything happening; suddenly Rarity felt a stinging pain in her head, but it faded as quickly as it came. "W..o..w" Rarity thought in awe after the spell had been cast on her, she could think as clearly as never before. Being linked with Twilight's mind, she had access to everything Twilight knew and thought, and that was a lot.

She knew that Twilight was smart but this amount of knowledge was sick. "Twilight is a genius" the white unicorn thought.

"Thanks..." a timid noise echoed inside of the white unicorn's mind.

Rarity let out a shocked scream before asking "You can hear what I'm thinking?"

"Well, duh, of course we can, that's what the spell does" Pinkies voice responded.

"I reckon we gotta wait for Dash know, don't we?"

============

Meanwhile Dash arrived at the hospital; she purposely flew rather slowly so she can save her energy for the way back. Flying around the building, she found the room where Fluttershy was lying, and opened up the window; it was not locked as expected.

She flew inside and stopped as she was standing right next to the unconscious pegasus. Raising her hoof she gripped the tube of the respirator,trying to pull it off, but she was not able to do it. "Come on Dash, just pull it off" she thought but couldn't bring herself to do it.

"She will die within three minutes" Trixie´s voice crossed her mind.

"That's what keeps her alive in the first place... I can't remove it," she conceded, but then she remembered what Pinkie told her. Dash gulped down her doubts and took a deep breath "3...2...1" she pulled the tube off as she finished her inner countdown. The sound of escaping air filled the room and put her into a trance for a short time. She snapped back into reality as she realized that Fluttershy`s time is running out. Placing the other pegasus on her back she dashed off. She flew in a speed where the air around her turned into whipping slashes. Even though Dash was feeling stinging pain all over her body she did not even think about slowing down. Her current situation reminded her of the last time she was carrying Fluttershy. It made her remember that she is to blame to begin with, if she would have looked for her earlier instead of her stupid, stupid training or if she would have at least flown faster all this wouldn't have happened "I cant fail her again" she thought and sped up even further.

Only a couple of seconds passed until Dash crashed into the library, flying down into the basement as fast as she could.

"Lay her into the middle of the circle," Twilight commanded. Dash put Fluttershy down and waited for further instructions. But Twilight was already busy casting the spell. Dash saw how everypony around her was concentrating on something, so she didn't interrupt or say anything.

Twilight leached more and more energy of her friends through the spell. Her horn was glowing in a light so bright it was impossible to look at it without being blinded. Still it was not enough in order for the spell to work.

"Twilight you have to cast it now, your friends are on the edge of their power," Trixie´s voice resounded in her mind, but Twilight did not listen. She just needed a bit more. Twilight was hearing various voices in her head wailing in agony. She concluded that she had to stop now, even though it wasn't enough to cast the spell. That's why Twilight did the only thing that came to her mind right now.

The whole room got consumed in a blending light for a brief moment. After it faded, Dash looked around the room. Everypony was lying on the ground heavily panting, but they seemed fine, exhausted yet healthy.

"Did it work?" Dash asked. Twilight slowly got on her hooves, she waited a couple of seconds for her breathing to normalize before she exclaimed

"We did not have enough energy to cast the spell." Everypony was shocked "All this for nothing? We couldn't heal her?" Rarity thought before Twilight spoke up once again "However I managed to split up the spell. I healed her lethal injuries, but I couldn't remove the poison from the blood. Not right now at least. I used the remaining energy to cast a regeneration spell on her." She pointed at a mark Fluttershy had above her regular cutie mark; it looked similar to Twilight's. "That's where our energy is sealed in, it will remove the poison and every damage it did on the organs"

"So Shy-Shy is going to be allrighty again?"

"Yep, she should be fine in a week or two" Twilight answered Pinkie's question with a smile on her face.

Those words removed every bit of tension which was in the room just moments ago. Pinkie started to scream and jump around in joy, even though she was as tired as everypony else.

Rarity let out a long sigh before letting herself fall onto the ground in exhaustion. "What a relief" she thought with a smirk on her lips

Dash took awhile to realize what was going on. "Fluttershy is safe" she thought "Thinking that feels so good"

"She is save" Dash murmured to herself.

"She is save!" Dash was yelling now, everypony looked at her as if something was wrong with the pegasus. Then Dash started to laugh, frantically. Pinkie joined the laughter and soon all of them did. Even Trixie had a smile on her face.

========

The next morning Pinkie was the first one to wake up. She stretched herself as she was looking around the room. They all stood at Twilight's house for the night, all being too tired to go home. Fluttershy was unconsciously lying on the couch while everypony else was sleeping on the ground all over the room with nothing but a blanket to cover themselves.

Pinkie got on her hooves and trotted into the bathroom, quickly washing her face. She figured that her friends will be hungry once they wake up, not to speak of her own hunger.

Leaving the library, the warm and bright sun shone upon her. It was a gorgeous day. Birds were singing their melodies, Bees were humming and not a single cloud was to be seen in the sky. Pinkie just stood there for a moment, letting the comforting sunlight embrace her, before she continued bouncing towards Sugarcube Corners.

Upon entering the Bakery, she was instantly greeted by Mrs. Cake. She waved back at her while taking out a tablet of Cupcakes and stuffing them into a bag. "I'll pay later, promise!" she yelled while leaving, bouncing back towards the library.

Arriving back at Twilights house, she saw that everypony was already awake. Rarity was arguing with Applejack and Dash about something and Twilight silently slipped on a mug filled with coffee, her mane was a disaster and she had bags under her annoyed looking eyes. "Definitely not a morning Pony," Pinkie thought.

"Hey everypony, I bought us some cupcakes to munch on!" she announced while putting the bag on the tablet.

"Sweetheart, you can't just eat cupcakes for breakfast."

"Why not?" Pinkie asked, staring at Rarity with her huge blue eyes.

"Because..." Rarity wanted to continue but she knew that it would do no good anyway. "Never mind," she said and moved next to the tablet, picking up a single cupcake with her magic. The others did the same.

Unlike the last couple of days, the room was filled with laughter and happiness. It was about time that they all were in a good mood.

=======

"And then Big Mac said *that ain't my apples*," Applejack finished her joke, trying to contain her laughter. The group all shared a giggle.

"um. Could I have a cupcake too, please?"

"Where is Trixie actually?" Dash asked Twilight.

"She claimed my bed last night, didn't see her since," Twilight replied while letting out yet another yawn

"Did you guys hear that?" Rarity asked, her friends replied by shaking their heads. "It sounded almost like..." With those words being sad, Rarity turned around, so did everypony else.

They all froze at the sight of Fluttershy. She was lying there, awake, her eyes were open. Suddenly Pinkie jumped on her, flipping over the couch and hugging her tightly.

"Shy! You are awake, HURRAAAY!" Pinkie joyfully exclaimed.

"Oww, Pinkie that hurts," Fluttershy squeaked out.

"Oopsie! Got caught up in excitement" Pinkie apologized with a smile.

"Umm that's okay" Fluttershy responded in her usual silent voice. She slowly got up on her hooves and saw how everypony stared at her with bulky eyes. "Did I do something wrong?" Fluttershy asked, avoiding any eye contact.

"You silly, silly, silly Pony" Rarity said while approaching the pegasus. "Don't you ever dare to scare me like that again" Rarity said, standing right in front of Fluttershy now.

"I'm sorry..."

Rarity shook her head "There is nothing to be sorry about" she gave the pegasus a gentle hug "Just be more careful please. I was so scared of loosing you"

Fluttershy nodded before returning the hug.

"Glad to have ya back, sugarcube" Applejack said to Fluttershy while lowering her hat.

"Hey Fluttershy"

"Mh?" the yellow pegasus replied, turning her head towards Dash.

"Ehm..." she began, but then hesitated for a second."You should be more careful" she finished with a blush on her face.

Rarity let out a loud sigh in disappointment.

"Indeed we are all glad that you are on your hooves again, are you feeling any pain?" Twilight broke the silence

"Oh no. I'm fine"

"Are you sure?"

"Well, um, my head hurts and it's hard to stand on my hooves and I feel drained out of my energy, oh and also I'm starving." Fluttershy answered in a single breath.

"Then you should better sit down and eat something," Rarity suggested, flipping the couch back into its original position and gesturing Fluttershy to sit down.

After the pegasus did what she was recommended to, Rarity picked up a cupcake with her magic and levitated it next to Fluttershy.

"Um I think I can do that myself. If that's fine with you," the timid pony said and picked up the cupcake flying in front of her with one of her hooves.

"Certainly, dear. But do not hesitate to ask for any sort of help"

=====

Several minutes passed in silence, until Applejack stood up.

"Well Ah´ma have a lot of work to do, but Ah will be sure to drop by if Ah get the chance to." With those words, she waved everypony goodbye and left the library.

The only sound to be heard now was the chewing of Fluttershy and Pinkie. Dash looked around the room in boredom and saw Rarity gazing at her with an intimidating expression. Dash avoided eye contact with her but it was still bothersome.

"What?" she finally asked

"Oh nothing dear" Rarity simply responded, yet proceeding to stare at her.

A couple of seconds passed

"What is it?" she asked again, this time with a tad of anger in her voice.

"Nothing, unless you know its something" Rarity replied, finally freeing Dash from her piercing gaze.

But the damage was already done. Dash knew what she meant, and she was feeling awful not confessing to Fluttershy. She couldn't do it, not now at least.

"Waah, I'm stuffed" Pinkie announced, tapping her tummy with one hoof.

"About time you are" Dash murmured to nopony in particular.

"What was that, Dashie?"

"Oh nothing, nothing at all," Dash lied with a nervous smirk on her face.

Pinkies expression suddenly turned serious. She started at Dash with half closed eyelids, but it faded as quickly as it came. "Okie Dokie" she said in her usual, high pitched voice.

"Hey Twilight what time is it, by the way?" Pinkie suddenly changed the topic

"Its half past t-" the purple unicorn said before getting interrupted

"Oh that late already? Come Dash we gotta go!" she exclaimed, grabbing Dash with one hoof and dragging her towards the library.

"Wait, what? Why? Where?" Dash asked in confusion

"Uhm.... Making Cupcakes!"

"Pinkie we just ate tons of cupcakes, and besides, I'm a horrible baker. Remember the last time?" Dash protested

Pinkie thought about that for a while, but didn't let go of Dash.

"I'll only need you to be there, I'll be doing most of the work. Now come oooon"

Before Dash could protest further, Pinkie carried her out of the library, closing the door behind her.

"Did anypony just get what happened?" Twilight asked, raising an eyebrow. The other two ponies shook their head.

"However, how about we take a hot bath at the spa together, Fluttershy?" Rarity suggested

Before Fluttershy could answer though, Twilight intruded

"Sorry can't allow that. Fluttershy has to rest and the spa is too far away for her. You can use my tub if you want to"

"But yours is soooo small," Rarity complained

"You and your First Equestria problems," Twilight sighed.

"I guess we have no choice. Come along Fluttershy."

"Mhm ok" the timid pegasus simply replied and followed the white unicorn.

Twilight allowed herself a smile. She had done well with this spell, and seeing Fluttershy awake and moving around a little made her feel great. Yet something bothered her. She felt like something was going to happen to disturb their peace, it was a similar feeling she had when this whole Mare in the Moon event took place. Twilight shook her head to banish these thoughts, and trotted into her room.

Chapter 8

"All right Pinkie, you left me clueless long enough. Why do you need me?" Dash asked in an annoyed tone.

"To bake! That's what I told you!" Pinkie simply replied without bothering to look back at the pegasus she was currently dragging behind her.

"Since when do you need help baking?"

"Oh Dashie, you really think I'm that stupid?"

"No, you're not stupid, you're just," she hesitated for a second to think of an appropriate word, "weird"

"Whatever. You see, I saw how uncomfortable you are around Fluttershy since she woke up. So I assume that you wanna confess to her," Pinkie said the following while twinkling with one of her eyes, "whatever you want to confess her"

Dash thought about what Pinkie just said, and it made quite a lot of sense. She concluded that Pinkie was kind of right.

"I could really use a hoof with all that emotional stuff, but how is baking going to help me?"

"Well, duh, isn't it obvious? What says 'I like you' more than a hoof-made cake?"

"That's a stupid idea, Pinkie!"

"Oh, you have a better one?" Pinkie asked in a sarcastic tone.

Dash took a long breath, preparing to answer Pinkies question, but nothing came to her mind.

"Fine," she conceded

"To the bakery then!" Pinkie joyfully announced.

=============

In the meantime Fluttershy and Rarity were back in the living room of Twilight's house. The bath they took wasn't exactly what Rarity would call luxurious but as long as they could spend time together, she was happy.

Rarity was drying Fluttershy's mane, when the pegasus began to speak up.

"Rarity?"

"Yes, sweety?" the white unicorn replied casually.

"Did you guys worry about me?"

"Well of course we all were worried sick!"

"Everypony?" she stammered

"Yes, no exceptions"

"Okay," Fluttershy silently replied

"Why are you asking?" Rarity asked her

"But promise not to tell anypony"

"Pinkie Pie swear!" Rarity promised with a smile

"I think Dash might hate me," the yellow pegasus sobbed out

"Why ever would you think that, darling?"

"She always has to save me because I'm too weak to accomplish anything on my own. I'm just a burden to her," Fluttershy responded with an unsteady voice.

"You really are oblivious, aren't you? She does not hate you, dear." Rarity assured her friend with an comforting smile. "She does the opposite," Rarity added under her breath.

"Thank you, Rarity. I hope your right"

======

"Hey Dashie?" Pinkie panted out while lying on the ground of the bakery.

"Yea?" Dash was lying next to the pink pony, also pumped out.

"Did you get even worse at this?" Pinkie asked while inspecting the room around

her. The kitchen was a single mess. The walls were full of flour, the ground was filled with dough and the two ponies were covered in cream and chocolate chips.

"Seems like it," Dash replied while standing up. "Why do I have to bake it anyway? Can you just make me one?"

"That wouldn't work, Dashie! You have to do it in order for it to come from your

heart."

"No one has to know that you make it; it wont make a difference" Dash tried to

argue with her.

"It will! Now get back to work!" Pinkie commanded

"But....ugh, fine," she let out a sigh and made her way back towards the oven.

======================

Unfortunately, Dash had the unique ability to screw up every single baking attempt, even though Pinkie gave her step-by-step instructions.The moon was already starting to take over, when Dash gave it a last try before calling it a day.

"Ok, now swirl the bowl slowly" Pinkie instructed, pronouncing the last word

purposely louder.

"Ok," Dash simply replied, forcing every bit of concentration she could spare into

her hooves, which were holding a mixer. Dash started to slowly mix the bowl which contained the ingredients.

"So far so good. Stop now and put it in the oven!" Pinkie commanded.

After Dash successfully did was she was told to, Pinkie suddenly screamed out in joy. "You did it! Finally! I knew you could do it, sooner or later!"

"Yea about time" Dash said and let out a yawn which made her realize how tired she actually was. It was nearly night and it had been quite a long day. Pinkie let out a yawn as well, indicating that she was ready to call it a day too.

"Lets get this cleaned up, Pinkie" Dash suggested, Pinkie nodded and began to

sing some random strophes of what sounded like a cleaning up song. Dash was annoyed by it at first, but soon found herself humming along the catchy tune. The kitchen was cleared up in no time and the cake was baked.

"Okie Dokie, were finished!" Pinkie announced in her usual, jubilant voice.

"You wanna stay at my place for the night? We can have so much fun. We could stay awake, watch horror movies, tell stories, play games..."

The colourful pegasus learned to shut down whenever Pinkie started her talking marathon; she was able to speak throughout hours without needing to catch her breath.

"...and then we can go to Twilight's house together tomorrow. There you can talk to Fluttershy and gave her the cake you made"

Dash gulped when she heard the last sentence. "Do I really need to do that? Everything is working just fine right now. Why risk anything?" Dash asked, unsure what she should do.

"Dashie, of course you have to! Locking up your feelings can lead to bad things, and we don't want these bad things to happen!" Pinkie replied.

The pegasus nodded. She was right. Even though Pinkie might seem a little crazy sometimes, she is smarter than most of the ponies thought.

They both made their way up to Pinkies room. Dash loved it there. It was decorated in various varieties of pink, balloons and streamers lying around everywhere. The room was messy, yet charming in its own way.

Trotting inside, Dash was instantly greeted by Gummy, who bit into her tail; fortunately the little alligator did not posses any teeth.

Pinkie immediately jumped onto her bed, lying down for a bit she turned around to face Dash.

"So, you have any Idea how you're gonna tell her?" Pinkie asked

"Uhm I thought I just have to give her the cake," Dash replied, slightly confused at the question

"It's not that easy, silly! You also have to tell her,"

"That too?" She let out a sigh in frustration.

"And, what are you gonna say?"

"No idea, I'll just think of something tomorrow," Dash replied with a shrug

"No, no, no. You gotta plan things like this in advance. I'll help you!" Pinkie exclaimed, clapping her hooves together in anticipation.

"How are you going to help me?"

"We will just act like I'm Dash and your Fluttershy," Pinkie suggested.

"I don't think that would help, besides wouldn't make more sense if I would be Dash?"

"Why is that?" Pinkie asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Maybe because I am Dash?"

"Oh yea... Whatever! You're Dash and I'm Fluttershy now! Go ahead confess your love to me."

Dash wanted to protest but she knew that Pinkie probably wouldn't give up until she got her will anyway. So she decided to play along.

"Fluttershy, I gotta tell you something" Dash started

"What is it, my love?" Pinkie said, doing a horrible job at imitating Fluttershy's voice.

"That won't work Pinkie" Dash concluded as she rubbed her head with one of her hooves. "Let's just get some sleep and I'll think of something to say when the time is due." Dash said while letting herself fall onto the mattress next to Pinkies bed

"But..." Pinkie tried to reason with her friend

"No buts, Pinkie. Let's get some rest. G'night."

"G'night," Pinkie replied with the slightest bit of disappointment in her voice.

====

Over at the library, Rarity and Fluttershy were about to call it a day as well, when suddenly Twilight's voice was to be heard.

"You sure you want to leave already?"

"Yes, Trixie is sure. There is nothing to do for me here," Trixie explained while heading towards the door.

"You could just settle down somewhere in Ponyville," Twilight suggested

"I'm afraid that's nothing for Trixie; she is a showmare, and Trixie just can't

settle down anywhere for long. Besides she couldn't disappoint her loyal fans out there, could she?" Trixie stated with a smirk

"No, of course not," Twilight snickered

"Trixie appreciates your offer of friendship, though. But she must decline; this whole friendship thing seems to be nothing for her, but we can be companions if you like," Trixie offered

"Yes, I'd love that," the purple unicorn said with a smile on her lips.

Trixie then turned around to face the other unicorn in the room "Oh and Rarity, was it? I'll pay you the money back as soon as I can," Trixie added

Rarity seemed confused. "What money?"

"The money you paid for the stay in the hospital," Trixie replied.

"Oh, never mind that, my Dear. See it as a thanks for helping to cure my friend here," Rarity said while rubbing Fluttershy's head with one hoof.

"If you say so. Well then, Trixie is gone now!" she stated before disappearing in a huge cloud of smoke. When the smoke vanished, Trixie was no longer present.

"Rather dramatic," Rarity commented the situation with a grin. Twilight and Flutershy giggled.

"However, I will get going, too. I would love to stay, but I do not know what Sweetie Belle is capable of when she is alone, and I'm not eager to find out. I will visit again tomorrow."

"Bye, Rarity," Fluttershy said her goodbye.

"Yea, see you tomorrow" Twilight added.

Rarity pushed the front door open, waving one last goodbye before closing the door behind her.

"You want to go to sleep, too Fluttershy?" Twilight asked once they were alone.

"Mhm" the yellow pegasus nodded

"Ok, then go up to my room and lay down there."

"I couldn't do that," Fluttershy stated, feeling uncomfortable with scrounging from Twilight.

"Oh that wasn't a suggestion. I insist on you sleeping in something more convenient then this old couch," Twilight commanded

"But where will you sleep?" Fluttershy wondered

"Don't you worry about me. I probably wont sleep at all, I have a lot of research to do," Twilight explained while levitating a few books down from the shelves.

"Uhm...okay. Goodnight Twilight," Fluttershy said before flying upstairs.

It was quite a feat for her to lift herself up the ground with her wings. She was still feeling pretty weak, finding herself out of breath upon arriving in Twilight's room. It looked rather chaotic, with loose sheets and books lying around. Fluttershy didn't mind her surroundings and jumped straight into Twilight's bed. Her tensed muscles immediately relaxed once they hit the fluffy surface of the mattress. It was comfortable, even though she preferred her own bed, but she understood that circumstances forced her to stay here.

Fluttershy was tired, but her mind didn't allow her to drift into sleep that easily. She was bothered by one question which flew around in her mind.

"Did Dash hate her?" She couldn't banish these thoughts, they kept coming back.

Fluttershy already found herself thinking like this even before the recent events took place. But especially now it was hard to not see herself as a burden for the rainbow maned pegasus. She really hoped that she was just drawing unfounded conclusions, but it was quite obvious that Dash acted dismissively towards her.

Fluttershy concluded that she had to ask the other pegasus in order to receive clarification about the feelings Dash felt for her.

It wasn't long until Fluttershy fell asleep together with these thoughts.

====

In the meantime Twilight was busy researching. She couldn't get rid of this awkward feeling as if something horrible was about to happen. It must have to do something with the spell they casted. "Why wouldn't the princess approve of these spells if they can actually save lives?" Twilight thought. "There must be some kind of consequence."

She read through dozens of books already but did not find the tiniest bit of information regarding this spell. The only thing containing knowledge about this very spell were the sheets Luna sent her

Yet, she couldn't give up. The creepy feeling she had was surely not baseless. Twilight continued digging through hundreds of books, eager to find out more.

====

Dash let out a long yawn as she got on her hooves. Having a bad case of bedmane and a dry taste to her mouth, she headed to the bathroom. The pegasus quickly washed her face, but didn't bother fixing her mane. As she trotted back into the room, Pinkie, who was also awake now, was stretching herself. Dash mindlessly observed the room around her, when her eyes suddenly realized that the sun did not rise yet.

"Hey Pinkie, how late is it?" she asked, not looking away from the sky.

"Its half past ten, why?"

Dash didn't even bother to ask why she knew the exact time, but simply pointed at the window "The sun is still not up."

"Oh, that's strange! Well, I bet Celestia just overslept the sunrise."

"But she was never more than a minute to late to raise the sun, not to speak of an entire hour"

"There is always a first time for everything, isn't there?"

"I guess you're right," Dash agreed, still feeling uncomfortable about the situation

"Then lets eat something and get over to Twilight's place!" Pinkie exclaimed and bounced down the stairs

"This is gonna be some day," Dash muttered to nopony in particular.

=====

Twilight was also wondering why the sun didn't rise yet. First she couldn't find any information about the spell and now a not risen sun? It was not like Celestia to be late or not to inform everypony about what is going on. "Could this have anything to do with each other?" A shiver ran down Twilight's spine as the thought crossed her mind. "It couldn't be, could it?"

While Twilight was desperately trying to disprove this, a flashing sound was to be heard.

"Hello, my faithful Student" a calm, yet cold voice greeted her.

"Pri-Princess Celestia?" Twilight said in disbelief.

====

Dash was already finished eating and headed towards the library, together with her cake in one of her hooves. Pinkie stood behind and told her to follow up later. She was flying at a relative slow pace, still thinking of how she is going to tell Fluttershy about her feelings.

====

"Why are you here? Why is the sun not risen yet? Did anything happen?" Twilight bombarded the princess with questions, but she just shook her head.

"Nothing happened, not yet. The sun is not raised because I have work to do here."

Twilight let out a sigh of relief. "Why didnt you tell Luna to raise it for you then?" she wondered

"I was afraid that if she knows what I am up to she would try to dissuade me from it" Celestia replied dryly

"What, what do you mean?" Twilight asked, afraid of what answer she might receive.

"Twilight, you made a horrible mistake." the princess stated, her voice filled with no emotions.

The purple Unicorn was shocked, she couldn't think of anything to say.

"You should've never cast that spell." Celestia continued.

"I had to; I had to save her, somehow! I can't let any of my friends die, I just cant!" Twilight stammered; tears were streaming down her cheeks.

The princess slowly trotted towards her student, embracing her with her wings. Twilight looked up to her with the puffy, red eyes she had.

"It is okay, Twilight. I understand why you did it. I am not mad at you," the princess assured, comforting Twilight with her warm and understanding voice.

"I will take care of everything now" Celestia added, releasing her student from the embrace.

Twilight's brain took a second to process what her teacher just said. "Take care of things?" she thought.

"Take care of what?"

"I will remove every effect the spell had to this world."

"Does that mean... You can't do that!" Twilight's voice was filled with despair.

"Please don't make this any harder for me than it already is." Celestia replied with a sad, yet ambitious tone.

"But why?"

"Because she is not meant to be alive; the spell you used is forbidden because it draws its energy from another world. It can change the fate of Equestria if we disturb the natural flow of things."

"What was Celestia talking about? Did she really want to let Fluttershy die? IT can't be. Celestia won't do something like that."

The princess started trotting towards the stairs which led to Twilight's room. Her student however did not realize what was happening. She was not aware of what was going on. Her brain simply couldn't understand why Celestia would do such a thing. Then Twilight took a glimpse at Dash. The pegasus was flying right in front of the window. It seemed like she was there for a longer period of time, her jaw was hanging wide open and her eyes gazed at Twilight in disbelief. That was when Twilight snapped back into reality.

"What was she doing?" She couldn't let any of her friends die. Even if it means to stand in the way of her beloved teacher. Without hesitating another second, Twilight's horn began to glow. She did not know what she should do, obviously not standing a change against the princess, but Twilight just couldn't let her take Fluttershy away either. Twilight thought about a spell which would prove useful right now, when one came her mind she turned around and screamed "Dash! Go get Fluttershy from my room and FLY AWAY!" before channelling the spell.

Dash took a second to get what was happening, she didn't know what was going on exactly, but Fluttershy seemed to be in trouble. Dropping everything, she did as she was told to and dashed through the main hall into Twilight's room. She placed the sleeping pegasus on her back and crashed through the window, flying away as fast as she could.

Meanwhile Twilight's spell held the princess in place; the spell created roots which wrapped themselves around the hooves of Celestia. The sun goddess was not surprised that her student showed that kind of resistance, to the contrary, she presumed that something like this was about to happen. Somewhere she even felt pride that Twilight was ready to stand up against her just for the sake of her friends. Turning around, she faced the unicorn. Her eyes were still wet from the tears she was shredding.

"This won't stop me" the princess muttered, part of her wishing that Twilight would be able to actually do so. Her horn glowed for a second and the roots burned down.

The princess closed her eyes and her horn glowed once again. Without looking back at her student, she disappeared.

Once her teacher was no longer present Twilight broke down into tears. She couldn't believe what had just happened.

======

Dash was still flying as fast as she could. Not knowing where she was, she allowed herself to slow down a little bit. She scanned the area beneath her and saw the outlines of what seemed to be a cave in the distance. She figured that they would be hidden well inside there. Dash started to fly towards the cave, when a silent voice caught her by surprise and nearly caused her to drop Fluttershy from her back.

"Puh, that was close," she murmured to nopony in particular.

"Uhm, Dash were are we?" a timid voice asked.

"I don't know."

"Why aren't we at Twilight's place?"

"I don't know." Dash lied, not wanting the pegasus to worry anymore than necessary.

Fluttershy figured that Dash was just as clueless as she was and stopped asking her anymore questions

"Can you fly on your own?"

"Uhm... I think so" Fluttershy knew that she couldn't, but she was sick of getting carried around. She started to flap her wings, slowly lifting herself up.

"You sure that you're fine?" Dash asked.

"Yeah..."

After a short time Fluttershy was already out of breath. Every single wing beat caused a stinging pain in her muscles, but she tried hard to cover it from Dash. A couple of minutes passed like this, when suddenly Fluttershy wings stopped moving.

"Oh no," she thought, trying to move her wings, but her body refused to obey. Luckily Dash was there in time to catch her.

"You should've told me that it still hurts," Dash said, not sounding angry but rather concerned about her.

"I'm sorry, that you always have to take care of me Dash," Fluttershy apologized with a sad voice.

"Well, there is nopony I would rather take care of."

Fluttershy blushed when Dash was smiling at her.

Several minutes later they arrived at the cave. Dash felt a little uncomfortable when she thought about what happened the last time they were in a cave, but she dismissed her concerns with a shake of her head.

Now that they were relatively save, Dash tried to recover what was happening.

She wanted to visit the library when she overhead a conversation between Twilight and Celestia, also the word "die" dropped at least once. Together with the fact that Twilight was crying and had commanded her to get Fluttershy away from Celestia there was just one resolution. "Celestia is in someway dangerous to Fluttershy," Dash concluded.

"Dash cant we go back to Ponyville?"

"No, not now. We have to wait here until Twilight explains what-" Before Dash could finish a flashing noise disrupted her.

"Celestia?" Fluttershy said in disbelief.

Chapter 9

Immediately Dash ran in between the princess and Fluttershy

"Don't you dare to touch her!" Dash admonished

"I have to do this, Rainbow Dash. Its not like I have a choice" Celestia said as she slowly approached Fluttershy.

"What is happening?" Fluttershy asked, but no answer was given

"No, no, no, no" Dash thought "She can't take her away from me! She has no right to do that!"

"She won't feel any pain, I promise"

"I don't care! I can't take it, I nearly lost her once. I can't go through that again! The hell! I didn't even tell her how much she means to me."

"What?" the timid pegasus asked, confused about what was going on.

Dash turned around, her wet eyes met with those from Fluttershy. "I love you Fluttershy! I should've told you earlier but I was too scared!" She turned back around to the princess.

"What was that?" Fluttershy thought. "Dash loves me?"

"Please, I beg you, not threatening you," Dash fell on her knees and her voice cracked "Don't take her away from me."

"I'm sorry," were the only words the princess said before her horn started to glow; a single tear escaped her emotionless expression.

"NO!" Dash screamed, before her eyes got blended by a flashing light. When she was able to open them again, she saw princess Luna standing in front of her. The moon goddess turned around to face Fluttershy, who was watching in awe. Her horn started to glow for a second before Fluttershy vanished.

“Where is Fluttershy?” Dash asked.

“She is safe, for now. You go find a way to stop this madness.”

“Sister, you know I have no choice. Equestria’s well being comes first.”

“I know that. But I simply cannot watch you let a pony, who has done so much for us, die.” Luna tried to reason with her big sister.

While the two royal sisters were arguing, Dash burst off towards Ponyville. Celestia watched her pass by, but did no effort in trying to stop her. She let out a sigh; she just wanted to get this horrible act behind her. As if she didn't knew how cruel she is acting, but it was all for the welfare of Equestria.

====

In the meantime Pinkie, Rarity, and Applejack were present at the library, trying to comfort Twilight. The purple unicorn did not say a single word since Celestia left; she was too shocked about what had happened. Her own mentor, her Idol tried to kill one of her friends. She was torn between her loyalties; should she try to stop Celestia, who was like a mother to her? It was all so confusing.

Suddenly there was a crashing noise to be heard. Dash slowly got up on her hooves and wiped away the dust which she had gathered with her landing.

“Darling, what happened? Where is Fluttershy?” Rarity asked as soon as her eyes saw the rainbow maned pegasus.

“Luna helped me to hide her. She is safe for now, but Celestia is dead serious about removing the spell we casted on her. We have to do something,” Dash explained to the group with an ambitious voice.

“But what can we do?” Applejack wondered.

Several seconds passed in total silence; everypony was thinking for an solution.

“Well we could use the Elements,” Rarity suggested.

“Are ya outta yer mind? Using the Elements against the princess herself?” Applejack couldn’t believe what she just heard.

“Yep, we should” Pinkie agreed, after not being able to think of any other possibility.

“I think Rarity is right, Applejack. The princess will not rest until she annulled every effect the spell had. Its either her or Fluttershy” Dash also approved of Rarity’s idea.

“You guys sure are crazy, but for Fluttershy I’d do about anythin,” Applejack conceded.

Everypony turned around to Twilight to see what she thinks about using the Elements. They all knew that the princess and her were really close since Twilight was a filly, but desperate times called for desperate measures.

“Twilight?” Applejack called out, but the unicorn did not respond.

Twilight was too confused to say anything; everything happened so fast that she still needed to process what was actually going on.

"Twilight?" Rarity tried this time, the purple unicorn looked up to face her.

"What do you think we should do?" the white unicorn asked; she somehow felt that the Elements were the only way out of this, but would Twilight use them against her own teacher?

"I don't know. I simply don't" Twilight admitted; for the first time she was absolutely clueless. Usually she would just look up in a book what she should do or write a letter to the princess. But now she had to make a decision on her own.

"You think you are able to use the Elements against...?" Dash inquired, but before she could finish her sentence Twilight’s answer interrupted her.

"I don’t know! That’s what I told you... I have to save Fluttershy but... but..." Twilight’s stomach twisted when she just thought about the idea of using the Elements against the princess.

"You have to decide fast!" Dash stated.

"DASH!" Rarity admonished her before continuing. "I know that time is running out, but for the time being Fluttershy is safe. Let Twilight decide for herself what she will do. Come along everypony, leave her alone," Rarity commanded.

"But..." Dash tried to reason with Rarity. The pegasus was growing more impatient by the minute; they had to act immediately or it might be too late for Fluttershy.

"No but!"

Dash wanted to protest, but she saw how serious the white unicorn was and obeyed.
Once they all were outside Pinkie suggested to get their Elements while they were waiting for Twilight to decide. Everypony agreed and trotted home to get their necklaces.

Twilight was now alone; without a single sound which could be heard, she had all the concentration she needed present. She desperately tried to resolve her inner struggle; from a logical point of view everything was clear: The princess is far more important for Equestria then her friend. Still, she couldn’t even bear to think of letting any of her friends die. She was torn between her loyalties. Would she betray them if she isn’t agreeing to use the Elements against Celestia? Would Celestia ever forgive her if she did?

Twilight couldn’t answer any of the questions which flew around in her head. She stood up, moving to her desk she picked up a scroll and a quill, beginning to write.

"Dear princess Cele-" She stopped right there, dropping both the quill and the scroll "What are you doing Twilight?" she thought. "You cant even think straight anymore, can you?"

Indeed she could not, not right now. Her head was in immense pain from all the thinking; she just wanted to go to sleep and forget about everything. She smirked when she thought about how everything will be alright again if she wakes up now. Closing her eyes for a moment and breathing in... "Seems like its not a dream." She concluded.

While Twilight was still lost in the depths of her mind, Celestia materialized right in front of her.

"Twilight, where is the Element of Kindness" she asked with a forcing voice.

The purple unicorn slowly turned around; she wasn’t surprised to see the princess; she somehow felt it that she is going to drop by any second. "I don’t know. I don’t know everything that is going on right now" Twilight sobbed out.

"Are you lying to me?" Celestia asked, this time in an entirely different voice, it was warm and understanding.

"No," Twilight simply replied, washing away the nearly formed tears, she continued. "Please, princess, don't harm her. You can hold me responsible if any unsuspected event may occur," Twilight pleaded.

"My dear Twilight, this is not about who is responsible and who isn't. After eons of leadership I learned to do what is the best for Equestria as a whole, without regarding any subjective feelings."

"But..." Twilight tried to argue with her.

"I understand if you hate me now Twilight, but keep in mind that I would never do anything to harm you or your friends in anyway if there are other solutions, but this situation does simply not offer any other resolution."

A couple of seconds passed in silence before Luna appeared with a loud crashing noise, together with Fluttershy. The noise Luna made in doing so was heard by Twilight’s friends, they all rushed inside, everyone of them wearing her necklace.

"What happened?" Applejack asked as she was inspecting the room.

"I couldn’t hide Fluttershy’s presence any longer from my sister, so I figured the best way to go is here, but it seems like my sister was a step ahead of me," Luna explained.

"Could we stop this hide and seek game ?" Celestia merely said as she approached the unconscious pegasus.

"Twilight!" Dash called upon the purple unicorn

Twilight was on her knees now, she had to decide what to do, NOW!

"I cant decide, I cant decide," she kept repeating this in her head, not being able to think straight anymore. She opened her eyes and glimpsed Rarity’s and Dash’s faces, which were full of despair. It was like every single one of her friends is pressuring her to take action.

Without being aware of it, Twilight’s horn started to glow, and her Element got levitated out of the shelve, slowly approaching her head. "Stop it, Stop it , Stop it, I don’t want this,"
Twilight thought, but her horn didn’t stop glowing. The crown was now placed on her head, a surge of magic was sent through her. She felt how more and more energy was flowing inside of her horn. Trying everything to disrupt the process, Twilight found herself immovable, not wanting to believe what is happening right now.

The necklaces of Applejack, Dash, Rarity and Pinkie also started to glow now. Luna observed the room around her and realized what was going on.

"What, NO STOP IT!" she screamed

Celestia simply stood in the middle of the room, not moving. She knew what was going on and what is going to happen, but she did no effort in disrupting it. The princess turned her head around, looking into Twilight’s eyes, which were now filled with an white, bright light.

"This is what you want?" Celestia said under her breath, not awaiting any kind of response from her student.

Twilight looked to the princess, who just smiled at her. Why was she smiling? She must know what is happening. Why doesn’t she stop me? Somepony please... stop me
Twilight was barely conscious, everything seemed to surreal to her.

The Elements were now finished channeling. Despite only five being present, they still had immense energy inside them. A rainbow colored beam manifested above them. A couple of seconds later the blast shot straight towards Celestia.

The princess however did not even try to dodge it. She simply looked at her beloved student, her eyes indicated the great pain she felt inside of her heart. Nevertheless, somehow she also was happy. Seeing her student grow up to a mare who is ready to stand up against her own mentor for the sake of her friends. It was rather ironic, the friends Twilight made because of Celestia’s task now took her student away from her. She couldn’t help but smile when she thought about it.

The spell slowly entwined her. She felt her hooves get heavier before not being able to sense them at all. This feeling slowly crawled up her flank, her stomach and her neck at last. A tear escaped her eyes before she was fully turned into stone.

The room was in a silence; no one dared to break it. The tension in the air pressed to hard on everypony. Luna made the first move, she was approaching her sister with hesitant steps. She bowed down in front of the petrified body of Celestia, a grimace of guilt on her face.

"I didnt want this" she whispered to nopony in particular. She looked around the room everyone was frozen where they stood, not being able to believe what they have just done.

Twilight however did not want to believe it. She held her hooves before her eyes to negate her vision, being too afraid of what she might see. "This cant be, it must be just a dream, if I open my eyes everything will be back to normal again!" Twilight persuaded herself.

She slowly moved her hooves away from her left, then right eye, hesitating a second before opening them. The sight was not what she was awaiting. It was not a dream; her teachers body was laying on the ground, not moving. The truth hit Twilight hard; her stomach started to twist and her head was starting to hurt. Her body was trembling frantically. She looked at her own hooves with disgust; it was HER who set all this in motion. The thought of this evoked an immense amount of pain in her chest. It was like her heart was trying to break out of her chest. "How could I... She always took care of me... Why...". The purple unicorn was not understanding a thing; thousands of questions were drifting through her mind. The pain she was experienced increased every second. It became unbearable. She had to get it out somehow.

First she tried to cry it out, but she was not fast enough.

Then she tried to scream it out, but she was not loud enough.

Twilight ended up hoping that her malady will cause her to fall unconscious sooner or later.

Her friends did not know what they could do to reduce the agony of the unicorn. Everyone of them was thinking what they could do right now for their friend.

Pinkie was the first one to move. She was trotting towards Twilight with silent steps. Upon standing in front of her, she wrapped her hooves around her, tapping her back gently. "Let it all out, Twi," Pinkie said; unlike usually, her voice was not loud and joyous, it was calm and understanding.

Twilight looked at the pink pony who was holding her for a second before she couldn’t hold it any longer. She cried as much as she could, trying to wash her conscious clear.

Her other friends did the same as Pinkie, they all surrounded Twilight, trying to comfort her as much as they could.

Twilight felt how some of her pain was disappearing once she realized that all her friends were here for her. It was a warm and tingling feeling which slowly spread across her heart, starting to make her feel better. Several minutes passed where only Twilight’s sobbing was to be heard, then she stopped. The unicorn was still sad, but the pain as bearable now. Having her friends around her helped to make her accept the reality.

Trotting was to be heard again, and they all wondered from whom it came. Turning their heads around, they gazed at the moon goddess, who was now standing in front of her sisters petrified body.

"Princess, we are so very sorry that we had to do this," Rarity apologized, the guilt clearly resounding in her voice.

"Save your breath" Luna responded, trying to maintain a regal voice, yet it still had a sad tone within it. "You cant change the past; crying about it wont get us very far," she added towards Twilight. Before any more words could be exchanged Luna’s horn started to glow in a dim light and teleported both her and her sister away.

They were staying in the library until late in the night, without a single word between them being dropped, just enjoying being close to each other. Even Dash didn't say anything or move; the usually active and impatient pegasus had too much to think about. It wasn't too long until Twilight fell asleep first, one after another following. Surprisingly even Pinkie was not the last one to be up; it was in fact Rarity. The unicorn detached herself gently from the ponies laying around her, and trotted towards Fluttershy, who was peacefully sleeping. She picked up a blanket from the couch next to her and covered her with it, before returning to her friends and slowly descending into her dreams.

Dash was the first one to wake up. She was still tired when she got up on her hooves, but didn’t feel like going back to sleep again. Not being able to tell whether it was morning or still night, because the sun did not rise since yesterday. With silent steps she approached to the couch where Fluttershy was sleeping, being careful to wake none of her friends. Once arrived Dash sat down next to her, watching her sleep ever so peaceful. In her mind she was recapping what happened over the course of the week, first this strange poison, then that crazy spell and now they had to stand up against the sun goddess herself, everything just so she can survive. Rainbow Dash let out a sigh at this before muttering to herself "Totally worth it" with a smirk. The sound of this was loud enough to wake the pegasus who was sleeping next to her.

Fluttershy opened up her eyelids, looking a little dizzy when she observed the room around her, seeing the cyan pegasus sitting behind her.

"Fluttershy? You are awake? How are you feeling?" Dash bombarded her with questions, still maintaining a hushed voice.

"Uhm.... I feel fine," Fluttershy replied with her usual silent voice.

Dash couldn’t help but smile upon hearing it again; it sounded so sweet that she just wanted to hug the pegasus next to her.

"Dash?"

"Yes Fluttershy?"

"Did you mean what you said back then in the cave?" Fluttershy asked with a timid voice, instantly regretting what she said.

"What do you mean?" Dash replied, obviously being clueless of what she meant.

"Well, uhm... you said that you kinda... like me" she stammered

Dash thought about this for second before remembering what she said in the cave. She took a deep breath. "I guess I did..." she answered in a barely audible voice. After those words were said she avoided Fluttershy’s gaze at all costs. She was thinking about flying away right now, being too afraid of getting rejected.

A couple of seconds passed in silence, where none of the two pegasi said or moved. Dash couldn’t take it any longer. She finally wanted to know if Fluttershy feels the same way about her. She turned around to ask her when the yellow pegasus jumped on to her, wrapping her hooves around.

"Oh Dash, I’m so happy! I thought you hated me!" Fluttershy could barely contain her joy right now. She couldn't believe that she wasn't dreaming

Dash was surprised at first but found herself returning the hug. "I could never hate you" she whispered.

"I love you, too Dash"

Alt Ending

This is the sad ending of the sorry. If you wanna proceed then brace yourselves, because manly tears are imminent.

==========

"NO!" Dash screamed, but it was too late. She turned around and saw that the regeneration seal on Fluttershy`s flank disappeared and that her eyes were closed.

She ran next to her, lifting her up.

"Fluttershy?" she called with an unsteady voice.

No answer was given; she held one of her eyes on her chest to listen to her heartbeat
"Dum.............dum........dum......"

"Dash?" Fluttershy suddenly said with a weak voice.

"Yes, Fluttershy?" Dash replied, tears dropping onto the mane of the pegasus she was talking with.

"So you don't hate me?"

"No, no, I don't hate you. I love you."

Several seconds passed before Fluttershy smiled. "I'm relieved," she said.

"Fluttershy?"

No reaction

"Hey, Fluttershy"

No reaction.

She listened to her heartbeat again. "Dum........dum...................." Dash waited, and waited for the next beat to come, but it never did.

A sudden burst of pain ran through her heart; it was like a thousand needles stinging into it. Her mind could not think straight, everything was so surreal for her. The agony and sorrow she felt was unbearable, she had to let it out somehow.

She had to make it stop, but it did not.

She started to cry, hoping that it would take away her pain.

But she couldn't cry hard and fast enough.

She started to scream her grief out, but she wasn't loud enough.

Everything started to turn blurry around her; her heart was being torn apart and there was nothing she could do against it. The pony she loved just died, and she would never talk to her again. Thinking of this made the pegasus go crazy. She struck her hooves against the thick stone walls, trying to let out her anger. She soon found herself lying on the ground, screaming and crying, blood pouring down from her hooves. She never felt anything like this before. She was feeling every single negative emotion at once; anger, sorrow, grief, agony, despair. It was worse than any physical pain she ever experienced. She tried to calm herself down but upon seeing the lifeless body of her friend the pain grew unbearable once again.

Several minutes passed in which Dash was just freaking out. She thought she is going to lose it right there, but she was too exhausted to proceed.

She laid down next to Fluttershy, panting heavily. She turned her head around and facing the body of the pegasus. She still felt sadness somewhere, but it was like she was out of emotions to feel. Feeling numb inside. she couldn't even cry anymore, because she was out of tears. She was even wondering if her heart was still there; of course it was beating, but she couldn't feel it anymore.

A bright light was now slowly enclosing the two pegasi, and a second later they were both back at the library.

"Dash? What happened how is-?" Twilight abruptly stopped once she saw Fluttershy`s lifeless body. Rarity and Pinkie were also present, but couldn't say anything.

Rarity started to cry upon realizing what has happened; her friend was dead. She wasn't even able to tell her last goodbye to her. Fluttershy is gone... no matter how often that thought crossed her mind, she still couldn't believe it.

Pinkie’s curled and vivid mane immediately fell straight. It was like being hit by reality with a hard blow. The pink pony never thought about death and never experienced it happening in such a close environment. Pinkie didn't know how she should feel, or what she was feeling. It was similar to when she worked at the rock field, only hounded times as intense.

Applejack was working on the fields when she felt a pain in her heart.

"Whats the matter?" Big Mac asked her.

"Nothin’, nothin’ at all," she reassured before getting back to work

"Huh?" she said to nopony in particular. Wiping a hoof over her eye she found herself crying, but didn't know why.

The sun did not rise for the entire week; Luna announced to everypony that everything will be back to normal soon.

But the five friends did not mind. Why should there be a sun? A sun was a sign of happiness. And there was no happiness to be found inside of Twilight, Rarity, Pinkie, Applejack and especially Dash.

Chapter 4

Meanwhile, Rarity had finally found Dash and insisted that she is staying with her over the night, so she can keep an eye on him.

"I'm fine on my own Rarity" Dash gave her an annoyed gaze

"Oh I know you are, but just in case your emotions get the better of you and you do something you might regret, let's just not argue about this please?"

Dash knew that there was no way she is going to win this fight; Rarity could be more stubborn than Applejack sometimes.

"Oh for goodness sake..." Dash said before flying into the Carousel Boutique.

Rarity allowed herself a pleased grin as she got her will. "You can sleep in Sweetie Belle's bed, she is on a sleepover with her friends" Rarity said as she guided Dash into the room of her little sister.

"Hurray, I get to sleep in a bed for a filly" Dash murmured to herself.

Dash's jar nearly hit the ground when Rarity opened the door of Sweetie Belle's room. It was huge. The bed alone was as big as Dash's entire bedroom; everything was decorated in a light purple colour mixed with some white schemes in between.

"I'm glad you like it" Rarity said with a smile. Dash wasn't somepony who liked things being too fancy, but this room looked amazing.

"You are free to call me whenever Sweetie Belle is not home" Dash replied with a grin.

"I'll keep that in mind. And Dash, and don't think too much about Fluttershy. I bet we can find a way to cure her." Rarity said with an ambitious expression. Dash simply nodded.

"And then you should really tell her" Rarity said while walking out of the room.

"Ehm what?" Dash asked, even though she knew what Rarity meant.

"Goodnight" the unicorn simply responded, leaving a blushed pegasus behind.

"Waaaaah" Dash said while rubbing her head and throwing it against the pillow. It didn't take long for her to fall asleep.

============

When all the other ponies slowly started to call it a day and drifted into their dreams, another pony - an alicorn to be exact, just woke up. Luna slowly made her way into the throne room to meet with her sister and take away her burdens for the night. It was nearly time to raise the moon, so she trotted in a faster pace than usual.

"Good morning - or evening, Celly" Luna greeted her sister while entering the throne room.

Celestia nodded when she realized that Luna was now present.

"What's the matter, dear sister? You seem kind of depressed"

"It is nothing, nothing at all." Celestia lied

"Your such a bad liar. Just tell me what troubles you, maybe I can help" Luna replied while shaking her head.
"One of my subjects is going to die ... and there is nothing I could do about it"

Luna was confused at that answer "Ehm, they are mortal sister there are always some who die, even in this very moment. It's just how things are"

"I know that, but it's a special pony. It's the element of kindness; she got intoxicated with a poison not even I can cure"

"What, how is that possible?"

"Do you remember when we defeated Discord using the Elements of Harmony? We turned him into stone, around 2.000 years ago."

The name of their old foe sent a shiver down Luna's spine.

"And in what way is that event related to the poison?"

"If you can recall, we encountered him in a cave which is located in what now is the Everfree forest. Remnants of the spell we casted using the Elements are still in the air in that cave. It thickens the blood and makes it harder for the heart to pump it through the body ... the victim slowly dies from lack of oxygen." Celestia sobbed out

"Can't you withdraw it somehow?"

"I'm afraid not, because it was created using the elements of harmony. And I do not...." Celestia hesitated for a second before proceeding "...posses magic strong enough to overpower them."

Minutes passed without any word being said. Luna tried to swallow what she had just heard. Even though she didn't spend that much time with the bearers of the elements, they still had a special connection. They saved her and forgave her, which was more than she could ask for. She also observed them during the night and did some attempts to get in touch with them, although in the end she was too shy.

But Luna owed them, she owed them a lot. She wouldn't let any of them die if she can prevent it.

"Celly, we can still use ..." Luna's words were cut off by Celestia

"No we cannot, it is too dangerous. If something goes wrong it would have horrible consequences" Celestia said with a harsh tone.

"I know that but Twilight is very skilled in the arts of magic. I believe she can pull it off without causing any unexpected events." Luna tried to convince her sister

"I cannot allow that Luna .... I just can't" The sun goddess sighed with a calm voice.

"I'm going to sleep now, could you lower the sun for me today?" Celestia asked her little sister

"Uhm. Of course, rest well" Luna replied with a nod as she made her way into the balcony to start lowering the sun and raising the moon.

Her horn started glowing in a dim light as she closed her eyes; she felt the sun above her slowly starting to lower. She guided it on its way down. After she was finished she took a long breath and did the same with the moon, but this time raising it instead of lowering it. After around twenty minutes she was finished, her horn stopped glowing and she trotted back inside.

Allowing herself a rest she sat down on the throne, it was rather exhausting for her to do both, but if her sister was able to do it for a thousand years the least she could do is take away her job just once in awhile.

Luna sat there for quite some time; there was nothing to be done. No major problems or paperwork. Usually she would appreciate a silent night like this, but she could really use something to distract her mind from the recent events she heard about. Luna let out a sight as she stood up and started to aimlessly walk through the castle.

After checking upon her servants, Luna found herself not having anything to do. She let out a sight and trotted towards the library within the castle. If she had nothing to do anyway, she could at least continue her studies.

"Oh goodness ... seems like my body took me here on his own" she thought while entering the archive. She didn't intend to go inside but her hooves almost moved on their own. Immediately upon arriving at an old, dusty bookshelf her horn started to glow. She pulled out an ancient tome and carefully laid it on a nearby desk. Luna recoiled for a second. Should she really disobey the direct orders of her sister? But she owed the Elements so much and had to repay them in someway.

She sat down on a chair in front of the desk. While opening up the huge book, she pulled out a quill and a sheet of paper. Luna looked at the register and searched for regeneration spells. she found one which looked appealing and opened up on page 244.

"Using this particular spell with accelerate the natural regeneration of the being, which the spell was casted upon. If it succeed it can cure even the greatest of illnesses. However if the ones casting the spell do not possess enough magic and endurance, the consequences can be severe; it can even lead to the death of the caster."

Luna gulped when she read the last sentence. The text was followed by a long description of how the spell has to be executed, and some sketches of "Pentagrams" as they were called. She tore out the three pages about this spell and started to write a letter.

"Dear Twilight Sparkle,

As you might have guessed from my greeting, this is not Celestia writing to you. It's me, Luna. I'm writing to you because I have heard about the state of one of your friends. And I wish to help, I am going to send information's of a spell with this note. This particular spell can cure your friend; however it is dangerous and can have fall-outs. Our grandmother forbid these kinds of spells seven thousand years ago. And Celestia also doesn't approve them, but I owe it to you to inform you that these possibilities exist.

I have no doubt that you will succeed with this spell, but use it at your own risk.

Good luck Twilight,

Sincerely

Princess Luna."

She hesitated before rolling up the letter together with the other pages. She closed her eyes and her horn started glowing. The letter burst into flames and disappeared completely.

"It is done. The rest is up to you Twilight" Luna thought before picking up on her recent studies.

============

Twilight awoke with a long yawn. She wanted to lie in her comfortable bed for a bit longer but her mind didn't allow that. She had so much to do; she couldn't just lie around. Letting out another yawn, she moved into the bathroom and took a short shower. The warm water relaxed her tensed muscles and her mind. She stepped out of the bathroom with a towel to dry her hair.

After she finished making her mane look more presentable she threw the towel on her bed and made her way to the hospital. There was no sound from Spike to be heard, so she assumed that he is still asleep. Closing the door behind her, she trotted towards the hospital.

Upon her arrival she realized that Rarity was already sitting next to Fluttershy. Her eyes were puffy and red with hastily dried tears. Twilight took a closer look and saw that Fluttershy was now incubated on a respirator.

"What happened?" Twilight asked Rarity with a hushed voice.

The white unicorn turned her head at the sound of her voice, letting out a sob before starting to explain the situation to Twilight. "I arrived here an hour ago and Fluttershy was wired to this... to this thing. I asked the doc what was going on and they told me that she had been through a surgery last night. She is stable for now, but they are "only delaying the inevitable" as they put it"

Twilight was shocked, "I thought I’d have more time. This is not good, not good at all." she desperately tried to think of a solution.

"Please Twilight, you have to find a way to save her," Rarity's voice started to crack "You sure got something in one of your books ... don't you?"

"I'll figure out something, I promise."

Rarity nodded. She was tired, exhausted and felt overall miserable. But she couldn't find any rest.

"Does she know anything?" Rarity sobbed out while pointing to the sleeping unicorn on the other side of the room.

"I don't know yet, she is getting released today. I’ll ask her then" Twilight responded "I'll head home for now, I need to figure this out as fast as I can."

"Just call me if there is anything I can help you with," Rarity requested

"I will" Twilight replied before leaving the hospital and heading home once again.

Immediately upon her homecoming Spike called for her. "Twilight, a letter arrived for you. I've put it on your desk," the little dragon screamed from the store room.

"Thank you," Twilight answered and walked into her room, closing the door when she entered.

She approached her desk and tried to unfold the scroll. "Strange, it is sealed with magic," she said to no one in particular. Celestia never sealed her letters with magic. Her horn glowed for a second and the scroll unfolded itself. A couple of sheets fell onto the ground; she picked them up and put them on her desk. Holding the letter in front of her now, she started reading it

===========================

It was nearly noon when Trixie finally woke up. She stretched herself and looked around; the only thing which caught her eye was the pegasus lying on the bed next to her. Even though she didn't knew the pony, it made her sad to see somepony in a condition like this.

She waited until a doctor came in to check on them.

"Oh good you are awake ... ehm Trixie, right?" the pony said as he pulled out a sheet of paper and a quill and started writing.

"So how are you feeling? Any complaints?"

"No, everything seems to be in order"

"Good" he said while writing more stuff on his paper.

"Looks like you are though, you are free to leave whenever you want," he said before walking next to Fluttershy. He ran some tests and checked the results of the gadgets she was wired on.

"Sequel" released!

After nearly 3 months, the "sequel" has been released.

http://www.fimfiction.net/story/5835/Deception

Have fun reading it! <3