An Ancient Beast, But A Loving Sister

The sun was slowly rising up in the horizon as Luna's moon set. Rainbow Dash had already awoken earlier during the night, and she was watching as a unicorn stood atop a hill deep within the Everfree help set the moon. It was so strange, everything was different. She saw two tents in town, one purple with hot pink stars that reminded her of Twilight, and one a dark gray in color. The purple tent had a small sign with a book and a crystal ball carved into it. The dark dray tented had a large gray eye carved into its sign. "Aura Reader?" She read the small letters naming the 'fortune teller' that worked within the purple tent, and the gray tent read "Psychic Eyes' and a strange stallion was sitting right outside of it.

She was in a bedroom, a hotel room at a small inn. Twilight paid for them to have rooms there, so they would have somewhere to stay. She was sitting in a chair, right next to a small window that was just a foot above the ground.

"Things are different now," Twilight set a hoof on Dash's shoulder, having just entered the room. "You will be surprised what kind of ponies you'll meet." It seemed like she was reffering to the four winged alicorn zooming through the skies. What amazed the pegasus the most though were the ponies with claws. Some looked half-pony, half-dragon. The ones she paid the most attention were the ones that reminded her of her sister. They had hurved horns on their head, sharp fangs, and cat-like eyes. Spikes ran along their backs, and they had vibrant feathers at the end of a long dragon-like tail. Their hind legs were similar to a bird's, and they had five claws on each of their front legs. The only problem was that they had vibrant colors, when her sister had none.

"What are those ponies called," RD Pressed a hoof against the glass, a young one pressing its feet against the glass and looking at her in amazement.

"Those aren't ponies, though some ponies do call them one. They're known as Farucans, which is what your sister called them. It seems the thing that took her color and turned her into one had friends, but they don't take away the color, they just change their form. They don't even call themselves ponies, and i don't think they are, though they are partially equine, but a very small part," Twilight explained to the pegasus.

"Farucans?" Dash watched as an older farucan pulled the foal away. Her sister, had an entire species? So she wasn't the first? Or, was she the first, and many just came after her? If only her sister was still around, to know that she wasn't alone in this world.

"Darling, he's gone," Rarity whispered, speaking to Fluttershy, who was crying about her son. It seemed they came in to talk, but all it did was upset the yellow pegasus more.

"Oak!" The poor pegasus was balling. Rainbow remembered what had happened to her. They had been in Cloudsdale, Fluttershy's son visiting them. Fluttershy had simply been walking when she hit a weak spot in the cloud, and she fell through. Silent Oak, her son, flew down after her with his machine, but it hadn't been fast enough, and the yellow pegasus managed to call out his name right before hitting the ground. They had all mourned her death, her son having lost most of his family.

"It still feels strange..." Rainbow Dash muttered.

"What feels weird?" Twilight looked at her in confusion.

"The fact that my older sister was married to Fluttershy's son. It is strange, she said she stopped aging, so when she should have been 10 years older than me, she was 20 years younger than me. She was born first, but she was much younger than me!"

"Calm down, i remember having this conversation a long time ago. It was hardest on you since she had disappeared from your life, youwere heartbroken to learn what happened to her. She spent the rest of her life with Oak though, she loved him deeply and he cared for her as well. Their kids grew up, attending everypony's funerals, and i was at their funerals when they passed away as well. Generations have passed Dash, and nopony you know is spoken of anymore..."

"It's just, i never really got to say good-bye... I always, hoped i'd be able to say good-bye and tell her how much i cared, but, she stopped again, and i was the one who passed away first..." Dash rested her head on the window sill, her heart aching.

"Rainbow Dash, i just want to tell you that a few of these ponies have been around for years. Those two fortune tellers you were looking at, they've been around for a long time. Aura Reader would tell me stories after you all passed, teaching me lessons outside of just friendship. Pyschic Eye is extremely wise, and his fortunes are spoken down to the very last detail. You may want to check the out later," Twilight Sparkle winked at her.

The other had left, leaving RD to sit there alone. She was in front of the window still, watching the world from a distance. Rarit was chatting with the alicorn that apparently owned the Caruousel Boutique now. Pinkie Pie was trying to befriend all the new ponies, but that ended when she ran into a blue unicorn that was almost exactly like her, with exception of appearence. The two of them ran through the streets cheerfully, bouncing up and down with tons of jow. Applejack was helping out at a shopping cart full of apple products, two stallions running it. They seemed like twins, both being one color with different shades. The two even had identical Cutie Marks, with exception of the color. They were all chatting peacefully. Fluttershy was walking from her old home, heading back into town, but she had a female manticore walking alongside her. Nopony seemed to mind the beast, which was wearing bandages around her front paws. The manticore looked over at the inn where Rainbow washiding, and bounded forward cheerfully.

"Aunt Dash!" The Manticore shouted out, taking a large leap. She landed right in front of the window, the pegasus falling back in shock. The voice sounded familiar, and the pegasus tried to remember who it belonged to.

"Grella?" Dash mumbled, hoping she was right. The manticore nodded in response, flapping her wings.

"Eeyup!"

"How are you evel alive?!"

"Manticores have REALLY long lives," Grella snickered.

"Well, i knew that! But, i didn't know you could live THAT long!" Rainbow sighed.

"Aw... cheer up!" Grella pawed at the window gently with a bandaged paw. "Why don't you come out here and check out the town?"

"Too many memories lost," Dash sighed.

"Puhlease?" Grella's eyes widened, looking like a little kitten.

"Come on Dash! I missed you! How about giving Ol' Pine a hug?" A rough voice came from behind the mare, and she turned around to look. A large timberwolf was sitting down right behind her, his front legs spread out for a hug.