An Ancient Beast, But A Loving Sister

by Thunderbolt the Spectar

Rating: teen
Tags: Adventure, Dark, Sad
Length: 3857

It's been quite a few hundred years since the elements died, and a new threat emerged. Twilight revives her friends, but Rainbow Dash has trouble adjusting to the new world, and soon learns what truly happened to her sister.

Quite a few hundreds years after the Elements of Harmony died (Excluding Twilight), a new threat arrived. Twilight, worrying that the Elements will be needed, revives her friends. The group quickly heads out to see how the world has changed, but Rainbow Dash is uncomfortable with these changes, and the only things there that she remembers are a Timberwolf named Pine and his sister, a Manticore named Grella, both growing up with the Pegasus's niece and nephew. They tell her about a surprise and lead her into the Everfree, where Rainbow Dash learns what had truly happened to her older sister.
*Note: Wow, I'm actually glad you guys like it :)

Note: I'm not the best Author, and this story will probably be crap. I'd prefer you give gentle criticism and don't use hate comments. Criticism is fine, but try to be nice about it. Point out some errors, that's all i'm asking.

*Warning* If you don't like any of the following, then turn back now.
- Original Characters
- Oc's being related to Canon
- Original Species
- Hybrids
- Alicorns (NONROYAL!!!)
- Creepy Ponies
- Rainbow Manes or Rainbow Markings
- Mutants (More than Body Parts)

Published 1970-01-01 00:00:00 UTC
Last updated 2013-12-26 20:22:13 UTC

Chapter One

She felt life rush through her body once again. She relaxed, taking her first breathe such a long while, but she didn't understand how long exactly. For her, she had been sleeping that night, or possibly in a coma for weeks. She didn't realize how long it truly had been. Her wings laid limp at her lides, and her chromatic mane drooped over her eyes. She could hear a familiar voice, somepony congratulating themself. The pegasus opened her eyes, groggy and exhausted. She knew who the pony was, her old friend Twilight Sparkle, but something was off. The princess Twilight she remembered wasn't the one sitting in front of her. No, this Twilight was much taller, and her mane was longer. Even her wings were now sparkling. The groggy pony was confused, possibly Twilight changed while she slept? Where were the others? She lifted up her head a bit, looking around the room. There were magical items all over the place, set up in a specific matter. Her other four friends were each on a metallic table, similar to ones that were seen in scientific experiments, just as she was. Pinkie Pie was yawning, Applejack stretching out, but Rarity and FLuttershy were lying still, too still.

"Twilight?! What's going on here?!" The mare, no longer tired, sat up swiftly. Fluttershy had a dead stare, and she was looking up at the ceiling without a single blink or even a rising chest. Rarity's eyes were closed, as though she had passed peacefully. She saw cuts and burns on Pinkie, and Applejack had a broken leg. Rainbow Dash was truly confused at this point.

"Calm down, Rainbow, don't worry," The alicorn smiled, trying to calm her. But Rainbow Dash knew, she had every right to worry. She began to recall a few things, some lost memories. Two of her best friends were dead, and the others looked like they just came back from the dead, and Twilight was saying everything was alight? There was no way she was going to believe that! The pegasus tossed the blanket off herself and shot over to the nearest window. She banged her hooves against the glass, trying to break through as though she was imprisoned. She stopped when she saw the ponies. There were alicorns traveling through the streets as though they were everyday ponies, one even was covered with dirt like she was a farmer. Half the ponies she saw weren't even species she knew of. There were ponies with dragon-like tails and curved horns, ones with spikes and dragon wings, she swore she saw one with fangs and the hindlegs were similar to a bird's, and it had claws as well. It looked exactly like her sister had, before Dash died.

"Rainbow Dash, I said not to worry," Twilight put a hoof on RD's shoulder, and the pegasus say down, her wings drooping.

"What happened while i was sleeping?" Something felt strang to her, this didn't seem right. Her sister had been alone in the suffering of being, different, yet now there were ponies that looked like her walking around like they've been there all their lives? She didn't recognize anypony, not even her neice or nephew were there. The memories were flooding her mind, tearing her reality into shreds.

"Rainbow Dash, you weren't-"

"I wasn't sleeping, was I? I was...." Tears were flooding her eyes, as realization hitting her hard.

"Dead, for hundreds of years. It's been over a thousand years since you were born, and you won't know anypony but me, and of course the others," Twilight sighed. "The princesses are still here too."

"So, you revived us? And made us, younger? I died in my 80s, but i feel like i'm still 20..."

"Not all of you, i was about to explain bfore moving on to Rarity when you started to freak out."

"I'm sorry Twilight, i'm just, confused, i didn't remember..."

"Hey now, it's alright Dash," Applejack limped over, her injured leg in a cast. She still seemed weak and hurt, even though her body had been replenished. Rainbow Dash remembered how Applejack had been crushed under a dying apple tree, how her sister cried, and how Applebloom and Big Mac and everypony else cried. Rainbow's neice and nephew took a knife to their little hearts when it happened, their parents keeping them calm. Those little foals, so young and already had to face that everypony dies at some point.

"Ya Dashie! Twilight's just been bringing us back for a super secret mission!" Pinkie Pie looked like she wanted to jump around, but the wounds on her body told her otherwise. Pinkie Pie, she had been attacked by a dragon, one that seemed to be nearing adulthood. Dash remembered how hard her sister fought, trying to protect Pinkie, but it was too little, too late. The foals, they had been older, and Dash's nephew was strong-hearted but even her was cring. Her neice had sat by the coffin, her special somepony right by her side. He tried to cheer her up, but that joy and happiness ended with Pinkie. Pinkie Pie had been smiling, taking her parties with her even with death.

"What of my sister?" Rainbow Dash looked at Twilight with tears in her eyes. "Surely, you would bring her back as well? She wasn't an element, but she was strong and fast..."

"Gone, we've looked everywhere Dash. We sents guard into the Everfree, believing she may have disappeared there as she did when you were little, but not all the guards returned. The ones that did were injured, and couldn't tell us anything. All they found were feathers, but the yellow ones were the only ones i paid any attention to, but there were white ones as well."

"White? And yellow? Those were her original colors, but she never had white feathers. She didn't have colors when we found her, remember? So, how did they find yellow feathers?" Rainbow Dash was confused again, her sister hadn't had any color, just solid gray. She wasn't even much of a pony by then, having cat-like eyes and claw, and a dragon-like tail, and the fangs.

"That's why I doubted the feathers were hers, but I looked into the yellow ones when she vanished again after her husband's death, and somepony found a yellow-grey feather not far from his grave. I studied that feather, and they matched your sister, so i believe she regained her color over time. They golden feathers, I studied them, and they had the same DNA. Stranger still, they were fresh when they arrived, only a few hours fallen. That was a long time ago though, I haven't sent any guards out since.

"So you're saying?"

"That your sister could possibly be alive, i mean she was an alicorn wasn't she?"

"Yes, but she wasn't royal. She was just like a normal pony, she aged the same as well."

"Weird," Twilight pondered on the though for a moment, nothing adding up. A common alicorn, which were the ones you'd see anywhere now, wouldn't be immortal, but how could a dead pony's feathers be only a few hours old? It, it just didn't make any sense to her.

"Super duper weird!" Pinkie Pie mimicked Twilight's position, sitting with her hoof to her chin, eyes squinted slightly like she was deep in thought. The princess couldn't make sense of it.

Rainbow Dash took the moment to take in her surroundings. There were bookshelves, full of books, which wasn't a surprise. The floor was a redish brown wood, and the walls a light tan in color. There was chalk on the floor, designed in a special pattern. Probably to make Twilights spell easier, make it stronger. There were I.V.'s by each of the metal tables. There were bags fool of some strange pale liquid with tubes connected to them. It seemed like food, possibly nutrients so the body would still be livable. Rainbow's head began to hurt from all this thinking. Fluttershy and Rarity had the tubes connected in several different places, keeping the bodies fresh.

"I should revive the others before explaining the plan to the rest of you," Twilight muttered, standing up. She walked into the center of the chalk symbol, focusing on Rarity. "No distractions, if i mess this up, she'll be lost forever."

Rainbow Dash looked out the window, watching as the strange ponies wandered through the streets without a single care in the world, the others never bothering them about it. Canterlot castle could be seen in the distance, and night was coming. She watched the sun set and the moon rise up. She felt exhausted, though she just came back to life. Revival was exhausting, even though she was the one to come back. She had her hooves crossed on the windowsill, and she rested her head on top of them. Dash closed her eyes, but not before catching the glimpse of something lurking in the allies between the buildings, something quite deadly looking. "But, oh so familiar..." she whispered, her eyes closed fully and her mind resting.

Chapter Two

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.

Chapter Three

"P-Pine?" The cyan pegasus fell back, startled by the sight. The timberwolf brought his paws back down to the ground and walked over, his wooden skin creaking with each step. His age showed more than i did for Grella.

"Yeah."

"Hey bro!" Grella smiled, pawing at the window again.

"Long time no see," The timberwolf grinned.

"This, is ridiculous..." RD Grumbled. She was getting annoyed by all this.

"Sorry Rainbow," Pine helped her back to her feet and gave her a big hug.

"Hey, bring her outside while you still got her!" Grella grinned. The timberwolf balanced on his hind legs, though he wobbled slightly, and carried her dangling in his arms. Dash kept kicking at him, but her aim was failing her as she missed each time. It was difficult to strike one of the many chunks of wood that made him up. He made his way down the hall, only setting her down once they were outside. She landed in the soft grass, scowling. Grella pounced on top of her, not even giving her a chance of escape, giving her a big hug as well.

"Get off of me please!" Dash argued, trying to push the creature off of her. The manticore obeyed, releasing her grip and backing off. The pegasus dusted herself off, getting up off the ground. She looked around, nevously. "I don't even fir in here anymore," she sighed.

"Sure you do! There are still a lot of normal ponies!" Grella purred. The manticore cheerfully bounded down the streets, nopony paying heed to the giant animal.

"Yeah, ponies that can ignore a giant manticore charging through town are 'normal'," Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes and sighed. She started heading towards the purple tent, hoping that one of these 'fortune tellers' could tell her what could have happened to her sister. She recalled what Twilight had told her. Psychic Eyes had detailed fortunes, maybe he'd be the better of the two? She turned towards the other tent, walking over to it, her head hung low. She didn't have any money, but maybe this 'pony' would be kind enough to let her know what happened for free.

She looked around the inside of the tent, exoctic charms hanging on the walls of the tent, though none to heavy to tear it or pull it down. She was actually expecting to see some sort of crystal ball, but there wasn't one. There was a stand for one, but that was it. There was another smaller tent, it seemed, to be connected at the nack, like the teller's private room. A small table was in the center, where the stand was, and there were two cushions set up as seats.

"Uh... hello?" She whispered, hoping to get a response.

"Oh, hello there. Just give me a moment," a stallion's voice responded. It was soft and soothing, and nice low-pitch to it. His words were calmly spoken, as though he had nothing to worry about. The pegasus relaxed a bit, taking a seat on one of the cushions.

"I'm new here, and i don't have any money. Don't suppose you could let me get a free fortune?" She muttered nervously.

"I suppose i can, just this one time, though i would prefer you pay me back when you get the money."

"That' fine."

"Now, what is it you were wondering?" His voice was a little louder, and Dash turned to look over at him. The stallion sat down on the other side of the table, smiling. He had three eyes, though he seemed to have more than she could see.  The shine of his eyes were far from right, having strange colorful patterns that required her to squint to see them. He had two ram horns curving around his ears, with six different patterns decorating them. his mane alone had for different colors, but his right hind left leg had three different colors and a brown hoof. He had four wings, one pair opened wide and the other set closed tightly against his side. He had three dragon tails, one having pink spikes at the end, one having a blue and green frill, and one was white, blue, and red in that exact order, and had a triangular tip. He was dark gray in color, almost black, and his muzzle was yellow. His ears were blue, and he had two small white demonic horns in between the two ram horns.  There were scales running down his belly, a muddy green color. His alicorn horn was white and purple in color.

He placed two rainbow-colored legs on the table, and Dash hoped it was both his front legs. She felt faint when he place two MORE hooves on the table, but they weren't even hooves. They were claws, and the legs were covered in scales instead of fur. He was like a creation of Discord, but to Dash's dismay, she could sense that he wasn't.

"Um...." Rainbow was a little nervous, afraid to insult the fortune teller.

"You seem... confused? Hm... you look.... familiar," The stallion tilted his head, trying to analyze her with his extra eye.

"Probably, Princess Twilight told me you've been around for quite some time..."

"Ah yes, you must be Rainbow Dash then, Element of Loyalty. No wonder you act like you're unique. Do not worry, ponies like me are often shunned or laughed at. You're not unique, i'm the unique one," the stallion chuckled.

"Whatever..." Dash sighed.

"Anyway," he set one pair of his hooves on the floor, concealing them, hoping she would be a little more calm, "what is it you were wondering?"

"I just want to know what happened to my sister all those years ago," Dash sighed.

"Ah, i'm not familiar with her, it'd be easier to answer that if i knew more about her." He pulled out a glistening crystal orb and set it on the stand. "I don't usually require this, but seeing you wish to know of somepony other than yourself then i shall request this. You will rest, and the crystal ball here will show me your memories of this pony. Only then will i be able to tell you what you wish to know."

"Alright," Rainbow was nervous, she couldn't defend herself from this freak if she was asleep, but she wanted to know. "If the answer seems to be to difficult for me to understand, like something awful happened, then don't tell me."

"That isn't any problem, now, I just need to know her name."

"Her name..." The pegasus felt sleepy all of a sudden, she could barely keep her eyes open. Her mind became clouded, and she slumped over, her head resting on the table, "is Thunderbolt."

The pegasus closed her eyes, and soon sleep washed over her.