Attack of the Box

Rainbow Dash sat at the edge of her bed staring at the top of her dresser. Her eyes focused on the empty spot that used to contain her box. It was between her first Daring Do novel and Best Young Flyer trophy. When her eyes could no longer bear to look at the invisible box any longer, she threw herself back on her bed. She ran her hooves through her hair in anguish.

“I can’t believe I lost it,” she said to herself. “They trusted me with it, and I lost it.” She climbed out of her bed when she heard knocks on her door. Rainbow walked through the clutter of books and socks that were spread over the hallway floor. Her arm reached for the doorknob and a gray pegasus was hovering in front of her.

“Hi Derpy,” she said with no emotion.

“What’s wrong, Rainbow Dash?”

“Nothing, just… thinking about stuff.”

“You’re not upset about anything, are you?”

“Well… kinda.”

“Maybe the two of us could find time to talk about, if you want to…”

Rainbow sighed under her breath and said, “That’ll be great.” Derpy lowered her head into her saddlebag and emerged with a yellow envelope in her mouth. Rainbow stared at the yellow envelope, know well who it was from.

“Is that for me?” Derpy nodded. Rainbow took the envelope away from Derpy’s mouth and placed it on a mantelpiece near her. The mailpony flapped her wings and hovered away from the blue pegasus’ front door. Before going any further, she turned to her again and said, “If you need anything, or just want to talk… just call me.”

“I will,” said Rainbow. The rainbow-maned pegasus watched Derpy fly away to her duties. She closed the door behind her and fell on her couch. She covered her face with her hooves and mumbled something to herself. She peeked at the yellow envelope that was sitting on her mantelpiece, but quickly covered her face again.

Rainbow slowly got up from her couch and grabbed the envelope. She was about to rip open the top, only to pause. The envelope had no return address or any stamps, only that it was address to her. She carefully tore open the top of the envelope and was now holding a single piece of paper. She began to read:

Dear Miss Rainbow Dash,

Because of your irresponsibility and neglect of our rules and regulations, you are hereby expelled from the *Secret Society of Secrets and Wonders. We trusted you with one of our most valuable possessions, **The Mysterious Cube, yet you failed to safely return it to our grasps.*

An anonymous source has informed us of your recklessness and we must enforce the rules of our club. Your membership will be terminated starting next Monday.

SSOSAW Committee

Rainbow crumpled the letter and threw it across the room. She knocked over the mantelpiece with her hindlegs and ran to her bedroom, slamming the door shut. Once she was in she screamed so loud that Tank hid in his shell. The turtle watch Rainbow unleash her fury from the protection of his glass tank.  She cursed and swore incoherently and jumped on her bed, her face buried in her blankets. Her muffled screams were enough to make her attack the mattress with her hooves.

The pegasus collapsed on her bed and laid motionless. She turned her head and stared at the blue wall. Her moisty eyes were blood-shot red and her bottom lip quivered. Rainbow buried her head on the pillows, weeping softly.

As Rainbow cried on her bed, Tank poked his head out of his shell. The turtle’s arms and legs emerged from his bodily shield and walked toward the pegasus. He stopped for a moment, remembering that he was contained in glass. Tank had no choice but to watch his owner wallow in her misery.

****

Miss Cheerilee released her young students outside for recess. She watched them pile up on her door, eager to enjoy their twenty minute break. She couldn’t help but chuckle under her breath as they push and shove to bask under the warmth of the sun. When the children were finally outside, she settled herself behind her desk and continued her duties.

Cheerilee grabbed a piece of chalk with her mouth and wrote something on the blackboard. Suddenly, she stopped writing and placed the chalk back on her desk. She turned around and saw that Dinky was still in her seat. The filly was coloring on a sheet of paper. Cheerilee furrowed her brow and approach Dinky.

“Dinky, why aren’t you outside? It’s recess.”

Dinky’s attention shifted from her drawing to her teacher. The filly looked out the window and saw the kids run after each other, playing ball or on the playground. She frowned and brought herself back to her drawing. She answered with a soft voice, “I don’t want to go outside.”

“Why not?” Cheerilee asked.

“... I just don’t want to.”

Cheerilee sat on a chair next to Dinky and examined her. The filly paid her teacher no attention and focused her energy on her crayon art. Cheerilee allowed herself to take a peek at Dinky’s artwork.

“What are you drawing?”

“My best friend.”

“Your best friend is an alicorn?”

“Yes.”

Cheerilee scratch her head and said, “I didn’t know we had an alicorn in Ponyville.”

“Her name is Gwendolyn,” said Dinky as she reached for her blue crayon, “and she lives at my house.”

“... Is she nice?”

“Yes. We play lots of games together. And at night, when I’m scared, she uses her horn to make the room brighter.”

Dinky spent much of her time telling Cheerilee about her best friend. She talked about the activities they do, the games they play, and times when Gwendolyn would always find a way to make Dinky happy no matter what. The mare listened with fascination and confusion, not even keeping track of the time for when the children should return to class.

The schoolchildren played every game they could think of on the grass surface. While some where swinging on monkey bars or riding on merry-go-rounds, fillies and colts divided into groups and either played ball or hopscotch.

Some other ponies, like Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon, wish not to socialize with the one’s they deemed “undesirable.” They isolated themselves into a corner on the schoolyard and discussed topics that were important to them.

The Cutie-Mark Crusaders sat under a tree and thought of ways to achieve their ultimate goal: to make their cutie-marks appear. Apple Bloom thought of outlandish ideas while Scootaloo wrote them down on a notebook. Sweetie Belle mostly sat there and listened to Apple Bloom and Scootaloo talk.

“We could get our cutie-marks for being wizards,” said Apple Bloom, “like Barry Trotter!”

“I don’t think so,” countered Scootaloo. “I think it takes years to be a great wizard, even if you’re a fictional character.”

“How about skydiving?”

“We’ve done that. Six times already.”

“I know, I just like skydiving.”

“I thought we could ours in golf,” Scootaloo said. “I love playing golf!”

“I dunno. I don’t like golf as much as Big Mac. Or Uncle Apple Crust.”

“Well we gotta think of something, Apple Bloom,” said Scootaloo. She held her head on her hooves and stared grumpily at the notebook.

“Hey Sweetie Belle, you’ve been quiet all day. What gives?” asked Scootaloo. The young unicorn was unresponsive. She was looked toward another direction while Apple Bloom and Scootaloo were having their important conversation. Scootaloo waved her orange hoof up and down Sweetie’s face, but she did not seem to return to reality. Apple Bloom nudged her a little on her head, which made the unicorn blink and turn to her friends.

“Oh, hey. Did I miss something?”

“Jeeze Sweetie, you’ve been staring at that window like a zombie,” said Apple Bloom. “What the heck’s wrong with ya?”

“I… I was just looking at that filly who stayed behind.”

“You mean Dinky?” Scootaloo asked.

“Yeah, her. I wonder why she never wants to play outside with the rest of us?” Bloom and Scoots positioned themselves so they could see Dinky inside the building. They also saw that their teacher, Miss Cheerilee, was sitting next to her.

“Maybe she just likes to be alone,” Apple Bloom suggested, “Big Mac is always like that.”

“Why are so worried about Dinky, anway?” asked Scootaloo.

“I don’t know. I guess in some ways I just feel bad her,” answered Sweetie Belle. She walked out of the shade of the tree and into the sunlight, then stood where she could have a good look at Dinky. “Poor Dinky.”

“I don’t think she looks so sad,” said Scootaloo. “I mean, look, she’s been coloring all this time.”

“She seems happy, but… but what if she’s really sad inside?”

“I never thought of that,” Apple Bloom said. The three continued to observe Dinky until the schoolbell rang again. The children ceased their activities and lined up in a straight row. Like dungeon prisoners they march inside the building. Bloom, Scoots, and Belle were the last ones to enter the school.

Miss Cheerilee and Dinky continued to talk until the bell rang. Miss Cheerilee had not noticed that so much time had passed and ran like a cheetah back to her desk, preparing her class for their next lesson. Dinky put her drawings of herself and Gwendolyn back into her backpack. The children were now back inside class, taking their respective seats.

When Sweetie Belle took her seat, she slowly turned her head backwards. She pretended to look around the room so Dinky would not noticed her. Sweetie saw the gray filly stare out at the window with her emotionless expression.

Poor Dinky, she thought to herself. I wish I could help her.

****

Fluttershy knocked on Rainbow’s front door multiple times, but nopony had answered. “Rainbow, are you there? It’s me, Fluttershy,” she called out. She received no response from the sporty pegasus. “Why aren’t you answering? Are you okay?” she asked again. Rainbow’s cloud home remained silent. Fluttershy flew on all sides of the home to see if Rainbow was occupying any of the rooms. She poked her head onto windows, squinting her eyes to see through the darkness. The last window she looked was her bedroom on the other side of the house.

The curtains were closed. The next best thing she could do was knock gently. “Rainbow?” she whispered, “Rainbow? It’s me, Fluttershy.” She stood there until the curtains were opened by a dreary blue pegasus. Dash had layers of bags under her red-shot eyes. Tracks of tear stains covered her cheeks and her mane was an unkempt mess.

Fluttershy flew inside Dash’s room through her window and cried, “Rainbow, what happened?!”

“Something you wouldn’t understand,” Dash mumbled.

“What are you talking about?”

“... I just want to be alone.”

“Please, Rainbow just talk to me.”

Rainbow said nothing and crawled into her bed, her back facing Fluttershy. The yellow pegasus hovered next to Dash, then sat next to her. She put her hoof on her shoulder and pleaded, “Please tell what’s wrong, Rainbow. I don’t like seeing you like this.”

“Go away,” Dash said from under her pillow.

“I’m not going anywhere until you talk to me.”

Dash’s head remained glued to her pillow. An air of tension filled the room between the two pegasi. A few minutes later, Fluttershy stood up and spoke to Rainbow’s back.

“Fine. You don’t have to talk to me, but hiding your feelings isn’t the way to go through things. I’m leaving now; when you’re ready to talk I’ll be in my home.” She flew herself out of Rainbow’s room and back to Ponyville.

When Fluttershy disappeared, Rainbow’s head rose from her pillow. She climbed out of her bed and walked out of her dark room. She walked aimlessly around her house before she decided to lounge in her living room. As she set her legs into the large room she stepped on something. Rainbow found the crumpled up letter from the Secret Society of Secrets and Wonders. She sat on her couch with the destroyed letter on her hoof. She placed it on the table in front of her and tried to straighten it. The wrinkles refused to disappear, but most of the writing was almost readable. Holding the letter up to her face, she read it again silently to herself. Despite it being a second reading, the choice words of rejection still managed to pierce her heart. She lied on her back on her couch and closed her eyes, with the letter sitting by her side.

****

“It’s nice to see you again, Sparkle. Now, tell me about your troubles,” said Zecora. Twilight took one sip of the zebra’s herbal tea and thought about what to say.

“This morning, I had a vision while I was meditating. In my vision… I was in space. Everything around me was like something from a painting. It was so beautiful, so majestic… my gosh it was full of stars…”

“Tell me more.”

“As I was sitting there my friends’ cutie-mark, and my own, floated in front of me. In perfect harmony. Then this giant glowing cube appeared and our cutie-marks went inside. The box was in an eternal state of morphing, but our cutie-marks retain their sizes. It was miraculous.”

“A grand vision you have had, but I guess things went from good to bad.”

“You’re right. Everything went black. I was surrounded by darkness. Then… a monster came out of the darkness,” Twilight said with a shudder. “It was a metallic hawk of some kind.” Twilight closed her eyes, gathering all of her thoughts and memories from her vision, then swallowed the ounce of fear she had in her. She opened her and continued, “The hawk… ate the cube along with our cutie-marks. Then these blue lines started to glow on its body and then… oh gosh, it’s too horrible. Zecora what does all this mean?”

“Your vision is a warning, for something is approaching.”

“A warning? A warning of what?”

“Dark forces are conspiring against this world. An otherworldly evil will unfurl.”

“Otherworldly evil? What do you mean?”

“Something, or somepony, from beyond the stars will wage war. For whatever reason, we cannot possibly ignore.”

“Something from beyond the stars. This is worse than I could imagine.”

“The hawk is a symbol of a grand authority, such as an empire. The way it devoured your cutie-marks makes the situation even more dire.”

“... What can we do?”

“Inform the princesses if you can. We can not let this threat stand. The urgency is far too great, for I feel this is an evil nopony can escape.”

“Thank you Zecora.”

“My pleasure, Twilight Sparkle.”

Twilight bid the zebra farewell and exited her hut. The visions were still fresh in her mind, and there was no telling what might happen in the coming days. The sky above her was clear blue with small white clouds scattered yards from each other. What was once a symbol for the promise of peace was now an ominous reminder of a threat from the heavens. Twilight spotted the tiny marble dot that was Canterlot Castle sitting on the edge of the mountain.

“I hope we can stop this…”